The early IPCC assessment reports (2001, 2007) predominantly conceptualised livestock in technical and efficiency-oriented terms, focusing on productivity and technological innovations, while the 2014 and 2022 reports embed livestock within broader socio-environmental frameworks, explicitly linking it to diet and health, ecosystem services, and social justice. This discursive evolution illustrates a paradigmatic shift from sectoral mitigation to holistic sustainability paradigms. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of livestock systems and context calls for more cross-cutting, context-sensitive metrics to inform equitable and evidence-based climate policy.
Tanzania’s rangelands have a critical role in supporting biodiversity and the economy of Tanzania’s pastoralists. However, these rangelands have seen alarming degradation and fragmentation over the past 50 years, primarily owing to agricultural expansion. This article describes attempts taken to reverse this trend through the preservation and formalisation of communal land use through joint village land use planning. This innovative approach enhances tenure security for pastoralists and other livestock keepers, mitigates conflicts and promotes more sustainable rangeland management. By fostering participatory planning across village boundaries, the initiative integrates ecological and economic objectives, providing greater opportunity for the coexistence of livestock and wildlife while sustaining local communities.
Beef ranchers must remain profitable while adapting to growing expectations for environmentally sound and socially responsible production. Although cattle evolved grazing diverse plant communities, contemporary herds on rangelands often subsist on monotonous grass diets that decline in nutritional value through summer and fall. This seasonal bottleneck disrupts nutrient cycling, increases supplementation costs, diminishes ecosystem services, and limits exposure to functional biochemicals or plant secondary compounds (PSCs) that support animal health. This review synthesises the foodscape concept and evaluates evidence for spatially distributed ‘resource islands’ of complementary plant functional groups as a strategy to address these limitations, illustrated through a case example translating principles into design and implementation. Establishing spatially distributed ‘resource islands’ of perennial legumes, forbs, and shrubs, species with higher nutrient density and beneficial PSCs, offers a low-cost strategy to enhance cattle performance while reducing environmental impacts. These islands can elevate forage quality, improve soil processes, and provide critical habitat services across monotonous landscapes. Implementing this approach requires integrating diverse disciplines such as plant chemistry, restoration science, landscape design, animal nutrition, and soil ecology with producer decision-making, and ranch-level social dynamics. Yet, deployment in semi-arid rangelands faces key constraints and research needs, including establishment costs, propagule and precipitation limitations, protection during early establishment, and added management complexity. We propose this transdisciplinary framework as a pathway to reconcile restoration of phytochemical and structural diversity with beef production and habitat provision, advancing a testable paradigm for sustainable rangeland management.
The production of tropical cattle breeds for feeder or live export markets is the dominant primary industry in the seasonally-dry monsoonal tropics of northern Queensland. Natural woodlands and grasslands are key feed resources, with smaller cleared areas used for pasture development. Extended dry season feed deficits plus land condition decline limit animal growth and market options for producers. Previous research in northern Queensland using introduced legumes sown into native grass pastures demonstrated that intensively-managed ‘production paddocks’ using well-adapted and productive grasses and legumes could improve weaner and steer nutrition during the early to mid-dry season, enabling earlier sale or higher sale weights of cattle. Promising introduced grasses and legumes were tested at two sites of contrasting fertility in northern Queensland to test suitability for production paddocks. Replicated small-plot combinations of sown grass and legume on fertile and infertile soils resulted in pasture yields up to three times greater than those typically achieved on native pastures. A range of grasses (Bothriochloa, Brachiaria, Digitaria, Panicum, Urochloa) formed dense swards when soil-available phosphorous and sulfur were supplemented with fertiliser. Competitive legumes (Stylosanthes scabra and S. seabrana (on both fertile and infertile soils) and Clitoria ternatea (fertile soil)) increased total herbage yields (up to 14 t DM/ha) when grown with these grasses. The legume component contributed leaf with high feed value (15–20% crude protein and 8–10 MJ/kg metabolisable energy) during the wet and dry seasons, which should enable producers to reduce dietary herd inefficiencies. The most competitive grasses and legumes also suppressed plants (Bothriochloa pertusa, Themeda quadrivalvis, Chamaecrista rotundifolia) of low feed value for cattle, which otherwise dominated the sites. Preliminary economic analyses using the experimental results showed the development of ‘production paddocks’ to be profitable on fertile and infertile land types.
