Under the spotlight this week is SDG #12 – Responsible Consumption and Production. As a production-focused sector, this goal is applicable to our businesses and sector in many ways. A focus on responsible consumption and production practices provides the opportunity to have positive impacts on people, planet and profit. Continuing best practice, finding efficiencies, and having a lighter consumption and production footprint are important steps we can continue to take to progress SDG #12 in the agricultural sector.
what is SDG #12 about?
SDG #12 seeks to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. It aims to do this through targets focused on:
- sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources,
- halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels, and reducing food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses,
- environmentally sound management of chemicals and wastes throughout their life cycle, and to signficantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimise their adverse impacts on human health and the environment,
- reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse,
- encouraging companies to adopt sustainable practices, and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.
What we can take away from the purpose of SDG #12, and its associated target areas, is that this goal is applicable to everyone and all parts of life. Whether it is our personal efforts, our businesses, our sectors and industries, or our nations, responsible consumption and production is something that is important for all facets of our lives and is truly applicable to all. Consumption and production are part of the same cycle. We produce to enable the ability to consume, and that consumption drives the need for more production. In the society we live in, it is impossible to avoid this cycle, however, we have the ability to ensure that the cycle is as sustainable and resilient as possible.
Why is SDG #12 important for Agriculture?
We all know that agriculture is a production industry. Our businesses are focused on producing high quality and high value meat, milk and fibre. However, in order to produce these products there is also a need to use and consume resources and products. For agriculture, SDG #12 is therefore really important to incorporate into our farming businesses in an intentional way.
We have a responsibility to be leaders in responsible consumption and production, but it is also of benefit to us to prioritise this goal in our businesses. There are many ways that farmers are already championing elements of SDG #12, but there is also opportunity for us to continue to evolve, refine, learn, and seek continuous improvement in connecting this SDG to our farming businesses.
Some of the benefits of prioritising SDG #12 in agriculture include:
- increased efficiencies in our farming businesses, both financially and in the management of production systems,
- increased understanding of your farm production systems and your land resource that can guide decision making on farm,
- managing waste materials and reducing loss of contaminants to the environment,
- management of grazing systems that is beneficial for the land, stock, and the farm business,
- targeted use of inputs that is focused on what is optimal for achieving farming goals while also managing adverse impacts,
- learning more about your soil resource and optimising the natural systems to assist nutrient management and growing pasture,
- increased social licence to operate, and
- authentic storytelling for marketing of products.
How can we incorporate this goal into our farming businesses?
There are many ways that we can incorporate SDG #12 into our farming business. Here are a few examples…
Celebrate our success
Any journey of looking forward is enhanced by reflection on what has been achieved until this point. Taking time to identify the things that we do in our farming business that targets responsible consumption and production is a great way to gain clarity on where things are at.
This may be as simple as a reflection exercise that looks at questions like:
- What am I doing on farm and in my business that contributes to responsible consumption and production?
- How do I keep track of my impact in these areas?
- Are there any areas that I think could be improved or explored further?
Planning and Decision Making
Celebrating our successes and getting clear on where we are currently at provides a great platform to then make decisions and plans for our future efforts.
Having impact on any goal needs to be driven by intention and a plan. Intentions towards SDG #12, and the other SDGs, can be incorporated into your integrated farm planning process.
Some prompt questions to think about this may be:
- What practices do I want to continue to implement that support SDG #12 on my farm?
- Of the areas that I want to explore further or improve on, what is of highest priority?
- How do I plan on impacting these priority areas?
- How do will I monitor if these actions are having the desired impact?
Optimising farm Systems
Once we have identified the areas in our farming business that we could be more efficient in managing our consumption and production, we are able to make decisions to enhance our systems. There can be a misconception that optimising farming systems will require large scale changes that are expensive. Optimising your farming system doesn’t have to be about that at all. It’s about seeing where I can make some tweaks to increase efficiencies. It might be managing inputs better, understanding your soil types and what they are best suited to, altering your grazing management, or anything else that may provide an efficiency for your farming system. It’s about what may create efficiency and benefit in your farming context and for your goals.
On-Farm Waste Management
Consuming products to produce our meat, milk, and fibre is inevitable, but we do have the choice to be responsible with how we manage the waste products that come from our production practices.
Kiwi farmers are doing great with utilising services such as AgRecovery that help farmers to recycle waste from products used in their farming systems. The graphic below shows the awesome efforts of farmers and Ag Recovery in the 2023/34 period to recycle farm plastics.
Continuing to use these services and the wide range of recycling options they provide is a great way to continue to progress SDG #12 on farm. Also look out for any other product stewardship schemes by other companies or businesses you obtain products from.
You can learn more about AgRecovery services here.
Do you Want to learn more about sustainability and how it relates to your farming business?
If you have ever:
🌱 struggled to understand exactly what sustainability looks like for your farm
🤯 been confused by all the different facets of sustainability
📝 found yourself “stuck” in a compliance cycle, only taking actions on farm to meet audit or regulation requirements
⏱️ struggled to find time to get off farm and attend workshops, field days or discussion groups that will help move your farming business forward
👔 dealt with sustainability professionals who don’t deeply understand the in and outs of farming
Then this course is for you!
We tackle the complexity of sustainability and break it down into strategic chunks using our tried and tested framework leaving you with clarity, a sense of pride and an action plan for the future that is grounded in what’s important for you to have the “ABILITY” to “SUSTAIN” your farming business successfully into the future.
