Two panels, one clear message: sustainability has to work for the producer

Melbourne hosted the Semex Plan to Profit Summit this week, and Bobby Miller, Will Onus and Bill Findlay were there for all of it: the panels, the conversations between sessions, and the honest exchanges with producers about what modern farming actually looks like right now.

Will chaired two sustainability panels across the day. The first brought together Tim Hardman from FMG Global, Sandy Gain from Mars, and Justin Sherrard from Breedr to work through the global push for sustainability in agriculture. Tim made a point that doesn't get said clearly enough: corporates need to be upfront about why they need emissions data, how it will be used, and what producers actually get out of sharing it. As a team of producers ourselves, that framing resonates- this only works if there's something in it for the people doing the work on the ground.

The second panel went further into the practical side of things, with Dr Joe McMeniman from MLA, Jessica Loughland from Greenham, and Tanisha Shields from Rabobank. Dr McMeniman flagged that beef breed-based methane indexes are on the horizon- which means more accurate, breed-specific emissions data for producers in the not-too-distant future. Worth watching.

One producer summed up the mood of the day in a quick conversation between sessions: "You can't separate profitability from sustainability." It's a simple observation, but it's the right one, and it came up in different forms across almost every discussion throughout the day.

Attendees also got a preview of what's coming next from Ruminati, with a showcase video of upcoming platform improvements. You can watch it HERE.