Developing a National Pork R,D&E Strategy

2.1 Background

Research, development and extension (R,D&E) in primary industries are key factors for increasing competitiveness, productivity and sustainability. Nationally, R,D&E investment in primary industries exceeds $1 billion annually, and this needs to be focussed to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and collaboration whilst avoiding duplication.

In April 2005 the Primary Industries Ministerial Council (PIMC) endorsed the concept of ‘National R with Regional D&E’ to facilitate further cooperation between agencies and industry for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the national R,D&E capability. The notion of collaborative R,D&E between agencies is now well established and in April 2007 PIMC agreed to develop a National Research, Development and Extension Framework as a broad national plan to provide a more comprehensive, structured approach within an agreed timeframe which was endorsed on 6 November 2008 by PIMC.

The Framework spans 14 primary industry sectors (including new and emerging industries) and seven cross-industry sectors. These are:

• Primary industry sectors: beef, cotton, dairy, fisheries and aquaculture, forests, grains, horticulture, pork, poultry, sheep meat, sugar, wine, wool and new and emerging industries and
• cross-industry sectors: animal biosecurity, animal welfare, biofuels and bioenergy, climate change and variability, food and nutrition, plant biosecurity and water use in agriculture.

To build the Framework each industry sector and cross-sectoral area will be explored for its R,D&E capacity, research priorities, emerging needs and opportunities. This involves consulting with relevant collaborators in each sector to identify resource requirements and implementation issues.

By ensuring the substantial resources invested by government and industry in research are managed cooperatively, a more efficient, effective and comprehensive capability will be possible. In addition, there will be a more coordinated and collaborative approach to rural R,D& E, national research capability will be focussed, used efficiently, and effectively to achieve the best outcome and uptake by primary industries.

2.2 National Pork R,D&E Strategy

In developing the National Pork R,D&E Strategy, APL and the Pork CRC have consulted widely with its R,D&E stakeholders including federal and state governments, universities and the wider pork industry. The objective of the National Pork R,D&E Strategy is to develop a sustainable R,D&E model for the pork industry that will:

• Enhance collaboration between all R,D&E providers to deliver better outcomes to stakeholders
• optimise the use of the total R&D funds available for investment
• enhance critical mass of investment and resource utilisation to better deliver R,D&E outcomes to the pork industry and consumers
• ensure international relevance through the development of more formal linkages with appropriate leading edge R&D providers
• encourage the use of secondments, collaborative research programs to ensure that scientists have better access to international developments
• enhance investment of R,D&E funds from sources other than APL and Pork CRC and
• utilise appropriate R,D&E systems to ensure effective project management, transparency, reporting, and review.

In order to meet the objectives of pork industry R,D&E and successfully deliver on the R,D&E outcomes, a strategy has been adopted that comprises a number of important components:

Pork R,D&E Facilities:

1) Focus resources into fewer but better funded facilities (‘experimental ready’) that are critical to meeting the current and future needs of the industry; and

2) Provide certainty for these facilities by base funding them on a rolling two year basis.

Pork R,D&E Programs:

3) Move from a project by project basis to a coordinated “National Program” approach; and

4) Enhance the development and retention of appropriate human resources and skills.

2.2.1 Core R,D&E infrastructure

R,D&E for Australian pork has been conducted across a range of federal and state government and private industry facilities. These total approximately 12 R,D&E providers that cover approximately 18 individual R,D&E sites across Australia. Following the capability and capacity review undertaken by APL and the Pork CRC in conjunction with the R,D&E providers, six core facilities (Fig 1a) were identified as being critical to supporting the key pork R,D&E programs to be commissioned by APL and Pork CRC over the next three years. These programs are driven by the APL Strategic Plan and the Pork CRC Objectives and address the key industry drivers of competitiveness, sustainability and responsibility.

The criteria used to identify these R,D&E facilities included: experimental sample size, appropriateness of facility infrastructure to conduct R,D&E and potential for the facilities to allow for new production systems development that will speed up the process of technology adoption by the pork industry.

