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Meat judging moves online
Elizabeth Gracie
Australia’s Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association (ICMJ) has made the move into the digital realm in response to social distancing measures implemented by the federal government that have resulted in the cancellation of a variety of face to face events planned for the remainder of 2020.
Two conferences have been cancelled, along with its school programs, with more than 1000 set to miss out on the live events. The Rockhampton event was previously expected to attract 100 delegates, and the Wagga Wagga conference 220. Its school programs were expected to reach 600-800 between three schools across the country.
ICMJ president Dr Peter McGilchrist has stated that investigations into how the ICMJ can use the online space for meat science training and career networking in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic has begun. “With face to face events no longer possible, ICMJ is now preparing a program of activities to be delivered from digital platforms to ensure students and young industry professionals can continue to access training and networking opportunities”.
The ICMJ is also looking at how they can develop online learning materials that are aligned to their curricula. McGilhrist noted “whilst some of these ideas may not be feasible, it is important for the future of the meat industry that we leave no stone unturned in investigating options for building the knowledge and skills base of its future leaders”.
One option includes an online education program which would focus on the educators, and not individuals. This would cover teachers at schools, who could join in alongside tertiary-level students, and then pass that knowledge to their students.
Some of the biggest challenges that the ICMJ believes they will face correlate to the crowding of online learning spaces. But McGilchrist hopes that the ICMJ can offer a dynamic and new way to offer value to their audiences to spend time interacting with their group with a main objective that hopes to offer “knowledge, training and connection with industry as well as driving a connection with the Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association”.
Alongside an educational disruption, the research capacities of the ICMJ have also been badly affected by the COVID 19 pandemic in line with government regulated isolation policies. McGilchrist notes that “research has been put on the backburner to protect the safe production of our food and one of Australia’s most important industries”.
It is also crucial that the red meat industry is well prepared when the Australian economy speeds up and starts to enter recovery mode. “It was crucial for us to make the online move for tertiary students especially as many are only able to come to our conferences and events in their fourth year at university. To cancel these events could result in a whole cohort lost and the industry would suffer immensely from it” said McGhilchrist.
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