AgForce's key industry forum at Rockhampton hears beef sector's top priorities

The Queensland beef sector was recently given an insight into the industry's key priorities at AgForce's key industry forum in Rockhampton on Wednesday.

Guest panellists Cattle Australia chair David Foote, Signature Beef's Josie Angus, Nutrien Ag Solutions livestock agent Dane Pearce, Rockhampton, and AgForce cattle board director David Hill were invited to share their insights on the top priorities facing the industry at current.

Fourth generation Clermont cattle grazier Josie Angus gave some insights into the EU and UK free trade deals and the implications they hold for the Australian beef industry.

"The UK free trade agreement for our industry presents an enormous opportunity for our industry," Ms Angus said.

"We have managed to negotiate some tremendous access through the agreement.

"Unfortunately, whilst our negotiators have done a tremendous job in gaining access to the UK and achieving some wonderful quota, we've done pretty poorly in terms of convincing our own bureaucrats about the regulations that we might need to use to supply that market."

In 2020, Ms Angus bought a motion to the AgForce board to establish a new system to modernise the HGP free declared cattle across all markets.

Ms Angus said there was a lot of work still needed for their industry to maximise this opportunity.

"I think it now flows into the EU negotiations that we can get that harmonised and modernised system up across both markets there," she said.

"They are extremely high value markets and worth every effort that we can put into trying to maximize the numbers of the Australian herd that are eligible to meet those markets.

"We've got these wonderful integrity systems, so we can actually negotiate real market access across our standardised integrity systems."

Australia's definition of deforestation on agricultural land was also debated, with Ms Angus calling for the term to be consistent with those of the UK, EU and US.

"In the EU negotiations as well, getting our definitions right, particularly around deforestation is important," she said.

"It is a touch point with the EU, but there's a really clear difference in the Australian definition of a forest and the European definition of forest.

"In the EU, it excludes any agricultural land, so there is no such thing as deforestation on agricultural land in the EU."

Ms Angus said there was much to learn from our US counterparts, with the work they're doing around vegetation management, particularly in the prairie states.

"Australian beef producers have a fair bit of work to do to change the narrative, because central Queensland is reliant on a really unique carbon cycling mechanism," she said.

"It's really important that we get that message right to our negotiators and we really need to keep that conversation going, that if we can't get our own definitions, right, it's gonna be really hard to negotiate that fair and free access.

"There's a massive job for our negotiators and there's a massive job for David Foote and his board to grow a spine for our negotiatiors."

In response, Cattle Australia chair David Foote said the market was bound by geographical indicator restrictions.

"To get the advantage of the EU market that Josie talks about, yes there is a premium there, other industries are going to have to give up so much through the geographical indicator restrictions," Mr Foote said.

"We're just going to have more internal fights over the value of the EU and we'd rather not get down to that position.

"On another point of market access, if we can't change the rules, we can't access that system because there aren't that many herds to take advantage of the free trade agreement."

Rockhampton livestock agent Dane Pearce of Nutrien Ag Solutions, offered some insights into what clients are saying and what they believe can be done to better the industry.

"I think we as livestock agents, we're not just buyers and sellers, we can influence someone when to buy or sell," Mr Pearce said.

"We need to influence people that do have these issues about biosecurity and as you look at the scare that we probably got in the last 12 months with foot and mouth disease and how close we came and that's a national issue and protecting our borders.

"With Cattle Australia, we need to be influencing people to support it, be a part of it and get to know what it's about and there's so much more going on in the industry and more producers could be involved in and have a voice."

Mr Pearce also acknowledged the importance of differentiating between state and national agriculture issues.

"We get caught up so much in the state issues whether it be branding and ear marking," he said.

"I think as agents, we play our part and we also have a network around the country of people that need to understand this and what it is about."

Grazier David Hill of Clarke Creek is Cattle Australia vice chair and also sits on the AgForce cattle board.

Mr Hill said there were many challenges that face the industry that will affect the viability of the industry moving forward.

"As a freehold landowner in Queensland, I've haven't been able to clear a revegatated tree since 1999, so the whole idea that we're deforesting is in an ongoing frustration for me," he said.

"I think it's incumbent upon us, we cannot afford to be unseen and unheard.

"But the other thing is, we're under resourced and the reliance on volunteers is something that I think this industry should actually be embarrassed about."