Approximately 11 million hectares, or 8% of the grasslands on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP), are extremely degraded, posing serious threats to biodiversity conservation, livestock production, and soil erosion. Under the cold, hypoxic environment of the QTP, passive restoration of the degraded grasslands is extremely slow. To accelerate recovery, active restoration, primarily by sowing seeds of native grasses, has been adopted; however, the effectiveness and cost of active restoration remain uncertain. This paper reviews over 100 peer-reviewed publications, and provides a comprehensive analysis of the methods and outcomes of active restoration of extremely degraded QTP grasslands. In general, current restoration efforts have positive impacts on degraded grasslands of the QTP, mainly by increasing soil nutrients, soil seed-bank resilience, vegetation cover, and forage productivity, and by reducing soil erosion. However, detrimental effects such as soil nutrient imbalance, acidification, and vegetation homogenisation have also emerged. Given the critical role of these grasslands in cold-season livestock production, it is essential to develop long-term grassland management strategies administered by local governments and herders. Effective restoration on the QTP should be viewed as a phased continuum, in which interventions are adjusted to shifting recovery constraints and long-term management is needed to balance ecological recovery with the sustained use of grasslands as cold-season pastures. Such an approach would enhance the sustainable resilience of QTP grassland ecosystems.
Rangelands cover vast areas and are subject to episodic droughts, regular fires and grazing pressure, all of which affect woody plant health. Consequently, standing dead and senescent woody plants are key components of these ecosystems. Stand-level, woody aboveground biomass (AGB), an important component of the terrestrial carbon budget, is typically scaled using individual-based allometric relationships with predictor variables such as stem diameter (D) or crown area (CA) measured through on-ground inventories of woody plants. Current data are lacking to allow assessment of the influence of woody plant condition on allometry and subsequent scaling of AGB. To address this, we undertook field measurements across 431 Australian rangeland sites to improve understanding of the variation in the condition of woody plants across rangelands, including how condition of different plant functional types (PFTs) affects overall stand condition, how stem diameter-crown area allometry varies with condition and PFT, and the sensitivity of allometry-predicted AGB to variance in condition. Field measurements included stem diameter, crown width and vigour, and health scores of live and standing dead woody plants. Over one-quarter of individual woody plants were either dead or senescing across all sites. D-CA allometric relationships differed among PFTs, with those for trees differing from those of shrubs and multi-stemmed acacias. For a given stem diameter, allometry-predicted crown area declined as health score decreased. Further, across all sites, allometry-predicted AGB was reduced when corrections were applied to account for standing dead and large senescing eucalypt trees relative to existing allometric equations. Our findings suggest that if traditional allometric relationships developed for live, healthy woody plants are applied to predict AGB in these ecosystems, substantial over-estimations may result, particularly for stands with a high proportion of large woody plants of poor condition. Results will inform ongoing improvements to the accuracy of stand-level biomass estimates in rangelands.
In Benin, the transhumant livestock rearing system is shifting towards more sedentary management driven by the 2019 pastoral code that regulates animal mobility to prevent conflicts among pastoralists, farmers, and other stakeholders. This implies changes in the management of animal feeding. To understand how sedentary cattle adapt to available feed resources and which breeds are more efficient, we determined the energy (EE) and protein (PE) use efficiencies of 12 sedentary herds in Benin, including taurine (TH), zebu (ZH), and crossbred herds (CH) from the Sudanian (SZ) and Guineo-Congolian (GCZ) zones. To do so, data were collected on the daily fodder intake of cattle feed on pasture, the average daily gain of calves and adults, and cow milk production (quantity and quality). Overall, zebu herds (ZH) exhibited significantly higher energy (EE: 0.09) and protein (PE: 0.12) efficiency compared to crossbred (CH) and taurine (TH) herds, which demonstrated lower values (EE: 0.05, PE: 0.07). Overall, results showed inefficient feed conversion for all herd types. Zebu cattle were likely to be more feed-efficient than taurine cattle. Nonetheless, this finding requires further validation through an evaluation of the relationships between observed feed inefficiency and carcass traits, non-carcass components, and meat quality attributes. Finally, we hypothesised that supplementing sedentary herds with crop by-products, regardless of breed, would improve the inefficiency of feed use recorded in this study.
