right place right time

An unsatisfied leather consumer


Speaking of leather I thought it was time to mention my job.  Its my first proper move away from clinical practice (ignoring working at that movie theatre of course) and it is supreme.  My business card says I'm a "Veterinary Advisor to Economic Development Department". 
Despite having no fixed responsibilities I'm advising on a bunch of stuff in a bunch of different ways.

One activity which is taking a significant slice of my time is coordinating a leather improvement and market linkage project.  I've always liked those projects with clever acronyms but now I have made my own:  PELT (Promoting Excellence in Leather Trade). 

Here's how life currently works:  Mongolian herders get paid a little bit per animal.  Lovely, tender lamb or 10 year old lousy ram with bleeding gums - they get the same price.  Actually thats not true, the ram will be bigger and is probably worth more.  Depends on the mood of the buyer. 

Assume you're the herder for a moment.  There's some vet a few km away who tells you how great her drugs are, how amazing your animals can be with certain treatments.  You believe that she is an honest person and ask her what she recommends. 

Lets treat those nasty skin parasites - the lice, the ticks, the mites she says. 

How much? you ask. 

60c per animal she says. 

Ok, mental arthrimatic.  60c times 200 is $120.  What kind of return on investment can I expect... 

$0 give or take.

Which is a bunch of arse because everyone loses.  The herder gets minimum payment.  The vet has to drive a cab to pay the mortgage.  The processors (meat, dairy, fibre, leather) get poor quality product.  The beautiful steppe gets obliterated from too many mouths to feed (why would you sell when you can keep a big herd and get a little continuous milk and fibre income).
I guess the middleman gets a job but its just so inefficient.

One part of the solution is to cuddle up to the processing companies (sorry Marxist comrades) to help them hook up with the herders directly.  That way they can reward the herders who provide good quality products and have guaranteed supply.  So this way you herders can spend the $120 on vet treatment and get an extra $300 when you sell.  Middlemen don't have the ability to do this.
We promote and support herder groups (ok Marxists, you can come back now) who take some control over their Means of Production by negotiation (with their union-style weight), extension-type learning, and making sure everyone know what "improving quality" actually means.  Pretty alien concept unfortunately.

The processing company should be able to do the hook ups themselves, but with less than 20 years experience at being capitalists, they need some help.  We're getting them to write Business Plans, we'll help with vet fees and stuff initially, reduce their risk, provide technical assistance, but all trying to keep things run by them.  The processors. 

That way, as we pull out, the system keeps running.  The processors get guaranteed supply of good quality commodities (and therefore more profit).  The herders get a financial premium to keep the incentive to produce quality.  This will be one factor in selling more stock and reducing the load on the pasture which disadvantages everyone.  Its more than a coincidence of course that this means more income for herders.

We're starting with leather but the system can work with anything agribusiness.

Lots of difficulties but we'll get there.

I love my job.