Sustainable Agriculture is Food Security

Ange Hutchinson (far left) and the Australian delegation at GASL

Ange Hutchison – Director, Aspire Ag/AgForce Cattle Board

What did you find the most interesting or surprising learning to come from the event?

Misinformation and disinformation have an impact on all facets of human, environmental and animal welfare and will cripple investment in innovation.

I am also curious as to how we connect what happens for “smallholder concepts” in other countries and what we can learn and apply to our smallholders in the Australian context.

What did you learn that could be relevant for the Australian beef industry?

Biosecurity for human, animal and environmental health.

How does what we’re doing on the ground in Australia compare to what is happening in other nations?

Sustainable agriculture is food security in other countries. While we had examples of food scarcity during COVID-19 and natural disasters, it doesn’t seem to hold the same gravity in Australian production.

Why was it important to attend the event?

GASL was a great, immersive experience and a network-building opportunity to contextualise the global livestock agenda when faced with climate risk and environmental, human health and animal wellbeing considerations.

What were people from other countries saying?

They are raising the issue of equitable outcomes, whether it is regarding climate risk, technology, or innovation. As in Australia and New Zealand, due to connectivity, some people aren’t able to adopt technology.

Also, the canary in the coal mine, in an environmental sense, are the Himalayas where the melting of the glaciers is having numerous impacts such as increased biosecurity issues, reduced production area, infrastructure breakdown, flooding issues, and the migration of farmers to the cities.

Where are our greatest opportunities to take action to achieve more sustainable food systems?

I’m a bit left field on this question but, in a developed country where we have an exponentially increasing mental health crisis, how does animal protein in diets help or hinder?

From a production system, I would think sustainability is less is more, providing greater consistency of production, profitability and environmental outcomes.