Beef Central publishes an occasional summary of appointments, departures or achievements occurring across the red meat supply chain, both private sector and government. Send details for entries to admin@beefcentral.com

• Animal welfare role new focus in WA
• New CEO for Food Standards Australia NZ
• WA agriculture minister backs meat processing
• Livestock transporters well represented on national transport matters
• New boss for Hokubee Australia
• Popular Roma extension specialist joins TBTS
• New sales manager for Virbac
• CEFC board appoints new CEO
• Strong beef connection on Northern CRC
• ABC board role for Qld producer
• Angus Australia Foundation study scholarship recipients

 

Animal welfare role new focus in WA

Sarah Kahn has joined Western Australia’s the Department of Agriculture and Food as the state body’s new animal welfare director.

Dr Kahn joined the department in March, leading a team committed to improving animal welfare outcomes in WA. She has an extensive and varied background including previous roles as director of the International Trade Department of the World Organisation for Animal Health. She holds a degree in Vet Science from Melbourne U and a Masters in Science from James Cook U.

Dr Kahn joins the department at a time when animal welfare regulation in WA was undergoing significant change, as it implements key recommendations of the state’s 2015 Animal Welfare Review. She will take the lead on critical initiatives including a review of the Animal Welfare Act 2002, implementation of national welfare standards and guidelines for livestock, and the development of the State animal welfare strategy. The department is also building its animal welfare compliance team, and focusing on improving community and industry education and engagement.

New CEO for Food Standards Australia NZ

Mark Booth has joined Food Standards Australia New Zealand as the organisation’s new chief executive, replacing Steve McCutcheon.

FSANZ is an independent statutory agency which develops standards that regulate the use of ingredients, processing aids, additives, vitamins and minerals. The Food Standards Code also covers the composition of some foods, such as meat dairy and beverages as well as foods developed by new technologies such as genetic modification. The authority is also responsible for some labelling requirements for packaged and unpackaged food.

Prof Booth has worked extensively in health policy across most areas of the health sector in Australia, the UK and NZ. His original background is as a health economist and he has post graduate qualifications in health economics, public administration and public health.

New WA agriculture minister backs meat processing

Following WA’s state election last month, Alannah MacTieran has been named minister for Agriculture. In the past Ms MacTieran has been publicly opposed to live export. She said last week that she was committed to the best possible animal welfare standards and would ensure the ESCAS system supporting the live export trade was enforced. The Minister said she was supportive of processing livestock within Australia. “I believe the work that (meat) processors are doing to develop an industry that is very much focussed on the branding of Australian product, of processing this meat in WA, is really the way we have to go,” she said. “The focus of our government is on jobs – and I do think we can do better than just being a cattle yard for other countries.” Ms MacTieran said her government was committed to working with industry to support local processing.

Livestock transporters well represented on national transport matters

Two high-profile livestock transporters have gained positions on the council of the Australian Trucking Association, the peak industry body representing road transport of all types across the nation. Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association members John Beer and Lynley Miners have taken their positions on the ATA Council.
Mr Beer was elected to the ‘owner driver’ representative position on the ATA, and Mr Miners as the ‘small fleet’ representative.

ALRTA national president Kevin Keenan said both would bring a wealth of experience to the ATA council table. “John and Lynley are passionate industry advocates who are actively working to make smaller trucking businesses safer, more productive and free from unnecessary regulatory interference,” he said. “They are real ‘grass-roots’ operators who know what it takes to run their own small trucking business.”

John Beer is a livestock transport Industry veteran of more than 50 years.  He started out as a young driver hauling stock as well as fencing posts, hay and grain.  Together with his wife Melva, he operates his own single-truck transport business J & M Beer Carrying Service

from Romsey in central Victoria.  He is a past President of the ALRTA and Victorian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association.

Lynley Miners is the current president of the NSW based Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association, a role he has held since 2016. Lynley has a deep association with the trucking industry as a successful operator and small business owner for the past 30 years, working alongside his siblings in the family livestock transport business which is still in operation today.

New boss for Hokubee Australia

Innovative Japanese-owned red meat value-adding company Hokubee Australia has announced a change of senior management.

Current managing director of the company’s Australian operations, Shin Fujimoto, will this month return to Japan, where he will head-up Hokubee Japan’s R&D, planning and logistics division. He is being succeeded in Australia by Katsuichi (Kazu) Tokumoto. Mr Tokumoto will return to the company’s Australian operations, where he previously worked for a lengthy period.

