Solutions Newsletter - Edition 11
In this Issue:
- Talk to our team about how we can help your business or industry group
- Look out for upcoming workshops
- Food Chain Innovations
- Partnering completes the suite of Environmental Solutions on Offer
- Certified Sustainable Seafood Opportunities
- Engaging Seafood Stakeholders
- Innovative value adds = Meal Solution
- Helping build better barra business
- New Broome businesses set to sweep forward
- Practicing what we preach
Talk to our team about how we can help your business or industry group
Jade Davidson
- Ecolabel and brand development
- Aquaculture Licence Application Development Aquaculture Environmental Assessment
- Marine Stewardship Council Auditing, Coordination and Consulting
Matthew Jeffrey
- Project management
- Aquaculture planning and development
- Environmental management system development and auditing
Daniel Casement
- Fisheries resource management
- Planning and business improvement
- Research, extension and monitoring for industry
- Stakeholder engagement and consultation
Nathan Kimber
- Fisheries resource management
- Research, extension and monitoring for industry
- Stakeholder consultation
- Market research
Look out for upcoming workshops
Rural Solutions SA, in partnership with the Australian Fisheries Academy will be on the East Coast of Australia during November 07 – March 08 delivering ‘Training for Business Skills.’
Workshops will target small and medium sized fishery operators in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish fishery, the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fisheries, Commonwealth Trawl and Gillnet, Hook and Trap Sectors. Workshops will be conducted in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, with an emphasis on provision of skills to deal with changing market conditions and the increasingly complex regulatory framework, with all training tailored to meet the needs of fishers in the target fisheries and ports.
Contact: Daniel Casement
Food Chain Innovations
Rural Solutions SA is pleased to introduce increased value chain development and support expertise through the introduction of ‘Food Chain Innovations.’ This service is lead by Theo Simos and Craig Johns whom many may know through their time with NFIS.
Theo and Craig offer services to clients to:
- explore, define and prioritise opportunities for improvement
- assist in strategic planning and project management
- assist in market intelligence gathering
- identify support programs for collaborative funding
- develop collaborative networks
- conduct supply chain analysis and development
- conduct benchmarking and competitive analysis
- assist in out bound and in bound investment strategies
Contact: Theo Simos
Partnering completes the suite of Environmental Solutions on Offer
In addition to our recent partnership with JLB, our complementary partnering with TQCSI, an accredited third party certification body provides the seafood industry with access to a complete suite of environmental management solutions, in both the development of programs and value add of certification.
Rural Solutions SA will provide experts in primary industries to assist TQCSI’s skilled auditors deliver a seamless professional service.
An additional value-add in this partnership is the accreditation of TQCSI by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) for their quality and environmental certification services, providing all clients with international recognition of their certified system.
“Through this partnership, we are providing environmental auditing services and technical specialist skills,” said Locky McLaren, “to ensure TQCSI has the expert knowledge to be a leader in the field of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Environmental Management System certification for Primary Industries”.
“With Asia also being the dominant market for Australian based seafood products” TQCSI Certification Manager, Rod Hamon adds, ”TQCSI’s multiple offices in key countries including Japan, will assist to provide the networks required to increase Australia’s seafood export in current markets and the establishment of new markets”.
“Certification to the international standards for EMS, QA, HACCP and OHS ensures we benchmark ourselves against world’s best practice. TQCSI has a simple approach to certification which adds values to our business by allowing us to focus on the bigger picture and continually improve.” Tracy Connolly, ISO Manager, AFE (Australian Fishing Enterprises)
Visit www.tqcsi.com
Contact: Jade Minhard
Certified Sustainable Seafood Opportunities
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC – www.msc.org) was established by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Unilever to set a mandate for promoting sustainable fishery practices throughout the world. MSC has set an internationally recognised standard for sustainable, well managed fisheries and a supply chain standard which ensures sustainably fished seafood is tracked from the sea to dinner plate.
TQCSI is the only MSC accredited, certification body in the Southern hemisphere, to provide MSC certification services nationally and throughout Asia. Through the Rural Solutions SA and TQCSI partnership, we are assisting to undertake full certification assessment of the first MSC certified Japanese Fishery. The certification process for the Japanese Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery for snow crab and flathead flounder has escalated the awareness and demand for MSC certified products in Japan, which has the potential to increase the demand for imports of MSC certified products from other countries to Japan.
Currently there are 23 fisheries (as at October 2007) certified to the Fisheries Certification Standard, which includes two Australian Fisheries.
The partnership also assists us to increase our experience in delivering for national and international customers and puts us in a good position to translate this knowledge and understanding to local conditions impacting the seafood industry.
In addition to Rural Solutions SA’s service to assist companies achieve ISO14001:2004 Certification, MSC provides another option for wild-catch fisheries interested in environmental certification.
Would a similar internationally recognised certification program aimed at the aquaculture industry, provide the same or greater benefits?
Contact: Jade Minhard
Engaging Seafood Stakeholders
Our Seafood Solutions team has been busy with strategies to build Environmental Management Systems (EMS) business across the seafood sector.
A national project has surveyed seafood industry attitudes to EMS and industry/stakeholder preparedness to undertake EMS development and implementation.
The team worked with Corvel Marketing and Management to determine the most effective way of engaging the industry in EMS. The process involved running a workshop at the National Seafood EMS Summit in Brisbane and surveying a range of stakeholders, including research organisations, industry members, government, NGOs, industry associations and service providers.
