RESEARCH undertaken through the Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork has improved the eating quality of Australian pork and demonstrated how effluent can be successfully converted into useable biogas.
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This is according to Pork CRC chief executive officer Roger Campbell, who was a guest speaker at the organisation’s annual general meeting held in Melbourne recently.
Dr Campbell said other research undertaken by the Pork CRC had shown how grains and other ingredients could be more efficiently used through processing and near-infrared spectroscopy technologies.
He said producers were also given industry tools to better understand and control common diseases.
The Pork CRC completed its fifth year of an eight-year agreement with the federal government and participants on June 30.
Chairman Dennis Mutton and Dr Campbell agreed the 2015-16 financial year had been one of considerable achievement, with significant outcomes across Pork CRC’s four programs and positive plans and projects in place as it transitions towards 2019-20 and the start-up of the Australasian Pork Research Institute Ltd.
Mr Mutton said Pork CRC’s four program areas, which centred on sow and piglet management, herd health, growing consumption of pork and delivering through a carbon conscious industry, had continued to generate innovative solutions that delivered sustainability and profitability to Australia’s pork industry from producer to public.
“The calibre of Pork CRC’s program research partners continues to be outstanding and, in particular, I acknowledge the support of our participants, a number of whom have continued to show their commitment to the cause of quality research and development by signing up as foundation members of APRIL,” he said.
Dr Campbell said in the past year, participants and researchers had made further progress in understanding and enhancing sow and piglet welfare.
“With almost 80 per cent of Australian producers having transitioned to group housing of gestating sows, sow confinement has been reduced by about 80pc,” he said.
“We should all be proud of this achievement, which has contributed to the term high integrity Australian pork becoming a marketable reality and differentiation of our product continuing to be reflected in improved demand and price.
“While margins in 2015-16 were above the previous year and higher than for most other global pork industries, Pork CRC will continue to further differentiate Australian pork.”
