The Australian poultry sector is one of the most sophisticated and efficient in the world, having successfully embraced digital innovation, technology, genetics, and market organisation models to rival most advanced economies.
However, the local industry faces challenges from increasing cost of feed, energy and labour, static product prices, and expanding compliance requirements and retail market power.
Maintaining chicken’s place as the most affordable and popular meat in the domestic market will require leveraging existing strengths, capitalising on the untapped opportunities of existing data, and exploring new ways to collect and use data across the supply chain.
Food Agility will conduct a Scoping Study with AgriFutures Australia and the University of New England to explore the potential for digital innovation and improved data use, trust, and governance within the Australian poultry sector. The study will identify the challenges and opportunities for data collection, address the uses of existing data, and consider what new data should be collected and how it should be used. It will also consider barriers to innovation, and the strategies that may overcome them, including infrastructure, education to improve digital literacy, and incentives for change.
This project will be conducted in two phases. The first will be a carefully curated workshop involving a select group of producers, processors, and technology providers. Using ‘design principles’, the workshop group will ensure that Phase Two, the study itself, is well-designed, beneficiary-focused, and impact-oriented.
For more information, please contact Project Lead Professor Derek Baker at derek.baker@une.edu.au or on 02 6773 2627.