Green Tick® received confirmation today that the Australian Department of Primary Industry will be undertaking a trial of “Green Tick® Natural” certification for Queensland lamb and merino wool products this Australian winter.
 
Dr Lester Pahl and his sustainability science team at DPI, Toowomba, will be assisting some rangeland farmers through the certification process, with independent Australian agricultural consultants engaged to perform the certification audit. Random tests of meat and wool samples will also be taken to confirm the “naturalness” of the products.
 
Green Tick®’s Executive Director, Susan Harris, is very pleased with this news. “The Australian Government is investing heavily in sustainability research, with the aim of making sustainable production techniques eventually part of all of Australia’s primary production lines. The Green Tick® trial comes at the end of Dr Pahl’s five-year research project into sustainable farming systems and branding for rangeland farms. We hope that the Green Tick® Natural eco-label will help farmers get the recognition and financial reward they deserve for production of these premium products under sustainable farming conditions.”
 
Pending results of the certification audit, it is expected that a limited issue of premium “Green Tick® Natural” lamb and wool products will be introduced onto the market in June or July of 2005.
 
Updates on the trial will be posted on this website as they are received.

13 April 2005