HIGH profile red meat industry leader Richard Norton did not detour from his now trademark manner of unambiguously laying out both the good and bad for all to see is his final address as managing director of Meat and Livestock Australia.
Mr Norton, who has taken up a role in the commercial sector with farm services business Elders, spoke about the impact of indefensible behaviour in the animal welfare space by a very small number, the division within the industry on the role MLA should play in live exports and the fact that resisting change leaves one behind.
His report to members, delivered at MLA’s annual general meeting in Canberra yesterday afternoon, touched on record investment in marketing and consumer insight work and the changes that shifted MLA to a transparent and customer-centric business.
Mr Norton, the fifth generation of a sheep and beef farming family from Monaro, stood behind some of his most ambitious and controversial initiatives, declaring the industry simply did not have the luxury of another 20 years to adopt objective measurement and automation technologies.
Further, the red meat industry would indeed be carbon neutral by 2030 and “without the heavy hand of regulation,” he said.
The one-time stock agent, and even jackaroo, acknowledged his ways could be called disruptive and his advocations often caused discomfort.
Change was difficult, he said, “particularly when old ways are entrenched and interests are vested.”
Mr Norton’s final recommendation after four and a half years in the MD role was that the ownership of industry risk and the responsibilities for managing issues be resolved via the recently-announced review of red meat’s governing document known as the Memorandum of Understanding.
He said the current industry structure was simply not working in the best interests of the industry.
Mr Norton’s parting speech was a highly-anticipated event on the packed four-day calendar of Red Meat 2018, a smorgasbord of seminars, forums, panel discussions, producer tours and meetings.
When he started in this role, MLA was the principal subject of a senate inquiry.
“That inquiry took hundreds of submissions and aired plenty of complaints about MLA and other aspects of industry and a subsequent independent performance review of the company confirmed that our levy payers and stakeholders required change,” Mr Norton said.
“We listened and we have driven a suite of changes centred around ensuring MLA is customer centric, accountable through transparency and focused on delivering outcomes that make a difference to you and your industry.
“For this industry to truly remain globally competitive it must innovate like never before and not simply defer to government to solve problems such as the high cost of processing in Australia.”
One example has been MLA’s 2016 proposal for the processing sector’s adoption of DEXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) technology.
Together with the eating quality program Meat Standards Australia, DEXA would provide genuine transparency to producers and pave the way for processing automation and value based marketing, Mr Norton said.
“This means that red meat carcases could be valued on retail yields and not antiquated and subjective systems.”
More than 90 per cent of Australia’s sheepmeat processing capacity has been costed for the installation of DEXA and the technology is already operating in JBS’ Brooklyn and Bordertown plants.
“Together with automation, DEXA is transforming the cost of processing lamb in this country,” Mr Norton said.
“An independent cost benefit analysis found a 20pc saving – some $6.29 per head – on lamb boning costs. These savings are through yield gains, process and labour productivity improvements and safety benefits.
“In beef, adoption is slower, but in May this year the Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud switched on the first beef DEXA unit at Teys Lakes Creek processing plant.”
Mr Norton said if the red meat supply chain was to be truly the very best at delivering what consumers want and value, it needed to rapidly move to a value based payment system where producers are paid on quality, yield and integrity attributes.
“With a transparent and efficient system for data exchange, this means information will be linked back to the DNA of the live animal. This may seem far-fetched and a stretch target, but if we want to achieve increased value for our product we can no longer accept traditional grading and payment methodologies.”
Difficult conversations
Mr Norton believes if the red meat industry does not challenge itself, have the difficult conversations and make the hard decisions, the consumer, the community and governments will do it for us.
In the past year, we’ve unfortunately seen examples of that, he said.
“Because of the actions of a few and the inaction of others to address those, the live sheep trade is now opposed by many in the community and slated for closure if there is a change of government,” he said.
“MLA takes its riding instructions from industry but industry is divided on MLA’s role in live exports.
“On one hand, some want us to run multi-million dollar television campaigns to promote the value of the live export industry. Others want us to stay out of it.
“We also saw indefensible behaviour, again by the actions of a very small number, in a domestic abattoir. Some in our industry hoped the issue would not be picked up.
“And when MLA questioned this course of action, we were told we risked further regulation of abattoirs, feedlots and farms.”
However, the covert footage was shared around the world where it raised the concerns of one of Australia’s largest customers.
“It then fell to MLA to defend our lamb industry with a global customer worth up to $46 million to our industry,” Mr Norton said.
“The fact is, the actions of a very few can have an impact on very many. The standard we walk past is the standard we accept.
“It’s not enough to simply abide by regulation. Consumers expect that at a bare minimum.
“If we as an industry are going to share what is an overwhelmingly positive story about Australian red meat, we’ve got to be prepared to back that with every action in every business every day.
“And when there is a problem, industry’s leadership has to be united, prepared and properly equipped to identify risk and manage crisis.
“The examples I’ve cited today demonstrate that industry has work to do on all these fronts.
“Otherwise, you will continue to give more people a reason not to eat red meat.”
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
