Cattle farmer reveals his approach to dealing with the push for sustainability and why it’s critical

Christophe Bur knows he is never going to get rich by farming yet he is confident he will leave his Queensland cattle property in a much better state than he found it.

Christophe and Sylvie Bur on their sustainable farm.

Christophe Bur knows he is never going to get rich farming.

But Mr Bur who, with his partner Sylvie runs about 120 head of cattle west of Maryborough in Queensland, is confident he will leave his land in a richer state than he found it.

Mr Bur is at the vanguard of a big sustainability push across the agricultural sector, producing so-called carbon-neutral beef for Nolan Meats in Queensland.

“We do two things as farmers,” Mr Bur said. “We produce food; that’s hugely important. And we look after the land and that’s just as equally important.”

Mr Bur, who comes from a French farming family, said he wanted his cattle to be as close as possible to their natural state.

“For the cattle it means that they’re roaming free, they’re completely grass fed and living like they would in the wild,” he said.

“They’re happy, they’re in a better condition and they’re calving better. We try to keep them as close as possible to these conditions and we treat them with respect.

“Thinking about sustainability goes beyond carbon neutrality. We wanted essentially to produce beef that is sustainable, and by sustainable I mean we could do what we do forever and it would not take any resources away from the planet and from nature.”

But not everyone is as prepared as the Burs in preparing for a sustainable future in farming – and there are growing concerns this eventually would come at a huge cost.

New sustainability reporting standards introduced last year are currently focused on large listed companies such as the major supermarkets, but will eventually filter down to smaller firms like farmers in the supply chain.

Regen Farmers Mutual co-director Andrew Ward, who is working with farmers on sustainability, is concerned that small operators are not prepared for the added compliance.

“Often an individual farmer is just too small to deal with the data that’s required for supply chain traceability,” Mr Ward said.

Sylvie and Christophe Bur say sustainable farming is vital.

“It’s really hard for them to get their head around what a ton of carbon dioxide looks like and therefore what emissions are like. A lot of them are kind of doing nothing.”

Mr Ward said there was currently no reward for farmers to be carbon neutral but the concern was that there could eventually be penalties.

“Someone higher up the supply chain will tell a farmer ‘well your animal was breathing and ruminating and now you’ve got 13 kilos of carbon per kilogram of beef and you need to show us that you’re sequestering the equivalent amount on your farm or you’re going to need to buy that carbon dioxide equivalent on a market,” he said.

“Or they may say we’re going to buy that carbon dioxide on the market, and we’re going to discount what we pay you by the same amount.”

The new disclosure requirements for larger companies include environmental impact reporting and traceability across the supply chain. But many farmers and suppliers say they are caught in the uncertainty and have little clarity of what’s expected of them.

Mr Ward said farmers like Mr Bur must adapt to new compliance measures without clear guidance or certainty, making long-term planning difficult.

There was a lack of industry-wide clarity on how new reporting standards would affect farmers and some likened it to an approaching storm – knowing something major is coming but unsure of the severity or exact impact.

Mr Bur agreed there was uncertainty but said everyone, including farmers, had to realise they could not use the environment and pretend they did not deplete it.

“We have to be fully sustainable; not just farming, every activity has to be, there’s no choice,” he said. “Restoring our farm is hugely important to us.”

For Mr Bur this included restoring a wild froglet habitat and expanding a wetland corridor on his property.

“We’re also extending a koala habitat and generally trying to get the place back by getting rid of all the weeds and all the introduced species that should not be there,” he said.

“There are a lot more native animals. In the morning you can’t hear yourself talking because of the birds singing. It is a much friendlier and natural place now than it used to be. It’s important for the planet. It’s important to us.”

Mr Bur is already seeing flow-on effects through Nolan Meats, as processors and abattoirs move to ensure their farmers meet certain environmental and traceability benchmarks.

Originally published as Cattle farmer reveals his approach to dealing with the push for sustainability and why it’s critical