L.PGS.1802 - PGS State Coordinator - Victoria

Summary

Profitable Grazing Systems (PGS) is MLA’s new flagship adoption program which will drive measurable, improved business performance outcomes for participating red meat producers. The program will use a supported learning methodology to develop the skills of red meat producers and support implementation of these new skills into businesses, improving profitability and productivity. The purpose of this project is to outline the responsibilities, key performance indicators and reporting requirements of state coordinators.

Objectives

The overarching objective of the National PGS program is to encourage and support red meat producers to improve their management skills, to increase profit. The program objectives to be completed by 2022 are:

• To increase the average profitability of participating red meat producers by 2.5% ROAM by improving their skills and capability.
• A commercial model which involves user pays for the private good component of the activity (generally the delivery), with MLA contributing a maximum of 30% of the delivery cost of supported leaning projects.
• 5,000 producers attend feeder activities with 10 -15% of them going on to participate in a supported learning program.
• 2,900 producers participate in supported learning programs to increase their skills and knowledge for the program as a whole:
• 2150 producers increase their skills and knowledge above a skills audit score of 75% (competent);
• 50 deliverers have increased capability to a point where they can deliver effective high quality supported learning programs;
• Increase the average confidence rating of participating producers to use key skill sets or do key tasks to greater than 8/10;
• At least 70% of participating producers have made practice changes underpinned by a change in skills.

Key findings

PGS has faced significant challenges during the five years of delivery, the most impactful of these being COVID-19. For significant parts of 2019, 2020 and 2021 Victorian lockdowns and restrictions made delivery of SLP’s impossible. Producer engagement via online platforms was tried for other projects with varying success and by the end online producer engagement was also extremely difficult due to online fatigue.

Benefits to industry

Profitable Grazing Systems impact that participating producers, on average receive a return of $17.47/ha due to the adoption of management practices.

MLA action

MLA continues to deliver the Profitable Grazing Systems (PGS) program, supporting participants to have the opportunity to develop and practice skills with small groups of like-minded producers to improve business performance.