Australia gets closer to objective carcase measurement

In March I wrote about Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) plan to seek A$150 million from the Australian government to assist with the introduction of Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) objective carcase measurement (OCM) technology to all Australian meat plants. At that time neither the Australian Meat Industry Council (AMIC) nor the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC) were completely persuaded of the logic of committing the industry to such a large investment without further analysis and a robust business case.

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Auckland must face reality to host America’s Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand has earned this country the right to host the next America’s Cup, currently scheduled to take place in 2021, and Auckland is clearly the front runner to be the host city. But to listen to Mayor Phil Goff, it seems his great enthusiasm for the winning team on their return after winning the Cup in Bermuda may disappear unless everybody other than Auckland contributes to the hosting costs.

Dairy beef profitable for beef and dairy

For well over 20 years one of the largest challenges in the meat industry has been dairy farmers’ lack of recognition of the opportunity to make more money from their calves by selling them to calf rearers for beef production. There have always been calf rearers willing to stick their neck out and buy calves, but this was highly dependent on both beef and milk price. But for dairy farmers it was easier to select their replacement heifers and put the rest on the bobby calf truck, rather than find rearers to take the bull calves or keep them on the farm for up to three months.

EU – Japan trade deal ups the ante

The FTA announced just before the G20 meeting in Hamburg is touted to bring substantial benefits to EU agricultural producers. It will put EU exporters on a level playing field with countries like Australia which already have an agreement, but notably it will put New Zealand at an even greater disadvantage until our trade negotiators can achieve a similar outcome.

Beef forecast to stay firm in face of market upheavals

Rabobank’s Quarter 2 Beef Quarterly paints a positive picture of global demand and prices for the rest of 2017 in spite, or more probably because, of a series of upheavals and changes affecting the world’s beef trade.