The Weekly Grill

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns the clock back to the 1970s, to take a look at the Great Aussie Cattle Slump.

The years 1974-78 were without question the toughest that the Australian beef cattle industry has ever seen.

In the lead-up to the slump, the national beef herd had built up to unprecedented levels above 31 million head.  Meat market prices collapsed virtually overnight in 1974 as the two largest export customers, the US and Japan, withdrew their support for Australian beef. During the depths of the cycle, meatworks cattle were often worth less than the cost of freight to get them to market.

Domestic beef consumption soared to above 70kg/person, as meat was sold to the public at 'give-away' prices.

In addition to the financial impact, the beef slump took an enormous psychological toll on industry stakeholders.

What caused it? How bad did it get? Could it happen again? What did the industry learn?

Guests this week include veteran Northwest Queensland beef producer, Don McDonald, who was newly married when the cattle slump hit; former Australian Meat Industry Council processor group chief executive Steve Martyn; and veteran Victorian stock agent, Bruce Redpath, who was a fresh-faced new Elders recruit in 1974.

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on Meat & Livestock Australia chief executive, Jason Strong.

 

The head of the industry's service delivery company covers wide topics including the 2030 carbon neutral target, the industry's response to plant based proteins - especially those masquerading as 'meat', and the growing emphasis on extension and producer uptake of R&D outcomes.

See Beef Central separate report summarising Jason Strong’s comments.

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on feedlot industry and grainfed branded beef pioneer Robin Hart, founder of Stockyard Beef.

From humble beginnings in 1965 feeding a few hundred cattle for local butchers at his Berwick property near Jondaryan on southern Queensland's Darling Downs, Robin's Stockyard Beef business rose in parallel with the fortunes of the feedlot sector.

Robin talks about the evolution of the Australian feedlot industry over the past half century, the emergence of the Japanese market as a major customer for Australian grainfed beef, the drive for quality through grain finishing, the arrival of beef brands and product description, and more recent trends including diversification into Wagyu programs.

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on Grace Brennan, founder of 'Buy from the Bush.'

In 2019, drought in New South Wales was devastating rural livelihoods and communities. In response, rural-dwelling, self-employed mum, Grace, started a social media campaign, #buyfromthebush, a campaign and online marketplace connecting talented makers, creators, artists and retailers from rural Australia with global consumers.

Showcasing beautiful wares available to buy from drought-affected bush businesses, the platform on Instagram, Facebook and website aims to strengthen connections between city consumers and creative, innovative and productive rural communities.

Buy from the Bush has become a social media and ecommerce phenomenon, now hosting goods from more than 250 sellers from across rural and remote Australia, creating stronger, more empathetic connections between rural and urban Australia. In the first four months of the campaign, an economic impact study found the platform generated $5 million in revenue for featured supplier businesses, with one in five hiring new workers. Ninety six percent of the businesses involved were run by women, and one in five started shipping products internationally.

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat again on StockCo's Chris Howie and Thomas Elder Markets' Matt Dalgleish, as the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator continues to soar to new record highs, hitting 1031c/kg overnight.

Have we yet seen the peak in young cattle prices? Will the spring flush cattle turnoff in southern Australia pressure young cattle values? Both Matt and Chris are forecasting a softening trend, but market fundamentals among restockers, lotfeeders and processors jostling for scarce young cattle remain buoyant, to say the least.

On the Weekly Grill with Kerry Lonergan this week is Markus Rathsmann,  President of Council of Australia.

A Northern Territory beef producer, Markus answers the burning questions on possible restructuring of CCA and MLA, he has opinions on the journey ahead for beef producers as they try to meet the goal of being carbon neutral by 2030 - and of course, there's the levy - to lift or to lower - it's On The Grill this week.

 

There's a world champion on the Weekly Grill this week - Patrick Warmoll, the boss of Jack's Creek Wagyu tells host Kerry Lonergan the story of winning the 'World's Best Steak' title - not once but twice. Now he's determined to get a third title later this year - and it all started because of an article in a magazine.

Third generation family owned Jack's Creek has evolved into an integrated Wagyu and Angus beef supply chain based out of Willow Tree, NSW.

In 1991, brothers David and Phillip Warmoll began crossing their Angus herd with the famous Tajima Wagyu sires from the Hyogo Prefecture in Japan.

With a secure farming platform and the Wagyu business born, the Warmoll brothers took the next natural step into beef processing and marketing, forming Australian Certified Wagyu Beef, which has traded as Jack’s Creek since 2000. They became one of the first Australian companies to breed, grow, feed, process, and market Wagyu beef.

Today, led by Phillip’s son Patrick, Jack’s Creek is a prominent premium beef producer, now processing and marketing grainfed Wagyu and Black Angus products into more than 20 destinations worldwide.

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on veteran pastoral company executive Roger Halliwell.

Roger spent a quarter of a century with Stanbroke Pastoral Co, then the biggest beef producer in the world, before the company was sold by its owner, AMP, in 2006.

In this week's week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on veteran red meat industry identity Richard Rains.

Prior to his retirement Richard was the head of Sanger Australia, one of the nation's largest non-packer exporters.

He is widely credited for convincing global burger giant McDonald's US to shift its grinding beef policy from domestic only, to also including imported product from Australia. McDonald's global has since become Australia's single largest beef customer.

A passionate crusader for the red meat industry, Richard has strong views on wide ranging topics including fake meat, the greater need for branding to lift Australian beef out of the commodity space, and how the industry should respond to attacks from animal activists and environmentalists over its sustainability performance.

In this week's week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns up the heat on carbon trading expert, Toby Grogan, from Impact Agriculture.

Carbon credits and carbon trading are arguably some of the most complicated and misunderstood topics in the beef industry today. What are they? How do they work? What's in it for producers?

Currently there are about 150 properties in Australia involved in regulated soil carbon projects, and perhaps a couple of hundred more involved in vegetation management carbon projects, Mr Grogan estimates.

The pair explore issues such as what the carbon trading rules say around a property selling credits, and then seeking to claim carbon abatement as part of beef brand claims.