Sheep Producers, SAFEMEAT and Curtin University discuss mandatory eID

Last September, State and Federal governments announced a mandatory electronic identification (eID) rollout for all sheep and goats moving off property or to sale from January 1, 2025.

In other words, the days of visual ear tags and paper-based mob tracing systems are numbered, with the livestock sector set to enter an electronic ear tag era.

WA farmers currently use pink post-breeder tags in sheep, which show the animal has been brought onto the property, usually from a different owner.

Pink tags are placed in the ear opposite to the year of birth tag.

Already eID is mandatory for all Australian cattle under the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS).

Earlier this month, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry published an updated summary of the sheep and goat eID national implementation plan.

The report indicated WA - and the Northern Territory - planned to be the first to implement the system.

While compulsory tagging of livestock is expected to improve traceability in the event of a disease outbreak, the announcement has attracted a mixed response from WA's peak farming bodies and farmers.

Those in favour of eID said traceability systems strengthen Australia's supply chain and underpin "almost everything" in the red meat sector, including our ability to export and provide food security.

On the other side of the fence, those who are not in favour of eID said improving the National Vendor Declaration (NDV) and NLIS database was of higher priority.

They believe the mob-based system with pink transaction tags is "superior" to that used in other parts of Australia.

So what role would eID play in supply chain traceability?

What does mandatory eID mean for the entire red meat industry?

And what is the problem with the current mob-based system?

Sheep Producers Australia chief executive officer Bonnie Skinner, SAFEMEAT advisory group chairman Andrew Henderson and Curtin University associate professor Elizabeth Jackson spoke with Farm Weekly to answer some of those questions.

BONNIE SKINNER Chief executive officer, Sheep Producers Australia

WA beef exporters were on tenterhooks last year, after major outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) and lumpy skin disease (LSD) were detected in Indonesia.

Ms Skinner said the robustness of traceability systems to manage potential biosecurity threats and mitigate risks to the red meat industry became paramount.

As an island nation, Ms Skinner said Australia has a great natural border.

However, we could not operate in a zero risk environment - locking out all travel and trade was not practical or an option.

In recognition of changing that risk landscape, she said there had always been a focus on the performance capability of the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) for all livestock species.

"This becomes particularly important when we look at diseases such as FMD, which pose an interspecies risk to all cloven-hoofed animals."

So how does NLIS work across those species?

Several years were spent understanding and reviewing the performance of visual mob-based systems in all States.

This was compared to Victoria where eID was already mandatory in sheep.

"The key difference between the two systems is electronically identified livestock can be traced with greater efficiency and accuracy than visually identified livestock can be," Ms Skinner said.

"When you are talking about emergency disease response, the most important thing is that you have rapid and reliable tracing of livestock and sheep.

"The faster you track your animals, the greater chance you have in controlling the disease outbreak and minimising any of the effects it might have."

She said a valuable lesson could be learned from COVID-19 when it came to the challenges each State faced tracing affected individuals, particularly across State borders.

She said having a truly national system, which worked as efficiently and accurately as possible was of benefit to everyone.

"The benefits of eID to individual producers are often discussed and we always come to this national consistency piece," Ms Skinner said.

"That is because we trade as a nation and contagious livestock diseases don't respect State borders.

"When our traceability systems underpin the value of our red meat sector, including our ability to export, it is important to stay ahead of any risks - especially those which might threaten our ability to provide food security."

Ms Skinner said producers and others in the supply chain were right to raise concerns about the costs associated with implementing eID.

The 2020 SAFEMEAT NLIS reform recommendations highlighted the need to establish a long-term, equitable and sustainable cost sharing arrangement.

That is ongoing funding beyond implementation to ensure the system is maintained appropriately.

This was backed by a Senate inquiry into Australia's biosecurity preparedness arrangements - more specifically FMD - last year.

Ms Skinner said the inquiry also supported the need to address governance arrangements when it came to livestock traceability systems.

"The Federal government allocated $20.1 million in the budget last October to help support the roll-out of eID, with an additional $26.6m allocated for database enhancement upgrades.

"We have also called for the government to develop and agree on co-funding mechanisms, so the costs can be shared equally across industry, Federal and State governments - it is everyone's responsibility to contribute to the ongoing maintenance of these critical systems."

Beyond ongoing funding, Ms Skinner added a dedicated communication extension program was needed to help people make the transition, ensure minimal supply chain disruption, and encourage producers to positively engage with their NLIS requirements.

"Already many producers across the country (outside of Victoria) have invested in full-priced eID tags because of the on-farm benefits," she said.

So, the real question is - what's the problem with the visual-based system?

Ms Skinner said to verify traceability the visual tag system required physical verification of each ear tag against the supplied NVD and NLIS database records.

She said traceability was significantly impeded or not possible when livestock were not reconcilable with the information provided.

"eID on its own will not compensate for the impediments to traceability that occur as a result of incomplete or inaccurate NVDs and database records, but it will make it possible to identify when there has been a missed transfer and the potential traceability gap to be investigated.

"Traceability is vital for the market access Australia enjoys, as the world's largest sheep meat exporter."

ANDREW HENDERSON Chairman, SAFEMEAT advisory group

Australia's red meat supply chain entered a new phase in 2020, after SAFEMEAT presented its reform recommendations for the NLIS to the national biosecurity committee.

Chaired by Mr Henderson, SAFEMEAT's Advisory Group is a platform of collaboration between industry and government, with a focus on strict traceability, red meat and food safety systems.

The systems all ensure food is safe before landing on the consumer's plate.

