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Abstract

Northern Australian beef businesses are currently facing a challenging time with significant

pressure on profitability across all regions. Simultaneously, the community and Government

are concerned about the environmental impact of the beef industry (e.g. greenhouse gas

emissions).

The Climate Clever Beef initiative aims to increase the adoption of practices that optimise

productivity, profitability, resource condition and greenhouse gas emissions outcomes. A

framework was developed which was a powerful tool to identify and analyse management

options for individual beef businesses.

The process enabled the identification of “win-win” management options where both

profitability and greenhouse gas emissions were improved and highlighted the magnitude of

any trade-offs for other management options.

This paper presents a summary of three case studies from three diverse regions in northern

Australia, including two examples on the impact of management options on livestock

greenhouse gas emissions and one example of carbon sequestration through regrowth

management. Key findings include:

- Total emissions are likely to increase with property development and herd build-up.

- Carbon sequestration with regrowth retention may provide opportunities.

- Some management options can improve both herd efficiency and greenhouse gas

emissions intensity.