Stubble burns are a common sight west of Ballarat, with farmers getting rid of waste after harvests.
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Overseas, all that organic matter - the remains of wheat and other crops - gets turned into a type of biogas and electricity, but why not here in Australia?
New technologies don't emit pollution and cut carbon emissions, proponents say, while also providing a new revenue source for farmers.
It'll be one of the big ideas to be discussed at the Victorian Bioenergy Network's conference in Ballarat on November 28.
One of the guest speakers, Dr Scott Grierson from Valorify, wants to build a gigantic energy plant outside Ararat.
It'll funnel in waste stubble from farms within up to 150km, he said, and produce biogas, which would be used by heavy industry to cut down on fossil fuel use.
The advantage, apart from benefits for farmers, cutting down on stubble burns, and regional employment, is minerals and other nutrients at the end of the process are used to help grow next year's crops, he said.
The carbon from the biogas burned by industry is captured by that crop as well, he said, to create a net-zero carbon system that's fully renewable.
The Valorify project in Ararat, an Australian-first, would use an anaerobic digester - that is, breaking down the crop waste organically, and not incinerating or burning it.
Dr Grierson said these sorts of net-zero projects would play an important role to keep industry going as fossil fuel use reduces, and would complement wind and solar production.
"This is really filling a gap in the marketplace that's really hard to decarbonise," he said.
"The stats say somewhere between 26 and as much as 61 per cent of this material is simply burned in the paddock, it's just going straight up into the atmosphere.
"I used to live in northern Europe and this stuff is part of the furniture, it happens every day."
The project is still going through the final approvals process, but there's already interest from an "international food manufacturer", and support from Ararat Rural City council - in a statement, council's chief executive Dr Tim Harrison said it could "improve the quality of life in our communities", and could see a $13 million upfront payment to farmers for the first 150,000 tonnes of straw delivered.
"This groundbreaking clean energy project is designed to create local jobs, attract new investment to the region, and deliver some serious innovation for our agricultural sector," he said.
"This project is also key in creating new market opportunities to diversify farm income and grow our economy."
Dr Grierson, who has a background in science and engineering and previously advised the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, noted potential concerns from farmers about retaining carbon in their soil, but said the project was a chance to fully participate in the new renewable economy.
"We fully acknowledge that farmers need to manage carbon nutrients, minerals and maintain that balance, and we want to be part of that solution," he said.
"We're simply saying, let's put a stop in the first instance to torching the stuff for those that do it, and let's make sure we're not over-tilling in the market and actually wasting that opportunity for added value."
The Committee for Ballarat is supporting the Bioenergy Network conference, with Ballarat's own Gaia Envirotech and Federation University's Centre for New Energy Transition Research among the speakers.
Committee chief executive Michael Poulton, who has led efforts to create the Ballarat Energy Network, said bioenergy was often the "forgotten cousin of renewables".
"I think for our region, bioenergy is a real untapped potential," he said.
"We know incineration isn't the answer, but we know there are several technologies that will play a role in the transition - while we're trying to electrify everything we can't ignore we'll need gas as a firming component during the transition, and we need to move away from fossil fuel gas."
More details on the conference are available online.
