The Australian livestock sector could lose up to $3.2 billion by 2030 if it does not meet changing consumer attitudes to animal welfare.

Key points: An independent economic study has predicted that Australia's $15 billion meat and livestock industry could face losses of up to $3.8 billion by 2030

An independent economic study has predicted that Australia's $15 billion meat and livestock industry could face losses of up to $3.8 billion by 2030 Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) said that 84 per cent of the predicted loss could be attributed to animal welfare concerns

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) said that 84 per cent of the predicted loss could be attributed to animal welfare concerns To address this, the MLA recommends farmers to "talk honestly, proudly and transparently" about their businesses with consumers

That was the message from Meat and Livestock Australia's community engagement manager Jacqueline Baptista at the Victorian Farmers Federation meeting this week in Darnum, Victoria about red meat advocacy and challenging the rising vegan movement.

She told more than 30 beef, sheep and dairy farmers that about 84 per cent of a $3.8 billion loss projected by 2030, as a result of not adapting to changing consumer attitudes, was directly related to animal welfare concerns.

This figure can from an independent study into the meat industry, which is worth $15 billion in total.

In April Animal rights activists launched protests across the country, with a group of up to 100 people halting traffic at Melbourne's busiest intersection during peak hour. ( ABC News: James Oaten )

Farm raids in West Gippsland at The Gippy Goat cafe late last year, raids in Queensland and a protest that blocked a main intersection in Melbourne last month have all contributed to farmers growing concern about the safety of themselves, their livestock and the future of their industry.

"We can't change what people choose to eat, whether they choose to eat vegetables, not vegetables, red meat or not red meat — that's someone's individual choice and we completely respect that," Ms Baptista said.

"We do actually though, have a problem with activists' activities," she said.

"Farm raids are obviously a big problem for us.

"These are people's farms, these are their homes, and these are their businesses.

"Having them invaded by a group of people or a group of strangers can be really, really confronting so we want to protect our producers from that and make sure it doesn't happen."

Not just 'an activist group … that would magically disappear'

Ms Baptista said that the industry did need to acknowledge that these issues would not just go away.

"We've spent decades thinking this threat would go away, or it would change, or it was just some sort of activist left-wing group that would magically disappear and we've dealt with it a couple of different ways," she said.

"One of them was ignore them and hope that they go away, another tactic was get aggressive or defensive — neither of those things have really worked particularly well for us as an industry.

"I think we've really just got to be doing what we do.

"Do it proudly, do it loudly and make sure that people know what we're doing, actually bring people on farm to show people what we're doing."

Ms Baptista called on farmers to "talk honestly, proudly and transparently" about their businesses.

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock group president Leonard Vallance ( ABC Rural: Simone Smith )

"Everyone has an opportunity to engage with consumers and tell the story of Australia's clean, green, and mostly, family farming livestock sector — there's 100,000 red meat producers in Australia, at least," she said.

Ms Baptista said it was up to the industry to find "the delivery method people want" for their red meat and gave examples of MLA working with large catering organisations to keep beef and lamb on menus and teaching organisations, such as mining companies, how to cook cheaper cuts of meat to maintain red meat consumption.

Dealing with farm raids

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock group president Leonard Vallance gave farmers some tips for if their farm was raided by activists.

"Use your phone, film for evidence," he said.

"Turn-on your phone and ask them to leave, continue to film and if they don't leave, call the police."

Animal Liberation Victoria, in a statement, said it "would be glad to see industry open up about their practices" but didn't believe "the trajectory of the vegan movement" would be stopped by farmers filming activists or by police involvement.

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"The animal rights movement is young and is only getting stronger," the statement said.

"With the ever increasing availability of plant meat protein, which the MLA itself states is "increasingly meat-like… in appearance, taste and even smell" — as well as the increasing awareness of ethical issues in animal farming, and the destruction caused to our environment, the movement will no doubt continue to grow."