Blantyre Farms is the first piggery in Australia to be given the green light to earn carbon credits from destroying methane generated by pig manure - making it the first farm-based project declared eligible under the Federal Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI).

Located near Young in NSW, Blantyre Farms has approximately 22,000 pigs, and was the first piggery in Australia to install a commercial-scale system to generate power from methane from an anaerobic (covered pond) system.

The piggery converts methane from pig manure into electricity, powering the entire operation of the farms. The technology and machinery were built by Australian company, Quantum Power.

Although the farm can generate CFI credits and renewable energy certificates from the project, the main benefit is that owners, Edwina and Michael Beveridge, no longer pay $15,000 a month for electricity and gas, but earn A$5,000 a month from the power it sells back to the grid.

The declaration of eligibility means Blantyre Farms can create credits for emissions abatement achieved since commissioning of the project in March of this year.

The Australian pork industry was the first industry to have a methodology endorsed and approved by the Domestic Offsets Committee (DOIC) for CFI in Australia. The industry developed the methodology in conjunction with the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) and a technical working group made of industry experts.

The methodology is titled ‘Destruction of methane generated from manure in piggeries’ and involves collecting the gas generated from piggery manure through covering open lagoons, and destroying the methane by flaring or generating electricity.