The Weekly Grill

S5 Ep4: Scott Wright, CEO Angus Australia

It's been 28 years since Australia last hosted a World Angus Congress, and interest across the Angus world is already reaching fever pitch ahead of the 2025 event being held in Brisbane and Tamworth in May.

 

In today's episode, podcast host Kerry Lonergan chats with Angus Australia's Scott Wright about preparations for the once-in-a-generation event. Up to 1000 Angus stakeholders from across Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and Europe are expected to gather for the Congress, Forum, and support events.

Already some red-hot tropics are emerging, including:

• Where to from here for Angus genetic progress? Can current rates of gain on eating quality, fertility and carcase traits be maintained?
• With US fed cattle carcase weights now pushing 900 pounds, is carcase size a concern in the Angus industry?
• The concepts and challenges of the Australian Beef Industry's quest for Carbon Neutral 2030

Scott provides a valuable run-down on what  stakeholders attending the event can expect.

S5 Eps: Strategic Researcher, Howard Parry-Husbands

In today's episode, Kerry chats with veteran strategic researcher, Howard Parry-Husbands. 

 

• Working with MLA 

• Looking at the data to understand red meat eaters

• Red meat consumption in Australia

• Guilt fatigue (consumers now questioning the facts)

• What the numbers and research data tells us about the negativity towards eating red meat / animal welfare and ethics in red meat production

• Do plant-based foods pose a threat to the red meat industry? Do they have a future in our supermarkets?

• Productivity and sustainability

• Will artificial intelligence transform the way we farm?

S5 Ep2 RMAC Chair, John McKillop

In today's episode of The Weekly Grill, Kerry Lonergan chats with the Red Meat Advisory Council Independent Chair, John McKillop.

 

S5 Ep1: Regular cattle market update, with Matt Dalgleish and Chris Howie

Welcome back to Beef Central popular Weekly Grill podcast series for 2025.

Today's first episode for the year sees the return of regular market watchers, RMA's Chris Howie and Ep3's Matt Dalgleish.

Weather conditions over the next couple of months will have a strong bearing on slaughter and store cattle prices heading deeper into 2025, the pair suggest in today's discussion with host. Other topics range from the impact of Trump's tariff actions, prospects for beef sales into the US, where cattle and beef prices are at record highs after the drought driven herd collapse, currency movements and other factors.

 

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

 

S4 Ep42: Foodbank's Brianna Casey and Michael Davidson

As the festive season draws closer, pressure on the nation’s critically important charity groups like Foodbank reaches its height.

Foodbank is the largest hunger relief charity in Australia, providing the ‘food pantry’ to the charity sector across the country.  This year alone, Foodbank sourced enough food for more than 92 million meals, and the number grows as cost of living pressures continue to mount.

In this final Weekly Grill podcast episode for the year, host Kerry Lonergan talks with Foodbank Australia chief executive Brianna Casey, and chief transformation officer Michael Davidson about the massive task at hand, and how people can help. Michael shares progress on the beef sector’s engagement with Foodbank, and the associated BeefBank concept.

The Weekly Grill will return with a new series in 2025.

 

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

S4 Ep41: Food security issues, with Andrew Henderson from AgSecure

FOOD securuty has been in the news this week, and in today’s episode of the Weekly Grill podcast, host Kerry Lonergan talks with Andrew Henderson from AgSecure

Andrew is the principal of Agsecure, the independent chair of the Safemeat Advisory Group and a former adviser to the federal government on biosecurity and the red meat and livestock sector.

 

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

S4 Ep40: A glimpse into the future of artificial breeding, with Dr Gerard Davis and Nick Cameron

A glimpse into the future of artificial breeding in the cattle industry is provided in this week’s podcast, where Nbryo’s Nick Cameron and Gerard Davis talk through the company’s ambitious plans to ‘condense seven years into seven days’ using a suite of novel technologies that promise to re-imagine livestock systems for future food resilience.

By any reasonable measure, the broader scope of the Nbryo project is visionary, and potentially far reaching. The technology is designed to have equal application for a progressive beef producer in Australia looking to produce more efficient and environmentally friendly beef, as it is for a smallholder farmer in Bangladesh with two head of cattle, who could improve his or her productivity by as much as 50pc in a single generation.

For this reason the project has attracted some serious early financial backers, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

S4 Ep39: Regular cattle market update, with Matt Dalgleish and Chris Howie

Today's Weekly Grill podcast continues our occasional markets series, with host Kerry Lonergan talking with regular markets commentators RMA's Chris Howie and Ep3's Matt Dalgleish.

Weather conditions over the next couple of months will have a strong bearing on slaughter and store cattle prices heading into 2025, regular markets contributors Chris Howie and Matt Dalgleish suggest in today's episode of the Weekly Grill podcast.

The pair also discuss the impact of the Trump victory in Wednesday's US elections on Australia trade, the prospects for more Australian beef into the US next years as US herd recovery kicks in, and where the bargains are likely to be found over the next six months in the store market.

This will be the last markets update in Beef Central's Weekly Grill podcast series for 2024.

 

The Weekly Grill is brought to readers and listeners by Rhinogard by Zoetis.

S4 Ep38: Environmental Social Governance, Catherine Marriott OAM

In this week's episode of the Weekly Grill podcast, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with respected leader for change and 2024 Nuffield Scholar, Catherine Marriott who was invited to present at the BeefEx feedlot convention in Brisbane recently.

Over the last 20 years, Catherine has worked as an executive, a non-executive director and consulting roles in the agricultural, reseach and regional development sectors in Australia and internationally. During this time, she has become a proven business leader, communicator and organisational renovator, focussed mostly on leadership development, advocacy and delivering innovative solutions for the industries in which she works.

In this episode the pair discuss Catherine's journey through the Nuffield program, ESG (Environmental Social Governance) and where it started, its impact across Europe, Asia and the United States, and how if impacts Australian agriculture.

The Weekly Grill podcast is brought to listeners by Rhinogard from Zoetis.

S4 Ep37: Charlie Arnot, CEO of Centre for Food Integrity

In this episode of the Weekly Grill podcast, host Kerry Lonergan sits down with Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Centre for Food Integrity, who spoke at the grainfed beef industry's BeefEx conference in Brisbane last week.

He spoke about how global expectations around animal welfare are shaping beef production practices in Australia, and how the industry can help protect its freedom to operate.