Page 4 - National Poultry Newspaper

Wasted opportunities
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THE Queensland agri- cultural sector continues to demonstrate steward- ship of the resources it uses and maximise re- cycling opportunities for the waste it produces.
The poultry industry has demonstrated a con- scious effort to reduce its environmental impacts through improved man- agement of waste by-prod- ucts including spent litter.
As a carbon, energy and nutrient resource, this ‘waste’ could become a more valuable by-product if appropriate technologies were available to better harness the opportunities.
Internationally, there has been a rapid expansion of research and development in converting poultry and other livestock waste into energy through various chemical, biochemical and thermal processes.
Similar government initiatives have not been clearly outlined by Aus- tralian governments to date, but Queensland Farmers’ Federation con- siders there are still op- portunities to develop new, or better utilise ex- isting plants to deliver commercially viable op- erations in Australia.
The ‘circular economy’ is becoming part of the
narrative for progressive industry sectors of the economy and it is refram- ing the way we have tra- ditionally thought about ‘wastes’ and by-products.
Our sector must contin- ue to strive for this goal, and finding innovative and practical solutions for the management of farm waste resources and by- products will be part of us getting there.
Through bioconversion, wastes from agricultural production systems can become value-added fuels and chemicals, realising economic, environmental and strategic advantages over traditional fossil- based products.
Many of these advantages can be developed in region- al areas close to where the waste or by-product is gen- erated and, in some areas,
where there is demand for affordable energy and/or heat solutions as well.
For example, 10,000 tonnes of waste disposed into landfill supports 2.8 full-time jobs; whereas 10,000 tonnes of waste converted to recycling op- portunities has the poten- tial to support 9.2 jobs.
Many bioenergy re- source streams have already been mapped throughout Queensland in the Australian Biomass for Bioenergy Assess- ment, which provides de- tailed information about biomass resources for the development of new bio- energy and bioconversion projects; and allows com- mercial enterprises the opportunity to identify linkages between biomass supply through the supply chain to the end user.
Resources sector map- ping is already complete for the intensive animal industries, cotton, cane, horticulture and timber.
QFF was disappointed the Queensland Govern- ment chose to classify an- imal effluents and poultry processing wastes as Cat- egory 2 Regulated Wastes in the recent Environmen- tal Protection (Regulated Waste) Amendment Reg- ulation 2018.
Additionally, from March 4, 2019, these wastes will incur the higher levy rate of $100 per tonne if they are sent to a landfill inside the levy area, which includes 38 local governments and covers 90 percent of Queensland’s population.
It is important that the waste and recycling in- dustry, governments and agricultural industries continue to work together to remove barriers to the collection and recovery of recoverable resources and develop cost-effective and environmentally efficient processes for material capture in future.
Queensland’s intensive agricultural industries are on board, as is the waste and recycling industry.
It is now time for gov- ernments to step up.
Thousands respond to CSIRO egg survey
A SURVEY canvassing the views of thousands of Australians about the egg industry has found that while the industry is viewed positively by the public, it also faces key challenges in devel- oping deeper levels of trust with the Austral- ian people.
The survey was com- missioned by Australian Eggs, the industry’s re- search body, and devel- oped and delivered by the CSIRO.
The aim of the con- sultation was to help the egg industry gain an understanding of com- munity sentiment, with the ultimate goal of de- veloping a Sustainability Framework to help ‘fu- ture-proof’ the nation’s egg industry.
Delivering the report to Australian Eggs, CSIRO senior research scientist Dr Kieren Moffat said the report shows posi- tive views about eggs as a household staple are matched by a strong con- cern for the welfare of the hens that lay them.
“Australians believe the agriculture sector is important to our way of life,” Dr Moffat said.
“Eggs were seen to be an affordable, nutritious staple in the national di- et, with about 75 percent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement,” Dr Mof- fat said.
“Yet the industry faces real and important chal- lenges to maintain this level of acceptance and support.”
The report shows hen
welfare is very impor- tant to Australians, with around 80 percent of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that hens should be well cared for.
The report also makes it clear that more needs to be done to help the community understand the industry.
“In analysing the da- ta, we observed quite a number of ‘not sure’ responses around issues such as the industry’s environmental impacts, some hen welfare items and the economics of the industry,” Dr Mof- fat said.
“This indicates there is work to do to help the community better under- stand important parts of the egg supply chain in Australia.”
Commenting on the report, Australian Eggs managing director Row- an McMonnies said the findings of the survey will be invaluable in helping to develop a sus- tainable future for the egg industry.
“We went into this pro- cess with our eyes wide open, determined to im- prove our understanding of community sentiment about our industry,” Mr McMonnies said.
“There’s been a pleas- ant surprise with some of the results revealing a level of support that usu- ally goes unsaid.
“But more importantly, this research directs us to where we need to fo- cus to strengthen com- munity trust.
“Some of that work might be around improv- ing our communication so Australians have a better understanding of egg farming in context, but we will also be look- ing at different aspects of egg production and how it can be improved.”
Mr McMonnies said the findings of the report had been welcomed by Australian Eggs’ mem- bers.
“Egg farmers have their finger on the pulse of con- sumers but this is the first time our members have heard directly from the
community,” he said. “They are encouraged by the level of support for their industry and are open to exploring areas where the industry can
improve.”
The survey will be re-
peated annually over a three-year period to en- able Australian Eggs to benchmark progress.
Consultation method- ology
The first step was a stakeholder engagement process with 17 indi- viduals who represent a diverse set of perspec- tives on the Australian egg industry.
From these different perspectives, the com- munity survey was de- veloped.
Survey responses were collected across the country through two methods: a research panel matched to ABS population statistics (representative sample) and an open call via a web link (open sample).
Once the data was cleaned, the final num- bers were:
• Representative sam- ple: 4797 analysed sur- veys; and
• Open sample: 7876 analysed surveys.
The CSIRO’s report provides a comprehen- sive summary of the findings and the results of each sample.
It is available through the Australian Eggs and CSIRO websites: australi aneggs.org.au/what-we- do/sustainable-produc tion/sustainability-frame work and research.csiro. au/eggs
Page 4 – National Poultry Newspaper, November 2018
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by TRAVIS TOBIN CEO