Stockpiling forage is the practice of deferring grazing to allow forage accumulation in the field for use later during periods of limited pasture growth. Whereas stockpiling forage from rangeland offers a cost-effective strategy for grazing ruminants in the Campos region of South America, identifying the optimal duration of the stockpiling period remains a challenge. This study evaluated key nutritional parameters, including forage nutritive value, intake, nitrogen (N)-use efficiency, and methane (CH4) emissions in sheep fed stockpiled forage from native rangeland accumulated under varying growing degree-days (GDD) thresholds. The study used forage from a native rangeland in Uruguay, stockpiled between October 2020 and February 2021 under four GDD accumulation thresholds (1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500). Sixteen 18-month-old Corriedale wethers (46.2 +/- 2.8 kg body weight) were fed ad libitum in a feeding trial conducted in individual metabolism cages over two periods (n = 32). Although GDD thresholds affected the sward structure, forage chemical composition was unaffected in this study. Nutritional parameters, including nutrient intake, digestibility, N-use efficiency, and CH4 emissions in sheep fed stockpiled native rangeland forage accumulated under varying GDD thresholds, were also unaffected in this study. Managing multi-species native rangeland as stockpiled forage in the Campos region, with pre-stockpiling mowing and up to 2500 GDD thresholds during the warm season, does not affect forage chemical composition, nutrient intake and digestibility, ruminal parameters, N-use efficiency, or CH4 emissions in sheep. In practical terms, stockpiling thresholds from 1000 to 2500 GDD during the warm season (November to February) correspond to approximately 30-115 days, represent a wide window of thermal sums and time to efficiently accumulate forage in this type of rangeland without impairing sheep nutrition.
Land degradation in arid and semiarid rangelands is a critical global issue owing to its substantial socio-economic and environmental impacts. This study aimed to develop a composite index to assess degradation risk and identify its underlying drivers. The study aimed to develop a method to investigate degradation patterns over a 22-year period by using a case study in the semiarid rangelands and to identify vulnerable areas on which to target interventions. This case study environment has similarities to land degradation-vulnerable rangeland globally, including low and variable rainfall, fragile soils, low carrying capacity, and economic resilience. The degradation risk index we developed integrates three different indices, namely, a vegetation heterogeneity index, a dust emission index, and a soil vulnerability index to provide a comprehensive understanding of degradation risk. Our findings showed that degradation risk gradually increases spatially with increasing aridity (east to west) across the case study region, indicating that western areas face significantly higher degradation risk because of drought and soil vulnerability, emphasising the need for adaptive management. Climate variability causes the degradation risk to increase quickly during droughts. However, land management practices can mitigate these effects and contribute to more stable conditions. Unlike many existing approaches that focus on static conditions or single indicators, our approach captures both short- and longer-term climate- and management-driven fluctuations influenced by three key land degradation drivers to provide an understanding of how risk changes across time and space. The study therefore provides an improved and transferable framework for land degradation risk assessment that can be applied to arid and semiarid rangelands to support targeted management and restoration.
Floodplain forests in the Queensland Murray–Darling Basin (QMDB) have experienced significant recruitment challenges following multiple droughts, including the Millennium Drought (1997–2009). This study investigated the impact of the rare triple-dip La Niña event (2020–2022) on floodplain tree recruitment patterns for river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.) and coolibah (Eucalyptus coolabah Blakely & Jacobs). Field assessments across QMDB’s three water catchment areas showed recruitment at 34% of plots. Days since last flood (P = 0.04) was significantly associated with recruitment density, whereas bankfull exceedance floods showed a marginally positive effect on recruitment density (P = 0.080), and total days of exceedance had a marginally negative influence on recruitment density (P = 0.06). Open woodland and woodland areas with low canopy cover exhibited significantly higher recruitment rates (P = 0.001 and P = 0.021) compared to forests. Low native fauna grazing pressure showed strong association with increased recruitment (P = 0.007); during wet conditions, abundant grass cover diverted browsing pressure on seedlings. Demographic analysis demonstrated improved reverse J-curve distributions for both species compared with previous assessments, suggesting that this triple-dip event recruitment episode may help restore juvenile cohorts. Findings suggest that although flooding appears to contribute to recruitment through site preparation and seed dispersal, sustained rainfall appears crucial for seedling survival. These results have important implications for environmental water management, highlighting that infrequent but significant recruitment episodes may be sufficient for maintaining sustainable populations over the extended lifespans of these species, while demonstrating the limits of direct management interventions.
