Beef 2021

Beef 2021: ‘The week beef needed’

James Nason and Jon Condon, 10/05/2021

The week beef needed

From magnificent stud cattle and exchanges of ideas and information to brilliantly barbecued beef and free flowing hospitality across an entire week, Beef 2021 again showed why the triennial Beef Australia expos must rank among the world’s greatest beef industry events. After the strangest of socially-distanced pandemic-plundered years in 2020, Beef 2021 went ahead against the perfect backdrop of high cattle prices, low interest rates and improved seasonal conditions for many. Business was booming, smiles were beaming, spirits were soaring. After a year forced apart, it was the perfect way to bring the industry back together.

 

Beef Australia board, take a bow

Bryce Camm

Before the dust settles now the week is over, everyone who revelled in the Rocky beef bonanza should spare a moment to consider just how fortunate they were that the nine members of the Beef Australia Board had the courage way back in November last year to roll the dice and commit to the event going ahead, then a distant six months later. Just think back to how uncertain the world still was at that time, how heavily the black cloud of COVID-19 over-shadowed forward planning of any kind, and how much easier and even safer it would have been for the Board simply not to proceed. Consider the potential backlash they risked if investments by hundreds of exhibitors were derailed by lockdown in the months or weeks leading up to the event. But they chose the tough call, backed themselves, their staff and the broader Australian beef industry to pull together and make it happen, and they pulled it off. Had they pulled the plug and killed the momentum of an event that has received industry and Government support since 1988, who knows whether it could have returned in another three years’ time in 2024. Instead they had the guts to pull the trigger and an industry should be grateful as a result. And the result was a new record set with 115,866 through the gates over the whole week. To the Beef Australia board – Grant Cassidy, Russell Hughes, Kay Becker, Richard Brosnan, Ken Murphy, Claire MacTaggart, Rodney Bell, Jess Webb and chair Bryce Camm – take a bow, that’s what leadership is all about.

ScoMo dives into boots and all

Georgia Wragge from Holbrook in NSW meets Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Beef 2021.

Speaking of leaders it was notable to see the Prime Minister Scott Morrison spend a full 24 hours in Rockhampton during Beef 2021. It’s not unusual for pollies to swoop into a big agricultural event for a whirlwind photo opportunity, but for a PM to turn up and simply not leave and still be walking the grounds the next morning engaging with showgoers a full day later was worthy of note. Along the way he took in a multitude of events, presenting awards at industry dinners (congratulations to Beef Achiever of the Year winner Tracey Hayes by the way! More to come on Tracey’s award soon), visiting trade displays, technology exhibits, stud cattle sheds and meeting face to face with industry leaders. The strong political support for the industry was further demonstrated during Beef 2021 with appearances by numerous politicians including Federal leaders such as Deputy Premier Michael McCormack, Federal Ag Minister David Littleproud, Queensland LNP Senators Susan McDonald, Amanda Stoker and Matt Canavan, and State leaders including Qld Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk, Ag Minister Mark Furner, Opposition leader David Crisafulli and former opposition leader Deb Frecklington, who originally hails from a cattle producing family at Guluguba in Southern Qld.

 

When Ollie met a Pollie

 

The question we wanted to ask ScoMo

Unfortunately media including Beef Central were given less than 7 minutes notice of a press conference being held by the PM, which prevented us from putting a few questions to him.

Had been more notice been given, here’s what would have asked the PM:

The US earlier this month had an additional 31 meat processing plants listed for supply to China, following a further new 19 beef, pork and chicken plants the month before. In contrast the Australian meat industry has made no headway in gaining, or re-gaining market access for a long list of export plants – some of which have been seeking entry for years.

Is the Australian red meat industry paying the heavy price for the government’s public support last year for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID in China, while the US quietly gains the beef market share in China that we have lost as a result? What is the government doing to correct the problem?

Should we get a response, we’ll add it here.

FOMO

While there were plenty of acronyms floating around during Beef 2021, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) was one we thought was most apt.

Beef 2021It described the challenge faced by many who attended the event, with a conference and seminar program absolutely jam-packed with worthwhile content. Making the decision between multiple choices happening at the same time was the hard part. Even the event’s nightly dinner program often had multiple selections. Was the seminar program in fact too ambitious? Certainly some rooms we sat in were very poorly attended, for some sessions. Having said that, plenty of others were at, or near capacity. Price of entry may have had something to do with it. Halving the price of entry, while potentially doubling the audience was a suggestion put forward by a few people in attendance.