The results of this study were collated and presented at the 2006 Seafood EMS Summit in Sydney. The core recommendations include demonstrating the business benefits of EMS; the benefits of undertaking one-on-one consultation; and the need to build a strong EMS support network of service and information. A staged engagement plan has now been developed.
These activities strengthen plans to build substantial EMS business.
Contact: Daniel Casement
Innovative value adds = Meal Solution
The innovation training component of this project also revealed ways
South Australia could score some strong sales.
1. A regional brand tag - leveraging off the State’s existing gourmet food/wine regions could add to product appeal.
2. Keep it niche – from a logistics, capacity and competitive point of view, it is best to focus on smaller gourmet retail outlets. This also builds sense of an exclusive premium product.
3. Make it easy for time-poor consumers – no-fuss fillets and simple cooking instructions.
4. Build Alliances with local processors – allowed for extensive product trials to determine best size and taste profile.
Helping build better barra business
A multi-dimensional market research program spearheaded by Rural Solutions SA has helped identify ways of increasing farmed barramundi sales.
The project involved an initial scan of the trade and consumer market – plus a survey on buying patterns, selling messages, packaging and portion size which best engages them.
The next step was the development of a ‘value proposition’ (ie why buy farmed barramundi over other seafood, and why this particular packaged product?). Surveys and market product testing followed which covered appearance, size and especially taste – and helped build the profile of target customers for a niche value-added barramundi product.
The initial customer base was identified as business professionals of the Adelaide CBD and surrounding inner suburbs – and the niche product tested by chefs involves a pre-prepared spice mix packaged with the fresh 400g fillets, along with recipe ideas and cooking instructions. This includes restaurant and café options.
Recommendations have been included in the project report to secure a processing operator to deliver to approved product guidelines.
Barramundi has icon status similar to tuna and Yellow Tail Kingfish – which would potentially be major competitors in the fresh fish category (along with lamb, dueto a strong consumer marketing campaign).
The report and recommendations of the value-add, high-return barramundi product are now available to the industry – and to help them grow and maintain these sales, a culture of innovation is also strongly pushed.
Helping pioneer this process is Robin Moseby of Inland Aquaculture Association of SA who has been trained in innovationworks™ thinking and planning strategies.
“It’s important we realise that good ideas – backed by good research, consistent quality and a well-informed market – are the vital ingredients for success,” said Robin, “and the more we use innovative ways of continually exploring new market opportunities, the stronger we will grow.”
Contact: Nathan Kimber
New Broome businesses set to sweep forward
Indigenous aquaculture in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia is set for a boost – supported by Broome’s major Aboriginal cultural tourism experience, the Manbana Aquaculture Centre incorporating a Multi Species Hatchery.
These operations recognised a need to strengthen their commercial focus – and contracted Rural Solutions SA to analyse their business and plan a viable way forward.
The contract involved wide consultation with all stakeholders plus significant market research – and the delivery of detailed recommendations and action plans for the three associated businesses: the Kimberley Aquaculture Aboriginal Corporation (KAAC), Multi Species Hatchery (MSH) and Manbana Discovery Centre (MDC).
The Rural Solutions SA team (includingpartners Dos Aqua and Edge Tourism) brought to this project a broad working experience of commercial indigenous business and sustaining traditional culture from work with projects on bush food cultivation, mining rights negotiations and responsible environmental management.
As the regional industry body representing indigenous people and organisations with aquaculture interests, KAAC is gathering all appropriate experience to meet its goals. Some of the recommendations presented to KAAC included how to develop identified business opportunities; guidelines for pursuing non-Government and fee for service work; and tighter budgeting and monitoring tools.
MSH management and reporting has been restructured to better meet commercial operations; its focus has been widened to consider joint ventures and leasing or subletting the facility to other aquaculture businesses.
“The plans present a viable and positive future for us“ said KAAC Chairperson Charla Clements,” and we hope that the community, aquaculture industry, government and visitors to the Kimberley can support this important initiative.”
The business and market analysis process for this typified the thoroughness of the Rural Solutions SA team and its partners from DosAqua and Edge Tourism which interviewed ornamental fish importers, retailers and freight forwarders while assembling sales statistics, management plans and financial projections.
Recommendations for change and growth were supported with all the required analysis, legal, educational, social and cultural considerations – plus practical action plans of resourcing and scheduling.
“We really appreciated the detail and ‘hands-on’ approach which produced the plan,” said Charla. “The consultancy team became part of our team to understand our issues but could also speak with some independence from us of what needed to change.”
Our market analysis and business development expertise has been applied in a number of industries.
Contact: Daniel Casement.
Practicing what we preach
As one of our strongest business consultancies is providing advice on Environmental Management Systems (EMS), we have increasingly seen the importance of demonstrating our own commitment to improved environmental management.
With this in mind, our Adelaide headquarters is currently developing an EMS based on the internationally recognised ISO14001:2004 standard.
We are focussing our attention on innovative solutions to achieve an environmentally friendly and carbonneutral business – covering such things as energy and resource savings in the office and fuel savings in our vehicle fleet.
Alternative fuels, tree planting along traffic corridors to act as ‘carbon sponges’ and other initiatives generated by staff are all being actioned.
“It’s vital we practice what we preach,” said Executive Director Locky McLaren. “Getting our own house in order is a great sales strength when encouraging others to develop their own program to manage the environment.”
Contact: Mathew Jeffrey
Last Updated: February 1, 2008