Beef's high scores on animal welfare, looking after environment and climate

In 2023, there was a 13 per cent increase in live cattle exports with 661,392 head shipped.

The mortality rate remained at the record low of 0.05pc, first achieved the year prior.

Australia's live cattle trade plays a critical role in global food security, beef leaders say.

There are millions of children under five with severe acute malnourishment in Asia, where the majority of Australian live cattle go.

What this mortality figure, reported as part of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework 2024 Update, shows is that Australia is also setting an incredibly high animal welfare bar.

Sustainability steering group chair Mark Davie said opposition to live export was now limited to ideologues who are opposed to animal agriculture or those who simply want to signal to social circles that they care about animal welfare - but not enough to understand it.

The ABSF Update is a sustainability report card for beef, which details progress made against recognised standards and metrics in areas such as the environment, climate, animal care, people and economic resilience.

The 2024 Update was released at Beef Australian in Rockhampton on Tuesday in an event which included a fireside chat with supply chain partners including McDonald's Tom Mahony, Teys Australia's Michael Rogers, NAB Agribusiness' Josie Zilm and Hewitt Foods' Nathan Moore.

Highlights of the Update include the fact that beef contributed $20.1 billion to Australia's GDP in 2021-22; that 81pc of producers are now adopting practices to improve soil water retention; 58pc are either purchasing renewable energy or generating their own on-farm and that almost 160m hectares of grazing land is managed for biodiversity.

Carbon sequestered in vegetation on beef farms was 31.31 Mt CO2e in 2021.

The Australian beef industry has now reduced its net carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 78.2pc since 2005, which is the baseline year adopted as it aligns with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

That means it has reduced its share of national carbon emissions from 23.5pc in 2005 to 6.7pc in 2021.

Mr Davie said the reduction in net carbon emissions was immensely positive but also extremely complicated as the industry strives towards the target of being carbon neutral by 2030.

"The beef industry has been working hard for many years to avoid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so this is a testament to everyone in the beef value chain who has been implementing practical solutions while continuing to produce the highest quality product for consumers," Mr Davie said.

"But this figure represents a single point in time in 2021 when carbon sequestered through vegetation was high as the landscape responded to drought-breaking rain. The picture is made more complex by the fact that methane emissions rose with a rebounding national herd and that soil carbon sequestration is not accounted for in the current methodology even though it may have increased markedly.

"If we are to achieve bold carbon reduction targets, we need more accurate, cheaper and timely carbon reporting."