BYÂ ANDREW ALDRIDGE, AUSTRALIAN DAIRY FARMERS FARM OPERATIONS POLICY ADVISORY GROUP CHAIR
Aussie dairy farmers are doing a bloody good job when it comes to environmental sustainability. But like marathon runners competing against folks doing their first couch-to-5k, those personal best records aren’t going to fall as easily and in as big an increment as those just getting started.
We need to recognise that back in 2012 we were the first Australian ag industry to have the foresight to set up a sustainability framework that covers our livelihoods, human nutrition, our animals and the environment. That since then we’ve made big gains, and that while we’ll continue to make gains, they’ll be increasingly incremental.
Sure, the latest Australian Dairy Sustainability Framework report figures are looking pretty good, but the reality is what we’re going to see from now on are incremental gains. It’s not because we’re not doing enough, but rather because we’ve done so much already.
Today more than 70 per cent of Australian dairy farmers have implemented energy efficiency projects or used renewable energy and 83pc have fenced off all natural waterways.
We’re also making new commitments, such as agriculture’s first industry action plan for halving food waste and a roadmap to improve the sustainability of the packaging of dairy products by 2025.
Of course, we need to keep going: farmers have traditionally been custodians of their land and environment, as demonstrated by organisations such as Landcare, which started more than 30 years ago! We now see it has become a focal point for global and domestic consumers and markets.
But we need everyone to recognise that the next gains are going to be tough, and we need to balance our business viability alongside our environmental investment.
Trust is strong in dairy industry
It’s encouraging to see consumer support for dairy reflected in the framework report. The Dairy Trust Tracker Survey shows that is strong, with almost eight in 10 Australians of the belief dairy is essential for good health and wellbeing.
In 2023 the dairy industry also welcomed the release of a study that quantified the health and financial benefits that could flow from increasing the servings of dairy in the diets of aged-care residents. Essentially, consumers know dairy is good for them. And they should feel good about consuming dairy, too.
As we look to 2024, we need to make sure we continue to do our bit for the environment, but we also need to make sure that consumers understand our bottom lines must also be sustainable.
“It’s incredibly hard to be green if you’re in the red”, as they say.
To keep producing food that is nutritious, good for our health and wellbeing and sustainable, it must also be commercially viable – we must be able to turn a profit like any business, otherwise we are not going to be here long.
Essentially, we need regulators and shoppers to recognise the good work we’ve done and when comparing our produce with countries that don’t have the standards we do be willing to pay for the sustainability progress we have achieved.
That’s not all we need to do. We need the whole supply chain to do its bit and not just to look at farmers for the easy gains.
We need to be real about the promise of the new income streams for adapting and mitigating climate change.
Sure, these may be great for some, but for a lot of us already doing good environmental work, we’ve done it. It’s not new, so we won’t be rewarded or will need to keep the gains to shore up our post-gate credentials.
We need to ensure farmers’ interests are represented when new well-considered environmental policies and regulations that impact us are being set. These must recognise that due to the industry’s front foot approach that a scalpel is needed not a chainsaw.
Perhaps most importantly, we need to keep our eye on those personal best scores, not just for the environment but for long-term profitability as well. Whatever the world (or nature, for that matter) throws at us, we need to keep doing what we do best, continually evolving and improving what we do and ensuring we have a dairy industry that not only cares for the environment but which makes sense financially too.
To download the 2023 Sustainability Report, visit https://australiandairyfarmers.com.au/adsf/.