NFF president Fiona Simson says an agriculture-wide sustainability framework will be released this year.

THE National Farmers Federation says it plans to release a combined agriculture sustainability framework this year, bringing work together from all commodities in the industry.

President Fiona Simson presented to a forum in the New South Wales city of Armidale today, which was run by producer-led marketing group Ebor Beef and had about 200 attendees.

The conference had a focus on soil carbon, which seems to be growing in popularity, with similar events in the area hosting large crowds.

Ms Simson opened the day by explaining the NFF’s goal with the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework. She said it was about using data from different sides of the industry to showcase the entire industry.

“It’s not duplicating anything that is already out there because there is nothing nationally out there like this,” Ms Simson said.

“It is about pulling together data that might be held by Meat & Livestock Australia, pulling together data that might be held by the grains industry or data on individual farms. It is about aggregating it into a higher level where it can portray the sustainability of Australian agriculture as a whole – which is what markets are now requiring.

“Canada is the only other country I know of that has developed a holistic framework like this.”

Ms Simson said it was important the industry was on the front foot with sustainability messaging.

“This is not legislative, it is voluntary and it is being developed by farmers for farmers,” she said.

“If you have a look at the carbon marketplace it is incredibly complex and a lot of the initiatives that are being developed are being developed with more of an environmental bent. The issue with that is that it doesn’t give farmers a seat at the table and we don’t want that.”

• Beef Central will have more from the Ebor Beef conference later this week, including some reactions to recent changes in carbon markets and putting a label on sustainability.