5 &7 Record dairy payout forecast Vol 20 No 20, May 30, 2022
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Plan to super-size the sector Neal Wallace neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz
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EW Zealand is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to innovation and provenance because it lacks a clear, strategic direction, a new report claims. WELL NZ: Reframing NZ’s Food Sector Opportunities is the inaugural report by Te Puna Whakaaronui, the Government appointed think tank, which warns that while NZ’s traditional food exports are thriving, the growth strategies followed by our competitors threaten our share of export markets. “Sitting back to admire the view is not an option,” it says. While change is happening, the pace and scale is too slow and must occur to keep up with consumer demand. “It needs to be super-sized, it needs boosting through targeted investment in progressive technology and practices.” Government and business need to strategically align science, research, innovation and technology to address future food production systems to
meet consumer needs and to attract people with the necessary expertise. Current and forecast high product prices could provide the investment needed to make those required changes. The report states the world is witnessing the largest convergence of technology at any point in history. Adding to that complexity are changes to the demographic, financial and geopolitical situation that will alter the way the world operates. NZ needs an “urgent, and wide, conversation about reframing food and fibre sector growth opportunities within a futurefocused food ecosystem,” the report says. NZ’s food and fibre sector needs to lose the perception that it is a problem to instead be viewed as an essential industry that has some challenges. The authors believe the value of exports can be increased from $48 billion to $85b by 2050, which would require annual growth of 2%. That growth needs to be backed by science, research and innovation.
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IT’S HERE: Silver Fern Farms chief executive Simon Limmer and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the carbon zero beef launch in New York last week.
PM launches carbon zero beef in NY Staff reporter THE launch of NZ-raised carbon zero beef has been marked in New York last week. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was on hand to celebrate Silver Fern Farms’ Net Carbon Zero By Nature 100% Grass-Fed Angus Beef, which has been available in the market since last month. The function was held at the Kimpton Hotel Eventi rooftop in Chelsea and the Prime Minister was joined by the visiting NZ trade mission, SFF’s US customers and in-market partners and New York and US national media.
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SFF chief executive Simon Limmer says partnerships between consumers and farmers through products like net carbon zero beef were essential to address climate and environmental challenges as it incentivised environmentally sensitive food production. “We see the transition to a low carbon economy as an important opportunity to create new forms of value for NZ and position our farmers as climate innovators.” Net carbon zero beef was the result of two years working alongside a group of SFF
farmer-suppliers to determine their carbon footprints and the opportunities to optimise the carbon stored on their farms. The product is fully certified as nert carbon zero by NZ environmental verification body Toitū Envirocare and has USDA approval. “What’s unique about our net carbon zero beef is that the certification is achieved by what our farmers do on their own farms to balance-out emissions, rather than by simply purchasing carbon offsets as is the case for many other carbon zero products,” Limmer says.
