AUGUST 2025
The Final Word
. 34
MARKET MEAT THE New Cattle Australia boss Will Evans sits down with CONOR FOWLER to chat about his hopes for the billion-dollar beef industry
Q Will Evans, as you begin your tenure as chief executive of Cattle Australia, what are your priorities for the sector? A I think we have set an ambitious agenda. Obviously, the review of the ($5 per head beef transaction) levy is a big matter for the industry. Cattle Australia has put the wheels in motion and I’ve obviously joined at a time where it’ll be incumbent on me to design and assist with the implementation of a process to engage with grass-fed levy producers about their views and then decide what a pathway forward for the levy looks like. Then there’s been a significant amount of work done around ensuring that the environmental practices inherent on Australia’s farms, especially on Australia’s beef properties, are recognised both by government and industry stakeholders. And it’s about getting on the front foot in these discussions and ensuring that this space isn’t solely occupied by environmental NGOs. It’s critically important that the beef industry is well represented in these discussions using science and facts as a basis for our positioning. The work around methane currently is something that will be a big focus for us and it’s something that we’ve had to do a lot of engagement with the scientific and research community on. It’s about making sure that whatever the beef industry’s contributions are to the national accounting method are accurately quantified. This term of government very much looks like there’s going to be targets put in place around what industry sectors need to contribute in this push towards net zero. Q Speaking of which, should Australia pursue a net zero target? A Whether we should or we shouldn’t is really irrelevant. I think the reality for us is that we need to respond to any legislative targets that are being put in place. And what we’re doing is we’re making sure the industry is best positioned to avoid the impost of regulatory measures that may negatively impact farm businesses. The
government is going to make decisions about these things, and we need to make sure that no matter what position we’re in, the beef industry’s contributions and the beef industry’s history of effective land management is recognised in those targets. Our job is to make sure that no-matter what happens, the beef industry and beef producers are protected. Q With the red meat industry stepping back from its carbon
implemented almost eight years ago the world collectively has spent billions of dollars on climate research, and what we know now is far different to what we knew then. The industry has realigned and re- implemented a more
appropriate target, as opposed to abandoning any work in this space altogether. We are committed to continuing to work to meet the requirements and the expectations of our industry and of those who support our industry. But what we want to be doing is making sure that we’re not putting in place any measures that could potentially be used against us, or investing in things that ultimately aren’t going to provide a return. One of the discussions that can never be lost in any sort of target setting is the need to maintain profitability of businesses.
neutral 2030 target, how important is it for the beef sector to continue to reduce emissions, and who is responsible for leading that push if so? A What we did is we changed our target based upon new science becoming available. Since the target was
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator