Conclusions from Short-Term Monitoring Comparison

● From the comparison of ten short-term monitoring sites conducted on 21st February 2023 (year 4) with that from the previous year (year 3), it can be concluded that the health of ecosystem processes overall has basically been maintained.

● The indicator that fell the most was live canopy cover, which was mostly due to recent slashing, and grazing. Scores for cool and warm season grasses also fell.

● The indicator that improved the most was invertebrates (living organisms), with six of the 10 sites recording higher scores.

● The average EHI improvement across paddocks was +76.8. The paddock Cherries improved the most by 25, while the paddock Little Italy also improved, by 20 points. Both paddocks are pasture based.

● In year 4, EHIs varied from +65 to +105, with a weighted average of +76.8, compared with an average of +79.9 in year 3 and +82.4 in year 2. These are all very high scores, which overall still shows a good trend.

● All four indexes of ecosystem health (water cycle, mineral cycle, energy flow and community dynamics) have shown just slight reductions since the last monitoring.

● Energy flow fell the most, from 91% to 85%, due to the tractor bogging effect on one site, less than ideal recovery from cultivation at another (increasing bare ground), along with the recent grazing and slashing effect on live canopy cover.

● Water cycle fell from 95% to 93%, due to the same increase in bare ground, along with small reductions in litter abundance at four sites.

5. Ecological Outcome Verification - Trend

The following analysis shows whether a trend of improving ecological health has been observed at Cargo Road Wines. Robust identification of a trend must be based on like for like comparison. The following chart identifies this trend based on comparison of 4 STM sites from ‘year 0’ and 10 STM sites for the monitoring events from ‘year 1’ and beyond. Future monitoring events will continue to be carried out across 10 STM sites and will be used for future identification of trend. The number of sites was initially limited to contain costs.

The EHI trend graph shows that the overall trend line of Ecological Health is continuing to improve. Under the EOV monitoring protocol, an improving EHI result means that the enterprise operating on this land base is eligible to use the EOV seal, subject to confirmation by the worldwide EOV Quality Assurance team (and guidelines for use of the seal). Based on the improving trend observed in ‘year 4’, Cargo Road Wines is eligible to use the EOV seal.