THE Australian Wagyu Association has announced a two-year partnership allowing its members to measure their animals’ carbon footprint and giving them the option of contributing to a sector-wide baseline of emissions.

AWA is working with a farmer-led software provider Ruminati to allow Wagyu producers across its network to track and validate on-farm climate action.

Chief executive officer Dr Matt McDonagh said the partnership will help Wagyu producers find ways of improving their environmental sustainability.

“This will help us take the first steps toward baselining Australia’s Wagyu Sector through a platform that simplifies user inputs but uses the full complexity of Australia-wide baseline data and current carbon accounting methodologies,” Dr McDonagh said.

“The Wagyu sector has always given a strong focus to sustainability. By tracking emissions across our membership, we’ll be able to take steps to support our producers to meet their own sustainability goals as well as help the sector navigate our industry commitments for carbon and climate outcomes.

“Finding realistic pathways to meet climate goals will become a lot clearer, and where these pathways can be scaled across industry, we will be able to leverage that information for the benefit of the Wagyu sector.”

During the partnership, AWA will onboard Australian Wagyu producers to the Ruminati platform, supporting them to generate personalised emissions estimates. Within the platform, producers will also be able to model the impact of methane and CO2-e abatement options, set and measure against individual emissions reduction targets, and create tailor-made, future-facing emissions reductions plans.

Wagyu producers can then choose to share this data with AWA, allowing the Association to track sector-wide emissions against their established emissions targets and develop best practices for emissions management.

“Using our platform, the Wagyu sector will be able to identify the areas where their farmers are making progress and other areas that need support from the AWA to make significant change,” NSW producer and Ruminati co-founder Bobby Miller said.

“With an accurate understanding of the climate reality of their enterprises, AWA and the Wagyu sector will not only be able to demonstrate their sustainability credentials on both a farm and industry level, but map out tailored approaches for managing their emissions footprint.

“Our goal has always been to create the farmers’ solution and to keep farmers at the centre of the process.”

Source: Australian Wagyu Association/Ruminati