Letter from the Chair

Steering Group Chair, Dr Scott Williams

The SSF held our annual Consultative Committee Forum on 3 December in Melbourne. The forum went well, and I’m very grateful to the 50-odd people who gave up a day of their time to discuss the Framework and how it can better suit their needs. We came away with quite a few ideas for improvement.

A feature of the day was a pair of presentations on the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The TNFD is a younger sibling to the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which no longer exists in a standalone form but has been subsumed into a broader set of financial standards concerning sustainability. Both the TNFD and the TCFD are designed to ensure that companies make appropriate disclosures about nature and climate-related risks to their financial performance. As companies start to report against these frameworks, they will examine their value chains and look at where risks lie. For food processors, retailers, banks and others, this will include farms. 

Hearing about the TNFD has stimulated some thinking among the Steering Group about what role the Framework does or could play in helping producers, or companies, further down the value chain to meet their reporting obligations. To do so, we undoubtedly need more objective data on priority areas such as biodiversity and soil health. This is a challenge to collect at industry level. We will continue to think about what we need to do to develop the Framework in this direction.

We recently farewelled a valued member of the Steering Group, Ed Dunn. Ed is the CEO of MH Premium Farms, a large and diverse private farming business with sheep, cattle, broadacre cropping, and irrigated cotton and sugar enterprises. His insights have been invaluable and I thank him very much for his contribution to the Framework. We will be seeking a replacement for Ed early in the new year.

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Framework during 2024, especially Courtney Nelson, our MLA manager; the Steering Group and Board members; and all those who have attended our events throughout the year. I wish everyone an enjoyable festive season and look forward to a constructive 2025.