Five days in Rockhampton: Ruminati at Beef 2024

Beef week in Rockhampton comes around every three years, and when it does the whole industry shows up. Beef 2024 was no exception, and for the Ruminati team, it was one of the more significant events in the company's history to date.

Co-founders Peter Leihn, Bobby Miller and Will Onus were there for the full five days, alongside Lily, Bill, Cheryl, Annabel and data analyst Tanisha Shields (on loan from Agrista). The week covered a lot of ground.

Bobby opened the week with a Carbon Conversation alongside Carmel Onions from CommBank at the NBN Tech and Innovation Stage- a good scene-setter for the days that followed. The Ruminati marquee was busy throughout, with visits from the McDonald's team including Rebecca Honeysett and Tom Mahony, Woolworths, AuctionsPlus, Elders, Fulton Market Group and Agrista, alongside a steady stream of producers and feedlotters working through questions about the platform and what emissions tracking looks like in practice for their businesses.

Tanisha presented twice across the week on pathways to beef emissions efficiency (to packed marquees both times) breaking down the data behind what drives emissions intensity in beef systems and where the real levers for improvement sit. It's the kind of analysis that's only possible with a dataset of sufficient scale and diversity, and the response from producers reinforced how much appetite there is for that level of insight.

Peter moderated a panel on the NBN Stage featuring Rebecca Honeysett from McDonald's, Natasha Greenwood from CommBank, Wyn Snyman from AuctionsPlus and Matt Brown from Heartline Grazing- a conversation that ranged across supply chain sustainability, data sharing and what the emissions reporting landscape is going to look like for beef producers in the years ahead. During the panel, Wyn announced the new Ruminati and AuctionsPlus partnership, giving AuctionsPlus users the ability to showcase their Ruminati Climate Assessment status directly on the platform (a meaningful step toward making emissions data visible and useful at the point of sale!)

The week wrapped with the moment that probably mattered most: the first Ruminati Climate Assessed cattle going to market on AuctionsPlus. It's one thing to build a platform that helps producers measure their emissions. It's another to see that data start to flow through the supply chain in a way that has genuine commercial relevance for the producer. That's what this represents- and it's the direction everything is heading.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by across the week, asked hard questions, shared their feedback and made five long days in Rockhampton worthwhile. Until Beef 2027!