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

• JBS appoints northern livestock GM
• Beef event organiser extraordinaire calls time
• StockLive appoints beef industry innovator
• Environmental specialist joins biotech business
• New appointees for Gulf Savannah NRM advisory group
• Industry engagement role at MLA
• Brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista reinstated to JBS board

 

JBS appoints northern livestock GM

JBS Australia has appointed Edwin Cooke as the company’s Northern Division general manager of livestock.

The position has been filled on a temporary basis by Tommy Hunt since the departure of Scott Carswell from the company in August last year. After a break, Mr Carswell took up a new supply chain position joining diversified agribusiness AgTrade, which operates the Paradigm vertically-integrated Wagyu beef business and live export business Austrex. Mr Carswell’s new role is as livestock procurement manager, managing key clients.

Regarded by many as the most challenging livestock procurement role in the Australian beef industry, JBS’s Northern Division encompasses the enormous daily kill requirements at the company’s Dinmore, Beef City, Rockhampton, Townsville and Riverina (NSW) processing facilities, plus feeder requirements for the company’s Beef City, Mungindi, Caroona, Prime City and Riverina yards.

Mr Cooke is himself a beef producer, with country in the North and South Burnett regions of Queensland.

He first worked for Australia Meat Holdings (predecessor to JBS) in livestock procurement under John Keir and later Ross Keane from the 1990s, running Dinmore’s weekend shifts. He later worked for some years in agency roles as an area manager for both Elders and Landmark (now Nutrien), before starting his own businesses in the labour hire field.

Mr Cooke is a grandson of the late Arthur Bassingthwaighte, who forged a formidable reputation managing cattle buying for major processors of the era including Swift & Co, one of the predecessors to AMH and today’s JBS.

 

Beef event organiser extraordinaire calls time

If you’ve been to a successful, well-run beef industry seminar, conference or forum across regional Australia over the past two or three decades, chances are the event was organised and managed by Jackie Kyte.

In her own gracious, efficient yet unflustered way, Gympie-based Jackie has managed well over 100 of MLA’s hugely successful Beef Up forums and Meat Profit Days stretching from Goondiwindi to the Kimberley, and all points in between, over the past 30 years.

On top of that there have been countless other one-off beef educational and technical events – but Jackie plans to call time after her final round of commitments at next week’s Beef 2024 event.

She has coordinated seminar programs and events at the three-yearly Beef Expo event in Rockhampton for the past 24 years, finishing this year with the National Beef Carcase Competition, seminars and tech yards coordination.

Just one of those earlier events was Beef Central’s pioneering virtual beef seminar held during Beef 2012, bringing in speakers from across the world for the first time via the fledgling Internet. This was the first beef industry conference gathering where the internet played a key part, and the technology worked without a hitch, bringing in speakers from Brussels, the United States and Melbourne.

Jackie broke her teeth in managing industry gatherings while working as a project manager with Queensland DPI from 1990, later joining Meat & Livestock Australia from 2004 as a project manager.

That work included no less than 102 Beef Up forums staged across Queensland, the NT and Kimberley, plus larger Meat Profit Days, genetics conferences and annual MSA eating quality awards.

Beyond MLA, Jackie successfully managed the 2016 World Brahman Congress, Trop Ag 2019 on behalf of University of Queensland, North Australia Beef Research biennial conferences held since 2007, Beef CRC conferences, Australian Rangelands Society and others – the list is endless.

Apart from her incredibly busy seminars schedule, Jackie has found time to provide the secretariat for the North Australian Beef Research Council, the hugely successful Gympie Carcase Classic, and the Gympie District Beef Liaison Committee.

Beneath it all, Jackie holds a deep passion for the beef industry, and the people who work within it.

Along the way, she received a Centenary Medal from the Governor General for distinguished public service and service to primary industries, and an Australia Day Achievement Medallion in recognition of exemplary service and contribution to DAF clients and projects.

Jackie, on the industry’s behalf, we thank you for your tireless contribution. If you see Jackie hovering in the background at her final Beef 2024 events next week, make sure to say a final hello.

 

StockLive appoints beef industry innovator

Former breed society program manager Liz Pearson has left Angus Australia, taking up a new role with online livestock auction and data services provider, StockLive.

For the past eight years, Ms Pearson was supply chain manager for Angus Australia, where she was responsible for maintaining integrity systems around the supply of beef to the McDonald’s burger chain and other Angus branded beef programs.

A key innovation in her AA role was engaging commercial producers to help them ensure brand rigour, which culminated in the development of the Angus Verified program to authenticate commercial Angus cattle in the marketplace.

In her new role as program manager with StockLive, Ms Pearson is working with the company’s tech team to enhance the online platform’s functionality and user experience for clients in the cattle and sheep sectors, and seeking their feedback on the optimal system for selling stock in an online and live environment.

Her responsibilities include building brand awareness, working with breed groups to develop seedstock sales, new business development in the commercial sector and looking at opportunities for StockLive to engage with the community on ESG programs.

