Sustainability scheme allowing canola, barley sales into the European Union accused of ‘creeping agenda’

The German-created scheme used by CBH Group to certify Australian grain as “sustainable” has been accused of having a “creeping agenda”, as calls for an Australian equivalent of the scheme grow louder. Grain Producers Australia issued a scathing statement about the voluntary International Sustainability and Carbon Certification scheme this week, saying growers needed to be “alert to recent changes” to the program that could “create red tape” for growers. The European Renewable Energy Directive — RED II — recently introduced new sustainability criteria for products entering the EU biofuel market. In response, the ISCC program was updated to reflect the criteria and continue to allow growers to participate in the ISCC EU and ISCC Plus programs. CBH chief marketing and trading general manager Jason Craig said he expected current Australian farming practices would “cover many of the new requirements”. “The new requirements apply to all participants selling products to the European biofuel market across the world, not just grain producers,” he said. “We expect that our current legislation and farming practices will cover many of the new requirements.” ISCC certification green-lights grain sales into the EU on the premise that an increasing number of customers want to buy sustainably-produced grain. Sustainable Grain Australia facilitates growers’ compliance with the ISCC standard for grain trading with the EU, with both canola and barley requiring the certification. Grain Producers Australia Southern Region director Andrew Weidemann said he was concerned Australian farmers were being subject to strict EU production standards without having access to the same government subsidies EU farmers had. “This is especially concerning given the significant impact on climate change of taxpayer subsidies that are handed out to EU growers directly from Governments, compared to Australian farmers,” he said. “This also reinforces GPA’s views about the need to develop an Australian-owned and controlled certification scheme to protect grower interests and capture value from existing sustainability practices which have long underpinned production of world-leading, high-quality grains.” Grain Producers Australia chair Barry Large, who is based in WA, echoed calls for the creation of a local scheme to reduce red tape while capturing commercial opportunities. “If our farmers are running multi-million-dollar businesses, using cutting-edge technology, and producing the world’s best product... we also need an Australian sustainability scheme to demonstrate this to all global markets and can capture the best commercial opportunities and optimise value for everyone,” Mr Large said. GPA said its calls for an Australian scheme had been supported by the group’s policy council, which is made up of representatives from WA Grains Group, WAFarmers grains council, NSWFarmers, AgForce, and Victorian Farmers Federation. Mr Large called for the newly-formed Grains Australia to be the “logistical home” for a local certification scheme managed with grower and industry oversight. “It (should be) guided by sound science backed by independent regulation — not populist opinion — and reflects the unique climate and requirements of Australian farming systems,” he said. “It also needs to account for the minimal government subsidies Australian farmers receive.” CBH implemented the ISCC scheme in 2010 to sell Australian canola into the European Union biofuel market, delivering $450 million in premiums to WA. The grain marketer expanded the program into barley in October 2019, sending its first shipment of certified sustainable malting barley from WA in April last year. Mr Craig said ISCC was the preferred sustainable grain certification scheme of many of CBH’s international customers. “ISCC... has enabled us access to the lucrative European canola market for the past 12 years, delivering around $450 million worth of premiums to WA growers during this time,” he said. “CBH is working with ISCC to ensure we can communicate and manage the new and amended requirements and will provide comprehensive information to our growers.” Mr Large said an email circulated to growers by Sustainable Grain Australia after the updates to the ISCC requirements said growers were now “at liberty” to trade all grain types as sustainable. Mr Large said GPA was seeking clarification on how the changes to ISCC requirements — made due to the changes in the EU biofuel Renewable Energy Directive — would affect Australian grain growers. He said a major change was that growers were required to have Biodiversity and Pollinator Action Plan and an Energy, GHG and Air-Pollution Management Plan in place. Mr Large also raised concerns about a “growing number” of documents required to be completed as part of the on-farm auditing needed to comply with ISCC requirements. “If you actually look at the detail of these documents (available on the Australian Oilseeds Federation website), they’re asking local growers to sign up to EU rules such as setting aside areas to increase and enhance the protection of pollinators, which has to be at least 5 per cent of the farm’s arable area,” Mr Large said. “They’re also asking farmers to declare if there are any species of plants or animals that are considered protected or threatened on their property.” More in next week’s Countryman.