What's in the news right now about an environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable beef value chain?

Executive Director's Message:

For the first time since March, I was able to attend an event on the North Island last week; the New Zealand Roundtable for Sustainable Beef organised a field day and meeting around the conclusion of the verified sustainable beef pilot undertaken with a group of farmers and processors. At the same time we also heard from those who worked on the sustainability add-on to the NZ Farm Assurance Program; NZFAP+.

The existence of a national farm assurance standard (NZFAP) and the development of a further standard which considers sustainable practices (NZFAP+) has been instrumental in the speed with which the NZRSB has formed. The underlying premise of the NZRSB has been to leverage much of the good work already underway across New Zealand. 

The meeting and field day were held on Rangitaiki Station, a Landcorp Pāmu property to the East of Lake Taupo, and situated around 700 m (2100 ft) above sea level. Unusual for the North Island, the growing season is only four months long.

It is an extensive property of around 8,400 effective ha (20,750 acres) running approximately 84,000 stock units (adult sheep equivalents) in the form of a Beef and Sheep breeding block, a bull beef block, and a deer breeding and finishing block.

The livestock on Pāmu farms are grassfed, hormone and antibiotic free.

While not advocating large scale conversion of grazing land to forestry, Landcorp has sufficient land holdings to be able to decide to put the most marginal grazing land into tree plantations and benefit from the emission trading scheme, as skilled labour and equipment can be utilised over their entire portfolio of 116 farms and 365,257ha (902,570 acres).

Pāmu has a strong commitment to sustainable production to protect and enhance the environment, and was thus a logical partner in the proof of concept for NZ sustainable beef.

In other news we are pleased to announce that Amie Peck, Stakeholder Engagement Manager from Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, has agreed to chair our Communications Council. Welcome Amie and thank you for your commitment!

Thanks,

Ruaraidh Petre
Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef
Executive Director
September 22, 2020

All three goals working groups are getting close to completing the first draft language of the goals for climate, animal wellbeing and land conversion. The consultation and feedback process will begin in the coming week.

Please note: You must register for each event separately. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting or webinar. 

Our next webinar will be on “Traceability for Sustainability”.

Today, Tuesday, September 22, 2020
3:00 PM Central Daylight Time (US and Canada)

"Traceability plays an important role in many aspects of sustainability, first and foremost in terms of sanitary control, as well as management support for greater efficiency."

Traceability of animals is also an integral part of success in measuring sustainability efforts. During this webinar we will share and discuss information regarding traceability needs in various parts of the world and on ways GRSB members are utilizing animal traceability to meet their production and sustainability goals. In addition, existing and future technologies will be discussed and how they may be used to enhance the collection and transfer of important information.

View a short video from
Webinar Moderator Scott Stuart,
GRSB

View Video

Register for
“Traceability: Solutions for Sustainability”:

Register

Special Joint meeting organised for the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock by GRSB and
AgResearch, 
Oceania region

"From Crisis to Action: Lessons from Covid19 for Building a Better Future through Sustainable Livestock"

was held on August 31, 2020

See presentations from the meeting:

GASL

Coming in October:

Communications Webinar

“Communicating Beef
Sustainability Effectively” 

October 27, 2020

12 Noon, Central US Time

Watch for registration information coming soon.

Please see a summary of all meetings, calls and webinars on our event calendar in the member area of the website.

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