Cattle Council Looks for More Funding

AUSTRALIA - The peak body, the Cattle Council of Australia, is using a survey to justify its push for more money to represent the beef industry.

11 July 2012

2 minute read

Oceania

Producers of grass-fed beef responded in the survey that their main issues are the rising cost of production and difficulties getting products into new and existing markets, reports ABCRural.

Cattle Council president Andrew Ogilvie says it would like more money, perhaps through a share of the $5 cattle transaction levy, to be more effective.

"If we had more money we could employ a person to be dedicated towards pursuing market access issues."

About A$58 million in beef cattle levies go to Meat and Livestock Australia for research and development, and marketing.

MLA is supposed to be the service provider, not the co-ordinated voice of the industry. But the majority of those surveyed said MLA should represent the industry.

Mr Ogilvie is not surprised by the result.

"I think Meat and Livestock Australia have a huge budget, and as a result of that, they have a high media profile and they're just responding to that," he said.

"Whereas the Cattle Council's got a small budget, a small media profile, and that's reflected in the survey."

Meat and Livestock Australia will collect A$98 million in levies this year from transactions of sheep and lambs (A$30 million), goats(A$500,000), grass fed cattle(A$58million), feedot cattle (A$8million), meat processors (A$12million) and commercial interests (A$13million).

It distributes half that to research, matched by the Federal Government A$46 million, bringing a total research and development budget to nearly A$100 million.

MLA will spend about A$98 million on marketing this year. MLA says it is working in the NT and Queensland, on fertility and production research, leveraging that work with respective Governments.