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A survey of land man- agers and agronomists was
Importantly, these cost estimates did not include losses from pigs accessing
Feelfreetocontactme at heather.channon@feral pigs.com.au or call 0423 056 045 to discuss your feral pig management is- sues or any information presented in this article.
Vol 26. No. 5 May 2022 Australian Pork Newspaper PO Box 162 Wynnum 4178 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Email ben@collins.media
Committed to ensuring high animal welfare standards
Point of View
by MARGO ANDRAE CEO
OVER the past decade, we have seen a rise in consumer awareness and interest in global agricultural supply chains.
Many community members are increas- ingly questioning an- imal-welfare practices and requesting more information to make choices about their food.
This interest has been partly driven by animal- activist groups influ- encing the global narra- tive on what ethical prac- tices for rearing livestock are.
establishment of another animal-welfare alli- ance, the policy spotlight continues to remain on livestock and intensive farming industries, now more than ever.
portunity to reframe how consumers and interest groups view the Aus- tralian pork industry.
This has led to many animal husbandry prac- tices being questioned across international ju- risdictions, affecting leg- islative reform.
For the pork industry specifically, over the past two years there has been a shift in welfare policy around the use of far- rowing crates.
At Australian Pork Limited, we see this as an opportunity to shine a light on our positive animal-welfare practices and provide our people with the confidence, training and support to tell our industry’s story.
These vocal and well- funded advocates are de- termined to create long- term change at whatever cost.
This has also been adopted in several other countries, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom and other countries within the Eu- ropean Union, as well as California and Massa- chusetts in the US.
As I have previously shared with you, APL has partnered with The Livestock Collective to run a program that aims to promote a deeper connection and build on the shared values of the sector, while promoting a united pork industry that provides greater vis- ibility, communication and engagement with the wider community.
In addition, the growing interest from Australia’s banking institutions and recent changes to lending criteria for animal indus- tries further indicates the changing perception and change in narrative to- ward animal welfare in Australia.
The Australian pork industry remains com- mitted to ensuring the highest animal-welfare standards are under- pinned with the latest science.
In 2019, National Aus- tralia Bank was the first of the big four banks to develop animal-welfare principles – that would guide future lending de- cisions.
The industry invests heavily in research to support new technologies and practices to improve pig health and welfare.
It is our mission to fa- cilitate an increased un- derstanding of the sector and its animal-welfare practices, ensuring our sector is sustainable, sup- ported and celebrated.
It was also the first Australian bank to make a statement on these an- imal-welfare principles, advising that its lending would be driven by the latest developments in relevant legislation, standards and regula- tions, and backed by sci- ence.
We strongly believe that a robust scientific approach to welfare is the basis for a sustain- able industry, in terms of delivering and exceeding community expectations and commercial realities.
With the assistance of The Livestock Collective and industry programs such as Awards for Pro- grams that Enhance Learning, we will sup- port our future leaders, influencers and advo- cates of the Australian pork industry.
With the federal elec- tion in late May and the
We acknowledge that as community sentiment changes, we have the op-
Crop damage caused by feral pigs. Photo: Central West Local Land Services
Cost of feral pigs to producers
FERAL pigs cause sig- nificant economic losses to agricultural produc- tion and, while there are many anecdotal reports of individual impacts to farmers, regional-scale costs have not been well documented.
feeders, reduced breeder productivity from diseases or reduced pasture avail- ability, damage to infra- structure such as fences and water troughs, or to environmental assets.
In many instances, the limited resources that are available are preferentially being applied to support on-ground management programs to control feral pig populations, rather than routine monitoring and economic impact studies.
used to collect information across eleven agricultural enterprises on average re- gional yields, estimated pig damage, estimated hec- tares affected by feral pigs within the region for each enterprise and commodity prices.
This study coincided with favourable seasonal conditions, with increases in feral pig populations occurring in the region between winter 2020 and summer 2020-21 – albeit from a low population base due to drought – as well as higher commodity prices and higher than average yields.
These findings highlight that the national estimate of the damage caused by feral pigs to agricultural businesses, which was determined in 2002 to be $106.5 million, needs to be updated.
Such information would be extremely useful to en- courage local engagement and participation by land managers in coordinated best-practice manage- ment programs across dif- ferent land tenures, and to demonstrate the need for ongoing feral pig manage- ment efforts to reduce the economic impacts being experienced.
The enterprises included in the analysis were barley, canola, chickpeas, cotton lint (irrigated), cotton lint (dryland), faba beans, hay, maize, sorghum for grain, sheep for meat and wool, and wheat.
Work to determine the economic market impacts and non-market envi- ronmental and social im- pacts caused by feral pigs is currently underway by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resources Economics and Sciences.
In October 2021, a report on the economic losses at- tributed to feral pigs in the northwest region of NSW – for the period of winter 2020 and summer 2020-21 – was released by North WestLocalLandServices as part of a three-year study being conducted on its behalf by consultancy AgEconPlus.
Cattle enterprises were not included due to the complexity of estimating the impacts of diseases transmitted to cattle by feral pigs.
For further details, the final report can be ac- cessed via agecon.com. au/economic-benefits-of- feral-pig-control or directly here.
The economic losses across these enterprise types for the 2020-21 winter and summer seasons in northwest NSW alone were estimated to be $47.2 million.
The relative size of the regional commodity losses reflectedtheareasplanted for each crop during the study period.
The webinar hosted by North West Local Land Services is avail- able at feralpigs.com.au/ resources/#webinars
Across the region, wheat was found to have the largest absolute agri- cultural losses during the 2020-21 season of $20.64 million, followed by cotton lint (irrigated) $7.11 mil- lion, chickpeas $6.07 mil- lion, barley $5.87 million and sorghum $3.99 million.
It is expected that this in- formation will be available in June 2023.
Phone: 07 4697 3344 • Fax 07 4697 3532
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by HEATHER CHANNON National Feral Pig Management Co-ordinator
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