Nicola's Notes

14 May 2007 – Research, Pets and a Sunday at Vineyards!

Here, down under, Australia has just had its twelfth budget under a Liberal Chancellor and what amazed me are the surpluses. The underlying cash surplus in Australia is $10.6 billion and there are estimated to be $31 billion worth of tax cuts for nearly very employee in the country in certain forms within the next four years.

The estimated Australian growth forecast is 3.75% for the next financial year and the current unemployment figure is 4.4% which is the lowest it’s been since 1974. As a result of this, the Federal Government and PM John Howard are very optimistic about winning the Election later this year because of this long-standing strong economy.

On a “barking” note, (stay with me on this) I also learnt this week that in Australia there are 3.7 million dogs and 2.4 million cats! Useless information maybe, but the population here is only 20 million. As a comparison I checked the UK numbers and there are 7.5 million cats and 6.1 million dogs of a 60 million total population. So, per capita, Australians have more pets than the UK and this amazes me when Brits are renowned as obsessive animal lovers. Take for example the RSPB - Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. In the UK they have a membership in excess of 1 million people with an annual income of £60 million per year. So, potentially they have far more clout with the UK Government than Dad has with the National Farmers Union which somehow, considering farmers feed the nation, seems quite wrong!

My week has been varied. I had a couple of nights in Victor Harbour which is the second home of Brendon and Robyn. Victor Harbour is a glorious seaside town, full of retirees but with a splendid element of traditional values coupled with modern services. This town is 1 hour from Adelaide and is a wonderful place to stay while I undertake city interviews / meetings in relation to my ongoing market research.

Last Monday afternoon I travelled to South of South Australia and the home of a sheep and beef producer called Ben Ryan. Ben sits on the South Australia Lamb Development Team and I would describe him as a dynamic, modern producer with attention to detail and expertise in grassland management and stock rearing. He has 1200 acres on the South Coast overlooking the famous “Kangaroo Island” offshore. He has 30 inches of rainfall annually (excessive for Australia!) and he has superb pasture management. His land is split into grazing blocks and he believes in resting land for improved utilisation. He has 200 cattle, rearing for a feedlotter who finishes on a grain-finished system. He also has a superb flock of 2000+ sheep and believes passionately in the use of good genetics. He has Blue Leicester, Poll Dorset and White Suffolk with Dorper’s and I thought his
sheep were in outstanding condition.

Ben has had unlimited experience with supply chain initiatives and brand development programs, some of which have not been successful. Therefore, it was critical to get his frank, honest opinions of why collaboration between farmers and processors or wholesalers has not always worked here in South Australia.

Midweek, I trawled through endless wholesalers and independent retailers who supply red meat to the domestic market. I also got to meet a terrific character called Gerald Martin. Gerald is historically a producer who set up a consultancy business “Ag Results” in the 90s and is wise beyond his years. His role in industry varies from a “Producer Research Support Coordinator” for the MLA (Meat & Livestock Australia), Chairman of the SA Meat Development Board and also an Advisory Member of Lambplan – the largest genetics program (database) in the world.

By Wednesday night I was back at Akeringa and enjoying an evening beer with Brendon and the guys on the farm after a busy three days. As well as a lovely farmhouse, this place has also got a walk-in refrigerator “cool store” in the garage and at any one time you can find lamb carcasses or kegs of good Aussie beer inside it! One of the guys, Ian, brews his own lager which he kindly offers us and its fantastic stuff that hits the spot after a long day!

By the weekend I was delighted to get a call from Ken Solly, an agribusiness consultant who is fast becoming a most valuable mentor and friend imaginable. Ken has advised Brendon historically, and has also supported and advised me with my Market Research role. He was also instrumental for introducing me to producers and industry representatives at the recent “Meat Profit Day” which he helped coordinate.

Ken lives one hour south of here at Naracoorte, a town with a 5500 population. Solly Business Services was established in 2001 and Ken offers services in the agribusiness sector that covers business management, financial planning with cost of production, capacity building, training services and event management. I joined Ken and his young daughter Maddy for dinner on Saturday evening, and not only was the beef dinner fantastic, the white wine, red wine plus late-night port flowed and our conversation was varied and constant!

On Sunday morning, after my necessary intake of tea, Ken, Maddy and I had the most enjoyable day out. The town of Naracoorte is near the famous “Coonawarra” wine region which offers endless “Cellar Doors” and free wine tasting. We visited our first family-run winery at 10.30am which was called “Rymill”. The ambience was amazing with wooden floors, an outside balcony which overlooked the vineyard and a clean, professional feel. The Rymill company logo is two bronze rampant stallions on hind legs which are already recognised world-wide. The red wine was superb and the service first-class so we purchased overtly with enthusiasm!

