After travelling the food-related nooks and crannies of South Australia, Adelaide Thinker in Residence Professor Andrew Fearne has come up with some valuable insight into the SA food industry.
Professor Andrew Fearne is no slouch. Over the past 12 months the self-professed ‘Pommy pig farmer’s son’ has talked prawns in Port Lincoln, fruit in the Adelaide Hills, citrus in the Riverland and wine in the Barossa; imparted words of wisdom to hundreds of food industry stakeholders; toured Adelaide’s supermarkets and produce markets; met with SA’s peak grain and meat bodies; brainstormed new opportunities in the State’s food supply chain; attended the Premier’s Food Council Food Forum and worked with the SA Food Centre to produce a range of inspirational business case studies.
He has discovered a unique state, full of fabulous food and wine enterprises working within a dynamic environment. However he says the food industry is not without its challenges.
One of the biggest, according to Professor Fearne, is the increasing complexity and vulnerability of the state’s food systems.
“… because of that complexity I believe we need a fundamental change in the way that we look at things, and the fundamental change that we need…is a shift from supply chains to value chains.”
Professor Fearne said such a paradigm shift required people to “change the way they think and the way they make decisions and the way they do things.”
He said developing a sustainable competitive advantage was critical to the food industry’s growth
and development.
Important sources of competitive advantage included the ability to adapt, the ability to learn more about shoppers and consumers, and speed.
“We have to know what the end consumer of our product wants and we have to be able to act faster than the competition in delivering what they want.”
Professor Fearne said sustainable advantage was about allocating and using resources in a way that is hard for others to copy.
“If we can add more value, be really effective at lower cost, be efficient and do that faster than the competition - without destroying the planet - that is an unbeatable offer!”
He said the key to gaining that success was working as a team – “bringing in more voices, working with others, and collaborating within government across organisations.”
Professor Fearne said South Australia was unique, “full of mostly small businesses producing some fantastic products.”
“But virtually all those businesses are doing everything themselves -sorting out the finance, making the products, taking the orders and in many cases driving the van. Where is there time for planning, for more effective communication, for thinking about growth strategy? There’s never any time, so they can never grow beyond certain points.”
He said small business, primary producers and small food producers needed to recognise that they could only grow their businesses by collaborating with kindred spirits.
By adopting a value chain approach, as opposed to a supply chain approach, he said the industry could enjoy co-innovation.
Professor Fearne said government had an important role to play in the challenges facing the industry.
“Government needs to help businesses get fitter, get leaner, get meaner and get more responsive. Not fixing [problems] for them [the industry], but giving them the tools. Enabling them to take control.”
“[That means] better directed research and development, more closely aligned with what consumers want. And shifting the emphasis away from a very reductionist food plan: finished food and exports, to a more holistic food policy where we embrace, with relish, the complexity of the world and our food systems.”
Residency catalyst in the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence Office and principal PIRSA strategist Glenn Ronan said Professor Fearne’s insight would positively influence value chains management, analysis and thinking across government.
“Professor Fearne’s input will play an important role in the ongoing development of the SA Food Centre and SA Food Plan policy so that strategically everyone knows where they fit – not just PIRSA, but also Health SA, the Department of Trade and Economic Development, Zero Waste SA and other agencies that have an involvement with the SA food industry.”
Professor Andrew Fearne is Director of the Centre for Supply Chain Research at Kent Business School, University of Kent. His final report will contain a wealth of information for the SA food industry on value chain management and consumer behaviour. A précis of his final report will be highlighted in the next issue of Food Talk.
Want to know more?
Contact
Glenn Ronan
Project Catalyst, Adelaide Thinkers in Residence
p +61 8 8463 6681
e ronan.glenn@saugov.sa.gov.au