The cattle industry in the Northern Gulf region of Queensland, Australia, is based primarily on extensive grazing of native pastures on pastoral leasehold land. Large leasehold areas managed by few people make maintaining rangeland productivity and landscape function difficult for land managers. Seventeen discreet land types were identified and assessed across the Northern Gulf region over three periods (2004 [260 sites], 2012 [260 sites] and 2016 [252 sites]) to derive regional trends in rangeland condition. Further, detailed data from Queensland state-government QGRAZE sites (1992–2018) were analysed to assess long-term land condition changes on identified ‘at risk’ land types. Land condition attributes monitored included woodland thickening, pasture composition, soil surface condition and exotic weed incidence. Last, remote sensing was used to analyse woody cover dynamics across 23 regional land types and 30 QGRAZE sites from 1990 to 2018. Combined, analyses showed continued land condition decline across the region. Since 2004, the proportion of retained original carrying capacity is estimated to have declined from 72% to 66%. Land condition of high-value land types was slightly lower than that of low-value types. Estimates suggest that 50% of original carrying capacity will be lost by 2046 if current land condition trends continue, with the primary degradation factors being loss of preferred pasture species and woodland thickening. These results are possibly replicated in other extensively grazed regions of Queensland; however, lack of objective data suggests the need for an expanded monitoring program and a concerted response to address continuing land condition decline. The recommended hybrid monitoring methodology, including historical data, rapid assessments and remote sensing is low-cost, and could effectively be implemented elsewhere to show land condition change without needing to collect management information. Remediation will not be possible without the active engagement of industry, government and agencies. Effective management practices are discussed.
Remotely sensed data are commonly used for mapping landscape changes, but are being used increasingly as a surrogate for biodiversity and habitat condition. In this study, we examined bird data collected from long-term monitoring in 60 sites sampled seven times between 2004 and 2016. The sites represent three levels of habitat modification, namely, intact, thinned and cleared. We investigated the relationship between fractional cover measures (green and non-green) and preceding 12-month rainfall, using hierarchical generalised linear mixed models, to see whether these metrics had a relationship to woodland bird species abundance. In total, 121 species were recorded. We were able to model the relationship between the abundance of 57 species and our environmental variables. There were a mixture of responses recorded, including species associated with higher green and non-green cover, but not rainfall changes (e.g. Brown Treecreeper, Climacteris picumnus; Striped Honeyeater, Plectorhyncha lanceolata), species associated with lower fractional cover and higher rainfall (e.g. Galah, Eolophus roseicapillus; Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia guttata) and species with more variable relationships (e.g. Crested Bellbird, Oreoica gutturalis; Weebill, Smicrornis brevirostris; Grey-crowned Babbler, Pomatostomus temporalis; and Jacky Winter, Microeca fascinans). We found that there was a strong relationship between many species of woodland birds considered to reflect an intact and good condition community and different combinations of three remotely sensed variables. Remote sensed data have a role to play, along with field surveys, in assessing bird community condition, for programs such as nature repair markets.
Knowledge from landscape rehabilitation monitoring is urgently needed to support Australia’s Nature Positive agenda and accelerate recovery from landscape degradation. This paper presents pasture recovery data from four paired (control and treatment) erosion rehabilitation sites in the Burdekin catchment, Australia. The treatments ranged from approaches using grazing management only, to more expensive engineering options. The effectiveness of each of the treatments on vegetation recovery was evaluated using (i) field monitoring data (% cover, biomass, defoliation and % native ground cover plant species), collected over period ranging from 3 to 8 years, and (ii) remote sensing data (Landsat; 1990–2023) to provide a longer-term perspective of land cover change, and to determine whether remotely sensed data adequately captures the recovery. The outcomes for runoff and water quality have been evaluated in a companion paper. The field measurements also provided insights into the potential co-benefits from the rehabilitation, including pasture biodiversity (% native plant species) and biomass productivity for grazing (biomass, kg ha−1 pasture). The observations and lessons learnt from these studies, with other insights from the literature, were synthesised to inform the next generation of rehabilitation sites in similar rangeland environments. The key points included the following: (1) detecting change is challenging and may take decades, so pack your patience; (2) remote sensing is useful, but needs to be calibrated using on-ground measurements; (3) active rehabilitation is likely to demonstrate changes much more quickly, but it will be very costly; (4) aligning production and environmental outcomes will be challenging; (5) if you want to capture biodiversity co-benefits, think strategically about revegetation species selection in the planning phase, and consider co-benefits at whole of property scales; (6) vegetation can reduce runoff downstream but we will need to scale up; and (7) not all areas can or should be rehabilitated – select sites carefully.
