Cattle, Consumers, and Carbon Neutral goals with Jason Strong
How does a person become the Managing Director of one of the biggest Agricultural Research & Development Corporations in the country? Well for Jason Strong, he accredits a lot of his success and career progression to judging livestock. For him, that’s just about where it all began!
“It's [judging livestock] been one of the most influential things in my life and my career. And there's so much more to it.”
“I've been involved in cattle judging, because I love cattle… I can't remember the point in time when I didn't want to be a cattle farmer. The opportunity to spend more time looking at cattle, talking about cattle, evaluating them.”
Jason didn’t realise it at the time, but winning the National Angus Breed Judging Competition which landed him a scholarship to the USA was one of the more pivotal opportunities in his career. He was in his early twenties and part of the scholarship had him teaching livestock judging at the University of Illinois.
“I got a very different perspective around judging from that process, because it was more structured… How do you make a decision? How do you explain the decision you made? How do you defend the decisions you've made? How do you engage?”
His love for cattle and livestock is profound, what is it about them that brings him joy?
He describes the feeling of seeing a calf take its first steps, “from a heifer you’ve bred and sire you know… It’s really the ‘fruit of your efforts’ coming together to form a progeny and see a result out the other side.”
But that’s not the only thing that brings Jason joy,
“The thing that really brings me joy is the success of others. And whether it's family or friends, or staff or the industry… Being involved in things that create and deliver benefits to others. And whether that's just joy or pleasure, or whether it's material benefit, or whatever it might be… I really get a kick out of that.”
Image supplied by Jason Strong.
Someone once said to Jason, “The true evidence of a man's character is how he spends his time when he doesn't have to.” Jason relates that back to his role as Managing Director of Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA),
“I'm in a very public role in Managing Director of MLA, for better or worse. On the good side, you have a voice to talk about all the great things about the industry, on the negative side, you become a target for kind of everything. But, at the core is my passion for the industry. And that's why I'm here.”
Naturally, we used this opportunity to chat to one of the biggest topics in the industry and broader community right now: carbon emissions. The red meat industry has committed to a goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 (CN30).
“The CN30 goal is the single most influential thing that has happened in this space. So it was really ambitious, but it got us focused.”
“And it actually got us looking at what is the line of sight from here to there? What are the sorts of things that are going to help us get along that path?”
“And without that, I think there would have been a lot less focus and direction, and absolutely less progress on understanding what the drivers were, and understanding what some of the solutions are, as well.”
“As an industry, we've got to navigate through that environment where so much of the discussion is emotive and the commentary is pretty emotive. But we're part of the solution. So how do we actually manage that in a sensible, constructive way?”
That CN30 commitment occurred in 2017, and fast-forward to today, Jason says that industry is on-track. A recent MLA commissioned report researched by CSIRO has given the industry a good stocktake on where things are at.
“At a high level, what it says is that, from where we're at, at the moment, if we don't make any more material progress, we're not going to hit the target.”
“And that’s okay. 2017 was when we set the target, we're now in 2023, we've got seven [years] to go. We know a lot more than what we knew before. I think it's a really good report that gives us some context around what the challenge is between now and 2030. And we'll learn a lot more along the way.”
“And probably more importantly, what it's [CN30 industry target] actually done is it's demonstrated intent. And from a policy point of view, from engagement with our markets and engagement with the government department, we know the industry is seen as being proactive, because we're making investments and we're taking action in this space.”
Images supplied by Jason Strong.
While talking about how the community views the industry and how we can connect with consumers, Oli raised that he thought it was a bit unusual to see a leading Managing Director manning the MLA stand at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Jason was a bit taken aback, and he went on to explain that,
“It’s actually about how we engage with the community, and we've got this critical mass of people that's kind of a captive audience is gonna come through the gate [of the Sydney Royal Show], they're gonna have to walk past, so let's grab them as they go.”
“That’s a wonderful thing to be able to work for, the people we have and the things we can do. But it's its underlying passion for the industry. And how we tell our story and share what we do is incredibly important.”
Throughout the chat, a theme around mindset and framing came to the front. Jason believes the whole sector can approach challenges with a more positive mindset, recognising past successes in overcoming varying challenges,
“And what we forget is that there's no challenge or problem that our industry hasn't solved or resolved. And the thing we're really good at is being confronted with a challenge, getting past it on top of it and finding a better solution.
Yet, it seems like when we get hit with the next challenge, our first response is how bad the challenge is, rather than this is just the next thing that we're going to deal with as an industry, just like we have every other time. And that's a big shift, that would be wonderful. If we could make that as an industry.”
Part of tackling these challenges is nurturing the next generation and showcasing the career opportunities that are available in agriculture, Jason summaries.