Mr Henderson said these programs also underpinned biosecurity and market access including the NLIS and Livestock Production Assurance program to ensure Australia has market access and can export.

"In early 2018, we were tasked by the national biosecurity committee - of which WA is a part - to come up with reform recommendations for NLIS and our final report was delivered in March 2020," Mr Henderson said.

"The traceability reform recommendations were all about ensuring the system is as good as it can be given it is coming under increasing pressure.

"SAFEMEAT has been advocating for the reform recommendations put to the government and a lot of work has been done in WA consulting with stakeholders, peak industry bodies and so on.

"All of the recommendations are interdependent - don't do one without the other because it won't be as effective as it needs to be."

The 2020 report delivered four key recommendations:

Of the recommendations, Mr Henderson said eID was always going to be the "big ticket" item for sheep producers.

However, it was only one part of the equation.

He said there were other critical parts that were just as important and urged producers to not totally focus on eID.

COVID delayed the government's response to SAFEMEAT's report until FMD threatened WA's red meat industry last year, after it was detected in Indonesia.

"All of a sudden FMD came along and scared everyone, and we said 'Hang on, before you panic, here are these pragmatic things you can do to strengthen the system and be as ready as you possibly can be in the event it reaches Australia'.

"There's been about 11 different reports since the UK's FMD outbreak that have highlighted Australia's need to upgrade its integrity system and sheep traceability, so it's not a new problem."

Mr Henderson said this work had to be explained to people methodically.

"We've heard many of the arguments and that's exactly what SAFEMEATs recommendations have the capacity to address, he said.

"For example, is this going to cost me money?

"Why does this affect me?

"Our system is fine, there's nothing wrong with it.

"We have heard all of this time and time before and for those people, who haven't engaged in the process, naturally they will ask why it is necessary."

Mr Henderson said Australia's capacity to export underpinned the value of every animal that walked off every farm.

Without capacity to export, he said we would be in "real trouble" particularly given the industry's economic worth.

"We need a system that is effective and efficient in maintaining market access and well-placed to respond to any biosecurity incursion - of course, the big one is FMD.

"If FMD were to reach Australian shores we would be out of our export markets overnight and it would take us months - and in some cases potentially years - to get those back.

"The length of time between when we have a detection, lose market access and then regain market access is directly reliant on how quickly we can track and trace animals, contain that outbreak and prove to our trading partners we are free from that disease."

ELIZABETH JACKSON Associate professor, Curtin University

Ask Dr Jackson about eID and she would tell you: "There's more to eID than biosecurity and the management of catastrophic disease outbreaks."

Meaning, she said, the perception of investors into Australia's red meat industry - including processors, retailers and customers - and a farm's asset management were equally important.

For producers, eID could play a critical role when it comes to knowing their base asset in the form of livestock.

Dr Jackson said the technology had been used for many years by major retailers for stock control purposes.

It was even being used in every sheet and pillow at Fiona Stanley Hospital to monitor inventory, quality and hygiene standards during cleaning.

However, she argued sheep were even more important, as highlighted in the first syllable of the word livestock - live.

"That's probably what separates sheep from any other inventory in the world," Dr Jackson said.

""I would be so bold to say sheep are more important than the most luxury retail items.

"Why? Because they have a heartbeat and pulse and we put welfare before the needs of anything else."

When it came to business assets, Dr Jackson said on-the-spot knowledge of how individual assets were adding value to business was "absolutely essential".

"If you are a sheep producer one of those assets would be a lamb," she said.

"Value is added to the lamb from birth to turn off through tail docking, vaccination, feeding and shearing."

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Dr Jackson said the eID technology would help producers calculate exactly how much value had been added to their animal.

From a supply chain point-of-view, she said global commerce did not operate without information like this.

"Information through the supply chain is as critical as the product itself," she said.

"Consumers aren't the only ones who want to know where their product has come from - the processors do as well.

"Processors are sheep producers' direct customers and have long been advocating for the introduction of eID.

"They are buying a product from a farm and also adding value to it through processing, so they need to have data on what they're buying."

Dr Jackson understood many producers were committed to the mob-based identifcation system.

However, she said it was outdated and no longer sufficient for their first, second and third tier customers.

She said in an environment exposed to biosecurity risks, threats to supply chain investment and the demands of investors on the attractiveness of those had become "extremely real".

"There are plenty of positives when it comes to eID including improved supply chains," Dr Jackson said.

"That is not only in the movement of products, but also in information and finance."

So what finance is Dr Jackson referring to and what are the demands of those providing it?

With a focus predominantly on the consumer, she said banks and shareholders were quite often overlooked as investors in agri-food supply chains, particularly when it came to publicly-listed companies.

"Investors are fickle and will cease their funding at the first hint of unethical practice," she said.

"The question is, how do investors know that their money is supporting ethical systems?

"The big statement we talk about these days when it comes to investment, consumers and customers is 'prove it'."

Dr Jackson added, "a really basic example, you go into a supermarket and pay a little extra for a litre of organic milk - prove it.

"You've asked me to pay an extra dollar for this litre of milk - prove to me it is organic and that it's worth charging extra."

In the case of the red meat sector, Dr Jackson converted that logic into the likes of a new abattoir wanting millions of dollars from investors with a promise animals would be treated and processed humanely.

"Prove it," she said.

"If those animals aren't treated humanely or been produced to ethical standards then I - pardon the pun - wouldn't want that blood on my hands as an investor.

"Don't ask me to pay top dollar if you can't prove it and eID would help us with that."