I would like to begin by thanking our loyal customers, distributors and business partners for your continued support over what has been another tough yet rewarding year for the agricultural industry. This year has had its ups and downs with Covid, both locally and abroad, and the Ukraine war continuing to play its part in global economic uncertainty. Significant rainfall events throughout the year have also seen widespread flooding and an increase in disease pressure across the eastern states. However, where there’s rain there’s feed, and this year there has been a lot of both.
Despite global insecurity, livestock prices have held up quite well, as tighter beef supply, on the back of herd rebuilding, to drive record cattle prices for the majority of 2022. The sheep market continued to outstrip expectations, with significant growth in production and strong market prices adding significant value to sheep enterprises.
The world’s population is expected to grow by two billion people in the next 30 years. Food security is tipped to become a real concern and protein demand is anticipated to rise in line with the population, as affluency of less developed regions grows. So now it is more important than ever for Australian producers to continue to do what they do better than anyone else in the world, efficiently and sustainably produce food and fibre. It is for this reason that I look forward to 2023, and the opportunities that await Australian producers and suppliers like ANP, as our work becomes more relevant on a global scale.
On a business level, ANP made it through the year relatively unscathed. For this we thank our loyal suppliers and our logistics servers. Alas however, we succumbed to a stream of raw material and freight cost increases that necessitated a price adjustment. But customers can be assured that, should costs fall again, we will adjust our prices accordingly.
Food supply chain safety is continuously scrutinised both locally and abroad. As a result, it is our responsibility to continue to strive for more efficient, sustainable and safe practices when contributing to the food supply chain. We are pleased to announce that, for a fifth year, ANP succeeded in gaining FeedSafe Accreditation (similar to GMP and ISO). This was quite some feat in consideration of a factory relocation to 12 Blaxland Rd.
We also continue to invest in our people. Jon Meggison was engaged at the beginning of the year to take on the role of Sales & Marketing Manager after several years with MLA, Kynetec, Jurox and Boehringer Ingelheim. At the same time Rob Meggison was promoted to Operations Manager to take on a greater leadership role within the business. Technical Service Manager, Micheal Savli continues to succeed in his role and continued development of his technical skills in 2023 will likely see him qualify as a Nutritionist, Australian Association of Ruminant Nutrition (AARN). Due to a growing local customer base and an increasing geographic footprint, we are looking to add two new faces to our team in 2023. Securing the skills of the right people is crucial to achieving our business goals and upholding our high service level and support to our customers. We hopefully will have the pleasure of introducing our new team members to you in the Autumn edition of AusFarm Nutrition News.
I wish you and your families a safe, happy and restful festive season, and look forward to doing this all again with you in the new year.
Best Regards,
Paul Meggison
