How we produce, distribute, market and consume food connects us to one another, and has important implications for climate, nature, and health.
Agriculture covers more than half of the land in Australia and is responsible for around 18% of carbon emissions and a significant driver of biodiversity loss. But regenerative agricultural practices also offer critical solutions to the climate and nature crises, by restoring nature, enhancing soil carbon, preventing erosion, strengthening biodiversity, and supporting diverse localised food production.
As the climate changes, biodiversity declines, and cost of living and food insecurity rises, it has never been more important to future proof our food systems.
CSIRO and UQ have released a new report, Towards a State of the Food System. The report explores “opportunities to better recognise and manage Australia’s food system by highlighting gaps and biases in reporting that obscure important food system interactions.”
The final Sustainable Finance Taxonomy has been released, detailing a classification system for identifying economic activities that deliver on key climate and other sustainability objectives. The taxonomy sets out performance metrics for decarbonising activities in specific sectors, including Agriculture & Land.
South Australia has passed its first Biodiversity Act, which includes stronger regulation of vegetation clearing and habitat management.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand have approved an application from Vow to sell lab-cultivated quail. Read more about the decision here, and an insight into what it means for the cell-cultivated market. If anyone wants an introduction to Vow or Cellular Agriculture Australia, please let me know.
The Oakey Coal Action Alliance has withdrawn from its long-running legal battle against the New Acland coal mine expansion in the Darling Downs over concerns regarding impacts to local water supplies
The latest Great Barrier Reef Scientific Consensus Statement confirms that land management practices in Reef catchments continue to degrade water quality and exacerbate climate impacts. The statement calls for more investment in research and monitoring, and collaborating with farmers and First Nations owners on locally-effective solutions
ACF released The Future of Food, assessing how 20 of Australia’s largest food companies manage their impacts on nature. In response to a campaign for major supermarkets to stop purchasing beef from farmers engaged in unlawful land clearing, Woolworths has committed to only stock ‘deforestation-free’ beef from 2025
The ANAO released its review of the National Soil Strategy, finding the design and implementation of the strategy has not been effective and recommending clear implementation and monitoring plans for the National Soil Action Plan
The water trigger in the EPBC Act (which requires large fossil fuel projects impacting on water resources to seek federal environmental approval) was expanded to include all unconventional gas (not just CSG). This will increase the level of assessment for many gas projects on farming land.
