L.SFP.1008 - Environmental Credentials for grassfed beef - biodiversity theme

Summary

This project contributes the biodiversity theme for the Environmental Credentials for Australian Beef project, which is developing a single online platform for grassfed beef producers to demonstrate sustainability to their markets using remote sensing and additional information. The methodology comprised a desk review for background scoping research, a series of co-design working groups, and synthesis of their deliberations and team investigations into a design brief. 

Biodiversity Stewardship as a demonstrable environmental credential for Australian beef is specifically about demonstrating that biodiversity is being retained and supported in grassfed grazing systems. 

Whilst each State and Territory in Australia has some form of voluntary biodiversity stewardship program that producers can get involved with, there is currently no national framework for certified biodiversity stewardship that leads to market opportunities for beef producers. 

The proposed Biodiversity Stewardship credential is not intended to duplicate or replace existing initiatives or programs that recognise and/or encourage best practice in the beef industry. Rather, it is intended to link directly to these initiatives and enable beef producers to demonstrate their biodiversity stewardship credentials via a nation-wide credential that is cost effective, not reliant on on-farm surveys, audits and measurements, and uses remotely sensed data to the greatest degree possible to confirm biodiversity stewardship status.

Objectives

1.    Develop the design brief for the Biodiversity Stewardship Theme for Environmental Credentials for Australian Beef (Smart Farms) project ready for translation into an on-line platform.  Theme designs will include indicators, measuring tools/approaches, benchmarks and learning resources.  The platform design must be suitable for producer self-assessment of environmental performance.  The process to achieve this will include:
a)    Coordinate and manage up to five co-design sessions with beef producers and relevant industry and other stakeholders to identify the scope and design of the solution for the Biodiversity Theme.  
b)    Select, collate, review and update relevant Biodiversity Stewardship theme materials for inclusion in the online platform, and incorporating co-design working groups and technical peer review feedback into the platform design brief for the Biodiversity Stewardship Theme.
c)    Produce a design brief for the technical builder of the online platform, from the co-design process.  Design brief to cover (minimum):
i.    Technical brief including any remote sensing or decision support component requirements
ii.    Brief for online learning.

2.    Support the environmental credentials platform developer in integrating the biodiversity theme into the on-line platform. 

Key findings

•    A platform design brief for the biodiversity stewardship theme was successfully developed. The design required inclusion of a definition, measures and indicators, benchmarks, gaps in learning resources.
•    An environmental credential for biodiversity stewardship should be consistent with, and link to (where possible) the proposed Australian Biodiversity Certification Scheme’s vegetation condition for biodiversity scoring method.
•    Beef producers participating in co-design groups were highly engaged in the process and had strong ownership in potential project outcomes.
•    ‘Design principles’ that emerged from discussions with the Biodiversity Stewardship theme working group include the need for an online sustainability tool that is intuitive and easy to use, open access, avoids duplication of effort and builds on (and/or links to) existing initiatives, and addresses privacy and data accuracy concerns. 
•    There is a risk of ‘disconnect’ between Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Project, which may limit the value of the work undertaken in Stage 1.  

Benefits to industry

This project has the potential to enable the following significant outcomes: 
•    Australian grassfed beef producers are rewarded for demonstrating their environmental credentials to customers, consumers and the community.
•    Australian grassfed beef producers are able to undertake self-directed learning to improve performance across five key environmental themes; 
•    Australian grassfed beef producers are able to respond to other market drivers (for example but not limited to customer requirements, accessing farm loans or schemes etc.) requiring demonstrable environmental credentials.

MLA action

MLA will continue to maintain and improve the Environmental Credentials platform for the immediate future. This will help build a user base and demonstrate the value of the platform for producers and end users of sustainability data. MLA plan to continue to make improvements to the platform to enhance the user experience, value, and utility of the platform. 

Future research

Further research will be useful on: 
•    evaluation of the platform some time after release
•    research on market demand 
•    research on verification and certification
•    expansion to other agricultural industries
•    accuracy of satellite imagery for parts of Australia will be needed to improve the third party verified technology.