At its state-of-the-art factory near Wauchope in NSW, Hokubee Australia produces a proprietary product called Meltique beef, using a specialised process to inject fat into leaner whole muscle cuts to both tenderise them, and produce a marbling-like effect adding to flavour and juiciness. The product is widely used in Asia, primarily in food service applications. See this earlier profile published on Beef Central.

Popular Roma extension specialist joins TBTS

Roma based Beef Extension Officer, Tim Emery, has joined the Tropical Beef Technical Services team on a three year secondment from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Tim studied a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at The University of Queensland and during his time at university he undertook a 16 week internship at Swan’s Lagoon Beef Cattle Research Station near Ayr and work experience with CSIRO. He graduated in 2008 and was then appointed as a Beef Extension Officer at Roma in early 2009, where he has worked for the last eight years.

Tim has considerable experience and expertise in beef genetics, having been involved in the Beef CRC Champions Program as a “Genomics Champion” and more recently the Next Gen Beef Breeding Strategies Project and the current “Repronomics” Project being conducted with Brahman, Droughtmaster and Santa Gertrudis cattle.

In recent years he has delivered numerous breeding and genetics presentations over a wide area of Queensland, from Malanda in the north to Gympie in the east and Thargomindah in the west, as part of field days, workshops and the Grazing Best Management Practice (BMP) program.

Tim sat on the Future Farmers Network Board of Directors for six years and has twice been named as a finalist in the Emerging Leader Award at the Queensland Red Meat Awards. In addition, he has been on the organising committee of the widely recognised Young Beef Producers’ Forum (YBPF) in Roma for the last seven years. He is also involved in the family beef business at Wallumbilla and has his own small herd.

In his new role with TBTS, Tim will work widely with both commercial and seedstock producers in northern Australia with the goal of increasing the adoption of BREEDPLAN and its associated technologies. He will continue to be based in Roma.

Tim can be contacted on 0408 707 155 or via email tim@tbts.une.edu.au

New sales manager for Virbac

Virbac Australia has appointed experienced agribusiness manager Richard Romano as its new general manager of sales. Virbac has a diversified animal health product portfolio which in beef covers internal and external parasite control, vaccines and nutrition.

Mr Romano, who will be based in Victoria, has spent the past three years as Dairy Australia’s program leader for feedbase and nutrition. Prior to that, he was ruminant business unit manager with Elanco Animal Health.

CEFC board appoints new CEO

The Board of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has appointed Ian Learmonth as its new chief executive officer, to replace outgoing CEO Oliver Yates. Mr Learmonth has a strong background in financial services, both in Australia and internationally. He has advised and invested on a range of large-scale infrastructure projects, including renewable energy technologies.

CEFC has provided clean energy projects finance packages worth $3.3 billion across industry, including examples within the red meat supply chain covering processing and rendering businesses, cold storage facilities and pastoral companies. Mr Learmonth currently leads the Impact Investing team at Social Ventures Australia, which has a strong cross-over with CEFC investment activities.

CEFC chair Jillian Broadbent said this was an important time in the evolution of Australia’s energy markets and indeed the CEFC. “Clean energy is available at increasing scale and price competitiveness and significant new investment is required if we are to achieve the goal of a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system,” she said.

Strong beef connection on Northern CRC

Three stakeholders with strong beef industry connections have gained seats on the board of the new CRC for Developing Northern Australia.

The Federal Government recently announced the establishment of the board of the $75 million CRC for Developing Northern Australia, which will get to work on attracting research projects that benefit the north. The CRC will be headquartered in Townsville, chaired by Cairns businesswoman Sheriden Morris. Its other members include representatives from Qld, WA and the NT. The CRC is open for applications for short-term collaborative research projects that will enhance the competitiveness of Northern Australia. The mission is to bring together industry, research organisations and northern jurisdictions with international partners to tackle barriers to private investment in the north, with an initial focus on agriculture, food and tropical health.

Among the seven directors appointed are John Wharton, former cattle producer and Mayor of Richmond shire council since 1997. He is the longest serving mayor presently in Local Government in Queensland. He manages and operates his own property and livestock agency business, Wharton & Co.

Don McDonald heads his family’s pastoral company, MDH Pty Ltd, one of the largest privately owned vertically-integrated beef enterprises in Australia. Mr McDonald has served as a director of other companies including CSIRO, AA Co, and the Qld Industry Development Corp. From his earliest days, He has been vitally interested in the development of the inland and northern Australia, being involved in the push for the extension of rural power, the spread of telephones to take over from HF radio, better roads and freight services.

