A major cattle farming group, the Australian Beef Association, has voiced strong disappointment at the Cattle Council of Australia for supporting a set of global sustainability guidelines.
The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB, which is made up of environmental advocacy groups, major retailers, producers and the Cattle Council of Australia) is setting up the international rules.
The GRSB is currently seeking public comment on its set of draft principals for sustainable beef production.
GRSB CEO Ruaraidh Petre said sustainable beef production was ‘what shoppers want’.
“Ultimately it’s the consumer who demands this,” he said.
Mr Petre said there are three pillars of sustainability; economic, social and environmental.
“These things vary from place to place there are different issues in different countries.
“For the producer, what it will mean is being efficient and being able to continue doing what you’re doing without depleting the natural resources on your property.”
Australian producers have to sign vendor declarations, the National Livestock Identification system and pasture-fed certificates.
Mr Petre said the Cattle Council was still assessing what these existing standards will mean in conjunction with the global guidelines.
However, the Australian Beef Association, which represents grass-fed cattle producers, has been highly critical of the need for such sustainability guidelines.
Queensland-based director Linda Hewitt told ABC Radio producers in Australia were not well represented by Cattle Council Australia.
“Cattle Council has got caught up in the romance and the idea of it, but has not thought it through.”
Ms Hewitt said Australian beef producers were among the greenest cattlemen in the world.
She said distinction needed to be made between pasture land grazed cattle and feed-lot cattle.
