Amplifying messages about food for a better world
Australia is the world’s leading exporter of goatmeat, accounting for 48% of global exports in 2023.
As the industry continues to grow across meat, fibre, and dairy, so too does the need to demonstrate its sustainability credentials and protect its social licence to operate. While many producers are already taking steps to improve sustainability, the sector lacked a unified way to measure, report, and communicate its progress.
To address this, Meat & Livestock Australia commissioned Currie to assess the business case for a Goat Industry Sustainability Framework and to outline a clear, strategic pathway for its development.
Currie has been heavily involved in the development and implementation of the dairy, beef and sheep sustainability frameworks. We were able to bring over a decade of specialised knowledge in industry sustainability frameworks to help the Australian goat industry start their journey.
Bringing industry together
To develop these frameworks, we bring industry together to answer and align on some critical questions – what does a shared vision of sustainability look like for the Australian goat industry? Is a framework needed or necessary? How could this framework be governed and developed?
A unique challenge we faced during this project was the diversity of the goat industry which produces a wide array of commodities – goat fibre (both mohair and cashmere), goat dairy, and goat meat (both harvested rangeland goats and farmed goats). Designing a blueprint for goat sustainability meant navigating these different supply chains and building alignment between these groups.
We helped bring together an Industry Reference Group comprising representatives from these different commodities and across the supply chain. Through a series of workshops with this group, we were able to develop a blueprint for sustainability that had shared ownership.
Investigating the business case for a sustainability framework
A key component of the project was to investigate where the industry should develop a framework in the first place. We conducted an extensive desktop review looking at policy and regulatory drivers, market drivers, and investment drivers for a sustainability framework.
Guided by the IAP2 best practice principles for stakeholder engagement, we conducted a series of interviews with producers, processors, exporters, retailers, government and interest groups to understand the business case for a sustainability framework.
By the end of this project, we had produced a business case for a goat industry sustainability framework, and a blueprint for developing this framework.
This project found the business case for a Goat Industry Sustainability Framework is strong. It is driven by external pressures—policy, consumer demand, market access, and finance—and internal opportunities. Stakeholders expressed overwhelming support for a Goat Industry Sustainability Framework.
Our blueprint included a scope for the framework, what parts of the supply chain the framework would cover, and a proposed governance and funding structure. It also included a workplan for developing the goat industry sustainability framework that industry could commence at any point.
Such a framework would offer major benefits to the industry, enabling it to measure and report sustainability performance, showcase progress, and build consumer trust. It would support market access by aligning with global sustainability standards and would help drive on-farm practice improvements. Collectively, these benefits would enhance the industry’s resilience, reputation, and long-term global competitiveness.
“The Currie team were highly competent, responsive and had a deep understanding of both the opportunity and the challenge before the industry. They took the time needed with a diverse group of stakeholders, which ultimately meant we could help the industry make progress in its sustainability journey.”
