V.RDP.4001 - Developing and commercialising advanced measurement technologies and feedback systems into globally competitive Australian meat value chains (ALMTech II

Summary

ALMTech II supported the development and commercialisation of technologies to provide beef, lamb and pork producers with advanced measurements of two key attributes that influence the value of livestock lean meat yield (LMY) percentage and eating quality (EQ). Within abattoirs, these technologies needed to be adaptable to pre or post chill deployment, robust in an abattoir environment, and capable of operating at the fastest processing chain speeds.

Objectives

ALMTech II’s ambition was to realise significant productivity and profitability improvements for primary producers, via the following objectives:
- Provide beef, lamb and pork producers with access to more accurate descriptions of the key attributes that influence the value of their livestock: LMY% and EQ; and compliance to market specifications, delivered via advanced measurement technologies, in synergy with abattoir automation where appropriate.
- Enhance feedback systems to provide producers with new information that enables improved decisions on breeding and compliance to market specifications.
- Deliver new tools and data to processors that can be used by producers to improve the rate of genetic gain and processing efficiency, while optimising their capacity to allocate product to the most valuable market end-point, thereby increasing the wealth of the value chain participants.
- Capitalise on the co-operation of industry stakeholders to maximise effective decision making, reduce risk and optimise profit for all partners.
- Develop an early-stage prototype of objective measurement equipment for offal condemnation.
- Develop and improve these technologies and systems to increase competitiveness and profitability in the Australian meat value chain.

Key findings

The ALMTech program was a collaboration across RDC's, universities, State Departments of Agriculture, meat processors and commercial technology developers. A range for technologies and systems were supported through development and commercial trialing.

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Benefits to industry

By 2040, it is estimated that ALMTech (I & II) will have generated a net present value (NPV) of $858 million net benefits to the beef, lamb, and pork industries in Australia.

MLA action

MLA is working with potential co-investment partners to further develop emerging technologies and facilitate adoption of developed technologies.

Future research

External review and planning for future research is currently underway.