E-CO2 attend ‘Beefing Up Sustainability’ seminar on the environmental and economic sustainably of beef
The E-CO2 team attended the ‘Beefing Up Sustainability’ conference on the 26th of November in Brussels. The SAI Platform Sustainable Beef Principles were launched and an emphasis placed on environmental and economic sustainability. These principles defined the required goals for sustainable beef production; the next step is to determine how these goals can be reached.
It was highlighted that improving the environmental sustainability of beef production cannot be achieved whilst failing to consider farmers’ economic needs. Fortunately, those farmers that are the most environmentally efficient are usually the most profitable. Though research and innovation were mentioned as essential for achieving sustainability it was emphasised that a lot of knowledge is already available and that the biggest challenge is to engage all farmers. Farmers have shown that they can adapt to new challenges and the best performing farmers can help to achieve this through knowledge transfer.
The Beef ‘What If? Tool being developed by E-CO2 in partnership with McDonald’s was also identified as a way to encourage farmer engagement by helping farmers to identify the small changes on farm that will have the most impact on reducing their carbon footprint. In addition, it highlights the financial benefits such changes can have on the business, providing the incentive needed to drive innovation. It was concluded that policy makers will need to support the process of innovation by providing a stable and predictable framework with an emphasis on supply collaboration.