WITH environmental groups consistently accusing the cattle industry of cutting down forests and supply chains making “deforestation-free” promises, a group of Central Queensland producers have come together to show why trees need to be managed.
Europe is set to ban the import of goods linked to deforestation at the end of this year and supply chains like Woolworths and McDonald’s have made similar pledges to start in the next decade.
But the producers who would see the most impact from supply chains limiting their market access are also the ones who appear to have had the least say in the debate over deforestation.
Led by David Hill from Clarkewood Station at Clarke Creek, a group of Central Qld producers have been trying to pull the industry together to support them in explaining the importance of managing landscapes.
They recently took a group of industry leaders, including Meat & Livestock Australia board members Jack Holden and Russell Lethbridge and Net Zero CRC CEO Richard Heath, to Bev and Peter Quinn’s Essex Station, near Middlemount.
“It is an emotive argument, you can’t blame people for feeling the way they do if they don’t have the alternative put in front of them,” Mr Hill said.
“We believe we have a positive story to tell and we need to be telling it. Otherwise, you are going to see the footage saying ‘red meat kills koalas’ when there is evidence to say koalas can thrive co-habiting with grazing animals and we have been able to somewhat demonstrate that on our property.”
- Beef Central will have more from the recent Essex Station field day in coming days.
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Firstly let me say congratulations and thank you to David, Peter and Ian on their vision to bring this very precarious position to light on behalf of every Australian Ag. producer. The old saying about “the first person through the door”, could easily have kept anyone from sticking their credibility on the line on matters so eminent at the moment. Not having the privilege to travel as widely as most, I will keep my comments Qld based. For the biggest majority of land holdings in Qld, I have witnessed significant vegetation thickening over the past 50 + years. This is in most part due to the rising costs of treatment of these areas but also due to invasive species proliferating at a rate beyond the capability to keep in check. Areas that were once open/semi open forest grazing, have now been overtaken by a range of species, from native to invasive. Producers are not being taken seriously in the role of carbon and methane in the agricultural industry. Without a healthy pasture base, hence more regrowth, there would be less carbon sequestered, less top soil, more erosion, more sediment run-off and less produce to feed the masses. Australia was never a jungle thicket, it was more of an open savannah. Brigalow country has and always will have a healthy life cycle and biodiversity with it’s soils. Governments are attempting to intervene and in turn try and force landholders into having a more abrasive relationship with their land or alternately are trying to force the “Lab-grown” product.