Rick Powdrell: Don't worry about factors beyond your control

Rick Powdrell.

By now most farmers have all or a good portion of their new season lamb crop on the ground.

In the North Island favourable lambing conditions appear to have produced lower than normal lamb losses while the next few weeks' weather will determine whether the same applies in the South Island.

Should this higher survival apply across both islands it will hopefully go a long way to wiping out the 700,000 less lambs predicted by Beef & Lamb (B&L) for this season.

This will help farmers with additional numbers helping to balance predicted lower returns, though it is always a shame when a good production year coincides with a lower return year.

The years when both align are those when farmers can really progress their business, both physically and financially. Likewise for meat companies, as more consistent annual numbers enables better throughput and marketing planning.

To date market predictions for the new season have been notably absent as all players in the industry grapple with market uncertainty and currency possibilities.

With this lack of forward pricing information I would stress to farmers to concentrate on what you can control. That will be the on-farm production disciplines to produce the best lambs aligned to market requirements in a timeframe to meet your sales plan.

Worrying about factors beyond your control is a waste of your productive time. There are plenty of people who you are paying in one shape or form to do that on your behalf.

B&L have released their new market development proposal, which was formulated with input from all sectors of the industry.

This collaborative approach is to be applauded and the content focuses B&L's role more to new market development, while leaving the meat companies to focus on existing markets.

This approach defines clear participant roles, avoiding duplication and overlapping of responsibilities.

While gaining widespread industry support, I feel it will be vital that B&L have robust mechanisms in place to monitor and report to farmers outcomes from this new proposal.

Farmers need to demand more transparency on the returns on their levy money spend.

Brexit is, and will continue to, receive plenty of attention. There are lots of unknowns, but plenty we should all be thinking about.

- Rick Powdrell is chairman of Federated Farmers national meat & fibre