Blah blah blah. Blah blah.

Globalisation of the food system has put local producers under immense strain.  How food is produced and marketed has changed more in our lifetime than the previous 10 000 years.

This has caused what I can best describe as an identity crisis for our agribusiness and food sector.

To put it plainly, things are tough and everyone’s feeling a bit unloved at the moment.

Consequently, there has been intense analysis and exploration of how we view ourselves.

 

Interestingly, what’s evolved is the perception that the cause of all our ills is a new disconnect between consumers and the origin of food.  In some instances, this has bordered on complete anger that consumers haven’t devoted themselves to making us happy and profitable.

There is now a huge movement to tell the story about the origin of food and the people producing it.

What’s my beef with all this?  We now have an industry full of talkers and very few doers.

You can’t talk your way into someone’s fridge.

Where are the innovators and early adopters?  Where are the new business models and integrated exporters?  Were are the new products centred on food experience?  Where is the collaboration?

Talking is easy.  It means you can keep doing the same thing whilst hoping for a different outcome.

As Steve Jobs of Apple fame reminded us, there’s no point asking consumers. They don’t know what they want until you put it in front of them.

If you want to be loved by consumers, put something in front of them they'll love.  Then do it again.  And again.  And again.  And again.

I’d like to see less money wasted on talk-fests.  Quite frankly they have become very uninspiring and a blight on our industry.

More support needs to be directed at the doers in our agribusiness and food sector who want a seat at the global dining table, and can envision the great innovative products to get them there.

Know a business that is a doer?  Give their great product or service a plug here and expose them to thousands of readers by clicking on the comments link below.

FTAs and the little country that could.

The term Free Trade Agreement (FTA) conjures great expectations and like the Charles Dickens classic of the same name, it is a coming-of-age story for Australia in the Asian Century.

FTAs are economic policies based on the popular rationale that international markets should be free to trade across international borders without the interference of Government.

Most trade negotiations occur through the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  These agreements then cascade down to more localised initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, an ‘open market’ policy between Canada, United States and Mexico.

FTAs are complex and strategic.  Prime Minister Tony Abbot recently stated Australia’s ‘open market’ aspirations in the region by declaring we are “open for business”.

At a time when some of our industries are desperate for trade reform, the term free trade agreement is misleading because more-often-than-not, what has been finalised is something much different.

Consequently, we continually hear that the economic gains for Australia are minimal and lagging.

It is balance-of-power that determines the outcome of international trade negotiations.

Australia is a remote out-post of the world economy.  By global standards we have a very short trading history, the majority of which simply went back to the Motherland.  We do not understand what it’s like to be surrounded by multiple borders, meaning you learn to trade or learn to fight.

We have a small, fragmented population and economy.  We are not known for value-adding and our industries are increasingly uncompetitive which has been eroding any price advantage for even basic commodities.

The countries in our region we seek a close trading relationship with have been trading AND fighting across borders for thousands of years.  They have huge economies made up of very lean and competitive industries.

Constantly living under the economic or physical threat of multiple borders means these countries have a culture of deep-rooted domestic protection and austerity.  Hence we see the heavy-use of sanctions.  That is, the ability for a foreign industry to sue the Australian Government under a trade agreement.

An important feature of any negotiation is to know your anchor.  What is Australia’s anchor when it negotiates a free trade agreement?  In my opinion, Australia is viewed as a weak seller.

A philosophical view of free trade agreements is they are a diplomatic intent by Australia to keep the communication lines open when it comes to trade and investment, in an effort to ensure we can be part of the action and not get shut-out completely.

Australia recently signed the Korea Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Japan.  As always the devil is in the detail; much of which is conspicuous by its absence on these occasions.  For agribusiness and food, it will be 20 years or so before we feel the economic impact in some instances.

Like the little engine that could, international trade negotiations will continue to give Australia long-term optimism and hope.

In the meantime, of greater urgency for local exporters is that the Australian Government increases its focus on our own domestic situation and starts pulling the right economic levers to help us become internationally competitive, free trade agreements or otherwise.

What levers should the Government be pulling to make Australia's agribusiness and food system globally competitive and profitable?

