The Riverina Project-Wool Producers Marketing Wool to the Consumer

Diana Gibbs is a wool producer and cofounder and director of Riverina Wool Growers. RWG was established in 1994 for the purpose of expanding and deepening wool producers activities to include sourcing wool, wool yarns and woollen products to its own design and specifications and directly marketing the final apparel products.

Diana’s vision was for Australian wool producers to take more responsibility and control of their product by becoming more closely linked to their markets.

The objectives of her overall project were for a group of wool producers, RWG, to form a commercial operation that would:

• Develop, produce and market a collection of high quality, branded woolen garments.
• Deliver these garments to a carefully defined market via a multi-channel approach.
• Create significant sales revenue and sufficient profits to provide a consistent commercial return for all partners.

The project in doing so would also:

• Create a successful joint venture partnership between RWG and representatives of the Wiradjuri people.
• Create a world class wool textile supply chain.
• Support education and training opportunities for the Wiradjuri people.

Her proposed activity represented the first critical step in the total project, that being to prepare a Business Plan to define and describe the wool marketing venture. The bursary was used to finance the Business Plan and also contributed to some preliminary promotional material, including media information kits presented at the Olympic Games in September 2000 and information produced for marketing investigations into the UK in October 2000.

The Business Plan was prepared in late 2000/early 2001 and was reviewed by independent consultants to ensure its objectivity and rigor. The Business Plan addressed key components of the project, including business background, vision, products, the market and marketing plan, business operations, ownership and management, risk factors along with financial considerations. A careful investigation of the demographics of the potential market available in the UK was undertaken to define the project’s target consumers and total available market.

The Development and Implementation of an Accredited Mohair Classing Course

Rowena Doyle owns and operates, in family partnership, the largest mohair enterprise in Victoria and has been at the forefront of developing the industry and its markets, including domestic markets for goat meat and value added craft markets for the skins.

Rowena’s vision for her industry was one where best practice is followed by all producers and where producers retrieve a fair share of the end price of their product.

The major objectives of her proposed activity were to:

• Improve mohair producers’ classing standards by developing an accredited mohair-classing course, which involved flexible delivery and practical training with broker participation.
• Improve her own skills in fibre production and to impart those skills to prospective and existing producers through mohair classing courses.
• Encourage further education in areas of goat production and create an opportunity for greater producer networking.

The Australian mohair industry has achieved the status of best quality mohair in the world, second to neither Texas or South Africa and has achieved this status in only 30 years of selective breeding.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the majority of mohair was forwarded to brokers unskirted and unclassed, while in the 1980’s and 1990’s the introduction of imported genetics saw an increase in the number of classing lines. While Australian fibre has improved to such an extent that poorer kempy lines are virtually non existent, producer classing techniques have not kept pace, with brokers still receiving unclassed and unskirted fibre. As a result producers are being penalised with increases classing fees and more importantly failing to realise the potential returns for quality.

The Australian mohair industry desperately needed a change in classing standards and to be adopted uniformly throughout the industry from producers to brokers.

The major task involved the development of a hands on training course for mohair classing based on the National Goat Industry Competencies, with input from numerous sources, including wool industry training packages, Mohair Australia classing standards, mohair broker classing standards, the Pastoral Industry Award, goat husbandry resources along with several RIRDC publications.

Our Future – Promotion of Monounsaturated Sunflower Oil

Annie Pfeffer operates in family partnership a mixed cropping enterprise and established ‘Olisun’, a family business that value adds sunflowers to produce and market pressed monounsaturated sunflower oil.

Annie’s vision was to improve the prospects for the Australian sunflower industry and its growers, while improving the health of Australians, by encouraging the substitution, in the food retail sector, of imported, cheaper, saturated palm oil with domestic monounsaturated sunflower oil.

While canola and olive oils have been recognised by the general public as healthy oils, resulting in increased supermarket demand and purchases, the message has not been translated to the food service industry where up to 90,000 tonnes of cheaper saturated palm oil are imported each year.

At the same time production of Australian sunflower has fallen dramatically, from 300,000 to 120,000 tonnes over the past decade (prior to 2000), as a result of competition from canola domestically and imported palm oil.

This situation comes against some stark statistics, where one person dies every 10 minutes in Australia from cardiovascular disease due to high blood cholesterol, with high levels of saturated fats a major contributor.

