Fourth sheep industry sustainability report card reveals progress made by industry

The release of the Sheep Sustainability Framework’s (SSF) 2024 Annual Report has revealed the broadest range of data to date on the sustainability performance of the Australian wool and sheepmeat industry.

Established by Sheep Producers Australia and WoolProducers Australia and supported by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the SSF is now in its fourth year of data collection and reporting.

“We are thrilled to be launching the latest snapshot of our industry’s sustainability credentials,” SSF Board Independent Chair, Angus Gidley-Baird said.

The SSF reports metrics within a framework of four themes:

• Caring for our sheep,
• Enhancing the environment and climate,
• Looking after our people, our customers and the community, and
• Ensuring a financially resilient industry.

SSF Steering Group Chair, Dr Scott Williams, said a significant amount of work had been done during the year to fill in data gaps with new metrics and better align metrics between the SSF and Australian Beef Sustainability Framework.

“The SSF is constantly evolving, seeking to move with the science and meet the increasing demand from consumers and industry stakeholders for transparency and performance when it comes to sustainable production of sheepmeat and wool,” Dr Williams said.

“The latest report shows that progress in critical areas for our industry also allows us to shine a spotlight on the challenges we need to tackle head on.”

Highlights

Reported for the first time in the SSF, sheep producers were asked to rate their satisfaction with their “life as a whole” as part of the Global Life Satisfaction Index, which encapsulates their standard of living, health, what they are achieving in life, personal relationships, safety, feeling part of their community and future security. Their score of 76.1% was higher than the overall Global Life Satisfaction for Australia (69.4%).

Sheep producers have shown a growing interest in measuring their farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The latest National Producer Survey found the percentage of producers using carbon accounting or another process for their enterprise had risen to 9.9%, up from 3% in the 2022 National Producer Survey.

Other highlights include:

• Baseline data showed 72.6% of producers are undertaking deliberate activities to measure, maintain or enhance biodiversity.
• The percentage of wool declared as non-mulesed has increased to 18.6% for Merino (from 15.8%) and 47.1% for non-Merino (from 40.1%).
• The appropriate use of pain management for mulesing, castration and tail docking continues to improve year-on-year.
• The gross value of the Australian sheepmeat and wool industry has jumped 8.9% in a year to $7.7b.

Challenges

Access to labour remains an issue for the industry. Of the 45,500 people employed in the sheep production and shearing sector, 40% of the workforce is aged 55-74, and 72% is male. The adoption of basic Workplace Healthy and Safety (WHS) practices, such as risk assessments and worker inductions, is relatively low.

In 2023, the National Producer Survey asked producers to rate the extent to which availability of general labour was an issue for their operation. More than four in every 10 producers (42%) reported major issues with finding general labour, representing was a 7% increase since 2022.

The story is slightly better for shearing labour, although 35.3% of producers reported issues with the availability of shearers, which is a 3.5% decrease since 2022.

Looking ahead, Mr Gidley-Baird highlighted moves in Europe, the US and Australia to regulate ESG reporting as one of the key challenges for the industry in 2025.

“It also reinforces the need for the Sheep Sustainability Framework, which is helping ensure a proactive position for the Australian industry, and is working to align with the Global Report Initiative to support our value chains,” he said.

Dr Williams said a major undertaking had been the development of a new digital dashboard published of the SSF’s website.

“The dashboard showcases current and historical data in an interactive format that will be updated with new information as it becomes available,” Dr Williams said. “It is a valuable tool for communicating the Australian sheep and wool industry’s amazing sustainability story.”

For more information and to read the 2024 Annual Report online visit Sheep Sustainability Framework (SSF) Annual Report

The SSF Board (L-R):
Steve Harrison, WoolProducers Australia; Bonnie Skinner, Sheep Producers Australia; Ben Thomas, Sheep Producers Australia; Angus Gidley-Baird, SSF Independent Chair; Jamie Heinrich, Sheep Producers Australia; Brett Smith, WoolProducers Australia; Jo Hall, WoolProducers Australia

Members of the SSF Steering Group (L-R):
Courtney Nelson, Meat & Livestock Australia; Dr Scott Williams, SSF Chair; Ed Dunn, MH Premium; Lachlan Monsbourgh, Rabobank; Maria Crawford, Coles