Beef conferences in 2022: The best of what was said

Some of the biggest news affecting cattle producers is revealed at industry conferences - along with some of the most astute insights and words of wisdom.

The beef industry is famous for lining up speakers at its conferences who shoot straight from the hip and call a shovel a shovel.

To prove that point, we've taken a look back at some of the hardest hitting moments at beef conferences so far this year and the people behind them.

Here is our pick of beef conference quotes of the year so far, including some never-before-reported comments.

In March, news broke that lumpy skin disease was in Indonesia. At the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association conference in Darwin, it was made very clear just how real and immediate a threat to Australia that was.

"The stuff of nightmares is knocking on our door and if it makes its way in it will not just be an issue for those in beef or rural areas but one of national significance."

- NTCA president David Connolly.

"Everything we thought we knew about how lucky Australia is in terms of biosecurity is no longer true."

- Deputy secretary of biosecurity and compliance with the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment Andrew Tongue.

One of the country's most respected cattlemen, Queensland's Peter Hughes, shared his secrets for raising cattle when he was inducted into the Wagyu Hall of Fame at the breed society's annual conference in Melbourne in April.

"You have to study how to work with cattle. Most people want to go too fast. You have to let heart rates go down. Pull up for ten minutes and that might save you hours in the long run. Cattle in a good frame of mind is always the answer."

- Queensland cattleman Peter Hughes

Australian-based international meat analyst Simon Quilty was the first to suggest a ban on travel to the holiday mecca of Bali to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease. He did this at the Pasture Agronomy Service conference at Wagga Wagga in NSW in May. That call was picked up far and wide, by producers and politicians alike, but eventually beef industry leaders moved to turn down the dial on the push, arguing it was not appropriate.

"What we don't want are FMD highways through airports at Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane."

- Global Agritrends analyst Simon Quilty

Queensland senator Susan McDonald joined others at the helm of red meat advocacy in Australia to speak at a virtual Meat Women Business event hosted by the Australian Meat Industry Council in July.

"Speak, even when your voice is shaky and you feel nervous. That's possibly when what you have to say is most valuable."

- Senator Susan McDonald

Organic beef producer Carly Burnham, speaking at the 2022 Resource Consulting Services Conference in Brisbane in July, described social licence as walking in two worlds. One foot, she said, was on the farm working to purpose.

"The other foot is in a world full of expectations from our ancestors and the call from our children's children - and of course the rest of the world who want cleaner greener solutions to living, eating and being."

- Organic beef producer Carly Burnham

At the Australian Brahman Breeders' Association conference, held in Brisbane in August during the Ekka, Meat & Livestock Australia's managing director Jason Strong, during a presentation about cattle prices, was asked about the new Labor Government. He said it's plans to ban the live sheep trade may have dominated the talk in livestock circles but the big ticket items on it's 'to do list' actually crossed over with the red meat industry's five-year plan. That is: sustainability, traceability and biosecurity.

"So we may have a new government that doesn't wear the same colour underpants as us but we have similar focuses, similar things on our lists, and that is a positive."

- MLA managing director Jason Strong