The Australian Hide Skin & Leather Exporters' Association have been awarded a $326,000 grant to install and operate Australia's first hide and leather tracing system.
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud said the project will be able to fill a vital gap in the traceability chain.
"While the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) allows us to keep track of stock in the paddock or the saleyards, this traceability has been lost at the tanners," Minister Littleproud said.
"Now we will be able to continue that guarantee of quality into the leather and hides industry.
"We know that consumers in Australia and internationally want greater transparency and real time advice about the origin and safety of product in the modern digital marketplace.
"Through the innovation and ingenuity of Australian industry, these round two projects will give Aussie exporters the competitive edge."
Australian Hide Skin & Leather Exporters' Association Executive Officer, Dennis King, said the organisation was grateful to be a recipient of the grant.
"We're investigating the ways we can implement traceability off the hoof, so to speak," Mr King said.
"We're going to look at how we can link hides to the NLIS and for tracing at the tannery through the development of data integration software that can be made available for industry-wide use.
"Thanks to this grant we will be able to implement a system where buyers will know for certain that they are buying quality Australian-grown leather and hide products."
For more details on the 14 successful round two projects visit the Traceability Grants Program website.
Fast Facts:
- The Traceability Grants Program supports industry projects that will enhance our agricultural supply chain traceability systems, including developing and trialing technologies that digitise information flow.
- The program also aims to provide an advantage for our exporters and to increase opportunities to export Australian commodities.
- The program is part of the Australian Government's Modernising Agricultural Trade agenda to support the target of a $100 billion agricultural sector by 2030.
- The Australian Government is investing $7 million from 2019-20 through to the end of 2022-23 in projects under the Traceability Grants.