“Liz has comprehensive experience in all facets of the beef industry, from her family farm to feedlots, animal health, stock and station agencies, logistics, processing and brand management,” StockLive general manager, Libby Tyrell said.

AAM-owned StockLive is an online auction and/or livestreaming and data services platform designed to support the saleyard industry by increasing the number of buyers able to participate in any given auction, without the need to travel. The aim is to equip saleyard operators across the nation with technology by providing online livestream and bidding services to complement current physical auctions, providing greater market competition to the benefit of the whole livestock supply chain including producers. In January, Elite Livestock Auctions was folded into the Stocklive business.

 

Environmental specialist joins biotech business Loam Bio

Former beef producer and environmental advocate Pip Job has joined carbon industry business Loam Bio to position farmers to capture opportunities in carbon markets.

Based out of Orange in the Central West of NSW, Loam Bio has pioneered novel technology and carbon programs that deliver additional ROI and carbon revenue to the agriculture sector.

Ms Job has had a decades-long career within government and industry, having originally spent 12 years with Landcare specialising in sustainable ag systems, extension and project delivery. In 2015 she joined NSW DPI leading programs building preparedness and resilience of primary industries businesses to meet future adversity and capitalise on opportunities.

She is also a former Australian Beef Sustainability Framework Steering Committee and Technical Committee member.

The recipient of a Public Service Medal and AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year, Ms Job brings a wealth of experience to her role as Loam Bio’s director SecondCrop.

She led the NSW industry through some of its biggest challenges on record following her appointment as NSW State Drought Coordinator in 2018.

“I have always believed in a holistic approach to farming, striving towards financial management and farming practices that deliver better production to growers and better environmental outcomes,” Ms Job said. “With the worldwide carbon market expected to grow to $2.8 trillion by 2028, there’s massive demand and little supply, so my role is educating growers on how to take advantage of this growing market.”

 

New appointees for Gulf Savannah NRM advisory group

Shannon Rae and Donald Murray have been welcomed as part of the Gulf Savannah Natural Resources Management group’s Emerging Leaders program, and will advise and make recommendations to the board, while developing their governance skills. Queensland’s Gulf Savannah region covers some 236,000sq km, roughly the size of Victoria.

Shannon is a station manager on a large-scale breeding property in the Gulf.

‘This new position is an opportunity to give back to the local community and support the important work Gulf Savannah NRM delivers for the region,” she said. “I would like to help bridge the disconnect between consumers and the agricultural industry by sharing the stories of our passionate primary producers, as well as showcasing to school leavers all the opportunities the industry has to offer,” she said.

Donald Murray from Mareeba in far North Queensland is a former Organic Farmer of the Year and manages the organic farming business Nature’s Haven.

‘I have been involved in natural resource management throughout my working life — both on farm and businesses serving the agricultural industry. I hope to contribute towards positive environmental impacts while maintaining viable outcomes for landowners and communities,” he said.

Gulf Savannah NRM’s board members pictured below with Donald and Shannon are Ellen Weber (Chair), Emeritus Professor Chris Cocklin (Director), Kate Eden (Director), Nick Hardy (Director) and Anne Clarke (Director).

 

Industry engagement role at MLA

Formerly based in Europe as Meat & Livestock Australia’s regional market access manager, Mary Johnson has taken a new position back in Australia as MLA’s Industry Engagement Manager, based in Canberra.

She spent four years in London in her previous role, but requirements have changed since the signing of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Previously she spent time at both MLA and Cattle Council of Australia in communications and stakeholder relations.

MLA has changed the focus of roles in its Europe region bureau, making a new appointment to fill part of Ms Johnson’s former role.

 

Brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista reinstated to JBS board

Brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista have been re-instated to the JBS SA board, following the company’s annual general meeting on 26 April.

The move marks the return of the Batista brothers, who formerly served as chief executives and board members at JBS, but who were removed after scandals involving corruption and bribery towards the end of the last decade.

JBS SA owns and operates beef, pork and chicken processing facilities and other food industry assets across South America the US and Australia, including JBS Australia.

Last week’s AGM agreed to add two extra board seats, taking the number from nine to eleven to accommodate the brothers.

The brothers were returned to the JBS board after a late flood of shareholder votes turned around an earlier shareholder push against re-admitting the pair. A “Ban the Batistas” shareholder movement demonstrated in front of the New York Stock Exchange before the vote was taken.

The final vote saw about 1.24 billion shares in their favour against 250 million against, with about 500,000 votes abstained. J&F Investments, controlled by the Batistas, held 1.08 billion shares.

JBS proposed adding the brothers back to the board in an advice to shareholders in late March.

In 2017, the brothers stepped down from their JBS positions due to accusations regarding “Operation Weak Flesh,” which exposed bribes paid to food safety inspectors and politicians in Brazil. The Batistas faced allegations that they and other JBS executives bribed almost 2000 politicians. There were no allegations made about the company’s activities outside Brazil.

Brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista were charged with corruption in 2018, received huge fines, and did time.

After a period of detention as well as a ban from acting in management positions at J&F-owned companies, the brothers returned to their management roles at J&F in 2020.