Shared solidarity to boost red meat potential

BEST PRACTICE: Tim Southward (left) from Westpac; Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Pete Butler; Alan Maxwell from Westpac; and Mike Petersen from Beef + Lamb NZ.

THE growth of New Zealand's red meat industry is the focus of a new collaboration between agribusinesses, farmers and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

The Red Meat Profit Partnership is the newest programme in MPI's Primary Growth Partnership (PGP), following a contract between MPI and co-investors.

It is a $64 million sector-development programme of which $32.1 million is funded by the PGP, and the remainder by the industry and farmers.

MPI director-general Martyn Dunne says the partnership aims to boost the capability of the red meat sector by ensuring it has ready access to best-practice information, tools and support. "The Red Meat Profit Partnership is the most comprehensive collaboration across the red meat sector that has ever been undertaken," Dunne says.

Investors include Alliance Group, Anzco Foods, ANZ Bank, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (on behalf of sheep and beef farmers), Blue Sky Meats, Greenlea Premier Meats, Progressive Meats, Rabobank and Silver Fern Farms.

The programme is open, enabling outsiders to invest and provide support. "The red meat sector is such an important contributor to our economy, and I'm excited at the potential of this market-led programme to lift productivity in the sector and provide valuable support to farmers," Dunne says.

The seven-year partnership comprises four core projects aimed at researching the information requirements of farm businesses: developing and supporting sheep and beef farmers and their advisers; capturing and benchmarking key data to inform business decisions; and developing technical resources.

"The level of interest by the red meat sector shows the importance it places on ensuring the sustainability of the sector and the commitment to this exciting PGP programme.

"This will also build on the work currently being led as part of the existing PGP programme 'Transforming the Dairy Value Chain', and pave the way for much needed and sought-after sector-wide benchmarking.

PGP's independent chairman Malcolm Bailey says the programme is about helping farmers to improve their productivity and profitability.

"We're planning to get under way without any delay, and the first 100 days of activity will be very busy. The priority is to appoint a general manager, establish advisory structures and immediately initiate the first pieces of work," Bailey says. "There are many aspects to begin working on, but overall the key idea is to develop a deep understanding of how sheep and beef farmers want to receive and apply information.

"This is not about 'telling' farmers but treating them as customers and placing them at the centre, delivering customised services that fit their farm needs, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach."

The programme will develop a range of pilot extension programmes around New Zealand, where farmers, processors and advisers will trial techniques for delivering information to support profitability. The programme will co-ordinate multiple channels to support farmers.

"We will also immediately begin developing common data standards for the sheep and beef sector. This will support the easy transfer and consistent analysis of data between the many new, data-driven farm management tools appearing on the market," Bailey says.

Beef + Lamb NZ chairman and Waipukurau farmer Mike Petersen says the collaboration draws together a big part of the red meat-processing industry along with farmers and two banks, with the common goal of improving the profitability.

"Profitability has been too variable and insufficient in recent years, but through this collaboration there is a significant opportunity to improve it," he said.