Huge Beef Consumption Decrease With No Light In Sight!
July 2010 MLA forecasts over the next 5 years beef consumption is expected to fall 15% from 34 kilograms to 28.9 kg while lamb and pork consumption will remain steady. Annual chicken consumption is expected to increase 9.7% from 38 kilograms a person to 41.7 kilograms.
This is despite MLA spending $700 million of producers taxes on R&D since its inception in 1989.
Hard to believe the MLA’s new $5million ad campaign will solve this challenge.
Producers Present Alternative Beef Industry Plan
A major producer meeting says a meat quality grading system like that in the USA should be introduced that grades carcasses rather than cuts of beef. It said this would help capture more of the domestic market beef for grading (and thus add value and revenue to producers), while a restructure of MLA and research and development bodies was planned to reduce costs and duplication. It claims MLA’s existing MSA QA system has been around for years without any significant uptake or consumer affect, and that most R&D funds allocated by MLA benefit individual applicants rather than the Industry in general.
Read more here
Labour, Liberal Coalition Or Gasp! Shock Horror…Green?
Apparently Minister Burke has snubbed the Australian Beef Association and the various producer forums regarding concerns about issues vital to the industry such as a lack of democracy and general producer input.
The Liberal Coalition Opposition would also have to change significantly to provide any benefit here too! It was Deputy PM Anderson who over-saw the implementation of MLA and its associated lack of transparent democracy and subsequent Minister Truss, MP Heffernan and former stock agent Joyce similarly didn’t provide much joy either while in power.
So what are we to do? Perhaps a left-field option could be to get on the Green bandwagon and participate in the balance-of-power through a deal with Bob Brown where Land rights and care for the land by producers are recognised, coal mining on valuable farm land is cast away in favour of sustainable food production and producers are given a democratic vote on the direction of their industry that is not watered-down by processor votes (just like dock workers and construction workers)? Wonder whether we could throw-in the massive NLIS waste as well?
What do you think?
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Rural Australia 