Shift in trade sphere for beef moves toward sustainability, welfare

This is bringing challenges but the good news is Australian beef is coming to the party from a very strong point, with world-leading credentials in this space and great foundations such as its traceability system.

These points were made at an international market access seminar at Beef Australia in Rockhampton where speakers were chief executive officer of Organic Systems & Solutions Marg Will, executive chairman of Macdoch Ag Alasdair Macleod and general manager of industry affairs at the Australian Meat Industry Council Tim Ryan.

Mr Ryan said trade was the lifeblood of the beef industry but there was no doubt a shift was occurring in the nature of the rules underpinning it.

Traditionally, biosecurity and food security were the key pillars and as such Australia had built a solid reputation for being a trusted product, he said.

"As a result we have some of the best access and shift red meat to over 100 countries, which has meant we can maximise carcase utilisation," he said.

"But what is emerging is that markets are wanting to know about our environment credentials and wanting assurances cattle are produced and processed under humane practices.

"The challenge is there is often not a globally accepted science-based standard. So individual countries and commercial buyers are attempting to write their own and there is big variation in context around the world.

"How we produce beef in Australia is very different to how others around the world do it."

Mr Macleod said sustainability would come down to two things: beef's emissions profile and nature risk.

The second would be incredibly complex to quantify, he said.

"Decarbonisation in our industry, like in every other one, will be driven by technology but agriculture has the enormous advantage of having nature to help us," he said.

"We can sequester carbon above ground in vegetation or below ground in our soil without having to invent new technology.

"But we will need to do this without taking land out of production."

Mr Macleod said the other advantage Australian beef had was a government-regulated carbon market.

"When you go around the world and talk to farmers, they don't know what standard and what marketplace they will need to operate with and which product developers to trust," he said.

"We have that in place. Our complication now is around the debate over whether to inset or offset but the good news there is that the producer is in control."

The bigger challenge right now, he said, was the need start thinking about how we measure change in natural capital on-farm in a way that doesn't create an extraordinary burden for producers.

From a political perspective, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt told the seminar that while opening new markets and restoring those that had been impeded was one of his government's highest priorities when it came to beef, "we are not prepared to cop any trade agreement".

He said the offer the Europe Union had put on the table was simply not satisfactory and that was why Australia walked away.

"We'll have another go when the EU gets a bit more serious about a proper offer and in the meantime we will pursue deals with other markets," he said.