by Cairns News

Remember what the industry groups said about supporting the introduction of NLIS electronic identification tags 12 years ago? Their rhetoric as usual has been proven wrong. The tags have increased in cost 25 per cent, authorities can and do utilise NLIS data to calculate the number of cattle on your property, the number and description you have sold and with trace back how much you grossed for the sales and who bought them. NLIS has become a great Taxation Office tool in spite of denials by the Cattle Council, Agforce and other bodies.. A majority of producers originally did object to the ID system and now have to endure hours of paperwork and transfer data to a databank which, according to industry sources, has more than 2 million incorrect entries. Beef producers are price takers and with the upcoming financial disaster about to consume Brazil, who knows what effect this economic tsunami will have on our beef processing sector, majority owned by Brazilians.

Again producers will be sucked into another useless scam, this time the so-called round table global accord(below) which is only occurring to devise a method of placing more controls over beef producers.

There will be no extra returns for producers.

Senator Ron Boswell has rightly challenged the reasons for a global accord. Boswell is set to to retire from the Senate in July so Cairns News wonders why he has, after 25 years of deafening silence about industry concerns, suddenly become vocal about an issue that could finish those remaining producers. The only time Boswell has ever been vocal about anything was to plot against Pauline Hanson and lately Bob Katter.

from ABC

Beef producers have been told they don’t need to fear a push for international rules for sustainable beef production.

The CEO of the Global Round Table for Sustainable Beef (GRSB) also says the accord won’t mean additional costs for farmers.

Ruaraidh Petre says Australia is already working towards meeting the economic, social and environmental goals of the GRSB.

The roundtable is made up of environmental advocacy groups, major retailers, international processors and graziers from Australia and Canada.

The GRSB recently released a set of draft principles for sustainable beef production and is seeking public comment.

That prompted National Party Senator Ron Boswell to claim the principles were too prescriptive and could mean Australian farmers paying for expensive and unnecessary accreditation.

CEO Ruaraidh Petre says the principles are being driven by end users.

"Ultimately it’s the consumer that demands this, and that demand is fed down the value chain by the supermarkets and other retailers.

"And for producers it means being efficient and able to continue doing what you’re doing without depleting the natural resources on your property."

Mr Petre says existing systems in Australia such as vendor declarations and the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) put it at the front of many beef producing countries.

"I think a lot of what’s in our principles and criteria is already covered by such measures, and the Cattle Council is looking at that.

"It’s important to realise the GRSB is not about certification. We’ve said from the very beginning that we’re not pushing for a global certification system.

"We want a system that’s verifiable but not a certified audit, for example, on a farm."