Australian Seafood Cooperative

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Australian Seafood Cooperative
Research Centre (CRC)
Where is the Oyster Consortium taking the
Australian Oyster Industry?
Rachel King (Executive Officer, Oyster
Consortium) Graham Mair (Program Manager, Seafood
CRC)
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What is the CRC whos in it?

• Co-operative cross sector approach to R D
• Part of the Federal Cooperative Research
  Centres program
• Industry, R D provider Government partnership
  (29 partners)
• Business solutions for industry through RD
• Worth 140 million in total investment
• 35.5m over 7 years from Australian Government
• 100m by industry, research providers and other
  funding sources
• Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre
  Company Ltd incorporated 20/6/07

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How we work? - Strategy

• Non-competitive project development process
• Recognise synergies and complementarity
• ID opportunties for cross-sector or cross program
  projects
• Projects will deliver significant commercial
  outcomes
• Minimise duplication and maximise investment in
  RD
• Integrated into Theme Business Plans in key
  strategic areas
• Aquaculture Innovation Breeding for Profit
• Future Harvest Sellfish
• OzSea Value Education and Training

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How we work? - Process

• End User needs confirmed/developed (face to face
  industry-industry consultation)
• Use existing industry RD committees and networks
• Understand and confirm capabilities with CRC
  research participants (face to face consultation)
• Build project team
• Industry partner
• Resaarch Providers
• CRC Program Manager
• Evaluate (incl. BCA) and fine tune projects

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Its about Seafood Whole of Chain
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Australian Seafood CRC
Production Post Harvest Market
Current research portfolio for seafood industry
FRDC, State agencies, Industry, CSIRO
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Who is involved? The partners
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What is the CRC whos in it?
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Disclaimer The Australian Seafood CRCs Oyster
Consortium can not promise that all industry
contributors will become millionaires on
completion of the CRC
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Big picture goals

• Market Australian Oyster GVP 110m -gt 166m by
  2014
• Genetics Marketable oysters gt 11 months pa by
  2014
• Oyster Health Increase expert capacity and farm
  awareness
• Benchmarking 30 industry actively using
  benchmarking in farm management in 10 years to
  improve production financial performance

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Current priority spend

• Genetics
• Benchmarking
• Market/supply chain

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Future priorities
Supply
Product (Oyster)
Market
Feedback/ demand
Balance subject to Business Plan. Without an
increase in investment in market and supply
chain, production investment is not realised in
full
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Priority Areas

• Genetics Matt
• Market/supply chain here
• Benchmarking Richard Pugh? - here
• Education Training - here

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Tackling the market

• Consortium cant market it can invest in
  market/supply chain projects
• Cant tackle the market without the supply chain
  (processors, wholesalers, etc)
• Many opinions
• Many attempts
• Similar problems
• Knee-jerk action is risky
• Inaction is worst action

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Tackling the market

• Existing projects
• US access project
• Cool chain
• Market investment meeting
• CRCs cross-sector projects
• Where to next?
• Business Plan new projects

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Tackling the market

• Aim
• Improve the profitability of Australian oyster
  businesses through increasing penetration of
  innovative and existing oyster products into new
  and existing markets 

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Tackling the market

• Words of advice for the Consortium
• price (without understanding consumer needs)
  volume lift profitability
• Aim to sell to more new customers AND more to
  existing customers
• Make the product available where people want it
• Make more people think of oysters more than just
  as Christmas and Easter food eaten in the same
  old way
• People dont think much about oysters. Dont
  divide R D and market between Pacifics
  SROs 

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Tackling the market

• Early stage strategies
• Work with chain partners to increase availability
  and presentation of quality oysters
• Broaden base use of oyster product (value adding/
  innovation /product development)
• Increase processing distribution to serve
  underserviced domestic markets ( look at export)
• Health benefits of seafood / oysters
• Through chain national oyster brand supported by
  industry chain partners based on a standard

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Tackling the market

• Watch this space

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Supply chain

• Oyster industry supply chain long complex
• Effects a growers bottom line
• Needs to be considered when doing any market
  development
• Consortium funding a supply chain analysis to be
  completed by end 2008

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Benchmarking

• Measuring farm performance profitability. Why?
• Businesses can guage their profitability against
  the industry average
• Businesses can target areas of inefficiences
• Consortium can direct funds to areas where all
  businesses have the same inefficiency or high
  cost eg a labour intensive handling method

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Benchmarking

• Scope
• Engage 20 of national production
• Productivity - yields/ha, survival, etc
• Financial - unit costs, labour, ROI, etc
• Goal - 30 of industry actively using
  benchmarking in farm management
• Collaboration - genetics, market, ET

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Benchmarking

• Consortium approved project for 2009
• Producing a software tool to assist farmers make
  decisions to improve profitability
• Employ a project officer for the long term not
  just a project for 1 year
• Working group of NSW, SA Tas industry to design
  and direct project
• Consultant appointed
• Consultant educated in a field trip

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Education Training

• Higher Education
• PhD Program (40 PhDs)
• Masters (10)
• Honours (10)
• Focus on Industry ready graduates
• Industry training
• Conduct trainings to meet industry needs using a
  range of media
• Travel bursaries and exchange programs
• ID barriers to recruitment
• Research on techniques for retail training

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Education Training

• About 40,000 spent from the CRCs Education
  Training budget to date on oysters
• Two PhD on oysters funded to date
• PhD B2.08 Human enteric viruses in Australian
  bivalve molluscan shellfish
• Protecting the safety and quality of Aust Oysters
  using predictive models integrated with
  "intelligent" cold chain technologies B1.14
  (Judith Fernandez)
• Proactive Control of Oyster Spat Production by
  Controlling Microbiological contamination
• Can consider training in all areas of Genetics,
  Benchmarking, Market/Supply Chain, Animal Health

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Education Training

• Seafood CRC new grants/bursary strategies
• Industry Bursaries
• 10 x 10,000/yr adopting new technologies,
  changes, etc
• Research Travel Grants
• 10 x 10,000/yr researchers/students
• Visiting Scientist Scheme
• Oyster Consortium to fit its project ideas into
  the CRCs strategy in order to attract funds

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This work formed part of a project of the
Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre,
and received funds from the Australian
Governments CRCs Programme, the Fisheries RD
Corporation and other CRC Participants.
AND Clear Water Marine Farms, Marine Scale
Pilchard Fishermens Association and Southland
Fish Supplies