Page 4 - APN Jan 2017

Page 4 – Australian Pork Newspaper, January 2018
www.porknews.com.au
Figure 1: APL policy heat map (average scores).
AT the Delegates’ Forum in November, I sought to better understand the policy priorities of del- egates for the industry and what would make a difference to their indi- vidual businesses.
The APL Policy team works on myriad policy matters and often it can be hard to see the wood for the trees.
To test these differences, the team members were asked to say what they were working on, then to prioritise it (how impor- tant) and assign a value for how achievable it is.
The team’s policy heat map (Figure 1) shows the team works on numerous issues and in many cases, juggles various priorities.
The analysis was based on the average of all in- dividual team members’ scores from one to five, with five being the most important and most achievable.
Delegates were asked to do the same exercise.
To enable a comparison against policy, non-policy issues were excluded.
Unsurprisingly, del- egates listed fewer issues, while surprisingly their prioritisation was not as high as the Policy team’s (Figure 2).
In other words, a num- ber of policy areas were deemed less important and less achievable com- pared to the Policy team’s views.
This could reflect the key issues affecting the industry and the Policy team’s understanding of our ability to achieve an outcome.
Importantly, the APL Policy team thinks many policy areas are important
for pork producers. Understanding what the
industry thinks is impor- tant for prioritising re- sources.
While useful, the above did not provide clarity in the biggest priorities for the industry.
When the analysis oc- curs on the sum of all del- egates, clear priorities fall out as shown in Figure 3.
It is very clear that resolv- ing the labour/457 visa is- sue is by far the biggest pri- ority and where our atten- tion and resources should be focused.
To a lesser degree but still important are market access (including China) and pork imports.
The third grouping of priorities include the Standards & Guidelines for Pigs, biosecurity, ani- mal activists, planning and development approv- als, labelling (CoOL), animal welfare and pork import protocols.
APL would expect these priorities will change from year to year and will seek to map these again in November 2018.
The last exercise we asked delegates to com- plete was to list the five things that would make a difference to their busi-
ness (as opposed to indus- try as a whole) and to rank these from one to five, with five being the most important.
Figure 4 shows the re- sults, which mapped av- erage importance against total importance.
The results are instruc- tive.
For individual business- es, various staffing issues (457s, quality, availabili- ty), the cost of production, pork prices and export/ market opportunities fac- tor highly.
Some of the issues will be relevant to the devel- opment of the 2018-19 research priorities, while others will be ones to watch in the short term.
I would be interested in your views on the industry and individual business policy heat maps.
In particular, as APL starts the process of iden- tifying projects across all divisions for 2018-19, sharing your views on what should be our priori- ties is welcome.
After all, this is your levies at work for your industry.
Feel free to contact me on 02 6270 8803 or via email at deb.kerr@austra lianpork.com.au
Figure 2: Delegates policy heat map (average scores).
Figure 4: Business priorities.
Policy and other priorities
by DEB KERR General Manager Policy
APIQPthird-party auditing
☛ from P3
the TPA Service Agree- ment between APL and AUS-MEAT Ltd.
We expect there will be teething problems and situations to work through, so to help pro- ducers the APIQM team has provided answers to frequently asked ques- tions on the APIQP website apiq.com.au, on 1800 789 099 or apiq@ australianpork.com.au
We look forward to TPA implementation and assisting producers through this process, so please contact APIQM as you need.
What’s up for review in 2017/18?
Continuous improve- ment is a guiding prin- ciple of a credible and robust quality assur- ance program such as A P I Q P.
In APIQP, we do this routinely through annu- al minor reviews and a major review every four years.
This (2017/18) is a mi- nor review year and the focus will be outdoor standards and perform- ance indicators and the way they are being ap- plied and interpreted across the industry.
We’ll also look at claims being made and how industry can pro- tect itself against false and misleading claims.
These reviews include representatives of key industry stakeholder groups such as produc- ers, processors, retail- ers, authorities, auditors, welfare organisations, APIQM and the APIQ Panel.
Early in 2018, APIQ Management will sched- ule the activities of the review and send out in- vitations to participate.
If you don’t find your- self on the list and would like to participate, you can contact APIQM on apiq@australianpork. com.au
We’d like to hear from you!
Ongoing research through APL
The R&D process to work towards commis- sioning new research projects to commence in the 2018/19 financial year is set to kick off in February 2018.
The R&D process fa- cilitates the efficient use of R&D resources and maximises research out- comes for industry.
Two key components
of the R&D process are the Research Develop- ment Advisory Com- mittee and the industry Specialist Groups.
This process is carried out over an 18-month cycle and includes the development of research priorities that are ad- dressed by projects de- livered either internally or by industry.
The first stage of this process is the SG meet- ings.
SG1 – Marketing De- mand Creation will take place on February 13, 2018; SG2 – Production and Welfare on Febru- ary 6-7, 2018; SG3 – Environmental Manage- ment on February 13-14, 2018; and SG4 – Quality Assurance, Biosecurity and Food Safety on Feb- ruary 28-March 1, 2018.
At the completion of all SG meetings, busi- ness plans for each group will be written and compiled to present to the RDAC for con- sideration, with a call for tender for approved research priorities open- ing in April 2018.
Tony Abel APIQP Business Manager
Figure 3: Delegates heat map (total scores).