The 2026/27 Advancing Beef Leaders cohort.

A QUIETLY growing industry leadership program has recently wrapped up for another cohort, with participants putting forward projects that are helping solve some key industry issues.

The Advancing Beef Leaders program brings emerging industry leaders together, with no age limit. One element of the ABL program puts participants into groups where they come up with projects to help solve industry issues. Most of the projects are about working together to better communicate the opportunities in the industry.

The 2025/26 ABL cohort recently wrapped up their program in Darwin and welcomed the new 2026/27 cohort.

James Pisaturo, a commercial and stud producer at Middlemount and recent graduate briefly caught up with The Week in Beef podcast to discuss the projects coming outn of ABL.

His group compiled a four-minute video for school students promoting all the different career opportunities across the beef supply chain – the students filled out a brief questionnaire before and after the video to measure its impact.

The video was distributed through the Teachers Union and reached 180 students.

“We were trying to focus on the fact that there’s a wide range of wide scope of jobs, like everyone knows about going up north to be a ringer or a station hand,” he said.

“But the amount of support industries, the processing industry is very urban based, all the research and technology and data just showing the scope of the beef industry.”

The same cohort also produced:

• A podcast which has now been rolled out on Spotify called The Top Rail Podcast. It is focused on station hands entering the industry and people going into management roles.
• A checklist to be financially ready when getting into the industry and buying property.
• A program to get teachers into Intercollegiate Meat Judging Program to get more interaction between educators and the beef industry.

Asked what the ABL program did for him, Mr Pisaturo said it was a tough question to answer as there were many benefits.

“There are just a lot of tools and a lot of skills that you are refining. I now have better capacity to walk into any room and talk to any people about representing our industry,” he said.

“Then also just the networking, it is hard to believe there are a whole heap of people I did not know 12 months ago and I now call a lot of them close friends. It’s not only the other peers in the project, the mentors, the alumni, it is a great networking opportunity.”

About ABL

ABL is a one-year program open to anyone involved in the beef industry from producers to agribusiness and service providers. Many of the modules are online, with a three-day supply chain tour and graduation/induction events in-person.

The program focuses on building networks, putting the participants in groups who undertake projects to solve issues in the industry.

ABL alumni work in a variety of roles, including: producers, station managers, ringers, extension officers, agribank managers and stock agents