At Beef2021, the biggest concern of the beef sector was the threat of fake meat made from vegetable products.
This was at the height of the “Beyond Meat” fad.
Veggie burger companies were the darlings of Wall Street and even Hungry Jacks introduced a “rebel”, vegetarian burger to their menu.
Three years on and it is clear that no one wants to eat imitation meat with crazy amounts of salt added to make them not taste horrible.
The rebel burger is no longer on the menu and Beyond Meat Inc has lost 95 per cent of its value on the stock market.
So at this year’s Beef the mood was positive again given the strong demand for Australia’s high quality beef.
There was not a veggie burger in sight. It was another hugely successful event that puts Rockhampton on the world stage.
This year’s Beef welcomed back international visitors post-Covid, one bull breeder told me they had sold two bulls (at $80,000 each) to Botswana.
And, of course all of those visitors spend money providing a boost to hotels, cafes and shops all over Rockhampton.
We must congratulate all of those in the Beef Australia team for putting on such a great event.
There are some storm clouds on the horizon for the beef industry, however.
Cattle prices have softened a little over the past year but are still above average.
The price you sell a product for is only one half of the profit equation. Unfortunately, costs have been increasing as energy, fuel and materials all cost more.
While Australia produces a high quality product, it is an expensive place to process meat.
As South American and Asian countries improve their cattle industries, we cannot afford to price ourselves out of the market.
Many of these cost increases are being driven by poor public policy.
The Labor Government is proposing to put a new tax on the agricultural industry to pay for the cost of its bureaucrats that handle biosecurity protections.
Farmers are not the causes of the risks to our biosecurity but they are being forced to pick up the bill by the Labor policy.
Governments have restricted the land clearing that farmers can do, reducing the value and productivity of their farms.
Ironically, these restrictions are the only reason Australia has met its climate commitments, but then these commitments have also driven up the cost of electricity, gas and diesel.
These net zero requirements are now being taken up by our banks.
Westpac wants to impose deforestation requirements on graziers, and other banks are making similar moves.
At least the over-regulation imposed by governments are the result of democratic elections.
The banks are now making, in-effect, new laws and they are not accountable to any voters for their ill effects.
Fourteen US states have banned banks and insurance companies from discriminating between farmers based on political agendas.
We should consider similar restrictions on so-called ESG financing.
Beef Australia just keeps getting better and better and we have three years to jump the hurdle set by the 2024 edition.
We do need some better infrastructure in Rockhampton to help achieve this.
The new ring road should help alleviate some of the beef week traffic jams.
We also need a proper convention centre not a refurbished basketball stadium to hold events.
Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Gladstone all have great convention centres.
It’s time for a convention centre in Rockhampton to give our world class events (like Beef Australia), world class facilities.
