The Legal and Policy Analysis Final Report examines the barriers within Australia’s legal and policy systems that may impede the adoption of sustainable practices and participation in sustainability payment initiatives in the agricultural sector.
The report evaluates key areas of taxation, government assistance, valuation, land tenure, and licensing requirements, identifying how these barriers could influence farmer participation and outlining considerations for future policy development.
The Analysis of Proposed Tax ACCUs Report examines the implications of proposed changes to the tax treatment of Australian Carbon Credit Units
The Time is Now: Role of AASF in Sustainable Supply Chains examines the importance of the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework
The AASF is evolving from a program of projects to a coordinating entity that can support sustainability services across Australia’s
The Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework is funded by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry through the National Agriculture Traceability Grants Program. Project delivery is led by the National Farmers’ Federation.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
© The Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework. Copyright of National Farmers Federation.
David is Principal Research Scientist for CSIRO and leads the Social and Strategic Design Team. David’s research interests focus broadly on the nature of data (especially geospatial data), and the ways in which society creates, manages, governs, and structures data and data supply chains for the purposes of sharing data. He designs and leads projects aimed at creating new systems for sharing information as well as systems for managing environmental information.
Over his career, David has worked across numerous domains including environment, agriculture, water, defence and transport and is regularly called upon as a trusted advisor with respect to the design of human systems for the purpose of sharing data across multiple organisations.
Angela is the Managing Director of Schuster Consulting Group and a member of the cross-functional team responsible for delivering projects under the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework. Angela is Chair of the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) and Standards Australia’s technical committee on data-driven agrifood systems and was previously the Australian representative for the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Strategic Advisory Group on Smart Farming.
In addition, Angela and her husband run a sheep, cattle and cropping enterprise just out of Dubbo in the Central West of NSW.
David is a farmer and physicist who has worked in precision agriculture for 30 years. He is presently the Chief Scientist of Food Agility CRC which is focussed on transforming the agrifood sector using the power of data and digital. He also leads the AgTrace initiative in partnership with DAFF. Passionate about ‘reality-fuelled’ agtech innovation on farms, he has established two university smart farms and the Global Smart Farm Network.
Andrew is an accomplished technology leader with over 25 years experience delivering cutting-edge solutions across diverse industries, including media, utilities, defence, manufacturing, health, and agrifood. He possesses extensive expertise in international agri-food technology ecosystems, and is a trusted advisor to industry organisations, supply chain entities, researchers, startups, and governments. Andrew founded the technology consultancy More Than Machines, where he assists agrifood organisations, startups, researchers, and governments in developing digital strategies, policies and technology solutions that leverage data and AI to optimise their land, production, markets, and products. Previously, as Chief Data Officer at Meat and Livestock Australia, he developed and implemented the Australian Red Meat industry data strategy and digital supply chain research programs, demonstrably increasing productivity, product quality, and enabling new market opportunities through targeted digital technology implementation.
Anna is a wine industry professional since the late 90’s, working in vineyard management and winemaking both in Australia and overseas, and later as General Manager of a premium, sustainability focused, wine producer in South Australia. She has been a non-executive director on private and government boards in the fields of biosecurity, natural resource management and grape and wine business and currently sits on the board of Landcare Australia. Immediately prior to the formation of Australian Grape and Wine she gained experience in national advocacy as Chief Executive Officer of Australian Vignerons. Having worked across a broad range of roles, including practical hands-on industry experience, she is well placed in her role to promote the best interests of the sector on domestic policy issues relating to environmental and economic sustainability. She is leading the project on carbon emissions traceability that is the focus of the presentation.
Melindee is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystems Science, where she focusses on the consumer defined opportunity for sustainable food production. Melindee has over 20 years’ experience in R&D leadership for academia and international FMCGs such as Cadbury, Kraft, and Mondelez.
Warwick is General Manager of Natural Resource Management with the National Farmers Federation, and Project Lead for the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework.
Warwick was raised on a farm in the NSW Southern Highlands and has almost 30 years experience in rural and regional advocacy. Prior to joining NFF Warwick had been working in the Commonwealth Government in stakeholder engagement roles and had previously spent a decade with NSW Farmers’ Association and a further decade as chief executive of Australian Forest Growers.
Adam has over 25 years of public sector experience at state and federal levels. His former roles have included Secretary of the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Secretary of the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, the Victorian Public Sector Commissioner and Dean & CEO of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). Adam has worked in the private sector as a partner with global advisory firm Ernst & Young.
Adam is an IPAA National Fellow and previously served on the board of IPAA Victoria. In 2018, he received a Public Service Medal (PSM) for leadership in the Victorian public sector.
Neil is a Senior Policy Officer providing advice on international market access, trade and capability building to grow the state’s agricultural industry.
His career has a balance of government and private industry experience including eight years at Coles Supermarkets where he was Responsible Sourcing Manager transforming the animal welfare and sustainable production credentials for its own brand products.
David, commonly referred to as ‘DJ’, is a third generation dryland mixed farmer. DJ operates his family’s property at Murra Warra in the Wimmera, Victoria, producing various broadacre crops and finishing prime lambs. He has been heavily involved at all levels of farmer advocacy since finishing his Diploma of Applied Science (Ag Services) at Longerenong College. DJ was elected as President of the National Farmers’ Federation in October 2023 after serving as Vice President and Director for numerous years.
DJ is a past recipient of a Nuffield Australia Scholarship and Australian Rural Leadership Program and is an active contributor to his local community.
