The longer you leave it: what the UNE Sustainable Livestock Protein Summit reinforced

The UNE Smart Region Incubator's Future of Sustainable Livestock Protein Summit last week brought together producers, researchers and industry figures for a day of conversation about where the livestock sector is heading, and what producers need to know to stay ahead of it.

Lily Rodgers was there for Ruminati, and the day covered a lot of ground. Four speakers (Paul West, John Harvey, Josie Angus and Johnny Khalbetzer) worked through consumer trends, supply chain dynamics and the practical strategies available to producers navigating a rapidly shifting landscape. The common thread across all four was the importance of being proactive rather than reactive: understanding what's coming, building the capability to respond, and not waiting for a reporting deadline to start paying attention.

One line from the day summed it up well: "The longer you leave it, the longer you'll take to catch up."

That framing is particularly relevant right now. Large food businesses (feedlots, processors and major retailers) will be required to report on their Scope 3 emissions within the next year or two. Scope 3, for those businesses, means the emissions embedded in the supply chain sitting behind their products. Which means the data needs to come from farms. Producers who have already built their emissions baseline are in a fundamentally different position when that request arrives than those who are starting from scratch.

Getting a baseline in place takes time- not because it's technically complex, but because it requires pulling together a year's worth of data on inputs, livestock, production and land management. The producers who do it now have something to build on. Those who wait are starting the clock later than they need to.

Thanks to the UNE Smart Region Incubator and Lou Conway for organising a day that took these questions seriously and created space for producers to engage with them honestly.