Australia calls on the EU to delay deforestation laws 

Australia has called on the European Union to delay its deforestation laws to avoid any adverse impact on agricultural trade. 

Australian Agriculture Minister Murray Watt revealed the move during the launch of the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework's Annual Report at Beef 2024. 

From 2025 EU companies will be prevented from importing beef products from properties where deforestation had occurred over the past four years.  

Mr Watt has written to the EU Commissioner for the Environment, outlining his concerns. 

"I have requested that the EU Commissioner delay its implementation until all requirements are fully understood and to avoid any adverse impact on our agriculture trade," Senator Watt said on Tuesday.  

While the minister said Australian beef exports should not be impacted by the new regulations he said it had created a mood of uncertainty for the industry. 

"There is understandably very real concern about what that will mean for Australian businesses that are either already exporting to Europe, or want to have the opportunity to do so in the future," Senator Watt said in Rockhampton. 

The comments were made as the beef industry released a snapshot on how its tracking on sustainability.  

Listen to Mark Davie talk through the ABSF numbers and where the industry goes from here. 

The annual update of the Australian beef sustainability framework noted that the interpretation of deforestation can differ. 

"These requirements, which include definitions of forest height and canopy, do not relate to bioregions and they ignore extensive environmental research undertaken in an Australian context," the chair of the framework's steering group, Mark Davie said. 

The annual update also found almost 160 million hectares, or 55% of Australia's cattle-producing land, was managed for biodiversity outcomes in 2023.  

That's bigger than the farmed land in the European Union, according to the data. 

The results are from a survey of graziers who were asked if they actively manage for biodiversity. 

"52% of the nation and 50,000 businesses are actively engaged in their environment, managing that directly on the ground," he said. 

But Mr Davie who is also a beef producer, conceded the figures around biodiversity are reliant on an interpretation from graziers rather than meeting any regulatory metric. 

"One of our biggest challenges is we don't yet have the data and the indicators and the measurement techniques available to capture across our landscape," he said. 

"By 2028 we want to have the ability to measure that." 

The figure is up from the 43.7% reported in last year's annual update, with typical measures including weed and pest management, revegetation, soil remedy works, and fencing riparian areas. 

"We want consumers and customers to understand how engaged industry is in trying to become more sustainable in ways to better manage our landscape," he said.