Page 4 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Now this is a pig’s life, free to move around and graze.
Pigs and people can be free to take a preferred production path.
Sometimes size matters too much
Delivering Specialist Agribusiness Public Relations Skills that will build your business, enhance your brand, promote your products and sell your services, all backed by unsurpassed professionalism, experience and track record.
Contact Brendon Cant
M 0417 930 536 E brendon@iinet.net.au
WHILE I will never know and will never ask “which industry body” of Brian Ramsay – inau- gural chief executive of- ficer of Australian Pork Limited – I was fasci- nated to read his piece in the March 21, 2022 In- novation Reframed news- letter, where he referred to industry bodies, how they service individuals and how they may pref- erentially service vested interests.
I am acutely aware that while the ‘backbone’ of most industry organisa- tions – at least in terms of numbers – is the ‘little people’, the ‘big people’ tend to get most of the attention, and most of the benefits and rewards.
Cant
Comment
by BRENDON CANT
Brian regularly shares such thoughts these days in his capacity as man- aging director of Inovact Consulting – a specialist management consultancy he formed in 2005.
speaking with the owner in a paddock and the con- versation was going well as we discussed business and markets and I took notes.
excellence with a common purpose.
Of course, Australia’s porcine industry is no dif- ferent – as is underlined by the undeniable rise of in- tensive pig production and with the great majority of that output in the hands of a handful of well-known corporates.
So, here goes with this week’s, word for word:
He started talking about how he had discovered that the industry body was serving the interests of a few, becoming so emo- tional he started shaking.
There is a cadence and a sense of belonging that transcends working and acting independently.
However, there is a wel- come trend towards indi- vidually owned and oper- ated small pork production units, typically free range and – even better – pasture raised.
Some years ago, I was interviewing farm owners as part of an industry strategy project.
I stopped taking notes and listened intently to what he was saying.
It is a key reason why working remotely will never wholly replace working at the office.
I’ll never forget one in- terview.
The best industry organ- isations create value by nurturing collaboration in areas where individual firms can’ t easily succeed by working alone.
These units are satisfying demand from consumers for a pork product with provenance from pigs that have enjoyed the oppor- tunity to root, forage and display natural instincts, minus the distressing re- strictions that come with confinement in sheds, pens and stalls.
I was at the farm and
He had joined the peak body and actively engaged in good faith with commit- tees, believing the group served a higher purpose – the interests of the in- dustry as a whole.
Then he shifted the topic to the industry body.
Whether it’ s singing in a choir, playing in a sports team, marching in a band or military formation or simply going to a gym class.
What he experienced was that the industry body was going through the motions of engaging members like him, while their decisions and actions were serving a few vested interests.
It is not enough to focus on growing markets, re- ducing costs or defending your industry’ s good repu- tation.
Despite the great majority of Australia’s pigs being confined and living their lives in what many label ‘factory’ farms, there exists a dedicated and committed group of pig farmers who work hard and at consid- erable cost to give their pigs better lives and more ‘worthwhile’ deaths.
He was bitter and felt that he and other farmers were being conned.
They want to feel they have been heard and are part of something larger.
The insights were outside my scope of work in that assignment, but I never forgot what he said.
It brings us back to the heart of high-performance industry service organi- sations – leadership and purpose.
There is something spe- cial about being part of a group that strives for
Having myself worked for and consulted to farming and agribusiness industry organisations,
Long may they live and hopefully prosper – both pigs and people.
Businesses want to be part of the movement.
This has become increas- ingly so over the years in farming and agribusiness, with the quantum shift to corporatisation.
Page 4 – Australian Pork Newspaper, April 2022
Australian Pork Limited inaugural chief executive officer Brian Ramsay.
www.porknews.com.au