What two SDGs could you prioritise for the remainder of 2025?

With only three months left in 2025, it is a great time to reflect on how we want to approach these final few months of the year.

We have covered many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in our SDG Spotlight blog posts, and their importance for agriculture. Now is a great time to also reflect on what we would like to focus on when it comes to the SDGs and our farming businesses for the rest of the year.

Why is action towards the SDGs important for our farming businesses?

The Sustainable Development Goals provide a strong framework for approaching all elements of sustainability, and therefore provide a great foundation for addressing sustainability in our farming businesses. The benefit of using the SDGs as a framework for sustainability on farm is that it is holistic, non-prescriptive, and aspirational.

Creating progress towards the SDGs is something that will take all of us. It is the consistent commitment to actions in our farming businesses and personal lives that will contribute to these goals becoming a reality. Actions needn’t be massive but there is power in consistency, commitment and continuous improvement.

Many of the actions that people are taking on farm for the betterment of people, planet, and profit are already contributing to many of the SDGs, but there is room for all of us to continue on the journey of sustainability.

What two goals could you prioritise for the remainder of 2025?

While all of the SDGs are important, our pursuit of sustainability has to also be sustainable for us. By being realistic about our actions, this has greater impact than great plans that cannot be executed. So, with three months left in 2025 I encourage you to prioritise actions for two SDGs.

What are some examples of actions you could take?

In the current climate and in the lead up to Christmas, there are plenty of people who need support to have access to nutritious protein. Donating to an organisation such as Meet the Need is a great way to have an impact towards SDG #2.

There are many ways to contribute to SDG #3, for both collective wellbeing and personal wellbeing.

Some ideas to prioritise this goal could be:

Prioritise some time off farm, or time for yourself to do something you enjoy, especially after the busy period of lambing and calving,
Organise an opportunity for the farm team to connect around a BBQ,
Spend some time exploring Farmstrong resources on their website,
Call a mate that you haven’t caught up with for a while

Getting involved with your local catchment group is a great way that you could take action towards SDG #6. This is a great way to approach SDG #6 in a way that goes beyond the property boundary and views water quality at a community level.

Another way you could contribute to SDG #6 on farm is to identify your waterways on farm and reflect on the management of these areas. What are your aspirations for these areas in the future? Could you make a plan about future management, enhancement and/or restoration of these areas on farm?

Take some time to reflect on the positive contribution that you have on your local community. Make a list of all of the ways you contribute to the community, whether it be through organisations, school, community events, and so on. Then, do something to celebrate yourself and your contributions – you deserve it!

One focus area for this goal on-farm is waste management. This could be approached in a couple of ways such as:

Reflecting on how you could optimise your farm system to increase efficiencies,
Create a farm waste management plan to prioritise the recycling of as much on-farm waste as possible

What am I going to prioritise?

One area I would like to prioritise in the remainder of 2025 is to undertake Stream Health Assessments and Visual Soil Assessments on the home farm to have a greater understanding of the state of waterways and soil, respectively.

Undertaking these assessments provides a great opportunity to get to know your natural resources on farm better, as well as contributing to farm assurance programmes. They also allow for a great point of reflection, baseline monitoring, and are methods that can be carried out annually to compare the state of your environment year on year, as well as over longer periods.

Another area I would like to prioritise is further exploring partnerships and relationships that allow for work towards the SDGs. This is likely to be through some new additions to the blog that focus on sustainability, storytelling, and championing the SDGs. Sharing stories, experiences, and insights has such value so I wish to lean into this area more for the last few months of the year.

SDG #17 is pivotal to the progress of the SDGs, so being intentional about our work with others for the benefit of all of the other SDGs is really important for us to prioritise.

You can read more about the SDGs and their applicability to agriculture through our back catalogue of SDG spotlight blog posts.