Ceny Ramm – Regional Director, Northern
Sometimes the best advocacy we can do is simply giving people the opportunity to see it for themselves.
Last month, the NTCA took eight cattle station and supply chain staff to Indonesia to follow Australian cattle beyond the farm gate and through one of our most important export markets.
We travelled through Jakarta and Lampung, visiting feedlots, abattoirs, wet markets and modern retail, and meeting the people who work throughout the supply chain.
There were plenty of statistics, market briefings and technical discussions along the way. But some of the most valuable lessons came from simply standing in a feedlot, walking through a wet market and talking directly with the people whose businesses and livelihoods are connected to our cattle.
For northern producers, it can be easy to think about live export in terms of cattle numbers, prices and shipping schedules.
But at the other end of that boat is an entire supply chain of people and businesses.
Sometimes you need to see that supply chain operating to fully appreciate its scale, complexity, maturity and importance.
That was the purpose of this tour.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll share some of what surprised and impressed us, the challenges we heard about, and the people we met as we followed Australian cattle through Indonesia.
A big thank you to Meat & Livestock Australia and their Livestock Export Program (LEP) team for helping the NTCA provide this opportunity.