Our second winery visit was “Majella”, owned and managed by two brothers called Brian and Anthony Lynn. There are 60 hectares of vines here and the business focuses at the premium end of the market with quality Shiraz and Cab Sav reds. We met “Viv” who offered us samples, asked us questions and was very hospitable.

The third vineyard visit was “Balnaves”, a winery which was established in 1975 and has won more awards than ever imaginable! It had the most fantastic grounds which included superb flower gardens, a gravel drive and a picturesque lake. Further wine samples were great and on an empty stomach I was feeling both inebriated and happy!

Our fourth and final winery of the day was a commercially driven Cellar Door with an array of branded wines to sample including Lindermans, Penfolds and Jamesons Run. I felt an instant contrast the moment we arrived. There was no attention to detail, boxes of wines lined every corner of the shop untidily and the customer service was quite average in contrast to the three former “family run” winery businesses.

We were all quite hungry when we arrived in the small picturesque town of “Penola” so had a late lunch at a cosy café with a lovely, open courtyard. We enjoyed a leisurely meal, followed by a walk around an Art Gallery and a Museum which explained the history of the “Sisters of St Joseph”. This was an order founded in 1867 by a Scottish lady called Mary MacKillop who basically set up a school in Penola for under privileged kids. When I walked around the Schoolhouse I was reminded of home with both the historic building and the artefacts within it. There were specific memories of my great “Granny Jordanston” with many beautiful historic collections similar to hers.

We completed our day with a visit to a producer friend of Ken’s called Damien. His wife Kirsten had just given birth to her third baby boy and the poor girl was harassed with three boys under 5! Damien farms 200 Angus beef cattle and 2000 sheep on the Limestone Coast with specific emphasis on good genetics for carcass conformation. Damien uses White Suffolk or Blue Leicester crossed with the South African Dorper breed for good conformation and strong lambs.

After a most productive, affable and enjoyable random Sunday, I headed back to Akeringa with my wine bottle purchases! Whilst driving, I realised how lucky I was to have an opportunity to grow friendships with great people like Ken and I want to publicly thank him for his continued support and kindness.

I have had a somewhat challenging week. With this comes a sincere gratitude to a couple of incredible people in my life who have shown unconditional kind-heartedness. A big thanks to all those who have emailed me this week and to those that still haven’t – I am still waiting! Jonathan – I hope you enjoyed your rugby tour and mum – sorry I haven’t rang you back yet!

 

7 May 2007: My Local Community of “Tatiara”

It’s been a week full of research, research and research and I’ve loved every minute of it! The information I am gathering on the red meat sector here in South Australia is interesting and varied and is also keeping me very busy. As well as meeting industry representatives who supply me with market information already in the public domain, I am also meeting random independent butchers. Meeting these guys gives me an idea on what they perceive their business strengths are to compete in the market, plus I get their personal opinions - as opposed to general market intelligence - and it is all extremely interesting!

In my opinion, the domestic consumer here in South Australia differs considerably from the UK consumer. Although both countries have consumers who are foremost price-focused, the SA consumer is generally more determined to support the local agricultural industry, and insists on the purchase of local Australian meat. Australian red meat has a safe, clean, green image and this is very much taken for granted by the consumer. These people are certainly not used to seeing imported meat products on the supermarket shelves, because imported beef and lamb simply isn’t here.

And this comes as no surprise when 65% of total Australian agricultural products are exported! If you couple this statistic with Australia being the world’s largest exporter of mutton and the second largest world exporter of lamb and beef, they simply don’t need to import any red meat!! As I understand it, in the UK we were less than 72% self-sufficient in beef in 2005-06 so there is certainly a marked difference in this area.

Also, the volume of red meat consumed at foodservice as opposed to retail for consumption “at home” differs. In the UK and more so in the US, over 50% of red meat is now consumed outside the home where as in Australia it is still only about 35%. Generally, with increased affluence, rural migration and the frantic pace of modern living, comes a natural increase in this sector, but I guess time will tell.

I have now been away from the UK for 28 weeks and living here at Akeringa, near the town of Keith for little over 1 month and have settled nicely. Basil, my Kangaroo is an adorable pet; I also have a cat and I occasionally dog-sit for Brendon and Robyn so pets are certainly in abundance which can be very entertaining to say the least!

