Part 2: Beyond Project Acacia Follow the Money Mr Farmer.
The future of farming will not be determined solely by rainfall, soil fertility or commodity prices. Increasingly, it will also be influenced by the financial systems that sit behind every transaction. Farmers don't need to fear change, but neither should they ignore it. The best decisions are made by those who understand both the opportunities and the consequences before the rest of the world catches up.
For thousands of years, wealth began in the soil. Grain was currency. Livestock was wealth. Land determined prosperity. Today, we are steadily moving from tangible assets towards digital representations of value. As financial systems evolve, one question remains unchanged: who ultimately controls the production of food?
The Reserve Bank says Project Acacia is about faster settlement, greater efficiency and reducing risk. Those are sensible objectives. But every major infrastructure project has another story running beneath the official explanation. Infrastructure changes who participates, who profits, who adapts and who is left behind.
Every new financial system creates winners. Where are the farmers in this??
SO while banks benefit from faster settlement. Exchanges gain new products. Technology companies provide the platforms. Lawyers, custodians, auditors and compliance firms create another layer of services around the system.
Agriculture provides something they all need: real assets.
Crops, livestock, water entitlements, carbon credits, future payments and environmental outcomes can all be valued, recorded, divided and traded.
The farmer may produce the asset, but that does not mean the farmer controls what happens to it once it enters the financial system.
A carbon credit can begin with changed practices on a farm, then pass through project developers, auditors, registries, brokers and investors. Each participant can take a fee or create further value from it. The farmer carries the responsibility on the land.
Water follows the same pattern. To a farmer, water is production. To a financial market, it is a scarce asset that can rise in value.
The danger is not the technology itself. It is the possibility that the financial value created from farming moves further away from the person doing the work.
Faster payments could help farmers. Better access to finance could help farmers. Lower transaction costs could help farmers. But none of those benefits should be assumed.
Farmers need to ask who owns the platform, who controls the information, what fees are taken, what rights are attached to the digital asset and who carries the loss when the physical crop, livestock, water or environmental outcome does not meet the contract.
Once these systems become embedded in lending, insurance, supply contracts and market access, participation may no longer feel optional.
That is why farmers need to understand Project Acacia now, while the machinery is still being built.
The financial industry is already at the table. The technology companies are at the table. The regulators are at the table.
Where are the farmers?
WHAT SHOULD FARMERS DEMAND?
Farmers do not need to reject new financial technology. They need a seat at the table before the system is finished. Any agricultural use of tokenisation or digital settlement should provide farmers with clear answers on ownership, fees, data rights, legal liability and the ability to leave.
The contract must state who owns the underlying asset and who owns its digital representation. Every fee must be visible. Farm information must remain under the control of the farmer unless specific permission is given.
Automated deductions must be open to challenge. Disputes must be decided under clear Australian law, not buried inside a platform controlled overseas. Environmental and production obligations must remain attached to the party receiving the financial benefit.
Farmers must retain a genuine choice over participation. Most importantly, the farmer must receive a fair share of the value created from the farm. That should not be considered a radical demand.
Without the farmer, there is no crop, no livestock, no carbon project, no water productivity and no agricultural asset to trade.
Part 3 will examine what happens when farm production, land, water and environmental outcomes become financial data and who controls that information once it leaves the farm.
Living Functional Soil Biology™
© Earthfood and Bronwyn Holm 2026. All rights reserved.
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