RETIRING Queensland Senator Ron Boswell is urging Australian farmers to take up the fight to green activists in a bid to stop the advance of costly sustainability certification schemes.
Senator Boswell, who bows out of politics after this year's federal election, said primary producers and their peak organisations needed to take a united stand against plans by environmental non-government organisations (ENGOs) to influence their production methods.
"If environmental activists get their way, farmers will be paying thousands of dollars a year to get a 'green tick' just so they can continue marketing their products," he said.
"Groups like WWF and Greenpeace want to force all our primary producers into expensive certification schemes.
"They have started with timber and seafood and are moving into beef, sugar, cotton and other commodities as well. Grassroots producers and their representative organisations must fight these schemes or they will cripple primary industry."
Senator Boswell said he had contacted the National Farmers Federation and other representative bodies, but said the push to stop the spread of the certification schemes must come from grassroots producers.
"It's my view that this is a very high priority issue that should go on to the agenda for the National Farmers Federation Members Council meeting in March, but of course that is for the NFF and its members to decide," Senator Boswell said.
"Certainly, this is an issue I am urging farmers to insist goes on to the agenda of their various representative bodies.
"Primary producers and their organisations must work together to fight this, across commodities and across regions, because the technique of the activists is to pick off commodities one by one."
NFF president Jock Laurie said the issue was on the agenda for March's council meeting, but added it was unlikely the NFF would advise commodity groups on how to deal with ENGOs.
"It's an important debate that needs to be had, but it's up to the different commodity groups to come up with plans on how to best deal with it," he said.
"In all these situations you need to think things through very carefully and consider that whatever you do is in the best interests of your members within your commodity group.
"It's very important that the industry itself is the master of its own destiny and they need to find ways of doing that. "If that means they want to get involved with WWF then that's the decision they will make, but they need to thoroughly thrash out the pros and cons of any proposals on the table."
Cattle Council of Australia (CCA), a commodity group which represents grass fed beef producers nationally, recently renewed its commitment via new CEO Jed Matz to work with WWF on the Australian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (ARSB). One of its biggest members, the Queensland peak state farming organisation, AgForce, is vehemently opposed to the roundtable scheme.
Senator Boswell said it was a classic divide and conquer tactic frequently employed by WWF, to pick off groups and companies one by one.
"One of the ENGOs' most successful tactics has been to pressure companies occupying strategic positions in the supply chain, such as dominant buyers," he said. "For example, WWF is sitting at the head of the table in talks with the likes of McDon-ald's, our largest single buyer of Australian beef, and JBS, our largest meat processor, at the so-called Australian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. WWF convenes roundtables, such as that for design standards, which are ultimately certified by an independent third party. The participants then have to publicly commit to producing, buying and selling within these standards, to be part of the commodity roundtable, forming what WWF calls 'a chain of sustainability'.
"For farmers, it adds up to a lot of money. These are schemes that cost individual producers thousands of dollars for the initial certification process and then regular, ongoing costs for auditing.
"It's completely unnecessary because our primary industries already work sustainably, but it produces a river of gold for the ENGOs and their mates doing farm inspections and auditing.
"Australian primary production is worth $50 billion a year and ENGOs want a slice of that action. Their share will come out of farmers' pockets."
Senator Boswell said several ENGOs, such as WWF, Greenpeace, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Planet Ark and the Wilderness Society were involved in sustainability certification schemes, often encouraging small numbers of producers to get involved with 'free' trials that promise better prices or better market access.
"Whenever farmers see WWF and large buyers of a particular commodity involved in trial schemes with small numbers of farmers to 'help' farmers improve environmental sustainability, everyone in that commodity should be asking where the project is going in the longer term and what the implications and costs might be for the remainder of the producers," he said.
"Under these schemes, primary producers are forced into costly inspections and auditing to prove to the satisfaction of the particular ENGO that their production methods and outcomes meet certain standards of environmental sustainability.
"Primary producers are forced to pay money to continue in business by signing up to the ENGOs' preferred sustainability scheme.
"It's environmental blackmail: 'greenmail' for short."
Senator Boswell said all primary producers should be on the alert.
"Just because WWF or one of these other radical green groups is not knocking on your door right now, don't think it won't happen. It will.
"No primary producer should expect to be spared the threat of environmentalists trying to dictate how you can work your own property," he said.
"Commodities being targeted by WWF internationally include beef, bio-energy, cotton, dairy, farmed fish, palm oil, pulp and paper, soy, sugar cane, timber and wild-caught fish.
"WWF is focusing on business categories such as processing companies, commodity traders, manufacturers, retailers and banks, urging them to deal only with producers endorsed by WWF.
The support of those key businesses of course applies pressure on primary producers to comply and join the ENGO certification scheme.
"It is by no means far-fetched to say that WWF and other ENGOs fully intend that eventually all food and fibre products harvested in Australia will be forced to go through one of its cash-producing sustainability certification schemes, every single one. Australian primary producers should think about that."
Comment was sought from the WWF.
