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Vol 24. No. 3 March 2020 Australian Pork Newspaper PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email ben@porknews.com.au
A happy group of APILP graduates and APL staff.
Taking on new challenges
Exciting changes under way at Australian Pork Limited
PORK SA’s annual pig in- dustry day in the Barossa Valley on February 28 provided members of the Australian Pork Limited team, including our Chair Andrew Baxter and me, to spend valuable time with South Australian producers and industry stakeholders.
The Barossa is a commu- nity with a rich history of pig production, where lo- cals have celebrated pork’s diversity for many genera- tions, so it was a perfect setting for our meeting.
As we confirmed during a visit to the local butcher at Tanunda, the region’s reputation as a hub for world-class smallgoods is certainly well earned.
A highlight of the Pork SA event was the presenta- tion of the 2020 Ronald J Lienert Memorial Schol- arship to University of Adelaide student Chelsea Dossett.
Chelsea’s wonderful pas- sion for our industry will put her in good stead for her forthcoming honours research project on com- mercial pork production.
As part of the $12,500 scholarship, Chelsea will also be given a number of special pig industry sup- ply chain experiences away from the university cam- pus to broaden her under- standing of pig production science in a commercial environment and help her establish contacts with in- dustry members and poten- tial employers.
We wish Chelsea well and look forward to fol- lowing her progress.
Industry’s response to the threat of African swine fe- ver was a key talking point of the Pork SA meeting, and it was reassuring for attendees to hear about the extent of preparedness and alignment across both national and state jurisdic- tions, as well as the signifi- cant preventative measures
Point of View
by MARGO ANDRAE CEO
being taken by commercial producers.
Part of the national re- sponse to the ASF threat has been the establishment of Australia’s first National Feral Pig Management Co- ordinator.
The role is part of a $1.4 million package announced by the Federal Government last year, enabling APL to lead renewed efforts to re- duce the biosecurity risk fe- ral pig populations pose to our industry and Australia’s entire agricultural sector.
The Federal Agriculture Minister David Little- proud announced in late- February that APL Gen- eral Manager, Research and Innovation Dr Heather Channon was the success- ful applicant for the co- ordinator’s role.
The appointment is a great outcome for pig pro- ducers given Dr Channon’s extensive pork industry ex- perience.
Dr Channon, who com- menced in the role on March 1, will work col- laboratively with the states and territories, as well as federal agencies and local land managers.
A roundtable will be held in Canberra this month to bring together industry, governments, research- ers and other stakeholders to discuss the co-ordina- tion of national feral pig management strategies.
Further regional meet- ings across the country in the coming weeks includ- ing at Bendigo on March 17 and Wagga Wagga on April 8, as well as meet- ings in Queensland and Western Australia, will be valuable opportunities for industry to discuss our pre- paredness for ASF.
But as was the case at the Pork SA meeting, these forums will also provide us with a chance to update producers on the exciting changes under way at APL.
The development of APL’s 2020-2025 Strate- gic Plan, as well as new approaches to industry communications, research and development and pro- ducer engagement, have been guided by our mem- bers and I’m committed to ensuring these strategic processes remain transpar- ent and continue to reflect grassroots priorities.
Regional industry meet- ings, our ongoing engage- ment with state-based producer groups and con- tributions by farmer rep- resentatives at APL Board level are pivotal in shap- ing APL’s future, but so is direct contact from stake- holders.
With that in mind, we always welcome feedback from our producer mem- bers and can be contacted any time via apl@australi anpork.com.au
THIS month’s article is my last in the Research and Innovation General Manager position, as I have taken on the role of National Feral Pig Management Coordina- tor as at March 2, 2020.
Because the position is being managed by Australian Pork Limited through a grant from the Commonwealth Govern- ment, I will remain part of the APL family.
The mandate of the role is the development and implementation of the National Feral Pig Ac- tion Plan, in consultation and collaboration with Australian, state and ter- ritory governments, peak industry bodies, research and development cor- porations, the National Farmers’ Federation, na- tional resource manage- ment and environmental groups as well as the wider community.
A long-term plan for effective feral pig man- agement and control is needed to ensure efforts to reduce the feral pig population are not wast- ed, with quantifiable tar-
gets and measures put in place.
It’s a big job and one I am looking forward to tackling.
To inform the develop- ment of the action plan, a roundtable meeting will be held in late March at Parliament House, Can- berra, which will bring together key stakehold- ers to discuss the work done and progress for fe- ral pig management and control.
This is a terrific op- portunity for me to ex- pand my professional experience while contin- uing to work on reduc- ing the threat and cost feral pigs present to the
pork industry, the wider agricultural sector and environment.
Of course, addressing the ongoing biosecurity threat feral pigs pose to the Australian pork in- dustry, particularly the risk of African swine fe- ver becoming endemic in the feral pig popula- tion, is high on my list. evokeAG – stimulating new collaborations
On February 18-19, I was fortunate to attend the evokeAG agrifood tech event at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
APL Manager Integrity Systems and Capability Dr Vaibhav Gole and I
interacted with the ag- rifood tech community and identified new op- portunities for the pork industry.
The event, put together by AgriFutures Austral- ia, attracted about 1300 delegates from 20 coun- tries.
In addition to the ple- nary and concurrent ses- sions, 38 start-up compa- nies, mainly from Aus- tralia and New Zealand, exhibited their wares to attendees in ‘Start-up al- ley’.
For full details of the companies that exhibit- ed, please visit evokeag. com/2020-startup-pro gram/startup-alley
These included:
• escavox (escavox. com) – collection, near real-time reporting, analysis and sharing of supply-chain tracking data, including tempera- ture, time and location to protect product fresh- ness and integrity.
• NuPoint (nupoint. com) – live GPS loca- tion of vehicles to track assets.
☛ continued P2
by HEATHER CHANNON Research and Innovation General Manager
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07 4697 3344
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