Summary
Target 100 Strategy
Executive summary
Target 100 is an initiative by Australian cattle and sheep farmers, along with the broader industry, to promote more sustainable cattle and sheep farming for Australia's future.
Every day cattle and sheep farmers across Australia are doing simple things to improve their environmental sustainability, whether it be by installing solar panels, fencing off dams, increasing biodiversity on their properties or using different stocking strategies to improve soil health and groundcover.
For Australia's cattle and sheep farmers, sustainability isn't only about the environment, it's also about good animal welfare, contributing to their local communities, and ensuring that cattle and sheep farming is economically viable for future generations.
Through their industry levies, cattle and sheep farmers also invest in research, development and extension projects to continually improve their productivity and reduce the resources they use. Each year cattle and sheep farmers invest more than $13 million in research and development to reduce the industry's environmental impact.
Stakeholders
Producers –the foundation stone of the Target 100 program, demonstrating the responsibility of producers of being custodians of the land, stewards to their livestock and representatives of their rural communities. Currently we have 0.47% of producer engagement in the program however we know anecdotally that the percentage of farmers utilising environmental and animal welfare protocols on farm is far greater than this.
KPI: to reach 300 producers in the program by the end of 2015/16 (20% + increase)
Advocates – proactive farmers, scholars (Nuffield, Horizon, ARLP), R&D case studies all contribute to the social licence of the industry and illustrate the commercial and practical advantages of incorporating sustainable efficiencies on farm.
Activities to include (but not limited to) writing articles (website and EDM), presenting at consumer events, engaging in social media and contributing to the in-school education project, workshops and training days.
KPI: to have at least 6 advocates recruited and engaged with; another 6 identified by the end of 2015/16
Consumers – whilst currently there are just over 10% of consumers concerned enough about animal welfare or environmental issues to question their consumption of red meat, MLA / Target 100 need to engage key opinion leaders to prevent the anti-red meat / vegan lobby to get traction in the areas of food media and dietary professionals to ensure red meat is not excluded or limited when advice is provided to consumers. The program has decreased awareness amongst consumers during the past 12 months (Pollinate 2015) highlighting a need to increase awareness of Target 100 and the proactive initiatives of the industry without increasing negative association of production using a proactive and positive focus for the program concentrating on CSR / social licence.
KPI: maintain consumers that are restricting their red meat intake to 7%
Industry and Peak Bodies – recognise and consult partners in Target 100 including Cattle Council of Australia, Sheepmeat Council of Australia, Australian Meat Industry Council, Australian Lot Feeders Association, Australian Meat Processing Corporation and service provider Meat & Livestock Australia.
KPI: continued engagement with PIC's through regular consultation and annual presentations
Assets
Education program – MLA works with two educational service providers to ensure effective outreach of information about food production and farming to school aged children. The Primary Industry Education Foundation aims grow student understanding of the role of, and the practices in agriculture, forestry's and fisheries industries for the betterment of agriculture utilising their relationship with the Department of Education. Kimberlin Education are a private contractor who have developed specific lesson plans and content around the red meat industry and aligned to the national curriculum and that is employed to conduct lessons based on MLA data and hosted by teachers on digital platforms to reach school age children with factual information on farming.
KPI: to engage over 100 primary school classes in live, real time MLA based lessons teaching children about farming and red meat production
Events – consumer, media and producer events are an important outreach platform for Target 100 that allows us to promote industry best practise and to embed the concept of a social licence with consumers. Familiarising consumers and consumer media with agricultural practices and farmers themselves in an open and transparent manner allows them to relieve any concerns that they may have in relation to consumption of red meat or practices on farm.
KPI – attend at least 4 consumer events and 4 industry events during 2015/16
Strengths
Identified need for industry to engage and maintain best practice on farm to establish a "social licence" amongst the community and creating integrity into the industry that will support it in the customer's viewpoint, at a time of issue/crisis.Environment and sustainability remain an issue for a small but growing section of the community, with education and information streams aimed at easing concerns that their buying habits are harmful to the environment or to the sustainability of local food production.
Weaknesses
Limited buy-in from producers impedes the veracity of the program, and restricts the integrity in the eyes of key audiences.The integrity of the industry is seriously harmed when incidents occur in any part of the supply chain. Loss of integrity dissolves the community's belief in the industries social licence requiring producers to prove their right to farm on each occasion.The title "Target 100" is no longer relevant to the program with less than 100 initiatives now underway. No viable alternative name for the program has been identified to date.
OpportunitiesAudiences to reach specific grocery buyers to include key opinion leader such as food and lifestyle journalists, nutritional experts (DAA) and social commentators.Networks required to tap into both producer buy in and consumer reach include SFO's, Peak Bodies, RIRDC's, and external groups with related objectives such as Landcare.Producer enticement into the program and continuing implementation of new practices on farm is imperative to Target 100 and to the rigor of the industry's integrity.
Threats
Animal activist / vegan groups promoting negative and at times untrue or obsolete information to institute doubt in the minds of consumers when considering the impact of meat consumption. Often the objective of these groups is not to change the practices of livestock farmers, but a vegan society.Environmental activists are known to encourage the consumption of alternative proteins such as chicken rather than beef or lamb due to the environmental impact of red meat production.Differentiation between production methods (leading to substitution of product) favouring one over the other for either environmental or animal welfare reasons.
Goals and objectivesSocial media uptake to increase amongst approved MLA staff, advocates and producers creating a community committed to maintaining a social licence for livestock industries.
Producer engagement numbers to strengthen the commitment that producers are making to the program and to increase the integrity of Target 100 within the consumer market.Advocate / ambassador numbers to increase so that they may cover speaking opportunities, industry events, social media and media appearances.Event attendees including key opinion leaders such as lifestyle media, nutritional professionals and influential consumers.Media coverage across environmental, lifestyle and food focused publications to increase consumer awareness in the program.
Operations plan
Integrate Target 100 further with the extension group within MLA to ensure that the R&D uptake within producer groups.Adapt the process with which producers commit to the program – make it simple, inviting and demonstrating added value both socially and economically.Engage key opinion leaders, F2F and written collateral surrounding the program to consumer media, DAA and environmental platforms.Consult with producers / advocates regarding the current challenges and objectives of on farm practicesContinued development of consumer video and education materials.
Website Amendments
In 2013 the Target 100 website underwent a design overhaul. Due to time restrains user testing was not able to be completed and incorporated into the design. Target 100 has since undertaken user testing in 2014, and would now like to incorporate that feedback and advice into the website design to enhance the user experience. Republic of Everyone has been engaged to complete this project. The project included:Design of initiatives page template Design of left hand navigation template (2 variations)Design of Farmer Story templateDesign of 8x new icons based on client brief
Target 100 Adwords review and redemiation
A review of the SEO focus and spend to ensure the best return on investment relative to the targeted audience. The review rationalised the search terms and reduced the cost to the business.
SEO and Adwords
Monthly cost of targeting digital content to specific online searches with an emphasis on targeted demographics of the community. Management services are also recieved from Panalysis.
CMA Target 100
Costs incurred through travel and events associated with the Community Engagement Program.
Facebook Ads
Advertisments to boost the number of viewers receiving the Target 100 digital content on the Facebook platform.
