WA Sheep industry has increased in value by 50 percent over the last 18 years

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West Australian farmers, meat processors and researchers have been at the forefront of the transformation of the Australian sheep industry, which has increased in value by almost 50% over the last 18 years due in large part to the work of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC).

When the Sheep CRC began in 2001, the sheep industry had been through a prolonged period of instability and low returns – today its worth more than $8.6 billion per year and well placed to continuing growing in the future.

The Sheep CRC ran from 2001-19 and the role of WA leaders was crucial to its success, with their contributions to the industry's transformation now captured in the organisation's official history launched to West Australian readers at an event at Murdoch University today.

Sheep CRC chief executive James Rowe said the book, Concept to Impact: The story of the SHEEP CRC 2001–2019, captured the scale of the industry collaboration and resulting transformation.

"The Australian sheep industry has become a global leader and this wouldn't have been possible without the input of the likes of Murdoch University, DAFWA, WAMMCO, Fletchers International and Merinotech," Prof. Rowe said.

"It should be noted that the increase in value in our industry has been achieved despite the national flock decreasing in size by more than 40% over this period - on a ‘per sheep' basis the real gross value of production has increased 2.6-fold."

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It has achieved this through the development of genomic technologies to enhance genetic gain and productivity, big data predictive apps, and the exceptional meat science work led by Prof. Dave Pethick from Murdoch University.

The meat science team developed technologies to underpin the eating quality and human health attributes (such as omega 3 and iron content) of lamb by utilising breeding, feeding and slaughter systems such that consumers are now enjoying lamb and sheep meat products that are second to none.

Prof. Rowe said transformational industry change like this required vision, clear objectives, a well thought out strategy and adaptable tactics to deliver real impact.

"Everything that the Sheep CRC did was driven by a focus on consumer preferences so that we could capture benefits along the entire value chain by delivering wool and meat products that consistently surpassed consumer expectations," he said.

And while the Sheep CRC came to a close on 30 June 2019, the industry is well placed to continue its transformation well into the future, in large part thanks to the 82 post-graduate researchers who were sponsored by the Sheep CRC and mentored by Murdoch University's Dr Graham Gardner.

"The results of this program have been spectacular – top quality young professionals are coming back to the industry to maintain the momentum through innovation and application of new knowledge," Prof. Rowe said.

"And at a time when the community is rightly seeking more balanced gender representation in its leadership, it is interesting to look back at see that this transformation is already well underway within the sheep industry, with more than 75% of the Sheep CRC's PhD research in the last 10 years being women.

"We know from ongoing graduate tracking surveys that they are likely to end up in research and academic leadership positions, and in fact this is already happening in the agriculture faculties at a number of universities."

Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, Pro Vice Chancellor College of Science, Heath, Engineering and Education at Murdoch University, and world leading dietary expert, shared how the Sheep CRC strongly supported the university's SAGE Athena Swan Initiatives in support of women in STEMM.

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The book is available by contacting Polly Ward (pward20@une.edu.au) before 25 October. After that date an electronic download will be available (www.sheepcrc.org.au) or hard copies via eBay and Gumtree.

"It's delightful to see the high representation of women completing their PhDs through the CRC, then continuing further into full employment, while at the same time underpinning research in the production of nutritionally better and tastier lamb that can help support a healthier diet," Prof. Itsiopoulos said.

About Concept to Impact

During the 1980s and ‘90s, Australia's sheep and wool industries were lurching from crisis to crisis—with variable prime lamb prices and the suspension of the wool reserve price scheme—and something had to give.

By the turn of the century the industry had sufficiently organised itself and its resources and was investing heavily in marketing, but a new approach to R&D was needed to restore the iconic status of sheep in Australian agriculture.

Over the course of 18 years the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC) helped transform the industry into a global powerhouse efficiently producing high-quality meat and wool based on incredible new technologies.

But it almost never existed, with the Sheep CRC surviving two early scares which could have killed off one of Australian agriculture's highest performing research organisations before it was even born.

Concept to Impact records the people, the politics and the powerful new technologies that have changed the face of Australian sheep production forever.

https://www.sheepcrc.org.au/