Page 1 - Australian Pork Newspaper

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Vol 23. No. 10 October 2019 Australian Pork Newspaper PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163 Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email ben@porknews.com.au
CM Farms director David Keyte. Photo: Paul Robbins
CM Farms strikes gold at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show
Home-grown message reaches millions
THE success of our industry’s efforts to promote Australian pork products as part of International Bacon Day on August 31 was even more important this year.
Australian Pork Lim- ited’s move away from what was previously Ba- con Week to align with International Bacon Day has been significant as a way of using the global momentum to raise timely awareness in Australia about the importance of choosing home-grown pork prod- ucts.
A highlight of the ini- tiative was to acknow- ledge the outstanding quality of the local products on offer to Australian consumers in crowning the win- ners of this year’s Pork- Mark Australian Bacon Awards.
Congratulations to Canberra-based South- lands Quality Meats for being judged the producer of Australia’s best shortcut bacon and to Princi Smallgoods in Western Australia for winning the full rasher category.
The awards and APL’s broader promotion of International Bacon Day meant our message about choosing Austral- ian bacon and support- ing Australian pig farm- ers reached a national audience of more than 17 million Australians – an outstanding, powerful result.
The importance of raising awareness about specifically supporting Australia’s pork indus- try, rather than simply celebrating pig meat products regardless of their origin, has never been so pertinent.
Within a week of In- ternational Bacon Day, I joined Pork SA chair Mark McLean at a spe- cial Biosecurity Round-
Point of View
by MARGO ANDRAE CEO
table in Canberra to discuss African swine fever.
The meeting, convened by Federal Agriculture Minister Bridget Mc- Kenzie, was attended by key representatives from relevant government agencies and producer representatives.
Australian Chief Vet- erinary Officer Dr Mark Schipp provided a global update on the status of the virus, while the De- partment of Agriculture outlined the systems in place to protect Austral- ia’s biosecurity status in light of the global spread of ASF.
Representatives from ABARES also mapped out the real and potential trade implications trig- gered by the spread of the virus.
ASF is now confirmed to have spread to South Korea and the Philip- pines, but the deepening production and supply impact of ASF in China continues to draw a great deal of attention.
There are predictions that China’s annual pork supply deficit as a result of ASF will be 20 mil- lion tonnes and prices for pork in China are already at a record high of $4.39 ($A equivalent).
APL will continue to actively ensure the gov- ernment is responding to the critical threat posed by ASF in an effective and informative manner.
We are determined to play a leading role in ensuring Australia’s pre- paredness is co-ordinat- ed across industries and all tiers of government to ensure we protect our $5.3 billion industry, our 3700 producers and the pork sector’s 36,000 em- ployees.
Jurisdictional grey ar- eas or failure to ensure the whole supply chain is armed with appropri- ate information must not create weak links in our nationwide efforts to combat the risk of ASF.
Those jurisdictional issues have been impor- tant topics for discus- sion in my recent visits to producers across the country, including farm- er groups in Western Australia and Victoria.
Another important governance topic has been the Federal Gov- ernment’s discussion paper ‘Modernising the Research and Develop- ment Corporation Sys- tem’.
The paper confirms the government shares our industry’s priority for value for levy pay- ers, effective advocacy and policy research and identifying where improvements can be made.
APL is working in co-ordination with the Council of Rural Re- search and Development Corporations in relation to the discussion paper
and our ongoing input in the review.
Producers wishing to have a direct say in re- forming the RDC sys- tem can submit feedback by November 4.
The seasonal fortunes that play out in spring always play a huge role in determining the pro- ductivity and profitabil- ity of Australian farmers and, unfortunately for so many regions, the season has again been disap- pointing.
The seasonal situa- tion, commodity prices and on-farm profitabil- ity have impacted recent slaughter figures.
ABS numbers show a continuing of the slow- ing production trend, with MAT slaughters at 5.31 million to the end of June.
Abattoir data of week- on-week pigs processed numbers from mid-July have shown a significant drop, with differences of up to 6000 pigs com- pared to the same week last year.
Confidence in supply for slaughter is funda- mental to our industry.
This was abundantly clear to me at the re- cent opening of the new SunPork Swickers plant at Kingaroy in Queens- land.
Touring the facility and seeing the invest- ment in new technol- ogy made by SunPork – boosting employment from 550 workers to 800 – says a great deal about the positive outlook Sun- Pork has for Australia’s pork industry.
On a final note, I join with the APL Board in acknowledging the con- tribution of David Lock who resigned as A PL chairman in September.
Mr Lock became APL chair in July 2018.
Andrew Baxter will serve as acting chair until a new chair is ap- pointed.
CRAIG Mostyn Group Nambeelup (CM Farms) impressed the judges at the 2019 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show, taking home Champion Pork for its Berkshire Premi- um Pork at the Taste of Excellence awards held in Sydney recently.
Run by the Royal Agri- cultural Society of NSW, the Fine Food Show cel- ebrates Australia’s best producers, with CM Farms becoming the third winner of the Champion Pork category following the introduction of the standalone class within the Branded Meat com- petition in 2017; a reflec- tion of the growing in- dustry.
Branded Meats Sydney Royal Chair of Judges George Ujvary said Syd- ney Royal Champions are prime examples of great Australian quality. “There were some excep- tional exhibits on display at this year’s competi- tions, with a few stand- outs, like CM Farms, who took home a champion,” Mr Ujvary said.
“These medal-winning exhibits are a true testa- ment to the hard work of the industry as a whole and the individuals in- volved.
“They are to be highly commended for continu- ing to put some of the greatest Australian prod- ucts on plates around the world and for supporting Australia’s fine reputation of delivering high-quality produce.”
Craig Mostyn Group general manager Meat and Livestock Peter Spackman said CM Farms Nambeelup is honoured to be recognised.
“Over the past three years CM Farms Nam- beelup has been exploring ways to develop a line of pigs that produce a pre- mium-quality fresh pork product,” Mr Spackman said.
“The Berkshire breed was selected for its known superior eating quality traits, in particular, en- hanced juiciness, tender- ness and flavour.
“CM Farms Nambeelup together with Linley Val- ley Pork have partnered to develop CM Farms Berkshire, a product that consistently delivers an exceptional eating quality experience.”
Over the past month, more than 1800 Fine Food entries across nine categories were judged by some of the finest pal- ates in the country, sup-
porting excellence within the industry by providing invaluable feedback to exhibitors and awarding quality producers.
Sydney Royal Fine Food Committee chair Lachlan Bowtell said consum- ers should be proud of the outstanding products made available right here in Australia.
“A Sydney Royal medal is a symbol of excellence and those awarded here today can be proud that their products are of the highest standard in Aus- tralia,” Mr Bowtell said.
“This year’s Show again demonstrated that despite the current adversities our farmers are facing, local producers continue to persevere and deliver outstanding quality time and time again.
“Australians should be proud of their local pro- ducers and the standards they adhere to.”
Other highly commend- ed pork producers that took home silver med- als included Gumshire Hampshire Pork for its Pork Loin, Andrews Meat Industries’ Byron Bay Berkshire Pork and Black Label Berkshire for its pork loin special edition.
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