Austrex's Kari Moffat collects young live exporter award

When she decided to defer her agribusiness degree at Marcus Oldham College for two years in order to board a live cattle export vessel destined for Indonesia as the only female stockperson, there would no doubt have been more than one raised eyebrow.

Seven years later, Ms Moffat has etched out a career that ticks so many of the boxes that people spend a lifetime trying to secure.

She is leading world-first work that plays a vital role in ensuring the long-term sustainability of an industry invaluable to thousands, in terms of both livelihoods and food security. A job doesn't get much more meaningful than that.

She is also working with different cultures, in different countries and with people who share her passion for cattle.

Ms Moffat is the animal welfare assurance manager for progressive Australian-based live export company Austrex.

She is also an executive board member of the Queensland Livestock Exporters Association and the current chair of the Young Livestock Exporters Network.

And she just been named the 2021 Livestock Exporter Young Achiever of the Year, an award presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions and the Australian Livestock Exporters' Council in recognition of outstanding contribution to the sector.

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Ms Moffat said the unique collaborative nature of her work was the icing on the cake in terms of job satisfaction.

"We are all competitors as exporters but in the animal welfare space we all benefit from pulling together," she said.

Ms Moffat believes that is the real strength of Australia's world-leading Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System, known as ESCAS - the assurance program which makes welfare guarantees a condition of the trade of live Australian animals.

Kari Moffat decided on a career in cattle early and having grown up in Victoria, she had a yearning to experience the northern industry.

So when she was offered a role on a voyage from Townsville to Jakarta in 2014, she didn't hesitate.

"I'd never worked with cattle on that scale before," she said.

"It's also a unique sector of the beef industry in that you have a very hands-on connection with all parts of the supply chain that doesn't happen so much with working in a feedlot or on a farm."

She quickly made her way into the role of head stockwoman and oversaw 15 voyages between northern Australia and southeast Asia in two short years of sailing.

"In that role, I had the opportunity to visit feedlots and abattoirs in-market and see the whole supply chain," she said.

"As a stockman, you ensure animal welfare on board but ESCAS means it continues through the entire supply chain so it was a logical next step to move into assisting exporters develop operating procedures right through."

Ms Moffat has now been with Austrex for two years and says the job is far more than a compliance role.

On a day-to-day basis she is working with exporters, in-market staff and customers to implement animal welfare projects on the ground - from stunning training to livestock handling in both feedlots and abattoirs.

As for what her future holds, Ms Moffat says she has learnt the value of being open to all opportunities but right now her passion is ensuring the sustainability of the live export supply chain..

"We provide an alternative market for northern cattle that is critical to the industry in Australia," she said.

"We are also providing a high quality protein to the markets we work in."

It's that mutually beneficial relationship that will see the sector through current hard times stemming from tight cattle supply in Australia and pandemic disruptions overseas, Ms Moffat believes.

Austrex chief executive officer Tom Slaughter said Ms Moffat has had an immense impact in the ESCAS supply chain.

"I have been heavily involved with ESCAS since its implementation and I have not seen another individual who has been so able to identify, address and implement projects to enable enduring change for what is a challenging segment of the supply chain," he said.

"Kari operates with a level of passion for the industry that rarely comes along. Her commitment to fostering and channelling the energy of the younger livestock export community has been an astonishing achievement. With people like Kari in the industry, it's safe to say we will be in safe hands."

Judging panel member Nutrien Ag Solutions' Leon Giglia said every nominee in this year's award demonstrated a strong passion and commitment for what they do, and as a group they were an assurance of how promising the future is within the live export industry.

ALEC chief executive officer Mark Harvey-Sutton said Ms Moffat's passion for ensuring the sustainability of the live export trade had overflowed into many industry projects and she had worked hard to advocate for the important place young, passionate professionals play in the future of the industry.

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