Like all responsible boards should, GrainGrowers recently reviewed our five-year strategic direction.
Based on our experiences as growers, member feedback, input from our National Policy Group and our understanding of challenges ahead for Australian growers, two key themes emerged as a focus for assisting grain growers across Australia – Profitability and Sustainability.
Sustainability is highly important for Australian grain growers.
Many of you may be, like myself, a canola farmer and will therefore be familiar with requests from your marketers to tick a box of sustainability which is in fact making an ISCC self-declaration. The ISCC – International Sustainability and Carbon Certification – allows canola to flow into European bio-diesel markets and attracts a price premium.
At a recent grains conference I attended, the question was asked – should Australia have its own sustainability certification system rather than use the ISCC?
It may be a little too late to ask this question considering 7221 Australian farms traded sustainable grain in 2021– canola, barley, oats, and lupins. On a global scale in 2020, there was 12 million metric tonnes of canola ISCC certified. So, the ISCC seems to be already entrenched in the global trade of canola and many other commodities are looking to follow.
There is however a reason to pause about the ISCC system being the best fit for Australian growers.
To this end, GrainGrowers has joined ISCC to ensure that there is a voice representing Australian farmers and Australian farming systems, which differ significantly from European systems.
We are aware though that trading with Europe means sustainability goals that come with greater scrutiny with each new version of EU Energy Directives.
Though, sustainability is more than a carbon conversation.
Sustainability on farm is about the future preservation of natural resources, balanced with economic viability for farmers. A sustainable declaration includes employee health and safety, chemical and fertiliser storage, spray diaries, soil tests and paddock records.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an international blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all. Spearheaded by GrainGrowers, Behind Australian Grains is a sustainability framework for our industry that has been mapped against these goals. Work continues establishing viable measurements for our sector.
As these important projects continue, there’s some useful resources for growers including the Carbon and Cropping report and further information on the Behind Australian Grains sustainability framework.
We’d love for more growers to be a part of these conversations and encourage you to drop us a line!