Research, development and adoption strategy for environmental innovation within the Australian red meat supply chain

The purpose of this project was to develop a research, development and adoption (RD&A) strategy for environmental innovation within the Australian red meat supply chain. The strategy is aligned with the MISP 2020, which focuses on increasing profitability of the red meat industry in a sustainable manner, and sets the direction for MLA’s Supply Chain Sustainability (SCS) Programme over the period 2016 to 2020. Three programmes of RD&A activity are presented within the strategy, each providing an economic value proposition for improved management of energy, water, greenhouse gas emissions and waste streams. The three RD&A programmes are a) increasing productive efficiency and environmental performance using enhanced supply chain information systems; b) using biological processing systems to convert wastes from feedlots and red meat processing into animal feed; and c) driving adoption of technologies to improve water and energy management in the Australian red meat supply chain. An investment of $13.3 million in the next 5 years in these programmes has the potential to make a significant contribution to decrease energy usage by 25%, water consumption by 22 – 36%, solid wastes from feedlots and processing plants by 50% and greenhouse gases by 7% in the feedlot sector. In addition, new market opportunities for the red meat industry in excess of $167 million per year for the industry are achievable, excluding the costs and contributions under Programme 3. This corresponds to a cost:benefit ratio for Programme 1 and 2 of 1:12.6