How Cellarmasters blew me away with their purple goldfish.

Have you heard of the Purple Goldfish Project?

Anyone that owns or operates a business, or is in the business of marketing needs to read What's your Purple Goldfish? written by consumer experience guru Stan Phelps.

In it you'll read why traditional marketing is broken and ineffective.  You'll learn about differentiation through added value using a concept called Marketing Lagniappe.

With the above in mind, here is a quick a story about how Cellarmasters used a purple goldfish moment to win me over as a fan of their services.

I'm not a fancy drinker.  I'm mostly a beer drinker.  West End Draught to be exact.  I don't drink much wine - mostly whites.  I rarely drink at home.

Living near the Clare Valley and Barossa Valley we are very spoilt for quality wine choice.  It means that even as an occasional wine drinker, you learn what's good and what's not - with the added influence of believing local is best anyway.

A flyer arrived in the mail from my bank offering great deals with Cellarmaster using my VISA card.

The price-point on this particular offer was low enough for me to consider that stocking the back fridge with a dozen whites, to enjoy more frequently over summer, was good value this time.  It was a mixed dozen which added some fun and discovery.

So I did the deal.

Cellarmaster gave me a courtesy call when I was about two-thirds the way through my mixed dozen whites.

"Are you enjoying the wine?"

          "No.  I don't like them."

"Oh.  Sorry to hear that.  Are you a regular wine drinker?"

          "No.  I've got no idea what I'm doing.  But I'm not used to drinking wine like this.  What's wrong with it?"

"It's from our 'quaffing' range.  Sounds like you prefer something of higher quality.  Here's what we'll do for you to fix things up:

- Refund the entire cost of this current dozen.

- And you can keep any of the remaining wine you haven't drunk.

- We'll also give you a $20 credit voucher towards your next purchase.

- AND we have a premium mixed dozen of whites that we can offer you today at the same discounted price as the previous purchase, which makes it even less when the credit voucher is applied.  How does that sound?"

          "SOLD!"

I'm now a loyal fan and repeat customer of Cellarmasters - and I continue to enjoy my new wine experiences.

Because of one smart move at the start of our relationship, Cellarmaster now has an increasing 'share-of-wallet' with a new customer.

It's that simple to do.

So, when was the last time someone took the time to write about their positive experience with your product or service and send it out to thousands of people??!!

I'll let you ponder the answer over a glass of wine.

Food not Bombs.

Food Graff: a visual movement casually chewing over the new image of food.

Got a great food image?  Share it with us here at Food Graff.  

It might be graffiti on the side of a food delivery van or really cool packaging.  A policeman eating a doughnut.  It can be anything.  As long as it's linked to food.

The global food system.  A food discussion that is fast-becoming a food movement.  

Enough said and enough written.

Let's just take a moment and enjoy the view.

Creeping normalcy is killing-off regional business.

Achieving more with less is a challenge that has always been close to the heart of regional business.

Yet increasingly we are pushed to rethink our approach to innovation, managing cost structures, increasing efficiency and maintaining margins.

Many tools are already available to help regional businesses streamline their operations.  They are the new digital tools available online.

There is compelling evidence to suggest we should take advantage of this new technology.

In a recent study of the global food and beverage industry called Hunger for Growth, advisory firm Grant Thornton said that new digital practices represent a seismic shift in how the sector will operate in the future.

91% of CEOs surveyed in PwC’s 17^th Annual Global CEO Survey said that digital technology will create the biggest transformation of their businesses in the next 5 years.

Yet local business owners and operators in regional South Australia remain largely uninspired.  

Why?

Because the internet service we pay premium rates for is well below any globally acceptable standard for doing business.  

Although it’s pleasing to know that late last year, Australia’s internet speed surpassed Mongolia’s!

Failing to provide regional businesses with a reliable, high-speed internet service is a major contributor to our local agribusiness and food sector becoming a casualty of unrelenting global competition.

What is needed now is an impact statement that quantifies how much the productivity and competitiveness of regional businesses in South Australia has been negatively impacted by our dilapidated telecommunications service.

The fact that South Australia’s economy can be slowed-down because the kids are home from school means it’s time for action.