Newsmaker

Working to build trust in red meat

Earlier this year, trade and international business specialist Esther Guy-Meakin joined the Meat Industry Association after two productive years at Beef + Lamb NZ. Colin Williscroft reports on how she is settling into her new role.

ESTHER Guy-Meakin is pleased with the opportunities and challenges of her new position at the Meat Industry Association (MIA), which she says allows her to build on her previous experience in the red meat sector.

The former Beef + Lamb NZ (B+LNZ) senior manager of international trade says she is enjoying being able to take her trade policy knowledge about the sector and apply a more commercial focus to it, with the MIA representing NZ’s red meat processors, marketers and exporters.

She says there are a number of different facets to her new job as the association’s senior manager of strategy, trade policy and advocacy.

As well as advising and assisting chief executive Sirma Karapeeva in aspects of the association’s management, she also provides advice and analytical and advocacy services on significant issues and proposals that could affect the productivity and profitability of the export meat industry.

She also liaises between the meat industry, relevant government departments and other organisations whose policies and activities have an impact on the industry, while developing and delivering a communication strategy with key stakeholders to effect industry influence and better position it for ongoing success.

It’s a wide-ranging position but that is one of the aspects of the job she likes, saying her previous trade policy role was narrower and she was keen to expand her focus.

Like most sectors of the economy, covid has put plenty of hurdles in front of the red meat industry during the past year but Guy-Meakin says all things considered, it has come through it exceptionally well, something that has been widely recognised.

Despite the global pandemic, the industry exported a record $9.2 billion of product in 2020, but she says it is not resting on its laurels.

“We’re now all turning our minds to what’s next,” Guy-Meakin said.

That includes building on momentum that has seen overall exports up 21% since 2017, which includes identifying new opportunities.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing however, and there are still covidrelated challenges that need to be worked through, both in supply chains and within markets.

Fortunately, concerns 12 months ago about potential protectionism from some countries in relation to their primary production have not really come into play.

“There’s been some regulatory creep but we haven’t really faced any particularly onerous non-tariff barriers,” she said.

She says her time at Beef + Lamb has been invaluable in developing an understanding of what happens inside the farm gate, including farmer issues and priorities.

Now that she’s working with companies, she can use that knowledge to help inform her new role.

“It’s a strength to understand both to be able to work collaboratively,” she said.

However, it’s not just about knowledge, she says it’s also about the relationships that she has developed, not only with B+LNZ staff but also farming communities she met as part of that earlier role.

Guy-Meakin’s new job is partially based on the trade and economic manager position that was held by Karapeeva before she stepped into the top job.

However, the job description was changed to reflect the wider work the sector is doing in a broad advocacy role.

“It reflects where the sector is at the moment and trying to really think strategically and proactively about where it wants to go and how to best leverage opportunities to get there,” she said.

In that respect, she says covid has been both a challenge and an opportunity, ensuring the meat industry positions itself to take advantage of its strengths, which include wide-ranging market access.

She says having come through the pandemic the industry is wellplaced for the future, in no small part thanks to its resilience, part of which is built on the back on having strategies for more than 100 markets.

The industry will need to continue to be agile and innovative, so that when traditional markets are not available companies are prepared to quickly respond and repackage products for alternative destinations.

“That puts us in a good space,” she said.

Future access to some markets may require being able to provide a strong sustainability provenance.

“It’s incredibly important that as a sector we are genuinely looking to improve our environmental integrity,” she said.

She points to the move away from relying on coal-based energy and the industry’s support for climate change goals as two examples of its commitment to improving its environmental standing.

Before Guy-Meakin took on her primary sector-focused roles, she held a number of different government positions, including working at the NZ High Commission in India, along with legal and policy adviser jobs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Since joining the sector, she has been impressed with its commitment to the environment.

“When I came into the sector from government roles, I was taken aback by its genuine investment in and love of the land and the environment,” she said, although adding, there is always room for improvement in building consumer trust in that area.

As part of that trust-building the MIA has, in conjunction with B+LNZ, recently launched the Making Meat Better website to provide consumers with independently verified facts and insights about beef and lamb from a health, nutrition and environmental perspective.

It also provides information about how the NZ farming model provides red meat in a sustainable manner.

However, work on how to better tell those stories is ongoing, with the aim of continually building on the meat industry’s international trusted reputation.

For now, Guy-Meakin is focused on achieving as much as she can for the industry and in the future would love to be able to look back and see that the dial had been shifted upwards in respect to the industry’s trust and reputation, as well as building the NZ brand overseas.

“Positioning us as a world leader in high-quality products,” she said.

FOCUSED: Esther Guy-Meakin is committed to using her previous experience to benefit the red meat industry.

Keep an eye out

The latest issue of Dairy Farmer will hit letterboxes on May 3.

Our OnFarmStory this month features Taranaki farmers Matt Thomas and Sophie Parker who left their established careers in agriculture to go dairy farming. We also catch up with the Kiwi who was recently appointed president of the World Holstein Friesian Federation and take a look at bull breeds that will produce valuable calves for dairy farmers.

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