Page 2 - National Poultry Newspaper

Poultry Industry Calendar of Events
2019
APR 17 - 18 – Poultry Symposium for Production & Processing, Arkansas, US www.thepoultryfederation.com/ events/4-production-symposium
MAY 19 - 21 – One 19 Alltech Ideas Conference, Lexington, Kentucky US www.one.alltech.com
JUN 10 - 13 – European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition, AmberExpo in Gdansk, Poland www.espn2019.com
JUN 12-13 – Australian Biosecurity Symposium, Gold Coast, QLD www. biosym.com.au
JUN 13 – Entries close – Royal Melbourne Poultry Show, The Grand Pavilion, Melbourne, VIC www.rasv. com.au/royal-melbourne-poultry- show
SEP 16-20 –World Veterinary Poultry Association Congress, Bangkok, Thailand www.wvpac2019.com
SEP 20 – Judging – Royal Melbourne Poultry Show, The Grand Pavilion, Melbourne, VIC www.rasv.com.au/ royal-melbourne-poultry-show
OCT 23 - 25 – European Symposium on Poultry Genetics, Prague, Czech Republic www.espg2019.org/
NOV 5 - 7 – Poultry Tech Summit, Atlanta, US www.wattglobalmedia. com/poultrytechsummit/
How to supply event details: Send all details to National Poultry Newspaper, PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163, call 07 3286 1833 fax: 07 3821 2637, email: design@poultrynews.com.au
poultrynews.com.au
07 3286 1833
LAST month, Wool- worths announced it would no longer sell $1 a litre fresh milk and increase the price on all varieties of its branded fresh milk by 10c per litre.
Removing this retail price cap is not only a pos- itive first step for Queens- land dairy farmers, who have endured years of unsustainable milk prices, but it will hopefully also be the catalyst to change supermarkets’ and con- sumers’ perception of locally grown food and fibre and the value they place on it.
Woolworths, Coles and Aldi control over 80 per- cent of Australia’s grocery market and play a key role in determining consumer behaviour through their constant price wars.
While price competition is a fundamental tenant of capitalism and a strategy employed by all retail- ers at some point, price ceilings on agricultural products create broader problems, as they set an unrealistic price bias in consumers’ minds.
If something is always cheap, consumers natural- ly think it must be easy to produce and the supplier is receiving a fair return (otherwise why would they continue providing it?).
There is no doubt that eight years of $1 milk has devalued fresh milk in consumers’ minds, and other dairy products such as ‘cheap cheese’ have ex- acerbated the problem.
When you think that about 10 litres of fresh milk is required to make 1kg of cheese, a block of cheese selling for $6 equates to 60 cents a litre.
Contrast this with the massive mark-up prices Chinese consumers are prepared to pay for baby
by TRAVIS TOBIN CEO
formula from Australia. Unfortunately, the poul- try industry is not im- mune to the ‘down-down’ and ‘cheap-cheap’ influ-
ence on shopping habits. Chicken meat is another staple our retail giants treat as a ‘sacrificial prod-
uct’.
With per capita con-
sumption of chicken al- most double the next preferred meat (pork) for Australians, the major
Speed
☛ from P1
one mentee saying: “It was a great meeting. It gave me the chance to talk to industry people I had met but never had the chance to talk to. It was a wonderful experi- ence and I learnt a lot too. Thanks a lot!”
The mentors enjoyed the event too and said it was a good idea and great to be able to share their experience/career path.
While everyone en- joyed the event, many commented on how it would be beneficial to include a wider range of skills from the men- tor side.
Something to include next time!
During APSS 2019,
supermarkets continue to vie to offer the lowest price to ensure customers come back to their store to source their favourite protein source.
As a result, the price of roast chickens dropped from $11 to $8 in 2016 and almost three years lat- er, they remain well below fair market price.
Cost of living pressures are rising for everyone but consider that Austral-
ian consumers on average spend just 9.8 percent of their household income on food each year – one of only eight countries in the world to spend less than 10 percent.
Following unprecedent- ed conditions throughout summer, feed costs for Queensland’s poultry pro- ducers have doubled.
With feed costs account- ing for about 70 percent of the cost of growing a meat chicken and 55 percent of the cost of producing eggs, this is having a massive impact on the profitability and long-term viability of many chicken meat and egg farming businesses.
If there has been a silver lining from the current drought, it is the increased awareness by consumers of the vagaries of farming and how important it is to our society.
While consumers have responded with more con- scious decisions to buy local produce and if nec- essary, pay a little more for it, supermarkets have been reluctant to reflect the increased cost of pro- ducing quality food at the checkout.
And while supermarkets refuse to increase prices, they are very quick and happy to drop them.
Symbolically, the end of $1 a litre milk is a small step in the right direc- tion for farmers, but a just and important one for the entire agricultural sector.
Time will tell if this is a genuine recognition of the damage that undervaluing high-quality agricultural products and putting long- standing, non-cost reflec- tive price ceilings on food has on the future of farm- ing families.
Page 2 – National Poultry Newspaper, March 2019
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Could 10c be a catalyst for change?
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dating at APSS 2019
PHA had the pleasure of awarding the second Mingan Choct Award to Ms Danielle Phibbs from Sydney University.
Her presentation en- titled ‘Assessment of perch use to improve leg strength in Austral-
ian fast-growing meat chickens’ was clearly presented and caught the eye of the judges.
Well done, Danielle!
We look forward to what this year will bring and the many exciting programs we have start-
ing, including ‘meet the farmer’, which launches at the end of this month.
If you would like to get involved or have any ideas to share with us, please contact us at poultryhub@une.edu. au
Key industry figures were happy to share their knowledge and wisdom with mentees at the mentor speed dating event.