Research opportunities for sustainable productivity improvement in the northern beef industry: A scoping study

Abstract

The production and economic context of beef production in northern Australia has been seriously challenged over the last decade. Costs of production have escalated rapidly and beef prices have not increased in real terms since 2004 while productivity improvement, necessary to offset these cost-price pressures, has been slowing. Reversing these trends is imperative for a viable industry over the longer term. This report describes an approach taken to explore options for sustainable development of the industry as a basis for guiding research and development for the next two decades. A range of development scenarios that offer potential to significantly improve industry profitability through productivity gains were developed in consultation with industry and technical experts. The potential effect of these scenarios on productivity and economic and environmental outcomes of northern enterprises was evaluated using a new simulation model of northern beef enterprises. The evaluation was conducted for ten regions spanning Queensland, the Northern Territory and north-western Western Australia. The results suggest that significant gains in productivity and profitability can be achieved by integrating individual technologies that target specific components of the livestock system e.g. genetics, reproduction, nutrition.