The current beef industry in northern Australia was established through the adoption of innovative schemes and ideas that transformed the economic viability of the industry in the 20th century. In this paper, we argue that a key driver of beef production, the nutrition of the animal or feedbase, can be sustainably exploited with novel ideas to affect a paradigm shift in the northern beef industry in the 21st century. Although the current economics of beef production limit adoption of ‘out-there’ ideas, it is nonetheless useful to consider them. It is contended that future global protein shortages for human nutrition may change the economic balance in favour of more creative ideas to utilise the existing and potential, as yet untapped, feedbase. The underlying premise is that the beef industry could better take advantage of the varied feedbase opportunities that exist in the north. In doing so, the industry would shift the balance from a predominantly pastoral system to a mixed model where extensive grazing co-exists with intensive beef production at the regional scale. Concomitant with this change, the long-term productive and environmental conditions of the industry could be improved. For example, intensification in some locations would allow de-intensification in others. In this review, we focus on five potential ‘game changers’ for the industry, some of which are proven but, for reasons discussed, under-adopted and some of which are more ‘blue sky’. These game changers are legumes, silage, irrigation, co-products from the crop and vegetable industries and ligno-cellulosic feedstocks. These are all technically feasible and lend themselves to regionally integrated production systems that take advantage of the opportunities across the north, including land, sunshine, water, people, infrastructure, markets.
Decreased grazing and/or cessation of land clearing across Australia’s rangelands are being used to promote carbon sequestration through regeneration of woody biomass, predominately in Acacia aneura (mulga) woodlands. Changes in carbon stock are predicted using the carbon accounting model FullCAM. We collated datasets to assess the level of confidence in applying FullCAM to mulga regeneration across south-western Queensland and north-western New South Wales, with respect to model accuracy, specificity, and comprehensiveness. We found that FullCAM predictions were moderately accurate, with independent verification sites (N = 102) indicating model efficiencies of 48–70% and bias of −3.50 to −0.99 Mg DM ha−1, depending on calculation method. To ensure accuracy and to reduce risks of over-prediction, it is recommended FullCAM should be limited to sites with regeneration ages of ≤25 years and with levels of pre-existing above-ground biomass less than approximately 5 Mg DM ha−1. The paucity of data from mulga ecosystems in central and western Australia was identified as an important research gap. Regarding specificity, FullCAM has been calibrated to average rates of regeneration, generalised across a range of vegetation types, disturbance histories, and grazing management practices. This generalisation ensures accuracy when applied over broad spatial domains, but may limit the model’s accuracy at specific locations. For example, at the site scale, long-term grazing exclosure experiments (N = 34) have shown a wide range of regeneration outcomes (−0.52 to 1.85 Mg DM ha−1 year−1, with an average of 0.29 Mg DM ha−1 year−1), with site-scale contributors to this variability including the proportion of mulga in the total biomass, and the degree of change in grazing intensity (e.g. exclusion of livestock only, cf. exclusion of livestock plus native and feral animals). Regarding model comprehensiveness, new field data suggest that FullCAM could be extended to include standing dead pools of woody biomass, which contribute, on average, 17% of total woody biomass in mulga woodlands.
Eucalyptus costata is a widespread eucalypt species used in restoration works. It is common to the Mallee, a vegetation type in the semiarid temperate region of southern Australia, characterised by hot summers and mild winters, generally reliable but highly variable rainfall, and nutrient poor soils composed primarily of sands. An understanding of the germination biology of Eucalyptus costata may assist in its successful establishment. We studied the impacts of light, temperature, salinity, moisture and sowing depth on the germination of E. costata in the laboratory and considered the results in a restoration context. Germination was lowest under the highest temperature regime (35°C/25°C), high salt concentrations (>100 mM) and low water potentials (taking 14 MPa of humidity per day to germinate). Sowing depths greater than 2 cm reduced seedling emergence. These results suggest that E. costata’s germination requirements are shallow sowing in low salinity soils during periods of cool or mild wet weather, consistent with winter and spring planting.