Her proposed activity entailed three major objectives:

• To grow the Australian sunflower industry and in particular supply and demand of monounsaturated sunflower oil. (by 50% in first year)
• To improve the health of our nation, by increasing the number of outlets that use monounsaturated sunflower oil. (by 50% in first year)
• Encourage other grower to get further involved within the industry and in the promotion of their product.

The project involved undertaking a major education and promotional effort at both the industry and the consumer level, thereby galvanising the industry and its growers to increase the awareness amongst consumers.

 Expansion of the Freshwater Crayfish Industry in South Australia

At the Time of the Award, Carol Schofield had been involved in aquaculture and in particular the freshwater crayfish industry in South Australia for 12 years.  She established, during this time, the ‘Fresh Yabbie Company’, which has evolved into a central networking point for producers and a central marketing effort for the South Australian industry.

Carol’s vision was to see the freshwater crayfish industry, for both yabbie and marron, expand to reach its fullest potential.

The industry has over the past decade undergone several stages of development and major change which has hampered industry and some growers’ efforts to progress and expand.

Her proposed activity translated into six broad objectives:

• To increase the production of yabbies and marron to meet the increasing demand in the market place at a state, national and international level.
• To increase employment through diversification and utilisation of existing infrastructure on farms.
• To design, develop and deliver training programs that can be easily accessed by the rural sector in order to raise awareness, increase knowledge, develop skills and motivate the farming community.
• To establish a research and development program to examine innovative ways of processing waste from value added yabbie and marron products.
• To establish industry standards and a quality assurance program for every level of the production/processing chain.
• To research innovative ways of presenting value added yabbie products to meet market demand.

A Marketing and Study Tour of the U.S.A. for the Benefit of the Yabby Industry and its Growers in Western Australia.

Mary Nenke is founder and principal of Cambinata Yabbies and is intrinsically involved in all aspects of the Yabby Industry in Western Australia, from production to post harvest handling to marketing and exporting.

Cambinata Yabbies started off as a small family concern but evolved into a sophisticated and integrated business, marketing yabbies on behalf of a large groups of growers across the WA wheatbelt.

Mary’s vision was to make rural Australia a great place to live, while offering rural women financial independence through the pursuit of new business ventures and alternate farm enterprises.

Her proposed activity consisted of two broad objectives, incorporating a major study and fact finding tour of the United States:

• To improve yabby production in Western Australia through investigation of current technology and best practice and value adding opportunities employed in the US.
• To further expand markets for WA yabbies through promotion and marketing in the US.

The crawfish industry in the United States produces the highest volume of freshwater crayfish in the world. This is in stark contrast to the Australian yabby industry, where very poor production ratios are severely hampering its potential for growth. Their catfish industry has also been very successful in value adding and in vertical integration. The United States is also the world’s major consumer of food and aquaculture and an obvious target market for any increased production.

Farm Safety, Manual Handling and Back Care

Anne Taylor a partner in a mixed farming enterprise, is also a practicing physiotherapist.

Anne’s vision was to create a safe work environment for all who work in agricultural industries.

She was amazed at the lack of knowledge shown by farmers on manual handling and backcare, injury prevention and first aid, and yet when 50% of all workers compensation claims are the result of manual handling incidents, there were no easily accessible and practical farm safety education and training programs available for all members of the farming family and the farm workforce.

The major objective of her proposed activity was to ensure all who work in primary industries access to affordable and best practice training in manual handling, backcare and manutention, farm safety, practical first aid awareness, accident and injury prevention.

The project involved the development of a company called ‘WiseWork’ that would become the vehicle to delivering training to the farming population. Training packages were developed, equipment purchased and manuals, handouts and posters created.

Marketing was low key and provided predominantly through Award speaking engagements, newspaper articles and word of mouth.

In order to be fully competent in delivering the training, Anne attended a number of courses, including Manutention Advanced “Industrial Loads’ course, Manual Handling for Carers of People, Train the Trainer, Train Small Groups and Plan, Conduct and Review Assessment, Return to Work on the Farm and Community Development Training. She is currently completing the Certificate IV in Assessment & Workplace Training and achieving accreditation as a Manutention trainer.

There was no winner from the Northern Territory in 2000