Australian Beef Sustainability Framework 2023 Annual Update

The sixth edition of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework (ABSF) Annual Update was released in June, expanding the number of indicators that monitor sustainability across the beef value chain to 54, and showing marked improvement in key metrics, including the industry’s performance on greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

Net CO₂e emissions from the beef industry in 2020 were 64.1% below 2005 levels, showing significant progress towards meeting the red meat industry’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030, known as CN30. Two significant trends were at work. The primary driver was a reduced national herd as many areas emerged from drought. The other driver was the amount of carbon sequestered in on-farm vegetation – the highest ever recorded.

ABSF Sustainability Steering Group (SSG) Chair, Mark Davie, said satellite imagery showed despite the national herd growing across 2020 and 2021, forest on grazing land in the same period increased by 780,000 hectares.

“This demonstrates the mutually beneficial relationship between livestock and production, and the management of natural resources,” Mr Davie said.

“Further, the removal of primary vegetation is at a historic low of 0.43%.”

The area of forest on Northern Australian grazing properties (Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory) in 2021 also reached 55 million hectares, its highest level since monitoring began in 1991.

An updated Life Cycle Analysis, the first in four years, showed water use per kilogram of liveweight gain was down 18% to 400 litres. The improvement came from reducing reliance on irrigation, reducing losses associated with the supply of drinking water and irrigation water, and a slight decrease in drinking water consumption through improved genetics. Furthers gains can be made through optimising systems to minimise losses and evaporation.

The industry has worked tirelessly with authorities to ensure a strong biosecurity barrier at our borders, allowing Australia to remain free from World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) official diseases, including foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD).

Live export continues to be an integral part of the beef industry and mortality on ships has more than halved in two years, down to a record low of 0.05%.

Significant progress has been shown in the feedlot sector, particularly towards to the commitment to ensure all cattle in Australian feedlots have access to shade by 2026. In 2022, 63% of feedlot capacity had access to shade, up from 59% in 2021.

Looking forward, Mr Davie said the economic resilience of the industry should be enhanced by the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement coming into effect.

“This re-establishes a presence in what historically was a key market for Australian beef,” he said.

“It will deliver a significant increase in tariff-free, albeit quota restrained, beef access in year one and transition to tariff-, quota-, and safeguard-free trade over a 15-year period.”