WESTVIC Dairy hosted a ‘From Idea to Innovation’ forum on the February21, held at Deakin University in Warrnambool.

The event featured speakers from near and far and was sponsored by DemoDAIRY.

One of the popular sessions of the day was a look at the Halter Collar technology, currently being implemented in Tasmania (and is well established in New Zealand). These collars allow for electronic training of cattle, reducing the labour required to bring cows to and from the dairy, as well as giving exact allocations of pasture without the need for strip graze fences. The product is not yet approved for use in Victoria, with our animal protections laws still prohibiting the use. However, it is hoped that this will be overcome in the next 18 months.

Grassmere dairy farmer Liam Ryan also shared the changes they had made on their farm, implementing an extended lactation window. Instead of calving once every 12 months, cows are instead joined to calve once every 400-odd days. This has helped with fertility and other management issues and is something that works well in their system.  

Mike Brady talked participants through how the Irish dairy industry has grown and prospered, and some lessons that the Australian industry could take on board. Since a plan incorporating farmers, other stakeholders and the government was formed in 2011, the volume of milk produced in Ireland has doubled, Mike noted “Our dairy farmers have done very well and have been very prosperous in the past 10 years.”

The key afternoon activity at the forum, was a panel discussion around innovation. Members of the panel were:

•            Mike Brady, Brady Group Founder and Member of the Ireland Nuffield Board.

•            Paul Douglas, Business Development and Resources Manager, ST Genetics.

•            Mary Sharma, Head of Research and Development, Bulla Dairy Foods.

Below are the six key lessons from these expert innovators.

1.          Look to the future so you are on the front foot to meet the challenges.

What makes some innovators stand out from the rest are those who are solving problems that don’t exist yet.

Mary Sharma has held many R&D and innovation roles over her 30-year career in Australia, New Zealand and Denmark, and said looking forward helps you identify future challenges.

“Being able to look into the future and see what might come at you is important. Having curiosity, looking outside what your business does helps you to look at the opportunities that you may need to get into,” said Mary.

Mike Brady agreed.

“You have the early adopters, then you have the main group, then you have the laggards. You need to decide which is your tribe,” said Mike.

2.          Great ideas stay ideas without an action plan.

All panel members caution that it is vitally important to know your own capabilities. Mary explained that the one thing people sometimes forget about is the complexity to implement the idea.

“How hard is this goal to achieve? Do we have the means to achieve it? Can we get the means?  Is this sustainable? These are all questions that need to be answered,” said Mary.

Ideas must have a plan to be put into action – which is what innovation is all about.

3.          Innovation involves risk, so do your research.

Innovation always involves some level of risk, so understand yours to protect yourself and your business as much as possible.

“There are ideas, there is planning, and there’s risk. And that is a part of the vulnerability, that’s part of the assessment, that’s part of the process,” said Paul Douglas.

4.          Learn from failure.

When there is risk there is bound to be failure. Each of the panellists shared that they’ve all experienced failures – but it’s what you learn that sets you up for success.

“You have to have a lot of failures to be remembered for the successes. When you do have the bad ideas, it’s what you learn out of it that makes the difference and is really important,” said Mary.

5. Sustainability is a must.

Sustainable processes and products are the key to future idea successes.

“You’re looking at attributed value that’s judged at present. That attributed value might be financial, it might be social, or it might be environmental. And then the challenge is to assign value in the future as a part of the judgement process,” said Paul.

The environmental value of an idea must always be considered. If the idea is not sustainable – don’t bother. It won’t make the cut with society’s values and expectations. Consider the impact on the environment always!

6.          Team and culture are important

A team who thinks independently, but works together in a culture that encourages change, has a greater chance of success. 

“We need the innovators. What one person does might be the spark that takes the industry in a direction. We have to foster environments that encourage people like that,” said Mike.