MLA boss Richard Norton is on the road confronting the stark reality of the job ahead to restructure his organisation into a leaner and more producer focused outfit.
As angst over MLA's performance continues to simmer among producers, Queensland Country Life attended meetings at Rockhampton, Roma and Charters Towers this week to gauge the feeling on the front line.
The only snag in that plan was a lack of producers to talk to, perhaps underscoring the depth of MLA's challenge to reach graziers and sell its 'trust us, we've changed' message, when levy-paying producers are also consumed beyond MLA's trifles with their own immediate concerns of drought, rising costs, low returns and high debt burdens.
No clearer was this evident than in the state's beef capital of Rockhampton, where about 30 people turned up on Wednesday to hear Mr Norton speak frankly.
Mr Norton was joined by general manager of livestock productivity Dr Alex Ball to address the group, of which about half were full-time beef producers.
"We are rewriting everyone's job description and introducing a culture that is completely focused on levy payers," Mr Norton said. "You will hopefully start to see in 8-12 months those changes."
The forum may have been designed to get feedback on how producers want their levies used, but it was dominated by talk of funding for processors and a lack of transparency.
Up for discussion was MLA's wholly owned subsidiary, the MLA Donor Company Limited (MDC), which was set up to facilitate private investments in R&D innovations across the red meat industry.
MDC came under scrutiny in the recent senate inquiry this year as it was revealed major processors paid just 25 per cent of the cost of their research projects - while MLA contributed 50pc and did not make its expenditure public.
Mr Norton said MDC had never had an open door but it needed one and processors needed to pay before they had access to funds.
One producer asked who owned the intellectual property in these cases and said one processor had been given levy money but did not release their technology to other processors.
Mr Norton said the intellectual property was owned by MLA and open to all. "I am happy to investigate," Mr Norton said. "People have said MLA stole my IP and I have put a solicitor on to it. There have been some pretty wild things presented to the senate inquiry and I am happy to investigate."
Mr Norton said the MDC was important and the question was whether there would still be the innovation without it.
Currently there was funding into robotics and objective measurements for carcases using scanning technology and cameras.
Dr Ball's presentation was on how this technology could provide a more transparent system of carcase grading.
"We are getting to a stage where we can use robotics to scan and cut up a carcase and you can walk into a factory and not see a human," he said.
Although this was met with interest, some producers remained sceptical. "I have been told we have a history of handing technology to processors and then they use it to hit us," one said.
It was all good as long as the goal posts were continually shifted, said another. Yet another producer was more direct.
"Processors have lost a level of trust after the way they have treated us over the last two years. People are now doing their own contract killing, and we will never trust them again.
"We will not be able to build up that level of trust in my lifetime - maybe our kids will."
There were general murmurs of agreement from the group.
Mr Norton spoke about work on the Australian beef language white paper, which will also include a scientific review into descriptor measurements that processors have imposed on top of Meat Standards Australia.
One producer said it was now like a Claytons MSA - cattle would grade MSA but then the processors used their company specs to make deductions.
"All I want to know is that you will work for us on the Aus-Meat board," another producer said.
"I hate mediocrity," Mr Norton said. "That has to be addressed. I said on the record that I will be an extremely active member of Aus-Meat."
He said he would work for a system where over-the-hook selling was fully transparent to the producers. Processors were conducive to change.
"I rang two of the biggest processors in the country and said please do something, and to their credit they have said they are open to change and transparency.
"If they don't get it right, someone else will and then they will lose their market advantage."
One producer suggested it would be helpful to have a forum where both producers and processors could sit down.
"I reckon you should focus on getting another dollar a kilo for our product and stop asking us to produce a better product," was another response.
In Charters Towers, general consensus was a lack of faith in MLA, also due to issues of transparency, mainly over how MLA spends the levy funds it receives.
The meeting at Roma continued as QCL went to press yesterday.
Early questions from about 30 producers from Injune, Blackall, Augathella, Dulacca and local districts were hammering Mr Norton over the cost of MLA's True Aussie Beef marketing program, which they argued should be solely funded by processor levies when the logo is a device to sell more beef overseas.
Mr Norton told producers at the meeting start that he would not leave the room without answering every question.
"I'm going to explain what value you get from your levies and where your levies have been spent in the past couple of decades," he said.
"I'll also set the scene on why we are seeing the kind of farm gate prices that we are currently experiencing and talk about how the levy can impact on farmgate prices."
- Additional reporting: BRAD COOPER, PENELOPE ARTHUR and MATT SHERRINGTON.
