National Poultry Newspaper

Phone: 07 4697 3344 • Fax 07 4697 3532
www.stockyardindustries.com
NATIONAL
Vol 3. No. 4 April 2020 National Poultry Newspaper PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email ben@poultrynews.com.au
Australian Eggs managing director Rowan McMonnies.
Egg supply steady as demand spikes
COVID-19 changes the way we operate
Most pleasing is eight trainees have com- menced employment either on a farm with broilers, on egg farms or in the processing plant
THERE have been a few great events in the past month, but also huge changes to the norm.
within the New England region of NSW.
Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we operate at Poultry Hub Australia.
After being unem- ployed and on the job- seeker list for over eight months, Adam was feel- ing down and lacking in self-esteem and con- fidence.
We are now working from home and connect- ing on a regular basis using online platforms.
cultural industries”. There were many busi- nesses and organisations involved including state governments, universi- ties, CSIRO, Depart- ment of Primary Indus- tries and rural research and development corpo-
He felt he was never going to gain employ- ment again, especially since his previous em- ployment ended on a negative note.
The conference was an immersive experience, delivering diverse topics and cutting-edge inno- vation from across the nation and around the world.
a great event to attend. Poultry Hub’s Job Ready Training initia- tive has taken flight un- der the wings of Educa- tion Officer Bruce Den-
It is the only event of its type where people come together to con- nect, collaborate and evolve all things agri- culture in Australia.
have had 40 new registra- tions, 33 of whom have completed training.
The PHA team went along to learn what new things were available and also to showcase our virtual chicken ex- perience.
Adam, one of the recent graduates from the PHA Job Ready Training initiative.
Hailey Cameron and Bruce Dennison showcased PHA’s virtual chicken at EvokeAg in Melbourne.
There were about 1300 attendees and many of them visited the PHA space.
Of the delegates who attended the PHA dis- play, many said “that was not what I ex- pected”, and thought the experience was “a great resource to teach chicken anatomy, which could be easily transferred to all agri-
by TAMSYN CROWLEY Director
One of the successful new recruits to our in- dustry is Adam.
We are still open for business and will con- tinue to support the Australian poultry in- dustry.
Adam had been ac-
In March, we attended EvokeAg in Melbourne. EvokeAg is an event
* continued P2
that allows delegates to explore what’s next in the agrifood tech space, cov- ering three main themes of food, farm and future.
rations.
Overall, EvokeAg was
nison.
Since November, we
AUSTRALIAN egg farmers are reassuring customers there is no need to fear food short- ages due to the coronavi- rus pandemic.
rector Rowan McMonnies is reminding people that Australia is a food secure nation.
the potential impact of coronavirus on their staff and wider supply chains, though there have been no reports of disruptions across the industry.”
Retailers have limited egg purchases along with other household staples in response to panic buying, but any absence of eggs in stores is purely demand driven and not a reflec- tion of the continuity of supply.
Mr McMonnies said, “Australia’s 21 million hens are still laying eggs and farmers are working around the clock to get those eggs to their cus- tomers.”
The government has rec- ognised how important it is that essential services like food industries con- tinue to operate.
To date, there has been no impact on egg produc- tion or supply and Aus- tralian Eggs managing di-
“We’re confident of maintaining steady supply through autumn and win- ter, and there will be eggs readily available when the short-term stockpiling and panic buying stops.
The industry is working with authorities to ensure measures put in place to protect public health can still ensure a steady sup- ply of eggs.
Photo: Australian Eggs
“These measures will go a long way to mitigating risk and underpin conti- nuity of egg supply for Australian consumers.”
“Of course, egg farm- ers are concerned about
Individual egg farms are reconfiguring their op- erations to minimise risk, with strategies to limit disruption to the farm should one employee be- come infected.
“We have had to rethink the way we do things to provide for stricter team separation and social dis- tancing principles applied in public,” Mr McMon- nies said.
VISTA 360
THE NEW FEED PAN FOR SUCCESSFUL BROILERGROWING
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