Great Southern farmer joins mission to promote a zero-carbon agriculture future

Gnowangerup farmer Wayne Pech is taking on the challenge of riding 2030km over three months to promote a move to carbon-neutral agriculture in WA by 2030.

Farmers are being encouraged to take part in the AgZero2030 challenge by completing 2030 moves by the end of August, such as 2030km or push-ups.

Mr Pech has chosen to ride his bike, aiming to cover 22km a day to reach the target.

The Great Southern farmer has hit the halfway mark with one month left.

“I think the hardest thing is putting your gear on and then once you’re actually on the bike and going I’m finding I’m actually going a bit further than I plan to do some days,” he said.

“The cold mornings in the Gnowangerup area make it a bit tough but I’ve got some good gloves and socks and that takes the chill out of it a bit. The exercise just makes you feel better once you finish.”

Mr Pech said he wanted to create awareness about climate change solutions in agriculture.

“We just want to get the right message out there and say there are farmers doing the right thing and we need to be proactive with our messaging,” he said.

Mr Pech is involved with the committee of AgZero2030, a WA movement which was created last year by 60 agriculture leaders.

It is pushing for the State’s agriculture to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

“Things are changing as time goes on and ideally, once better policies are in place, then our group won’t have to exist,” he said.