MUDGEGONGA cattle farmer Loretta Carroll has been appointed a Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) member for Cattle Australia, a national peak body for the grass-fed cattle industry, following the body’s annual general meeting in Albury last month.
According to Cattle Australia, Ms Carroll was appointed to the position as the only eligible nominee for sub-region four, covering the eastern half of Victoria.
Cattle Australia is governed by a board consisting of seven democratically elected directors, while the RCC consists of 15 elected levy-paying producers from 15 sub-regions across Australia.
The RCC also consists of eight state farming organisation representatives, appointed by their respective organisation.
Ms Carroll said one of Cattle Australia’s key features is its new governance structure, ensuring the board and members of the RCC are democratically elected by grassroots producers.
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“I have been involved in the process of establishing a new democratic representative organisation to serve all grass-fed cattle producers since 2016 and finally we have an organisation equipped to represent all levy-paying cattle producers,” Ms Carroll said.
“The next step is to encourage cattle producers across Australia to join up so Cattle Australia can have a strong voice from its members.
“This was the reasoning behind having the 15 regional representatives – to provide policy advice and direction to the board from the grassroots producers.
“We now need to come up with ways to access and have the important conversations with cattle producers and work together the deliver on their concerns.”
Ms Carroll particularly highlighted Cattle Australia calling for a review of the Meat and Livestock Australia’s CN30 (Carbon Neutral) framework.
According to Ms Carroll, intestinal methane emissions from beef production are part of a natural short-term cycle and have a different impact on global temperature rise than emissions from fossil fuels.
Earlier this year Cattle Australia chair David Foote said it made sense to focus on eliminating industry’s warming impact rather than a simplified CO2 equivalent, like the MLA’s CN30 framework.
“Cattle Australia members are seeking recognition that their emissions are part of a natural cycle, which is vastly different to fossil fuel emissions,” he said.
“Methane has a short lifespan and breaks down into CO2 which the beef industry has the ability to capture through pasture photosynthesis.
“International efforts are focused on limiting warming – we should be doing the same.”
