Page 6 - National Poultry Newspaper

Future needs of protein featured at Queensland conference
FOLLOWING the suc- cess of the 2018 Inten- sive Ag Conference, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise recent- ly hosted a new event, Protein 2020, bring- ing together the pork, poultry, beef and dairy sectors with the view to share best practice, advocate for common policy change and allow collaboration across the sectors.
The Protein 2020 Con- ference was held in Dal- by on March 4, discuss- ing the future needs and availability of water for our intensive animal in- dustries, the threats and opportunities of African swine fever, industry updates and key invest- ments and the brightest new innovation assisting our protein sectors.
The following day fea-
tured a site tour of a feedlot, followed by a networking dinner.
TSBE Food Leaders Australia general man- ager Bruce McConnel said with Queensland as Australia’s largest pro- ducer and exporter of beef, this event is a must attend of industry par- ticipants.
“Queensland’s agri- cultural industry is a major contributor to the state’s economy, worth an estimated $16.9 bil- lion in 2014-15 and has the third-largest food processing industry in Australia,” Mr McCo- nnel said.
“Of this, $13.3 billion was farm gate, with val- ue-added products con- tributing $3.6 billion.
“The Protein 2020 Conference showcased the many advantages
that see continued strong investment in the pork, poultry, beef and dairy sectors.”
One of the event guest speakers was Gavin Ash, executive director of the Institute for Life Sci- ences and the Environ- ment at the University of Southern Queensland.
Mr Ash is responsible for leading the new One Basin CRC bid, jointly between USQ and the University of Mel- bourne.
Mr Ash spoke on the Murray-Darling Basin Management and its cur- rent and future impacts on Intensive Animal In- dustries.
Protein 2020 was held at the Dalby Events Centre on Wednesday, March 4 and Thursday, March 5.
www.tsbe.com.au
Bruce McConnel, TSBE and Gavin Ash, USQ.
Photo: Department of Fire and Emergency Services Western Australia
Farm production value holds despite bushfires, drought
THE value of Australian agricultural production is forecast to remain high despite bushfires and pro- longed drought, with over- seas demand balancing drought-related falls in farm output and incomes.
ABARES’ chief com- modity analyst Peter Gooday said the value of farm production in fiscal 2019-20 was expected to fall slightly to $59 bil- lion, down on the previ- ous year’s $62 billion and above the 10-year average due to higher prices for livestock and some other agricultural commodities.
“Widespread bushfires over the 2019-20 summer are not expected to have had a significant impact on the agricultural sector on the whole,” Mr Gooday said.
Mr Gooday recently launched the latest Agri- cultural Commodities re- port at the ABARES Out- look 2020 conference in Canberra.
“The bushfires and smoke impacts in some areas were locally devas- tating,” he said.
“The majority of Aus- tralia’s agricultural pro- duction and exports, how- ever, takes place outside the affected areas.”
This past year, Mr
Gooday said, was another drought-impacted one, with many regions having experienced their driest 12 months on record, even as others – particularly in Victoria – saw improved conditions, making for an uneven national outlook.
“Farm production and average farm incomes are estimated to have fallen for a second straight year in drought regions, with incomes for all broadacre farms projected to fall 8 percent to $153,000 per farm in 2019-20 – about 4 percent below the 10-year average,” he said.
“In NSW we are expect- ing farm cash incomes to be close to zero this year.
“It’s as bad as things have been at a state level in the past 20 years – and some regions are substan- tially worse than the aver- age.”
For dairy farmers, av- erage farm cash incomes nationally should increase from $120,100 per farm in 2018-19 to $165,000 per farm in 2019-20, with modest improvement for about 73 percent of Aus- tralian dairy farms due mainly to higher farmgate milk prices.
“Those gains come from comparatively low levels in Queensland, parts of
Victoria and NSW, and drought-related falls in milk production along with high feed and irriga- tion costs are constrain- ing improvement,” Mr Gooday said.
“Meat and livestock prices have stayed high as African swine fever has decimated China’s swine herds, driving red meat prices up and requiring Chinese consumers to look elsewhere.
“Without those good prices, this year would look a lot worse.
“Livestock prices medi- um-term are expected to soften but remain high, though coronavirus pos- es a significant risk as Chinese demand for agri- cultural products has de- clined under restrictions put in place to contain the outbreak, particularly for items like seafood and wine.”
Mr. Gooday said in 2019-20 Australia would have the lowest number of beef cattle since 1990 and lowest sheep flock since 1904, with production 12 percent lower than five years ago.
“Over the medium term to 2024-25, a gradual re- covery in the production of livestock and livestock products is expected to
follow herd and flock re- building, though recovery will take several years and livestock-related produc- tion in 2024-25 will still be 8 percent below the 2014-15 peak,” he said.
“The value of Austral- ia’s agricultural exports overall is forecast to fall by 11 percent to $43 bil- lion in 2019-20, which in real terms is 16 percent below the record value of exports in 2016-17, re- flecting three consecutive annual falls in crop ex- ports.
“We can expect grains and oilseeds exports to rebound quickly, but live- stock numbers will take some time to recover and for cotton the speed of recovery will depend on how quickly irrigation storages are replenished.
“The signing of phase one of a trade deal be- tween the US and China is a welcome sign of easing tensions.”
But the deal contains some very ambitious targets for agricultural imports, and the implica- tions of that for Austral- ian agriculture are not yet clear.
The report is available at awe.gov.au/agricultural- outlook
www.poultrynews.com.au
Eleventh visa cancelled for serious biosecurity breach
AN international visitor carrying eggs, a humid- ifier and battery pack has had their visa can- celled and been refused entry into Australia for a serious breach of our biosecurity laws.
It takes the total num- ber of visa cancellations to 11 since October
2019, under the new biosecurity-related visa cancellation ground.
Minister for Agricul- ture David Littleproud said the 40-year-old Chinese national trav- elling from Taiwan to Brisbane failed to de- clare five exotic bird eggs intended for hatch- ing.
“These eggs could have posed a real dis- ease risk to Australian birds, with the poten- tial for diseases to jump species to other native bird populations,” Min- ister Littleproud said.
“Illegally imported bird eggs can transmit diseases and threaten Australia’s multi-bil- lion-dollar poultry in- dustries, including avian influenza and Newcas- tle disease.
“As a result, this visi- tor’s visa has been can- celled and he is ineligi- ble to apply for another for three years.
“It is disappointing that some travellers are still not heeding warn- ings and continue to bring biosecurity risk items with them, despite clear warnings about the serious risks to Austral- ia’s economy and envi- ronment.”
This passenger con- travened the Bio- security Act 2015 by knowingly failing to declare the eggs on their incoming
passenger card.
“The punishment must
fit the crime and that’s why we introduced tough legislation to al- low Australian Border Force officials to cancel visitor visas when a pas- senger commits a seri- ous biosecurity breach,”
Minister said.
Littleproud
“Our government since last year has stepped up border inspections and allocated $66.6 million for new technology, more biosecurity staff and detector dogs.
“Australia is lucky to be free from many of the world’s most damag- ing animal diseases and plant pests that could have a significant envi- ronmental and econom- ic impact if they arrived here.
“Threats to breach our border can come from international passengers bringing in risk items and failing to declare them, and authorities will not stand for it.
“This government is serious about bio- security and we will keep working to ensure the risk control meas- ures we have in place safeguard Australia from potentially devas- tating pests and diseases now and into the fu- ture.”
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Page 6 – National Poultry Newspaper, March 2020