Tailoring Australian carbon farming can realise greater co-benefits

Land managers face growing societal and policy expectations to produce more food, conserve biodiversity, enhance carbon sequestration, maintain economic viability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet practices affording these outcomes may not be congruent. Using a transdisciplinary participatory approach with Australian sheep producers, we co-design interventions intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously improving biodiversity, productivity and profitability. Planting native trees yields the greatest abatement potential, followed by antimethanogenic feed supplements. Nature-based solutions and emissions-removal practices are generally more profitable than emissions-reduction measures, particularly antimethanogenic feed additives. Nonetheless, carbon sequestration in soils and vegetation diminishes longitudinally and remains reversible, whereas emissions reductions, such as avoided enteric methane, are continual and permanent. We conclude that (1) greater benefits arise when interventions target contextualised economic, environmental, psychological and institutional constraints, and (2) stacking complementary innovations yields more favourable outcomes than isolated practice changes, particularly when interventions target underperforming indicators.