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| In this project Harris Park Group was asked to establish and resource a dairy industry-wide steering group to prioritize and guide mastitis and milk quality control research, development and extension in Australia. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Next meeting:6 March, 2012Members of Steering Group
Terms of referenceBACKGROUNDMilk quality is an important component of farm productivity and profitability and fundamental to the success of the supply chain and the resilience of the dairy industry. Maintaining milk quality is a complex, multi‐factorial, pre-farm gate activity (there is no ‘fix’ in the manufacturing process.) The main focus in achieving high milk quality is mastitis control, together with effective cleaning of milking machines and milk cooling/storage equipment. This requires farmers to apply management activities which are appropriate for particular and often changing circumstances in their herds. Investment in technology (knowledge, services or products) and capacity to support farmers in mastitis control management is an important priority for the industry.
Recent planning initiatives in the dairy industry such as Dairy Moving Forward have highlighted the need to focus research and development on improving udder health. Dairy Australia, the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation (GGDF) and the Victorian Department of Primary Industries have all committed to future investment in this area. To ensure that all of these initiatives are coordinated into a cohesive program that delivers maximum benefits to the industry it was proposed that an Australian Mastitis and Milk Quality Steering Group (AMMQSF) be formed. The Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation and Dairy Australia have agreed to fund this group for three years. This group is to include representation from all the key stakeholder groups and is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that research, development and extension is coordinated and focussed on helping farmers to control cell counts and reduce mastitis infections.
OBJECTIVE
To ensure that all the key stakeholders with an interest in milk quality and mastitis are engaged in planning and reviewing relevant research, development and extension projects to ensure that they deliver optimum benefits for Australian dairy farmers.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
To achieve this over-arching objective it is anticipated that the AMMQSG will:
MEMBERSHIP
Funds to support this Steering Group have been provided by the Gardiner Foundation and Dairy Australia on the following basis:
“The Australian Mastitis and Milk Quality Steering Group will be a skills based group, with up to 12 members from the main disciplines in this domain: dairy farmers, veterinarians and milking machine technicians. It will also include membership from the main investors in R,D and E in this area: dairy companies, Dairy Australia, the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation and NCDEA. The Chair will be a dairy farmer.”
The dairy industry has recognised a need for providing opportunities for younger people to develop leadership skills. In the Dairy Moving Forward initiative it was recognised that the industry has invested significantly in development opportunities for its people, but that it could be better equipped to support those people to take the next step into real leadership roles. The draft policy being developed in response to this finding includes a proposal to seek opportunities for younger people to be members of industry committees and steering groups. Organisations being asked to nominate members to this steering group are encouraged to keep this in mind when nominating their representatives.
MODUS OPERANDI
Meetings – it is anticipated that the AMMQSG will hold face to face meetings two or three times per year. People with specialist knowledge may be invited to attend meetings where their knowledge can make a valuable contribution to the discussion
The AMMQSG may appoint working groups to deal with specific issues and to oversight individual projects if considered appropriate.
REPORTING
The AMMQSG will report to ADIC on an annual basis and, if requested, may report on specific issues at more frequent intervals.
It is anticipated that the process of reporting to ADIC will be through the Steering Committee of Dairy Moving Forward (DMF). The AMMQSG is framed along the lines of a Community of Interest as proposed by DMF to keep all interested parties informed of progress in a specific area of interest and to ensure that RD&E activities are coordinated. While the AMMQSG is more formally constituted than the proposed Communities of Interest it is consistent with the concept and will provide a mechanism for reporting to ADIC.
SECRETARIAT
The Harris Park Group will provide secretarial services for the AMMQSG and it is anticipated that this activity will include a convenor role to help plan meetings and ensure that decisions are implemented.
BUDGET
It is expected that, in general, the cost of attending meetings will be met by the employers of steering group members. However, it has been agreed that the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation and Dairy Australia will meet the costs of farmers and other self-employed group members. These two organizations will also meet the cost of organising meetings of the Steering Group.
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