Page 6 - APN September 2017

AUSTRALIAN PORK LIMITED
ELECTED DIRECTOR VACANCIES
As required by Australian Pork Limited’s (APL) constitution, two elected directors will resign at the AGM being held on
16 November 2017. These elected director positions will become vacant
on Thursday 16 November 2017. Nominations are being called for the two APL elected director vacancies.
A producer member of APL or a member of the APL Board can nominate a person(s) to stand for election. The APL Board HR
& Remuneration Committee will review all nominations received in accordance with APL’s Funding Agreement. The Funding Agreement requires the appointment of a ‘skills-based Board’. A skills-based Board is one that can demonstrate collective exper- tise against each of the following areas:
a. Governance, risk and compliance
b. Finance, accounting and audit
c. Research and Development, inno-
vation, technology and technology transfer, commercialisation and adop- tion of Research and Development
d. Product promotion and marketing (including communications)
e. Exports and export market develop- ment
or processing experience
g. Public policy and administration.
Nominated candidates are required to provide a curriculum vitae together with a statement of demonstrated experience highlighted core competencies. Nominat- ed candidates must also provide a consent to the nomination.
Nominations for these positions close at 5.00pm on Wednesday 11 October 2017.
For further information and to obtain a consent to nomination form please contact:
Mr Damien Howse
Company Secretary, Australian Pork Limited
PO Box 4746, Kingston ACT 2604
Phone: 02 6270 8805
Email: damien.howse@australianpork.com.au
f. Industry knowledge, including practical growing and/or production
APSA 2017 set to be a scientific investment that makes sense
WITH early bird regis- trations for the Australa- sian Pig Science Asso- ciation 2017 conference now extended to Sep- tember 15 and offering savings of up to $300, stakeholders invested in the science and business of producing pigs and pork, including scien- tists, producers, suppli- ers, regulators and asso- ciates are urged to regis- ter now by visiting apsa. asn.au/Conference2017/ Registration.aspx
First held in 1987 in Albury, NSW, the bien- nial APSA conference, this year to be held at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne, Victoria from November 19-22, will hear the latest science behind seasonal fertility, animal welfare, consumerism, pig genet- ic improvements, novel feeds, antimicrobials and eating quality assurance.
APSA president Dr Pat Mitchell of Australian Pork Limited said the 16th APSA offered registered delegates a seat at the ta- ble alongside national and international authorities.
“The quality of APSA presenters this year and the level of excellence of their papers promises to deliver a unique and in- valuable learning and net- working experience over four days,” she said.
The 2017 APSA confer- ence proceedings ‘Ma- nipulating Pig Production XVI’ (edited by Dr Lucy Waldron and Dr Shay Hill) will be made availa- ble to registered delegates and will later be published in full as a special issue of ‘Animal Production Sci- ence’.
The conference opens with the critical issue of consumer preferences and attitudes to pork, which will be reviewed in a pa- per by Dr Heather Bray, senior research associate at the University of Ade- laide, Dr Darryl D’Souza, CEO of SunPork Solu- tions and Evan Bittner, Pork CRC PhD candidate at the University of Mel- bourne.
They will also look at the role of retailers in deliv- ering pork with credence attributes such as animal welfare, production sys- tems and environment.
Dr Mitchell noted that with the industry in some-
thing of a downturn, dif- ferentiating product in the market and better under- standing consumers was critical.
A symposium on genetic improvement in a closed herd will be addressed by Dr Kim Bunter of the University of New Eng- land, NSW, Prof Dorian Garrick, chief scientific officer at the Institute of Veterinary, Animal & Biomedical Sciences at Massey University, New Zealand and Dr Matt Cul- bertson, global director for product development and technical services, PIC, US.
With Australia’s pig in- dustry closed to the im- portation of porcine ge- netic material from the late 1980s, this restriction in trade has prevented dis- eases such as PRRS from wreaking havoc within our naïve production sys- tems, but has also restrict- ed access to the range of genetic material available outside Australia.
This symposium will therefore discuss those advances in the fields of genetic improvement and genomics that could lead to gains in productivity within Australia’s closed herd.
Prof John O’Doherty, University College Dub- lin, Ireland, will review current and novel feed ad- ditives for their potential to influence pig perform- ance and efficiency and how they may influence the microbial population of the gastrointestinal tract, nutrient digestibil- ity, gut structure and func- tion, health and how these may be applied in pig production to help reduce use of antimicrobials, for example.
Prof Alan Tilbrook of the University of Queens- land is sure to generate debate when he plots his suggested path on how to best assess concepts and apply advanced objective measurements in the rap- idly evolving animal wel- fare space.
Another hot topic up for review and discussion at APSA 2017 is the use of antimicrobials.
Darren Trott, Professor of Veterinary Microbiol- ogy at the University of Adelaide, will ask the im- portant question “is agri-
culture really to blame for antimicrobial resistance?” After tabling that ques- tion, he will advance de- bate on strategies to save antibiotics for humans and animals and how technol- ogy and new diagnostics
could aid this challenge. Heather Channon, Act- ing Research and In- novation manager with Australian Pork Limited, has devoted many years to researching ways and means of improving pork
eating quality.
She will reveal much
of what she and her col- leagues at the University of Melbourne have uncov- ered.
After student and in- dustry workshops on the first day of APSA 2017, Dr Ray King will deliver the AC Dunkin Memo- rial Lecture on seasonal infertility, providing col- lated information from international and Austral- ian projects and highlight- ing the projects and their outcomes that have been presented at APSA to as- sist industry to alleviate the problem of seasonal infertility.
He will then identify potential knowledge gaps and make recommenda- tions for future research.
According to APSA president Dr Pat Mitch- ell, identifying knowledge gaps, then helping to fill them, were two of the key drivers behind APSA’s bi- ennial conferences.
She promised that AP- SA 2017 would not only deliver knowledge and of- fer solutions, but also pose serious scientific ques- tions to be researched and analysed between now and APSA 2019.
“APSA’s remit is to fos- ter and promote quality basic and applied research in pig and pork science and this is ongoing, with our conferences being the biennial platforms for de- livery,” Dr Mitchell said.
Principal sponsors of APSA 2017 are Austral- ian Pork Limited and Co- operative Research Centre for High Integrity Aus- tralian Pork.
All queries regarding APSA should be direct- ed to APSA secretary Dr Cameron Ralph on 08 8313 7781 or Cameron. Ralph@sa.gov.au
www.apsa.asn.au
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Page 6 – Australian Pork Newspaper, September 2017
www.porknews.com.au
APSA president Dr Pat Mitchell of Australian Pork Limited will welcome delegates at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt to APSA 2017.