This Report synthesises the work completed under Stage 1 of the development of the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF) during the period of 2020 – 2023.
The purpose of the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF) is to communicate at the national level the sustainability status and goals of Australian agriculture to markets and the community.
Due to our unique environment, achieving sustainable agriculture in Australia has different challenges to our trading partners. The AASF assists Australia to set its own narrative about its agricultural sustainability in international fora and in country-to-country dialogues.
Corporations are accountable against ESG and are required to report their carbon performance. Nature-positive outcomes are also increasingly desired. Questions about greenwashing are increasing as the evidence is interrogated behind clean and green, carbon neutral and nature-positive. These obligations are being passed through to the farm sector.
The AASF assists the industry response to these requirements. It provides Australian agriculture and the Australian Government with a robust evidence-base from which to demonstrate our sustainability at home and abroad.
The Framework’s overarching value is in establishing a nationally consistent approach for demonstrating sustainability that is meaningful to markets, corporates, the community and farm sector.
AASF works with our leading commodity frameworks and schemes to strengthen the demonstration of our sustainability and to assist in mitigating the increasing reporting burden on farmers around sustainability.
Farmers will interact with the AASF through their commodity sustainability initiatives. Some have been operating for up to 10 years – like the Dairy and Beef Sustainability Frameworks and leading schemes like AgCarE, Cotton BMP, Hort360 and Smartcane BMP. These initiatives are the front line for farmers in sustainability.