In Australia, livestock predation by dingoes (Canis familiaris) has contributed to what some livestock producers consider a dire situation for rangeland pastoralism, driving demand for cooperative regional-scale exclusion (‘cell’) fencing (i.e. pest-proof fences that encompass one or more individual properties) and landscape-scale predator control. The present case study predicted the effect of four cell-fences in the state of Western Australia (WA) on the gross margin of sheep (for meat or meat and wool) and cattle pastoral enterprises. We modelled the potential effects of the following four key variables: (1) four levels of commodity prices, (2) five levels of livestock weaning rate (based on livestock records collected 1985–1995; weaning rate is defined as number of lambs or calves that are born and survive to weaning, expressed as percentage of total mated females), (3) three predicted levels of time required to remove dingoes from within the fenced area, and (4) five levels of macropod (mainly kangaroo) response as competitive grazers, with a total of 3600 scenarios representing all combinations of these factors. Each scenario was assessed for profitability (i.e. net present value (NPV) over 25 years) and benefit of fencing (i.e. NPV compared with an unfenced enterprise of the same livestock type, region, and commodity prices). Finally, the benefit–cost ratio (BCR) of investment in cell fencing was calculated for each fenced scenario. The majority (67%) of scenarios representing continuation of current management (i.e. no cell fencing) returned a negative NPV (i.e. livestock enterprises were projected to make a loss). However, only 37.4% of cell-fenced scenarios returned a positive NPV, meaning that even with a cell-fence and successful removal of dingoes, the enterprise was still unlikely to be profitable. Only 43.4% of cell-fenced scenarios returned a BCR of cell fencing greater than one. Weaning rate following dingo removal was the most important factor determining return on investment for cell-fencing. Survival and reproduction of small livestock, particularly wool sheep, benefit most from cell-fencing, whereas cell-fencing and dingo removal did not result in greater profits for cattle enterprises. Running sheep for wool and meat within cell fencing coupled with removal of dingoes would maximise the likelihood of achieving a positive return on investment in cell fencing (although the enterprise may remain unprofitable overall); otherwise, unfenced enterprises affected by dingoes should run cattle as this will be more profitable.
Large areas of the Australian rangelands are used for pastoral agriculture. Rangeland condition monitoring commonly operates at one of the following two scales: (1) detailed but spatially restricted on-ground surveys of farm and ecosystem condition, or (2) regional and national analyses using data from earth observation satellites such as Landsat or Sentinel-2. This study aimed to assess the potential of drone-based data collection from carbon farming projects to augment rangeland condition monitoring. The widespread adoption of carbon farming in Australian rangelands and the increasing use of drones to validate vegetation maps could provide an opportunity to bridge these two scales. Range condition was defined in terms of plant species composition, woody vegetation structure, and ground cover, focusing on indicators relevant to both carbon sequestration and broader ecosystem function. Existing maps of vegetation structure were combined with on-ground surveys and drone data collected at the scale of an individual rangeland property. Drone-mounted sensors produced ultra-high-resolution imagery (similar to 2 cm GSD) and three-dimensional point clouds. This combination of imagery and three-dimensional data enabled measurement of condition indicators such as tree size distributions, canopy area and ground layer coverage. This case study of drone-based ecological profiling after land management change demonstrated that monitoring programmes of carbon farming projects can be leveraged for detailed and accurate investigation of ecosystem condition. Significant differences were found in canopy and ground layer elements between vegetation communities and land-use histories. These findings have highlighted the value of repurposing carbon farming project data for holistic landscape condition assessment. The value and importance of in situ vegetation structural measurements is further emphasised by the contrasting unsuitability of national-scale satellite remote-sensing products for precise property-level mapping. The potential for the growing in situ dataset to support both property-scale decision-making and understanding of the broader ecological effects of woody vegetation regrowth is discussed.
Increasing public, consumer and researcher interest in agricultural sustainability is being paralleled by industry and supply chain activities aimed at addressing environmental, social and financial aspects of contemporary farming systems. Activities and practices at the farm level are important for the sustainability credentials of beef supply chains. Therefore, understanding and working with the perceptions, attitudes and motivations of those managing grazing lands and rangelands are critical to sustainability efforts. This study draws on a survey of 367 Australian beef producers to determine typologies of worldviews and attitudes that influence how industry engages both externally and internally with sustainability. The analysis identified four groups of beef producers on the basis of their perceptions of their industry’s sustainability, public support, and attitudes towards industry emissions. Two groups (referred to as Vulnerable majority and OK with the status quo) were very positive in their views of industry sustainability and were less concerned about their industry’s greenhouse gas emissions and associated challenges. The other two groups (labelled Moderate quarter and Open minority), although still reasonably positive in their view of industry sustainability, were more likely to acknowledge industry greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related challenges. Producer attitudes to public perceptions, and the degree to which they feel public support for their industry, had a significant influence in separating out the groups identified in this study. The findings have implications for engaging producers and the success of programs and policies designed to influence acceptance, and adoption, of sustainability-related technologies and practices. The findings also highlighted significant potential tensions and misunderstandings on how producers perceive public expectations and attitudes towards their industry. It is important that these different attitudes are accounted for in sustainability communication, especially that which is aimed at engaging producers.
