Sustainability in the Australian livestock industry is best understood in the context of:
- Environmental sustainability
- Economic sustainability, and
- The sustainability of regional communities
Ensuring the industry is sustainable has benefits for not only producers, processors and the supply chain but for the regional and rural communities that rely on the employment and economic stimulation of the livestock industry.
To ensure economic sustainability, farmers need to sustainably manage the environment. After all, it's the soil, grass and water on farmers' properties that enables them to graze cattle and sheep.
Improving environmental sustainability
Over the past 10 to 15 years the livestock industry has been focussed on improving its environmental sustainability. Farmers' have been managing the twin challenges of environment sustainability, at the same time as striving to increase productivity in the context of a highly variable climate.
The red meat industry acknowledges that prior to this time that many practices had a negative impact on natural resources across the country. Early Australian agriculture tried to farm the country in a European manner, as a result, a range of government policies and on-farm practices led to environment degradation in some areas.
Today most farmers understand that to be sustainable they need to manage the environment in a sustainable way.
Through Meat and Livestock Australia the industry has invested significantly in research and development to ensure environmental sustainability, including:
- Grazing strategies
- Soil and groundcover management
- Water management
- Reducing emissions
- Revegetating
Promoting environmental sustainability
The livestock industry is proud of the improvement it has made in sustainably managing natural resources. Right across the country the improvement in soil health, groundcover, vegetation and biodiversity can be seen on farms. To see some examples of what producers are doing, please check out our case studies.
To celebrate the great work that producers are doing, the industry has been celebrating and promoting its environment sustainability on World Environment Day. Check out how the industry promoted World Environment Day in 2009 and 2010.