QUEENSLAND beef producer and food processor Mark Davie has been appointed as the new Beef Sustainability Steering Group (SSG) chair.

Mr Davie will take over from current SSG chair Tess Herbert in November.

Mark Davie

Red Meat Advisory Council chair John McKillop welcomed Mr Davie’s appointment and thanked outgoing chair Ms Herbert.

“Since being appointed to the SSG, Mr Davie has demonstrated a clear commitment to drive the success of the framework for the betterment of industry,” Mr McKillop said.

“The RMAC Board is incredibly thankful for Ms Herbert’s dedication and leadership over the past three years which has secured the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework as a world-leading example of cross-supply chain collaboration.”

Mrs Herbert said it had been a pleasure to chair the steering group for the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework for the past three years.

“The work that the steering group and its manager, Jacob Betros, have achieved through this time has been extraordinary – a materiality review, a deep dive into Animal Husbandry Techniques, initiating a review of indicators and launching three annual update reports,” Ms Herbert said.

“The Australian Beef Sustainability Framework is invaluable to industry, not only is it a customer-focussed framework, but it is also an important tool for industry to use to verify our story.

“As a Queensland producer and food processor, Mark is already contributing to industry and will make an excellent chair of this important industry initiative, Mrs Herbert said.

“I leave the group in the excellent hands of Mark Davie as the SSG’s third chair.”

Mr Davie said using the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework to tell industry’s story had never been more critical.

“The ABSF tells our story with inclusivity and transparency, helping to address the concerns of customers and other stakeholders by communicating the important activities our beef supply chain undertakes,” he said.

“As an industry we must use the framework to demonstrate all of our ecosystem services including the role of soil in carbon sequestration, and the maintenance of tree grass balance in productive agriculture.

“As chair of the SSG, I will ensure the beef sustainability framework is able to be used by industry to pushback against the baseless misinformation spread by anti-livestock and anti-beef activists.”

Source: RMAC