MLA RD&A stocktake provides accessible catalogue of projects
11 February 2021
Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has released a new readily accessible resource of completed and in-progress research across the business, to create more visibility of the range of projects that MLA has invested and is investing in on behalf of the red meat industry.
MLA’s RD&A Stocktake 2018-2020 summarises the MLA-funded projects across the Research, Development & Adoption, Integrity Systems Company, and International Marketing R&D portfolios, from June 2018 through to November 2020, providing details of all completed and in-progress projects during the two-and-a-half-year period.
MLA General Manager – Research, Development and Adoption, Michael Crowley, said the document was another initiative to improve transparency and accessibility around MLA’s RD&A investments.
“All levy-payers and stakeholders can now access the comprehensive, yet easy-to-read summary of what MLA is investing in and the value it offers to the industry,” Mr Crowley said.
“It is also intended to help inform MLA’s consultation with stakeholders and industry bodies, which is conducted to identify future investment areas in RD&A.
“The document provides a comprehensive record of completed and existing work, and can be used to identify areas where there are significant gaps in R&D and help avoid duplication of research or resources.”
This new document provides basic information on MLA’s RD&A projects and provides hyperlinks to full reports and further information when available.
The document groups projects into their relevance for different species — grassfed cattle, grainfed cattle, sheep and lamb, goats, all grassfed species and all red meat species. The projects are then grouped by research area — for example, meat quality, animal production, husbandry and nutrition, genetics — with completed projects listed before in-progress projects.
Mr Crowley said the Stocktake document is the latest in a series of new initiatives from MLA to improve R&D accessibility and transparency in response to stakeholder feedback about the challenges in finding and accessing R&D information.
“The information in this document is designed to be used in conjunction with the R&D search function on the MLA website, launched last year, wherein users can search for terms of interest, such as keyword, region or species,” Mr Crowley said.
The Stocktake document will be updated every six months as projects progress.
To view the new RD&A Stocktake, visit https://www.mla.com.au/research-and-development/search-rd-reports/rda-stocktake
To receive this information on a regular basis, please subscribe to MLA’s monthly RD&A e-newsletter, R&D Round-Up.
