Page 10 - National Poultry Newspaper

PIX/AMC 2020 postponed
Australian government limiting non-essential gatherings and restrict- ing international travel, we felt it was the right thing to do to protect the
Coronavirus symptoms felt in agriculture sector
AS if the past years have not been chal- lenging enough for many farmers and re- gional communities.
We are now dealing with issues we could not have imagined a month ago, with the coronavi- rus recently classified a pandemic.
The Queensland Farmers’ Federation and state government are closely monitoring the effects of COVID-19, and are continuing to work with industry and government agencies to facilitate business con- tinuity through supply chains, and to maintain Queensland’sreputation as a safe, ethical and sustainable supplier of agricultural products.
However, it’s critical to remind the public that Queensland, and indeed Australia, pro- duces a wide range of fresh foods meaning that domestic food se- curity is strong.
ers as travel bans are enforced.
With Queensland’s quality agricultural pro- duce being successfully exported to a range of countries, our industries will see adverse effects as a result of the dis- ease.
Financial assistance is now available to Queensland agribusi- ness exporters affected by the outbreak through the state government’s Market Diversification and Resilience Grants Program.
QFF recommends farms and processing facilities create and continuously review business continuity plans to address issues that may impact their businesses, paying at- tention to supply chains and animal welfare.
A downturn in visi- tor numbers through our agritourism venues has been experienced and reduced domestic demand as the tourism, restaurant and cafe in- dustries suffer.
QFF is encouraging farmers to investigate their eligibility for this support.
We appreciate some chemicals are manu- factured overseas and demand for fertilisers and herbicides is ris- ing based on increasing confidence and plant- ings stimulated by the widespread rain.
by GEORGINA DAVIS CEO
We continue to call on the Australian gov- ernment to continuous- ly monitor workforce availability and investi- gate extending visas for current seasonal work-
The recent bans for cargo ships docking in- to Australian ports will disrupt particular areas of our supply chains.
We ask that farmers do not panic buy.
There are currently enough products to go around if farmers pur- chase only what they need to plant at this time and do not stock- pile.
We must all remain diligent about the accu- racy of information we share and take precau- tions to keep our loved ones and ourselves safe.
OVER the past few weeks, the PIX/AMC Organising Committee has been closely moni- toring the guidance from state and federal health authorities and the World Health Or- ganization regarding COVID-19.
event to a suitable date. We will update eve- ryone once we work through the rescheduling details with the GCCEC. What does this mean
At this time, with re- gret, we have made the decision to postpone PIX/AMC 2020, sched- uled to take place during May 17-19 on the Gold Coast in Queensland.
tience as we work through the details in the coming weeks and will provide updates on how this process will play out with regard to postpone- ment.
Please know that we did not make this deci- sion lightly.
health and safety of our attendees and staff.
We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.
After close monitor- ing of the situation, in combination with the decisions made by the
We are working with the Gold Coast Con- vention and Exhibition Centre to reschedule the
We will continue to monitor new develop- ments on COVID-19 and its impacts on the indus- try, and will update with rescheduling details.
Tasmania’s largest egg producer Pure Foods is bracing for a hit to its hos- pitality revenue stream as restaurants, bars and pubs close around the state.
The situation is much the same for southern Tas- manian chicken farmer Calum Jacobsen.
Bernadette Cocks co- owns a fodder store east of Adelaide and has sold 300 chickens in less than four days.
Despite the rise in chick- en sales, Mr Jacobsen said there will be plenty of people who still need to buy eggs.
But its managing direc- tor and chairman of Aus- tralian Eggs Danny Jones is hoping customers will choose to instead stay home and have brekkie in bed.
Luckily he has quick- ly changed his business model.
“There was a bit of a scare on the internet say- ing there’s not going to be any eggs in South Aus- tralia,” Ms Cocks.
“Then through the sum- mer, spring, and autumn period when chickens are laying more, they gener- ally have a drop in sales.
“Our two main channels are retail and foodser- vice,” Mr Jones said.
“We’ve started an online ordering option for cus- tomers in Hobart and now Launceston.
She said many local restaurants will not be in the market to buy eggs, so farmers will need the support.
“It affects businesses but there’s always going to be people who need to buy eggs, and those who can’t buy chickens, for what- ever purpose.”
“We would expect to see that area of our sales im- pacted severely.
“We’ve made up for about 50 percent of sales so far in a week.”
“Remember we’ve just come out of bushfires and drought,” she said.
Originally published by Eden Hynninen on abc. net.au
“We see about 35 per- cent of our sales go into foodservice.
He had also noticed a surge in demand for egg- laying chickens as more customers stay home.
“The product is still
Mr Jacobsen said he had lost 80 percent of sales recently due to restaurants closing.
It normally takes her about two months to sell that amount of stock.
“I’ve spoken to a few egg farmers around and they generally have busy peri- ods in winter while most people’s home flocks aren’t laying eggs,” he said.
“It’s very short notice but we’ve had to think of new ways to sell chicken meat,” Mr Jacobsen said.
“It’s silly.
“There will still be plen- ty of eggs.”
for you?
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Experts say coronavirus is unlikely to have human-to-animal transmission
LIVESTOCK indus- tries have been advised to exercise caution, de- spite no concrete evi- dence so far of human- to-animal transmission of the coronavirus strain COVID-19.
Cook University, Em- ma McBryde said the possibility of a spread through key livestock industries appeared small.
The only instance of the strain being found in animals since it be- gan circulating among humans, was a dog that tested positive in Hong Kong.
at JCU Graham Burgess said any mammal was a potential carrier of coro- navirus.
The virus, believed to have originated in a Chi- nese fresh meat market, has spread rapidly de- spite measures to close borders and isolate pa- tients.
“The source of the virus is still unclear, though the virus is most similar to those found in bats.
Though the dog didn’t become unwell from the virus, it may have been on its fur as a conse- quence of being near a person who had COV- ID-19.
“What that suggests is that any mammalian host is a possibility, and if we tried hard enough we could probably infect almost any mammalian host.
Professor of Infectious Diseases Modelling and Epidemiology at James
“There was probably another intermediate host between bats and humans that was the original source of the virus, various animals have been implicated.”
Adjunct Professor from the College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences
“To transmit it, those animals are going to have to be exposed to an infectious host, which is not easy as you have to have pretty close con- tact.”
Venue lockdowns drive chicken farmers to crack open alternate avenues of revenue
AS COVID-19 meas- where they used to go,” don’t lay eggs 365 days
there and some will have a surplus, so we need to support them.”
ures tighten and public venues close around the country, producers are relying on other avenues of income to get by.
Mr Jones said.
a year.”
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Changing business model
Plenty of eggs
“What we don’t know is how much of that 35 percent will be transferred into retail.
“We don’t sell egg- laying chickens because they’re costly to raise.
w
“We’ll need to go through a couple of week- ly cycles, I think, to get a good feel for where eggs are going compared to
Page 10 – National Poultry Newspaper, April 2020
“They require a lot of care and maintenance and
Calum Jacobsen has noticed a surge in demand for egg-laying chickens as more customers stay home.
Photo: Calum Jacobsenwww.poultrynews.com.au
“I think rather than hav- ing a cafe breakfast on Saturday or Sunday this weekend, people might sit down at home and have a cafe breakfast at home.”
“We do sell day-old chicks, and we’ve had lots of requests,” Mr Jacobsen said.
He said the venue lock- down had exposed some major unknowns.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea for people to think of ways to grow their own food at the moment, but it needs to be from an educated perspective, not panicked.