There are five members of staff here on the farm, all of whom I am getting to know gradually as we enjoy the odd beer from the “cold room” after a working day - this is so typically Australian I have to add!!! Brendon and Robyn’s son Damien, (whose house I am living in) is a 2007 Nuffield Scholar and he is currently travelling the world with his fiancée Jess. They are about to arrive in the UK, and as I have given Damien everyone on this email list’s contact details, do not be surprised if a random Aussie guy, plus his fiancée, rocks up for industry information and / or some good old fashioned UK hospitality! Please make him feel very welcome.

Having lived here for a month, I have also been reading up on this area in which I currently reside. This homestead of Akeringa is on “Carew Road”, and does anyone else find it bizarre that the next door farm is called “Brecon”??? Such familiar Welsh names as Carew and Brecon have been a little surreal for me to absorb if I am honest!

I live in the South-East area of South Australia called “Tatiara” which is an aboriginal word meaning “The Good Country” (I know the best places to live). Agricultural production here varies from Lucerne and Wheat, to grapes, olives, sheep and cattle. This region is positioned on the main Adelaide to Melbourne route and I am three hours from Adelaide and five hours from Melbourne. The colonists started settling here from 1846 and this region has two major towns, Keith (20km from here) and Bordertown (45km from here). There are smaller hamlets called Padathway and Willalooka also in this region. This area is also famous for a population of “white kangaroos” but I have yet to see one - my pet Basil is typically dark brown and uniquely wears a nice yellow collar!

To give you a more in depth history, Scottish pastoralists arrived here in Tatiara in 1846 and established sheep stations covering 200,000 hectares. Development was slow until wheat farmers arrived in 1873 and a railway was completed in 1881. This encouraged further development and Keith was proclaimed a town in 1889. There is still an “Early Settlers Cottage” from 1894 being preserved and utilised for tourism in Keith. I have to say here, that although I adore Australia, a house from 1894 isn’t exactly inspirational when our family home in Pembrokeshire was built in the 12th Century!!!

There are also endless conservation parks in the region, including the hilariously named “Mount Monster”, a granite outcrop which is only 8km from Akeringa.

Keith is my local town for provisions and is situated 20km from here. Keith is also recognised as the “Lucerne capital of Australia” and this comes as no surprise to me when Brendon is one of the largest producers of Lucerne in Australia. Keith has a population of 1069 (that’s what the welcome sign tells me every time I drive past it) and it services the local agricultural area. In Keith we have two petrol stations, an independent grocery store, a café, a deli, one restaurant, one hotel and liquor store, a bakery, one bank, a post office, a newsagent, a butcher, a clothes shop, a sports club and even an 18-hole golf course! We also have some manufacturing and an industrial estate with mainly agricultural services. It may be small, but Keith has everything you need and is a very friendly place. For example, Brendon or Robyn has to collect the post from the town post office. (There is no delivery in these parts!) I have collected the post on a few occasions and the staff there are already very familiar with who I am! Keith is a place not dissimilar to Builth Wells (Mike) or Pencombe (Messy)!!

One amusement for me is the local radio. I can pick up three radio stations here, and I think all are locally broadcasted. What has astounded me is the advertising, which to put simply, is nearly all agricultural related. Getting ready for bed at night with my radio alarm clock on, I hear adverts for farm machinery, local farm sales and even random new sheep drenches! You just wouldn’t get that in the UK, even from an amateur radio station like Radio Pembrokeshire, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when I live here in very rural Australia.

To be clear, I have to admit that I love living in South Australia. I have the best of all worlds because I am leaning vast amounts on the agricultural industry, plus meeting industry people who are generally welcoming, obliging and positive, some of whom are becoming firm friends. Imperative to everything is the chance I have to gain such a fantastic understanding of my new locality as a UK Nuffield Scholar. With Nuffield, when you only travel for a few weeks in each country, you simply scratch the surface, whereas I have been so very fortunate to dig down to the depths of how both the community and entire state of SA really operates and thrives on a day-to-day basis.

In addition to all the above, I also currently live in a lovely home, with fantastic employers, amusing pets and wide open spaces. I love the farm, the activity, and the tranquillity of a rural area. I get to travel to the city of Adelaide on a regular basis and have the opportunity there, to embrace city life and enjoy urban delicacies. By these I mean sushi bars, multi screen cinemas, massage and body revival and general atmosphere normally only created by populace. I am looking forward to three days there again this week with several meetings arranged.

