Goals are industry’s chance to determine our destiny

The Australian beef industry sees setting sustainability goals as a natural progression of the industry’s sustainability journey, and the Australian Beef Sustainablity Framework (ABSF) is in the position to support this process in order to take the framework from a report card, to a stronger commitment to sustainable improvement. Goals and targets provide a tangible pathway for industry to meet consumer and community expectations.

Sustainability targets are not new to the Australian red meat industry, with carbon neutral by 2030 (CN30) being announced in 2017, and pain relief and shade goals being implemented for animal welfare purposes. The opportunity now is to set more goals and targets to ensure the industry can set the sustainability agenda, and outperform global goals and initiatives.

MLA Manager for Beef Sustainability, Jacob Betros, said sustainability goals were the industry’s ticket to play, and deliver benefits for the entire supply chain.

“We are accurately reporting our progress against sustainability priorities, but we need to know where we need to be in order to adequately plan development and allocate resources across the industry. Goals present clearly what action we need to take to ensure the ongoing viability of the industry, ” said Mr Betros.

Not only can Australia lead the way and secure its sustainable future, it can also answer questions and expectations from key stakeholders, who are wishing to know more about industry performance. Mr Betros said now was the opportune moment for industry to take the lead.

“There are domestic and global initiatives that are developing sustainable goals, and organisations worldwide are signing up to them. Programs such as the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures or the Science Based Targeting Initiative have huge backings, and are being implemented in supply chains,” he said.

“Now is the opportunity for the Australian beef industry to get ahead of external programs and implement a direction which is fit-for-purpose for us. We have a unique production landscape, and that provides unique opportunities. We can be as ambitious as we want to be,” he said.

The challenge for industry is finding the right balance between ambition and achievability.

“Setting a goal that isn’t ambitious enough could give the perception that we aren’t trying to continuously improve our practices. It could also result in external agents prescribing unrealistic expectations on the industry. However, setting a goal which is too ambitious and not achievable might set the industry up for failure. For this reason, we are engaging with subject matter experts, and all sectors of the beef industry to ensure the goals are not only ambitious, but achievable,” Mr Betros said.

Internationally, sustainable goals are having a large impact in research and development across industries. The United States Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef have both set a broad range of sustainability goals. These include reducing greenhouse gas footprints, reducing food waste, increasing pain relief uptake, and an increase in stock handling training rates. These goals are aligning, where possible, to the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef goals.

The ABSF hopes to announce further Australian beef industry sustainability goals at its annual launch in June this year.