Redesigning Animal Agriculture

growth in the export market has come about
through a combination of increased beef
consumption in Japan and Korea through
the 1990s, an opportunity to sell low-grade
beef to the USA and Australia’s unique ability
to address food safety concerns through
its ability to combine a high volume of low
input production with disease-free status for
internationally controlled diseases such as
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Recent adoption of an electronically based
ID system to enable rapid and accurate
traceback has ensured the industry is able
to guarantee the highest level of food safety
and bio-security (Bailey and Britt, 2001).
Bio-security is an increasingly important
issue when trading in global food markets
(Smith et al., 2005). In response to global
market demands, Australia has developed
a diversified beef production system serving
both the high and the low end of the
market with both live and post-slaughter
products. The opportunity to utilize large
areas of northern Australia with tropically
adapted Brahman (Bos indicus) cattle has
maintained growth in output.
The ongoing expansion and growth
in beef exports has relied on global markets
remaining active. In looking forward,
Pritchard (2006) suggests that ongoing expansion
in Australian beef outputs will rely on
continuing trade liberalization; he points
to the problem of border restrictions particularly
in trading with the USA and falling
red meat consumption again in the USA.
He also highlights some uncertainties in the
continued expansion of the north-east Asian
beef markets. Finally the emergence of new
competitors from Latin America will put further
pressure on Australian beef produ cers.
Australian beef production systems have
responded, and continue to respond, to global
market demands. Future economic growth in
the Australian beef sector will require the
industry to align with global market drivers.
The global free market is a political construct
based on national interests. At the highest
level, political motives represent an aggregated
social driver. Efficiency of production
and the ability to meet strict food safety
requirements have maintained the Australian
beef sector’s competitiveness. Future global
Social, Environmental and Economic Roles 209
political drivers may be both more demanding
and wide ranging and will include meeting
environmental standards. Australian beef
producers will need to develop strategies
that are able to maintain economic success in
response to these new demands.
Analysis of economic drivers
There are contrasting economic constraints
between the UK dairy industry and the
Australian beef industry. Nevertheless, farmers
in both cases have adapted to changing
economic drivers. Australia is focused on
maintaining beef export markets and must
remain globally competitive in an uncertain
market; it is unclear how the industry will
respond to global pressures on the cost price
squeeze. In the UK, the dairy industry has
had to respond to new economic drivers. The
shift in policy away from production support
to a supply–demand driven market required
to meet increasingly stringent envir onmental
and food safety concerns has been rapid and
challenging. If livestock farmers are going to
meet social and environmental goals they
will have to be integrated within a sound
economic performance model. In both the UK
dairy and the Australian beef sectors, linking
industry structural changes to economic
performance creates a positive incentive for
farmers. Multifunctional livestock farming
systems are based on diversification within
and between farms with a shift from quantity
of production to quality of production (Evans
et al., 2002). We specu late that the contrasting
Australian and UK economic frameworks
shape social and environmental goals by
encouraging different management behaviours.
The diversity of economic options in
the Australian example encourages a diversity
of management systems through neoliberalized
space (Peck and Tickell, 2002).
The EU CAP initially aimed to create stable
market conditions that guaranteed economic
returns for the UK dairy industry. However,
changes in the EU intervention policy have
led to free market conditions. A restriction
of production with falling milk prices and
increasing costs of production is creating