The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country / Opinion

Bernard Hickey: Deal closes gap on map

Bernard Hickey
By Bernard Hickey
Columnist·Herald on Sunday·
7 Nov, 2015 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Our commodities can be difficult to get to market, but dealing direct can earn millions. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Our commodities can be difficult to get to market, but dealing direct can earn millions. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Our commodities can be difficult to get to market, but dealing direct can earn millions. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Bernard Hickey
Opinion by Bernard Hickey
Bernard is an economics columnist for the NZ Herald
Learn more

Farmers have dreamed for centuries of breaking out of the commodity trap, and none more so than in New Zealand.

We are as far away from our customers as almost anyone can get and the things we produce can't be easily consumed in the form we produce them.

These fruits of the land - milk, meat, wool, fish or wood - have to be processed, packaged, marketed and presented to customers overseas. In the past that meant we usually sold our commodities raw, in bulk to an intermediary, which kept us disconnected from customers.

That meant farmers, and the nation, have had to grin and bear the wild swings of commodity prices. We became hostages to the wrath of the market and weather gods.

That's largely still the case today. Apart from exceptions such as wine and kiwifruit, we sell in bulk into a faceless and volatile market that gives us little sense of the consumers of our wonderful food.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Most customers don't know the cheese on their pizza is grass-fed or the wool under their feet came from the greenest of rolling hills under the bluest of clear skies.

But a few examples have cropped up of New Zealand farmers and businesses trying to "close the gap on the map".

The best example is the relationship between New Zealand Merino Company, Landcorp and a Danish company that makes indoor shoes out of calf skin and a special type of woollen felt.

Glerups will sell almost 200,000 pairs of these shoes globally this year from $189 a pair. Started as a hobby business in 1993 by Nanny Glerup using wool from her Gotland sheep, the company prides itself on its "passion for felt" and strong connection "from farm to feet".

Glerups had been buying New Zealand wool through a British broker for years to mix with local wools, but New Zealander Bill Carrig of Design Denmark convinced it to buy direct. Glerups wanted a reliable source of quality strong wool that was ethically and environmentally sourced.

In March this year Glerups signed a two-year deal with New Zealand Merino Company and Landcorp to buy 90 tonnes of wool a year for $1.5 million. The deal has been so successful and Glerups is growing so fast that it upgraded the long-term contract this month when Jesper Glerup Kristensen visited several farms producing the wool in New Zealand. Glerups increased its contract to 120 tonnes for 2017 and enthused about the story behind the wool in the all-natural shoes.

The drive by New Zealand Merino Company CEO John Brackenridge for longer-term contracts and investing in quality and standards to break out of the tyranny of the commodity is paying off for farmers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He reported in the company's annual report these contracts earned farmers $9m more in value in the past year than if they had simply sent their wool to auction.

Increasingly, new technology is making it easier for New Zealand farmers to close the gap on the map. Mobile phones, for example, are the type of asymmetric power tool that allows small businesses to connect to many customers in ways they couldn't in the past.

It is time New Zealand farmers took these sorts of opportunities to break out of the commodity trap and for them to realise that connecting New Zealand's 100 per cent pure reputation with our products can generate more money.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

Premium
The Country

How Fonterra and Zespri are navigating US tariff hurdles

The Country

Quad bikes focus after fatal farm incidents

Opinion

Wayne McNee: Emission reduction tools hold key for farming future


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

How Northland plans to transform into a $60b economic powerhouse
Northern Advocate

How Northland plans to transform into a $60b economic powerhouse

‘I had poison in my blood': Three generations of cancer after French nuclear tests
Crime

‘I had poison in my blood': Three generations of cancer after French nuclear tests

Govt tells Sport NZ to ditch transgender guidelines as NZ First threatens funding cut
Politics

Govt tells Sport NZ to ditch transgender guidelines as NZ First threatens funding cut

Rugby legend returns to old stomping ground for Classics match
Whanganui Chronicle

Rugby legend returns to old stomping ground for Classics match

‘We hit rock bottom’: How unhealthy relationship with food started a global brand
Business

‘We hit rock bottom’: How unhealthy relationship with food started a global brand

How Sky's $1 acquisition of Three could reshape NZ television
New Zealand

How Sky's $1 acquisition of Three could reshape NZ television



Latest from The Country

Premium
Premium
How Fonterra and Zespri are navigating US tariff hurdles
The Country

How Fonterra and Zespri are navigating US tariff hurdles

As well as tariffs, a whole range of factors go into negotiations with markets

23 Jul 05:00 PM
Quad bikes focus after fatal farm incidents
The Country

Quad bikes focus after fatal farm incidents

23 Jul 05:00 PM
Wayne McNee: Emission reduction tools hold key for farming future
Opinion

Wayne McNee: Emission reduction tools hold key for farming future

23 Jul 04:59 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search