CHANGING ways in what both consumers and suppliers of finance want are driving the paradigm shift in thinking that agriculture must undergo to maintain a social licence to operate.
So says one of the country's most experienced and influential farming advisers Dr Terry McCosker OAM.
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He calls it the two big Ms - money and markets - and says the trends in both towards sustainability and natural capital are starting to shift the consciousness of producers.
That will lead to significant change in the way beef is produced in the next five years, with regenerative agriculture principals coming firmly to the fore, he believes.
Speaking at the 2022 Resource Consulting Services Conference held in Brisbane last week, Dr McCosker said social licence to farm was increasingly coming under pressure.
Social licence, he explained, was the process by which a community grants or withholds permission to an industry to conduct its business.
It's something you don't know you have until someone takes it away, Dr McCosker said.
"These days it is so easy for us to lose that licence due to social media, which enables people to whip up a frenzy with no real knowledge of an issue," he said.
Divisions and opposition to farming can be created seemingly without cause. It can be championed in a short space of time, by vast numbers of people.
"And the next minute you have a politician who believes what is being said and acts on it," Dr McCosker said.
"One of the biggest examples of that was the closing down of live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2001 based on a television report.
"The damage that did to both Australia and Indonesia was massive. People in Indonesia went without food. The land in northern Australia was severely degraded because people couldn't move stock.
"When leaders listen to the noise there are unintended consequences.
"If we run our land with the concept of stewardship and obligation we will never have a problem with social licence.
"But it's not simply a matter of what we do but how we prove it. We need to measure."
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At Grant and Carly Burnham's organic beef property Bonnie Doone, near Monto in Central Queensland, that paradigm shift is well underway.
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The preliminary data coming off Bonnie Doone suggests a five year average of 50 kilograms of carbon dioxide sequestered per kilogram of meat sold.
Mr Burnham said utilsing carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it into soils made the operation more drought and flood tolerant and had increased animal production through weight gains and eliminating weed and parasite problems.
Mrs Burnham described social licence as walking in two worlds.
"One foot is in our own ego world, working to purpose, gathering resources," she said.
"The other foot is in a world full of expectations from our ancestors and the call from our children's children - and of course the rest of the world who want cleaner greener solutions to living, eating and being."
In the process of transitioning from conventional grazing to organic certification, the Burnhams have grown their business in terms of acres, dollars, production and people.
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They've navigated succession planning, reviewed their values to be more in tune with the call of the planet, diversified the business with bespoke accommodation and founded a social enterprise that enhances art and culture in their town.
Their most noted environmental program began in 2016 when they established a soil carbon project on 5500 hectares at Bonnie Doone.
"We are among five property owners part of this first-in-the-world soil carbon project," Mrs Burnham said.
"There are 100 reasons why we took this path but when we distill it down, it evoked in us a sense of contribution to something much greater than ourselves, a contribution to the planet."
The Burnhams are baselining core samples and while it is a lengthy process - the project runs over 25 years - initial progress and expectations are being exceeded already.
"All the while, the price of carbon credits increases and the global appetite for green finance and ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials grows," Mrs Burham said.
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"The more we give to the earth the more it yields."
Dr McCosker said the results at Bonnie Doone were numbers the industry could use to offset the GHG accusations against beef.
"We need to start thinking thousands of years out, not generations," he said.
"Social capital is not about box ticking, it comes from the heart and is about stewardship and, at the end of the day, it is all about people.
"A focus more on natural capital - looking at not just carbon but the health of the entire ecosystem - the geology, soil, air, water, all living things and the people in it - is where the real change will be made.
"When we do that, social licence is not an issue for agriculture."
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Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally.
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally.