I guess the biggest question I am currently asking myself as I type this is whether I am an urban or rural girlie? It’s a question that remains unanswered and it could forever remain so! I can only state that I have found undying happiness from getting the better of both worlds, both here in South Australia and when I was in the UK and living in Pembrokeshire but visiting Cardiff and London frequently.

By the way, emails received from so called “friends” who receive this report weekly are slowly dying a death!! I would appreciate some feedback please.I don’t care whether you are farming in Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, Nebraska or Australia, or sitting in an office in Pembrokeshire, Perth, Geneva, Chile or London! Information would be gladly received as this girlie cannot live happily without communication from one and all!!!

29 Apr 2007: Politics & MLA “Meat Profit Day”

Well, the heat is rising on the Australian Federal Election trail and all it’s very exciting! On the right we have the steady, experienced John Howard continuing to focus on Australian’s biggest success over the last eleven years - the strong economy. Then, on the Left we have the newly appointed leader of the opposition Kevin Rudd, smoothing a pathway to the top by impersonating Tony Blair so blatantly it beggars belief! The man is a “Clone” to our “Tone” and I find the whole affair hilarious!

I may not have made a final decision on who “I” think will win this election, but early this week I got much closer to making it. My money was increasingly on “Kevin” to reach the finishing line first. Why? I hear you ask, when John Howard has done such a sterling job in the last 11 years?? Because of Rupert Murdoch that’s why!

Kevin Rudd was in Washington last week and was seen walking alongside the famous “Media Mongrel”! The reporters asked Murdoch whether Kevin would make a good PM. “Oh, I’m sure he will” came the reply!!! And there it was, Murdoch picking Kevin to run Australia, and closure on the competition before it’s even begun!

Everyone who knows UK politics knows that is the way it is. Rupert Murdoch’s influence through newspapers has increasingly determined the fate of elections. All I can say is that if Murdoch is swinging towards Kevin Rudd, there could be a jolly smooth and rosy path to Canberra for the Labour Leader!

Having said all that, at this weeks’ close, I am more inclined to believe that John Howard will still easily win the election. My sources tell me that there is significant Government funding to be distributed to the electorate soon, plus Kevin gave a very lacklustre, inexperienced speech at his parties’ conference this week without much substance. So the competition continues...!

My week has seen another trip to Adelaide for meetings and a number of telephone interviews from home. However, my highlight was on Friday when I attended the Meat & Livestock Australia “Meat Profit Day”.

The MLA run two of these “producer driven” events annually in various states across Australia and this year it was in Lucindale, SA which is an hour south of where I live. It is a conference style event with an array of speakers from across the spectrum, touching on subjects relevant to producer businesses plus market information. A committee of 10 producers had arranged the event and did an exceptional job. There was a buoyant atmosphere from everyone because all day it rained heavily! This reminded me of numerous “wet weather” field days that I have experienced in Wales!

On Thursday evening, I arrived at the nearby town of Naracoorte where I was being hosted by Mr Ken Solly, Managing Director of “Solly Business Services”. Ken is a superb guy and becoming a firm friend and mentor to me here in South Australia. He has a sound reputation and a positive influence on producers and their decisions. His expertise is in business management, education and training, plus general consulting.

On Thursday night, we joined a host of “Meat Profit Day” organising committee members, speakers plus MLA staff at a local winery for a “Meat Profit Day Eve” gathering. The wine flowed, the food was delicious and the networking was very valuable to my ongoing research!

On Friday we travelled to the site for the official event. Amid the heavy rainfall were 400 enthusiastic and surprisingly young producers, and thankfully, we were all issued name badges (because I am hopeless with names!).

After a superb opening speech from the Chairman of the MLA Mr Don Heatley, we heard Wendy Foss from Rabobank discussing “A Global Focus” with reference to the USA “Biofuels - Fuel V Feed” debate. She touched on the huge demand in ethanol production in the US and the mass volume of feed needed to fulfil this demand - 66 million tonnes of corn/maize last year alone!!! As a result, the cattle industry is suffering new competition from ethanol with higher corn prices. This has affected the numbers of finished cattle in the US and higher prices means they are less competitive in Asian markets - an area that the Australian industry is very focused on.

After further speakers informed us of regional research projects currently being undertaken, particularly with genetics and breeding of beef and sheep, we broke for morning tea and more networking!

