Central Queensland producer Melinee Leather
One of the producers involved in the development of MLA's Environmental Credentials Platform is Melinee Leather, based in Central Queensland. Leather Cattle Co, owned by Melinee and her husband Rob, has also recently been recognised as one of the most sustainable cattle enterprises globally and awarded the Success Through Collaboration Award at the Global Conference on Sustainable Beef.
Melinee, her husband Robert, son Adam and his wife Chloe operate a beef breeding and backgrounding business across three properties, covering 17,500ha from Banana to the North Burnett region.
They run a Brahman-based herd, crossed with Limousin, Belmont and Angus. They've also invested in a fullblood Wagyu herd, as well as Angus cattle to extend into an F1 Wagyu program.
In addition to Teys Grassland and EU accreditation, the Leathers rely on the feeder market when the seasons aren't favourable.
Sustainable management is at the forefront of their business, to ensure their environment is well looked after, and that they are doing the best possible job in terms of land management and environmental impact.
Melinee recently finished a four-year position with the sustainability steering group for the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework, and the Leathers were among the first producers in the country to access NAB's Agri Green Loan.
"NAB knew our business was very interested in sustainability and in collecting data and making sure we can verify claims, so it was a natural progression for us to go down this pathway with them," Melinee said.
"The Environmental Credentials Platform is in line with our bank's reporting requirements for the Green Loan."
Environmental Credentials Platform
The ability to collect data with a view to tracking and verifying the sustainability work they are doing was an area Melinee was keen to explore further.
When MLA offered her the opportunity in 2023 to test a platform which measures sustainable production practices on-farm and provides environmental credentials for benchmarking and trading, she knew she wanted to be involved.
MLA's Environmental Credentials Platform incorporates mechanisms to determine carbon balance and biodiversity, while delivering access to learning modules under five environmental themes:
- carbon balance
- tree cover
- ground cover
- drought resilience
- biodiversity stewardship.
"We initiated the development of the Environmental Credentials Platform in response to demands for the supply chain to demonstrate environmental sustainability," MLA Environmental Markets Project Manager Jenny Lim said.
"We've had a lot of conversations with end users – banks, even retailers and government agencies – who want to measure their Scope 3 emissions. To help them achieve this, they need producers to demonstrate they are operating sustainably and using best practice on farm."
The project – funded by the National Landcare Program's Smart Farming Partnerships initiative – was developed by a consortium led by MLA and including World Wide Fund for Nature Australia and the University of Queensland.
The Leathers were among more than 50 grassfed beef producers and supply chain participants involved in the platform's design, to ensure it met the requirements of the supply chain.
Environmental stewardship is the goal for the leather family.
User-friendly goal
Jenny said although producers have the option to use audits or on-farm assessments to demonstrate their credentials, these can be very expensive.
"Audits and assessments are not always accessible if a producer is just starting out on their sustainability journey," she said.
"We wanted this project to provide a user-friendly, free or low-cost way for producers to demonstrate their on-farm practices to an end user.
"It was a collaborative effort by industry to create a platform which meets their needs."
Benefits to producers
Melinee said the platform provided value to their business.
"We're very interested in any way we can track our land management and environmental impact, obtain resources to improve this, and be able to verify our sustainability claims. This platform will do all of those things," she said.
"It has a lot of resources to upskill ourselves and our staff."
She also appreciates its user-friendly interface and compatibility with other programs.
"I like the fact the platform is within the myMLA dashboard, so everything is tidy. It's handy when you can start integrating some of the data you're collecting with other platforms. The Learning Library and the Academy can help you think about what you're doing and generate ideas for you."
Melinee said the platform's ability to share on-farm initiatives with others – in terms of verifying a producer's claims – is one of its strengths.
"Being able to demonstrate your credentials to the supply chain is a business opportunity," she said.
"We can't just say we're doing these things. We need have some sort of platform to prove the claims we make around environmental management and other sustainability measures."
Recording data
The platform has given the Leathers the opportunity to record existing sustainability initiatives which they already have underway, as well as guiding future improvements.
"You might be doing things to reduce your methane emissions, or improve your soil carbon, or have plans in place to be deforestation-free.
"Here at 'Barfield', we're linking remnant vegetation with tree planting corridors to improve biodiversity.
"The platform helps you to understand what differences these things might make to your property and your business. What will the benefits of additional tree cover and biodiversity in your pricing system mean? It opens your mind to techniques and management practices; it's a holistic thing.
"If you improve your biodiversity, you'll improve soil carbon levels and kilos of dry matter produced."
On the front foot
"We wanted a platform which is ready for producers to use if and when they see an opportunity from demonstrating their performance," Jenny said.
"The producers who are already using this platform are quite forward thinking, and they're taking advantage of things which are coming to market now and are at the forefront of that."
Melinee said this type of reporting was essential to demonstrate red meat producers are operating sustainably.
"I think producers need to understand the people who we're either getting money from or supplying product to – banks, processors etc – have to be able to demonstrate these credentials to meet their own requirements. Our Scope 1 emissions are Scope 3 emissions down the other end of the supply chain. Whoever we're doing business with will need this type of reporting."
