Sustainable beef report: Industry reduces carbon emissions
The Australian Beef Sustainability annual update has found that the livestock industry dramatically reduced its carbon emissions in the past 15 years. See how it was achieved.
THE livestock industry has reduced carbon emissions by 56.7 per cent in the past 15 years.
That was the finding in the 2020 Australian Beef Sustainability annual update, published last week.
Sustainability steer group member Jenny O’Sullivan said despite public misconceptions, the livestock industry had been proactive in recent years in mitigating climate challenges, animal welfare, and economic risks.
“Agriculture has been one of the leading industries … we’re committed to being carbon neutral by 2030,” Mrs O’Sullivan said.
“Environment is one of the first things you think of when you think of sustainability.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about our industry, but we’ve been very proactive.”
The sustainability framework, launched in 2017, works to better meet consumer and community expectations of red-meat production in a sustainable manner.
The report showed a reduction in water use when raising cattle from 515 litres/kg to 486 litres in the past five years.
“With the changing climate, rainfall patterns are changing, it’s become more extreme … that has a significant effect on our ability to grow grass,” Mrs O’Sullivan said.
“There are misconceptions about water use and livestock … but a lot of work has gone into water use.”
Mrs O’Sullivan said one of the challenges the livestock sector faced was the misconceptions in the wider community over animal welfare and the environment.
Mandatory pain relief for mulesing sheep, as well as research and development around poll genes was reflective of the industry’s commitment to animal welfare, Mrs O’Sullivan said.
“It’s not just on farm. The whole supply chain has been proactive about this. We need an efficient system that can also be profitable.”
Other achievements outlined in the report included improved pain-relief usage in animals from 15 per cent to 21 per cent, and a lift in the number of cattle farms covered by documented biosecurity plans from 25 per cent to 90 per cent.
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