We were then split into three groups for the “Breakout Workshop” sessions. Each session lasted 90 minutes and had three speakers followed by a “question time” period and it was all managed superbly.

The sessions were specifically titled “People, Production & Future” to give us a focus. Under “People” we heard from a Regional Mental Health Nurse on the very difficult subject of pressure, stress and anxiety often experienced by producers. This was followed by Mr David Sackett, an Agribusiness Consultant discussing the effective use of labour, and finally Jenny O’Sullivan, a Director of “Linking Environment Agriculture & People” discussing the balance between work, family and fun.

After lunch we moved to the “Production” session and heard Dr Graham Gardner, a Lecturer of Biochemistry from WA on making the most of genetics. This was followed by a Veterinarian called Rod Manning who is also an Angus producer with 1000 cattle in Victoria. He did a superb speech on utilising pastures, investing in quality feedstuffs and encouraging HACCP systems into production methods. He completed his speech with the apt statement of “Change is inevitable, success is optional” which I thought was great!

Finally, we had Cameron Dart, the Manager for “Meat Standards Australia” (MSA). His subject was “Aligning production with consumer demands” and this was truly in touch with my own personal opinions of supply chain initiatives and management! He cleverly focused on the five basic consumer requirements of “Integrity, Enjoyment, Nutrition, Convenience and Value for Money”.

I should also point out for the non-Australians amongst you, that “MSA” is an eating quality program developed by the MLA. It is a tenderness-guaranteed program for beef and lamb and product is approved at processing using breed content, meat colour, marbling, fat depth, maturity/age and pH. Approximately 20-25% of cattle slaughtered in Australia currently qualify under the MSA program, and cattle would receive approximately 60 cents per kg more than non-MSA graded product. This system is not promoted to the consumer but is focused to the wholesaler and independent butcher as a quality “point of difference” for Australian meat.

The final afternoon “breakout session” was on “Future” and we had Dr Hugh Wirth, the President of RSPCA, Victoria, somewhat controversially raising the issue of Animal Welfare Standards! He confirmed that these standards will only accelerate but he made the conscious effort to detach the RSPCA with the Animals Rights Movement and was excellent in his delivery to a somewhat hostile audience! I asked him a question whether the RSPCA was against the live export of lambs and his barked reply was a no-nonsense “yes”! At this stage I sunk in my chair having potentially created a havoc environment between he, and all the sheep producers!

We also heard from Nic Kentish, a potato and vegetable growing farmer, with an additional packing and distribution business. His subject was “keeping the bugs and bank happy” and discussed developing nutritionally healthy soils. I must admit that talking about soil and bugs sent me to sleep as this is not exactly my forte!

We completed the session with Peter Hayman, a scientist of “Climate Change” who’s presentation was titled “Rain you Bastard, Rain!” which I thought was hilarious - especially as it had been raining all day! He talked us through the issue of climate change and how this could increasingly affect producer businesses in the future.

The Meat Profit Day was completed with a summary by an MLA Board Member called Wayne Jackson who was excellent. After the formalities, a number of us went to the Meat Profit Day Casual Drinks and Dinner which gave us a chance to further network, and discuss what we had learnt. And here came my personal highlight!!! I was introduced to Don Heatley, Chairman of the MLA and Ian Watson, a Board Member of the MLA who are two formidable individuals working very hard for the red meat sector in Australia. I was lucky enough to sit with them at dinner and they interrogated me with questions about our home farm in Pembrokeshire, the Welsh Meat Company /Celtic Pride, my Nuffield experiences in North and South America and inevitably, my views and experiences of the Australian red meat sector! It was a pleasure to meet them and I left for home at 8.30pm euphoric with the entire day!

On Saturday, I collected Maggie and Taz, the two Jack Russell’s and drove south to the seaside town of Victor Harbour and Brendon and Robyn’s second home. They suggested I take advantage of their glorious house here by the sea for the weekend to relax which I have inevitably been doing! The dogs and I have had walks on the beach, plus I have been reading books, writing notes and thoroughly enjoying watching Australia win the Cricket World Cup final against Sri Lanka!!! And there is also an element of enjoyment in hearing the unfamiliar noise of rain falling! It is not something I have been accustomed to whilst travelling, apart from some very heavy rainfalls in Cordoba, Argentina back in December last year.

Tomorrow I have a number of independent retail businesses to visit and butchers to interrogate! I will return to Akeringa on Tuesday having spent an enjoyable three days down here at Victor Harbour and the area known as the “Fleurieu Peninsula”.

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