The beef industry's sustainability performance and global leadership role will come into focus at the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework (ABSF) Annual Update.
The annual update is a yearly score card on key indicators spanning environmental stewardship, animal care and wellbeing, economic resilience, and people and the community. This is the fifth report since the launch of the ABSF in 2017, with the full report to be delivered in June.
Red Meat Advisory Council chair John McKillop said this year’s report would highlight Australia’s growing role in leading the world in sustainable livestock production through innovation, investment in people and communities, and self-determined targets to improve performance.
“The Australian beef industry is proving itself as a global leader in investing in research, innovation and best practice management to support evolving sustainability objectives,” McKillop said.
“The ABSF has become a powerful tool to measure our performance and understanding of where we can do better – and transparently communicating that to our customers and consumers.
“Our commitment to sustainability has also been clearly demonstrated to the world through our industry-owned 'carbon neutral by 2030' target which is helping to propel the livestock sector – including beef, lamb and goat – towards no net release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere within the next eight years.
“However, we also know true sustainability is multi-faceted and so the ABSF includes important economic, animal and social measures within the suite of indicators we use to monitor progress and set priorities.”
This year’s launch will include two important discussions exploring both the world-first research and innovation being undertaken in Australia and what striving for improved sustainability means in a commercial context.
“This includes a panel comprising grassroots producers, lot feeders, processors and live exporters on what sustainability means in practical terms for beef businesses, as well as an innovation-based panel showcasing some of the exceptional and globally significant work occurring right here in Australia,” McKillop said.
