Shaping markets to better reward soil stewardship practices

A lack of financial incentives for good soil management creates a risk of underinvestment in soils. Shaping consumer, financial, property and insurance markets to better reward soil stewardship practices has the potential to create an incentive to support grower uptake of these practices. Soil CRC research led by Professor Mark Morrison from Charles Sturt University has been investigating how market mechanisms can achieve this.

Over the past five years, the research has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders – producers, farmer groups, manufacturers, retailers, financial institutions, consumers, soil experts, certification organisations and government – to better understand their motivations and level of understanding of soil and soil stewardship practices.

The research examined ways to activate consumer markets and investigated the potential of market mechanisms such as certification and verification for rewarding soil stewardship.

On 16 March, the project team delivered a free webinar to share insights from our research with agrifood value chain stakeholders. The webinar focussed on how to better incentivise the uptake of soil stewardship practices by farmers in Australia through reform of farm assurance mechanisms (certification schemes), and covered a number of key areas of interest for stakeholders, including:

• Consumer willingness to pay for certification of soil stewardship practices
• Opportunities to improve certification and make it more cost-effective
• The need for meta governance of certification
• The need for reform of consumer food labelling governance related to credence attributes
• Potential for soil certification versus broader certification
• Opportunities to achieve sustained premiums for farmers for undertaking soil stewardship practices
• The role of agrifood value chain stakeholders in supporting and rewarding soil stewardship in Australia.

Professor Morrison spoke about the Soil CRC’s research into consumer and financial markets and highlighted the potential for market activation.

“There is significant unrealised market opportunity, with some consumers indicating they are willing to pay for soil stewardship practices and soil health outcomes. They want premiums to go to farmers,” he said.

“The research reveals opportunities for achieving sustained premiums for soil stewardship practices, but we don’t need another certification scheme. The existing landscape of certification schemes requires innovative thinking and clear meta-governance.”

During the webinar, Soil CRC PhD student, Christopher Wilmot, provided an overview of his research, which investigated the governance of certification schemes and the challenges and opportunities for incentivising food label credence claims about soil stewardship.

Professor Morrison’s colleague, Dr Kirsty McKenzie, wrapped up the formal presentation by providing an overview of the research recommendations and the opportunities for value chain stakeholders.

The session was moderated by Soil CRC Program 1 Leader, Professor Catherine Allan, who also led a discussion on what the next steps will be for Australia, and the potential benefits and challenges for different stakeholders.

The webinar was attended by stakeholders from across the value chain, including representatives from industry groups, farmer groups, certification organisations, government, research, and banking. Professor Morrison said the team had received positive feedback following the workshop, and some interest from participants in a follow-up meeting to further explore the implications of the research for specific stakeholders.  

Prior to holding the webinar, the project team ran a 2-hour workshop in Canberra for Australian Government employees working in policy and with an interest in soil management. More than 40 people attended the hybrid event. Workshop participants discussed a range of issues pertinent to government’s role in supporting an effective certifications system, including how to include soil in standards, the use of farm-level soil testing data, and producer concerns with certification (such as high compliance burden and the need for a value proposition).

Professor Morrison noted that the workshop was very well-attended, and that participants expressed considerable interest in the research findings and in hearing the outcomes of the final stage of the Soil CRC’s research.

The webinar and workshop were delivered by Charles Sturt University in collaboration the University of Tasmania and the University of Southern Queensland.