The $3 million-dollar Green Sheep Project will provide the sheep industry with practical tools and knowledge to respond to the changing climate and meet growing global demand for verified sustainability credentials.
Delivered by Sheep Producers Australia with Glenelg Hopkins CMA, NRM South, Wheatbelt NRM and Holbrook Landcare Network with the support of Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, Integrity Systems Company, AUS-MEAT, AMIC and the Southern Australia Livestock Research Council – the three-year project combines on-farm action with whole-of-supply-chain expertise.
The project was officially launched by The Hon Julie Collins MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry with Sheep Producers Australia and NRM South at AgFest in Tasmania on 7 May.
Minister Collins said the Australian Government is committed to working farmers and producers to improve climate resilience and protect food security.
Janneke Scheeres from NRM South described the role of the regional NRM organisation as helping landholders to prepare to meet market expectations for sustainable produce through demonstrating improved land management.
‘We can see a lot of new expectations from markets, who are looking for confidence in how their food and wool is being produced and how well the land is cared for – and that will mean farmers will need to be measuring and reporting on that.”
The project has regionally specific goals, with the first phase of the Tasmanian project aimed at building connections across sheep farming communities and industry and setting up demonstration sites on sheep farms to show different pathways for farmers to invest in their natural capital.
In Western Australia, the Wheatbelt NRM project is focused on understanding, demonstrating and measuring the environmental role of sheep grazing within broadacre and mixed farming systems. This work will help producers gain a clearer understanding of the environmental impact and value of sheep, while building confidence in sustainability reporting, natural capital tools and the use of supply-chain-aligned data.
In Victoria, Glenelg-Hopkins CMA Manager Land Health Bernadette Northeast said farmers will help to set the agenda for the project through proposing different sorts of demonstration sites, including farm visits as was undertaken at the Victorian project launch in Woolshorpe.
“For some it will mean doing what we did today – we walked on a farm and learned what their practices are, why they are doing it, and what sort of metrics they are trying to shift on their farms for the market that they sell to.”
Ms Northeast said the Glenelg-Hopkins CMA component of the project might also include developing natural capital accounts or work to demystify and communicate natural capital audits and ensure that landholders are monitoring what will matter for markets.
“Is what they are measuring what will be useful in the future? Is the good work you have been doing for the last few decades going to be of value or are you going to be forced to start from a zero base? We want to work with them [farmers] to ensure what they are doing is recognised”
Green Sheep project events were hosted across Australia through May by Wheatbelt NRM in Katanning and Muchea, Glenelg-Hopkins CMA at Woolsthorpe in Victoria, and Holbrook Landcare in NSW.
The Green Sheep project demonstrates the crucial role of the regional NRM sector in improving on-ground practices, supporting market access and restoring landscapes to improve resilience.
This Climate Smart Sheep: Building industry capacity across the supply chain (Green Sheep) Project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.
