Panel members speak to benefits of ABSF at Beef2024

Supply chain panel (L-R): Stacey Wordsworth (Blue Hill), Michael Rogers (Teys Australia), Josie Zilm (NAB), Nathan Moore (Hewitt Foods), and Tom Mahony (McDonalds).

The launch of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework (ABSF) Annual Update at Beef 2024 was followed by a panel discussion featuring four beef industry leaders – NAB Agribusiness Executive, Gippsland beef producer Josie Zilm; Tom Mahony, Senior Director-Supply Chain, McDonalds; Michael Rogers, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Teys Australia; and Nathan Moore, General Manager Environment and Sustainability, Hewitt Foods.

Moderated by Blue Hill Agency founder, Stacey Wordsworth, the panel fielded questions from the audience on the benefits of initiatives such as the ABSF in meeting sustainability standards and expectations.

NAB’s Josie Zilm said while farmers have big aspirations and plenty of information from the ABSF, they’re also managing productivity goals and unpredictable weather conditions.

Ms Zilm said farmers are looking further along the supply chain for direction, and there are some inspirational profitability metrics associated with sustainability practices.

“Some farmers are partaking in programs such as the sustainability standards set by Greenhams and Coles, that provide a framework for suppliers to participate and also command a premium price from consumers,” she said.

“In terms of a sustainability return on investment, there are organisations that want to specifically invest in green activities, so the opportunities for farming businesses and supply chain participants are starting to create a demand for green lending opportunities.

“These sustainability activities have the potential to open up new avenues to market access, improve climate resilience and boost profitability on farm.”

Nathan Moore from Hewitt Foods, which is currently conducting the largest red meat sustainability study in Australia, co-funded by Meat & Livestock Australia, said beef producers needed to remain the focus of the ABSF to allow for continued engagement and increased capacity. 

“A great deal of information from the ABSF is based on regional, state or national data sets related to survey figures or the aggregated data across large areas of production, not necessarily to the property level of individual producers,” Mr Moore said.

“Some producers may not feel represented in the benchmarks, targets and results they read. Individual producers need to be able to connect the dots from these data points, to understand how their own operations and enterprise can be measured against the ABSF updates.

“Generally, I would say the ABSF allows Hewitt Foods to benchmark our current sustainability standards as our expectations are already set quite high across our value chain.

“The ABSF can provide the benefit of connecting with the broader industry and ensuring producers are aware of sustainability demands and emerging trends, as there is a lot of uncertainty around sustainability and biodiversity targets and how these indicators will be measured in the future.”