 

A couple of things

When a pandemic cuts the preparation time for an event from three years to six months some organisational issues will always be inevitable. That there weren’t many more is a testament to the organisational skill of the board, committees, staff and supporters. Some observations that may help with planning for the next event though: Several seminars were sold out and very successful. But several others which provided useful and relevant information were also quite dramatically under attended. A lack of interest in the topic or a reflection of ticket prices set too high, as touched on above? $45-$65 per person in some cases for a one or two hour seminar. Hard to know for sure, but lower ticket prices may make that information more accessible next time and ensure sessions are better attended. The biggest line-ups throughout the event were almost inevitably for coffee – a few more stands may well go a long way to satisfying the masses, particularly those running late for events. And lastly, the positioning of the trade exhibits meant that in some cases competing meat companies spent an entire week staring directly at each other, while the placement of the meat processors directly opposite the livestock exporters must have made for some interesting conversations across the aisle over the week.

 

Connectivity problems

With some 100,000 people passing through the Beef 2021 gates last week, it was perhaps inevitable there would be some connectivity problems. Additional towers (like this one) were provided, but it was clear that this was not enough to cope. One IT-savvy visitor made the point that six years ago at Beef 2015, most attendees probably had one internet enabled device with them. Three years ago in 2018, that may have risen to a couple. This year, many in attendance probably had three, four or more devices, all competing for bandwidth. At times the connectivity problems – not only on the grounds, but in surrounding areas in Rockhampton – were chronic. Beef Central readers may have noted one of our daily email alerts did not arrive until after 9pm. NBN and other service providers – please take note for 2024!

Ending with the game they play in heaven

 

Former Wallabies Lote Tuqiri, Nathan Sharpe and Matt Rogers at the Sportsman’s Lunch.

A Beef Australia block buster was the wind down on Friday night with a rugby match between the Classic Wallabies and the Beef Barbarians. The scoreboard was always going to favour the men in gold who have played the game at the highest level, and how good were they and how generous with their time in Rocky. But at the same time the courage, heart and, let’s be honest, surprising retained skill level given some of the ages of the Beef Barbarians was also something to behold. It was willing enough, with big hits, slick ball work and spectacular tries served up to a crowd that couldn’t get enough. As Rolleston cattle producer Ian McCamley posted on Facebook, it was probably the first time many in the crowd hadn’t cheered for the Wallabies, but at the same time everyone was rapt to see some of the biggest names (and biggest human beings – aka Lote Tuqiri) to ever pull on a Wallaby jersey mixing it with the boys from the beef industry.

A brilliant end to a brilliant week.

Tuckered out

Most of us ended the week feeling a lot like these guys below.

Get plenty of rest while you can, there’s another big beef week to get ready for in 2024!

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Comments

  1. Paul Franks, 11/05/2021

    About the only downside was the anti beef industry Qld Labor government politicians turning up with their reef regulation and vegetation management laws.

  2. Dick Slaney, 10/05/2021

    Great coverage guys for us Overseas cattle guys that were never gonna make it..

    lets hope theres no bloody Q in 2024..

  3. Stephen Blair, 10/05/2021

    What an absolutely niave question you advise you would have posed to to the Prime Minister , if you had been given an opportunity .
    Maybe you should ask the readers if they support the Governments position on China ( not just in relation to the Wuhan virus outbreak ) ?
    You will have no doubt seen the response from farmers in other affected sectors eg the barley sector , where they delivered overwhelming support , despite the direct affect on their business due to China bans .

    Separately , where would you suggest we get the cattle and thence the beef to supply the China market ?

    Please don’t diminish the quality of Beef Central reporting by jumping on a seemingly populist bandwagon .

    Go on !!
    Check with the readers , and industry !!

    • David Connellan, 11/05/2021

      I, for one, completely disagree with your comment, Stephen. Its public stance in supporting an investigation into the origins of COVID has directly impacted Australian beef. To simply suggest that ‘we don’t need China, because our herd size is so low’ ignores the fact that we need buyers from as many markets as possible to support healthy competition and demand for our product. There is ample evidence of this in the fact that a large number of branded beef supply chains that previously had processing done at service kill abattoirs that were de-listed for China last year, rapidly shifted to alternate processors who had access. The US now has 40 more meat plants supplying China than it did two months ago. Australia has zero. The government needs to work harder to achieve a breakthrough.

  4. Russell Pearson, 10/05/2021

    Scomo is the best thing that has happened for Australia and the beef industry for a long time.
    Anyone who wants to criticise, should think of the other option and be eternally grateful !

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