New research reveals red meat’s outsized role in the economy.
For many New Zealanders, red meat comes neatly cut, weighed, wrapped and priced, from the supermarket chiller.
They probably don’t realise their kilo of beef or lamb contributes well over 120,000 jobs and $48 billion to our economy each year. Those chops and steaks are the muscle-building protein for our nation’s bank balance.
New research by Business and Economic Research (BERL) has uncovered the huge contribution the red meat sector is making to New Zealand’s economy and our communities – and it extends far beyond the farm gate.
Commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association, BERL’s research shows the red meat sector directly and indirectly supports GDP of $17.5 billion (4% of New Zealand’s total GDP), and total expenditure of $48.7 billion.
The industry employs 120,580 New Zealanders – representing one in 20 total national jobs – with every $1 million spent by New Zealand’s red meat sector supporting about five jobs across the economy in 2025.
These are huge numbers, but they don’t tell the whole story of the industry’s importance to rural communities – from farming families and processing plant workers to shopkeepers, schools and sports clubs.
Every day, on average, farmers and meat processors spend $64 million in local communities and industries across Aotearoa. When indirect spending is taken into account, $133 million a day is poured into New Zealand’s economy – underpinning our ability to fund vital imports and public services.
More than half of that is channelled through businesses and services that depend on farms and processing plants – including local suppliers, transport and logistics providers, contractors, and a wide range of service industries – and into communities.
It’s most obvious in Otago-Southland, where the region’s red meat sector generated a total of $3 billion in GDP in 2025 and supported a total of 21,722 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs. This represented 11% of total GDP and 12% of total employment in the region.
Alliance Group, part of Dawn Meats, operates six meat processing plants in both islands and exports grass-fed meat and co-products to Europe, the UK, North America, the Middle East and Asia.
The company’s Lorneville plant, just outside Invercargill, is Southland’s biggest employer and indirectly supports hundreds more jobs through its supply chain.
The world’s largest export sheep meat processing plant, Lorneville produces high-quality protein using cutting-edge technology, including robotics, at a time when international demand for our pasture-fed red meat has never been stronger.
Operations director Wayne Shaw says the plant employs about 1550 staff during the peak season.
“So, the sector is a big contributor to the community, and obviously the money streaming from that supports the entire local economy,” he says.
Alliance plays a role in the wider community, too – sponsoring both the Southland Stags rugby team and Ronald McDonald House South Island, which supports the families of children receiving serious medical treatment.
“We also support the Department of Conservation’s endeavours to save the kakī (black stilt), which is the world’s rarest wading bird,” says Shaw.
“We provide beef hearts for protein feed for the chicks in the Mackenzie Country, where they’re under threat from feral predators.”
Alliance Group also provides academic bursaries to the children of staff and farmer-shareholders.
“That’s something we’ve always done. It’s great to be able to support young people’s education – we’ll certainly continue to do that.”
Shaw knows the only time many Kiwis see red meat is at their local supermarket or butcher or on the BBQ, and understands it may be difficult for them to grasp just how crucial the industry is to the country.
“The supply chain for the red meat sector goes right through from all the things that you need to operate a sheep or beef farm and support the families working those farms, right through to the transport sector, bringing the livestock into the plants, and the large number of staff involved in the meat processing plants across the entire country.
“And then you have the whole infrastructure to get that product into both the domestic and export markets. That’s everything from trucking companies to planes and ships.”
As a recent arrival in the Southland region, Shaw says “it feels like every second person I bump into works at Lorneville or elsewhere for Alliance, or is involved in being a shareholder or a supplier to the business”.
“Our presence is certainly very evident in the small rural towns of the south – and not only here, of course – we have five other plants, so we’re well aware of the industry’s contribution across New Zealand. It’s great to be part of it.”
And Beef + Lamb New Zealand predicts those big numbers will keep getting bigger, forecasting that the sector can grow to as much as $23 billion by 2035.