Blog Post
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.
NEWS
HARDI Australia has long been at the forefront of technological development for Australian farmers, giving way to a game-changing solution to the perennial agricultural problem of weed control.
When it comes to building and maintaining a successful farming business in Australia, implementing the right solutions to deliver and preserve essential resources like fresh water is crucial – and in these ponds, White International is an authority more than 70 years strong.
After five decades of consistently setting new standards in forage harvesting technology, including perfect cut quality, ideal chop length, and efficient kernel processing, CLAAS has recently released a special edition JAGUAR 990 TERRA TRAC model at Agritechnica.
In today's fast-paced world, embracing technology has become essential for industries to thrive, and the Australian agriculture industry is no exception.
As a Landcare group, one of our main interests is to increase ecological resilience in our local area. Many of our landscapes have been cleared of vegetation in previous decades, so we have the task of supporting landholders to plant trees and shrubs to replace those that are missing. The benefits of revegetation are manifold. They include providing habitat for a range of native animals; controlling erosion and salinity; increasing farm productivity through nutrient cycling and shade and shelter for stock; and drawing down carbon from the atmosphere. But as weather patterns become more variable and we experience more climatic extremes, we need to think about which plant species – and which plant genetics – are most appropriate in our revegetation efforts. We are forced to ask will our local plantings be able to survive our future climate? Up until recently, it has been common for people to preference locally sourced seed when re-planting. This has been based on the idea that such plants will be best adapted to local conditions. However, there is growing understanding among scientists and land managers that we need to shift our focus to plants that can persist as the climate changes. This involves looking at which plant species are most appropriate by focussing on species that have a wide distribution and grow in our area and also in hotter areas, and increasing the genetic diversity of our tubestock so they have the best potential to adapt over successive generations. Our Landcare group has been tackling this issue for the past several years, working with scientists and AdaptNSW to find the best way forward. There are several key steps involved: understanding our local future climate, analysing whether selected local species can survive in climates like the one projected for our area, and sourcing seed for those likely-to-survive species from a range of areas to increase the genetic diversity of our plantings. Planting the right species with good genetic diversity gives revegetation projects the best chance of survival into the future. It’s not just about making sure the individual tubestock will grow, but that future generations of those plants will be able to survive and thrive. Luckily there are some good resources available for farmers, land managers and groups interested in climate ready revegetation. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has launched the Restore and Renew Webtool ( https://www.restore-and-renew.org.au/ ), which is a wonderful way for people to incorporate both climate change and genetic information when sourcing seed or plants. The NSW Niche Finder is invaluable for those who want to dig further into climate variables and species distribution ( http://www.nswnichefinder.net/ ). For future climate information, the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology have joined forces to provide a user-friendly online tool ( https://myclimateview.com.au/ ). And AdaptNSW also provides projected climate change information for different regions of the state ( https://www.climatechange.environment.nsw.gov.au/projections-map ). The Yass Area Network of Landcare Groups also has detailed information about our work on climate ready revegetation and relevant resources our website: https://yan.org.au/projects/climate-ready-revegetation-project As the climate changes, our revegetation efforts are more important than ever. And we need to make sure that they are ‘climate ready’ so that their benefits persist well into the future.
Some weeks, Amy Pascoe spends more time with mushrooms than humans. In this Q&A the Little Acre co-founder talks stereotypes, innovation, and the problem with “Grown in Australia” labels.
A selection of The Australian Farmer Sponsors - Click on a banner below to find out more...
CONTACT US
Phone: +61 2 9884 9660
solutions@onemandate.com
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