Based in Darwin, Tracey Hayes is the chief executive officer of the NT Cattlemens Association, the peak body for the billion dollar NT cattle industry. In this role she works at the NT, national and international level to advance a range of northern issues including trade, industry competitiveness, resource use, telecommunications and infrastructure.

ABC board role for Qld producer

The voice of the bush has been made a little stronger on Australian Broadcasting Corporation matters following the appointment earlier this year of Queensland state farm organisation representative, Georgie Somerset to the ABC board. Ms Somerset, AgForce’s South East Queensland regional director, has been appointed as a non-executive director for the next five years and is the only regional representative on the eight-member ABC board.

AgForce president Grant Maudsley describing it as a massive win for producers. “Georgie has worked tirelessly over many years to advocate for rural and regional Queensland, all while running a family beef cattle farming business in Durong with her husband,” he said.

As part of the AgForce Board Georgie is focused on telecommunications and ensuring that there is equitable access, service, affordability, data quality and quantity for all rural and remote users. As well as being an AgForce regional director and sitting on numerous AgForce committees, Georgie is also a director of the RFDS in Queensland, QRAA and Children’s Health Qld Hospital & Health Service.

Angus Australia Foundation study scholarship recipients

Each year, the Angus Australia Foundation offers scholarships to Angus Australia members to support them in completing their tertiary studies in courses that will benefit the Australian beef Industry. Members studying an agriculture-based degree, diploma or certificate at a registered institution who have a commitment to the beef industry and the Angus breed were encouraged to apply.

Here’s a quick summary of this year’s recipients:

Daniel Kirk – Bachelor of Animal and Vet Bioscience, University of Sydney
Currently in his third year of study, Daniel has always had an interest in agriculture, having chosen to major in Animal Production Systems to further develop his knowledge of the industry.

Although being born and raised in Sydney’s inner west, through the University Professional Development program Daniel has been fortunate enough to have been given the autonomy to choose & experience various agricultural operations which interest him, both in Australia and overseas. He has spent time with MLA as an intern working across multiple business units, including R&D adoption, community programs & market information. During his time spent at MLA he focussed heavily on cattle, researching technologies to improve reproductive performance, collating saleyard statistics & developing welfare content. He has also spent time in animal health with Virbac Australia. In January this year, Daniel founded a research news service called informedagriculture.org with two mates from university, keeping readers up-to-date with research occurring in the beef, sheep, poultry & dairy industries.

Emily Sinderberry – Bachelor of Ag Business Management, Charles Stuart U
Growing up in Condobolin central west NSW as a part of her families’ Angus seedstock business has sparked a passion and keen interest for Emily into beef production, cropping and agribusiness.

Having studied agriculture with great enthusiasm throughout her high school years, she began studying a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management through CSU distance education in 2016, after taking a ‘gap year’ the year before to work in her family business. Emily hopes to contribute to the Australian beef industry on completion of her agribusiness degree.

Naomi Leahy – Honours in Animal Science, Murdoch U
This year Naomi is undertaking her honours in Animal Science following her undergraduate degree in Science, majoring in Animal Science and Animal Health completed in 2016. Naomi’s project will take her to King Island, Tasmania to research the effects of magnesium on weightgain and dark cutting in cattle under the supervision of Drs Peter McGilchrist and Kate Loudon (see Beef Central’s earlier article).

Naomi is looking forward to exploring the eastern beef operations in Australia and comparing them to those found in her home territory of south western WA. She hopes to use the knowledge she gains this year to help guide her toward employment at the end of 2017 into a job which will allow her to use research information to guide the expansion of WA beef production. In the future, Naomi would also like to complete her PhD in beef production and increase her knowledge of the live export industry in Australia.

Hannah Bird – Bachelor of Ag Business, Marcus Oldham College
Last year Hannah completed her Diploma in Agribusiness and is currently undertaking the Associate Degree, after which she will then go on to study her Bachelor next year. Having grown up on her family’s beef cattle stud based in Birregurra, Victoria, Hannah knew since finishing high school that she wanted to study agriculture, which helped her decide to enrol in an Agribusiness course at Marcus Oldham College, allowing her to gain knowledge around all aspects of agriculture and the beef industry.

After her degree, Hannah wishes to further her career in beef cattle production. She is interested in animal genetics, nutrition and marketing, and is looking forward to seeing what the future holds and where the beef industry takes her.

Aimee Bolton – Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management, Charles Sturt U, Wagga Wagga
Aimee grew up surrounded by cattle and runs her own Red Angus herd, sparking her interest in a career in agriculture. Once Aimee graduates she hopes to gain a career in meat science, within Australia or globally.