Guidelines for Establishment and Operation of Cattle Feedlots in ...

15 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
National Feedlot Environmental Code of Practice
In 1998, industry proposed the development of a National Feedlot Environmental Code of
Practice to draw together divergent opinion and consolidate it into a universally approved
document that forms the basis of future environmental activity. This approach was consistent
with that employed in the successful development of the National Guidelines and the
implementation of the NFAS, satisfying the requirement to achieve a balance between selfregulation
and public accountability.
The National Feedlot Environmental Code of Practice (the Code) was developed by the
Australian Lot Feeders’ Association in consultation with all Commonwealth/State/Territory
agriculture and environment departments, the Cattle Council of Australia, the lotfeeding
industry, the Feed Lot Industry Accreditation Committee (FLIAC), the Meat Research
Corporation and environmental groups.
While the Code has been developed to address the legislative requirements of States and
Territories with respect to environmental matters, it is intended that it will be used primarily by
feedlot management and staff. It specifies environmental performance objectives, operational
objectives and practices that provide ways of achieving compliance with the environmental duty
of care. The Code also provides the community and regulatory authorities with a means by
which they can assess the industry’s performance.
The Feedlot Industry Accreditation Committee (FLIAC) has adopted the Code, as a replacement
upgrade for the ALFA Code of Practice for Protection of the Environment, ensuring that all
National feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS) accredited feedlots must now comply with the
newly developed Code. The Code has been endorsed by the Standing Committee for
Agriculture and Resource Management (SCARM).
Environment Management Plans
To ensure that all environmental impacts are considered when planning a feedlot development it
is useful to develop an Environment Management Plan (EMP) for the feedlot property. This
plan may also be valuable in the approval process for feedlot developments in environmentally
sensitive areas.
The primary purpose of the EMP is to document how the feedlot development will impact on the
relevant environmental factors and how those impacts may be mitigated and managed so as to
be environmentally acceptable.
The Environment Management Plan should detail the methods and procedures which will be
used to achieve the planned environmental targets and objectives. The plan should allocate
responsibilities for the various requirements and should also address both short term targets
and longer term objectives.
The following checklist may be useful in developing an EMP for the feedlot development.
Checklist
Consider impacts on
– Water resources
– Bushland areas and Reserves
– Wetlands and waterways
– Water protection areas
Consider site contamination or details of previous land uses which may have contaminated the
soil.
Guidelines for Establishment and Operation of Cattle Feedlots in South Australia, 2 nd Edition 65