Once the core R,D&E facilities were identified, the generic infrastructure or the base funds for each of the facilities by pig category were established and included generic facility costs, feed costs, labour costs and number of experiments per year.

The core facility base fund costs have been proposed by the R,D&E providers and standard rates have been agreed for each facility category. A letter of agreement is currently being drawn up between the R,D&E facility providers and APL/Pork CRC for a period of two years and will be reviewed on an annual basis.

The average cost efficiencies of the base funding of core R,D&E facilities are outlined below (Table 1) and represent a significant decrease in the base facility costs and consequently on the overall project costs compared to the arrangements applying in the past. The funding of core R,D&E facilities will also ensure that these key R,D&E facilities are used to their full potential. The base funding of core R,D&E facilities presents the providers with long-term funding security that allows them to maintain their capability and capacity. This has been a major issue for a number of key pork industry projects that have been significantly delayed or terminated due to the loss of key technical staff. The provision of this base fund for the core R,D&E facilities will provide assurances to the R,D&E providers that these facilities will be utilised and as a consequence will be expected to be appropriately maintained.

This also ensures that scientists will be able to focus on delivering the research programs that will enhance the sustainability of the pork industry rather than having to constantly worry about securing future funding for their own positions and those of their key technical staff. In addition, scientists currently not linked to a pork R,D&E facility (e.g. animal behavioural scientists from Monash University) will be able to conduct their research at an appropriate site.

Scientists from non-core facilities (Fig 1b) will still be able to compete for specific R&D projects, but there will be no base funding for these non-core facilities.

1 $/sample

2.2.2 R,D&E 'programs' to address key R,D&E priorities and human resources and skills development

The R,D&E processes that APL and the Pork CRC currently have in place have been well understood and accepted by the R,D&E providers. Priorities funded by APL’s R&D Advisory Committee (RDAC ) and the Pork CRC’s R&D Committee are based on an ex ante benefit cost analysis (BCA ) methodology which identifies both industry and public good. However, the system for the commissioning of R,D&E projects, whilst a significant improvement from past R,D&E systems, still needs to address a number of R,D&E capability issues including:

• Collaboration between state government, university and industry R,D&E providers has always been a strong point for the pork industry, and more recently this has also resulted in increased collaborations with other RDC’s on a range of cross-sectoral R,D&E priorities. Wherever possible, this collaboration needs to be fostered and new collaborations with R,D&E providers outside of the pork industry need to be established i.e. other industries and overseas R,D&E research providers especially in the disciplines identified in the pork R,D&E analysis
• the Pork CRC has been instrumental in reinvigorating pork R,D&E by providing additional funding especially to young scientists and post-graduate students, enabling many to continue pork research rather than moving on to other career paths. However, systems for the mentoring of these young scientists must be further enhanced and 
• as mentioned in the Sector Overview, there has been in recent times, a significant shift from large long-term projects (two to three years) to smaller short term projects. As a consequence, R,D&E providers have been unable to develop any form of technical staff succession plan. This has been particularly evident with the state government R,D&E providers and requires urgent attention.

The establishment of an R,D&E Program within a particular discipline will allow for closer collaboration with the different R,D&E providers - especially industry providers - within a program. The increased capacity to conduct research and evaluate technologies and strategies on-farm will facilitate a greater uptake and concomitant research priority settings to universities, government departments and industry partners. The students and/or young scientists within a program will have access to senior scientists associated with their own project as well as other students and senior scientists from other R,D&E providers within the program. The research outcomes from an R,D&E Program will be more focused compared to outcomes from a suite of projects. This is due to the increased level of communication between providers involved in an R,D&E program compared to that between projects. The funding of R,D&E programs will also enhance the timeliness of deliverables to industry by being able to validate and extend outcomes with industry program partners. The establishment of R,D&E programs will also enable improved co-funding from commercial partners such as feed additive, pharmaceutical and equipment manufacturers.

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