5 minutes with Dave Maslen General Manager Markets and Sustainability The New Zealand Merino Company
with pragmatism on-farm. Equally it’s essential that we listen and react to these consumer messages, in order for us to remain in step and relevant. What do you think the biggest drawcard for NZM products are? Brands work with NZM because they value authentic and deep relationships.
What is your background and how did your involvement with The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) come about?
They want to be connected to the
After studying Natural Resource Management and Forestry at Massey University, I spent 6 years working in regional councils in the Waikato and Canterbury. I was particularly interested in supporting farmers in achieving positive environmental and social outcomes within their businesses, so when the opportunity at NZM came up, I leapt at it. I recognised NZM was a leader in connecting growers to markets and supporting long-term positive outcomes through market incentivisation.
the wool will meet their consumers
What has been the biggest challenge for you since coming on board?
consumer/social license to operate
Keeping up with the rapid increase in awareness and expectation with regard to social licence to operate. It’s essential that we balance the values and requests of our markets
both domestically and internationally
growers who supply their wool and to partner with them long-term. They are also seeking confidence that expectations with regard to animal welfare, environmental integrity, social responsibility and fibre quality. Our ZQ programme provides this confidence. They also work with us because we are able to offer forward contracts that provide visibility, price stability and certainty with regard to quality, season after season. What are some of the challenges facing the New Zealand merino industry in the current landscape? We’re seeing a lot of regulatory and pressure being applied to growers, from a market access and consumerexpectation expectation perspective. This makes our certification programme ZQ and notably our newly launched
Over and above supplying the world’s best wool, this means providing leadership, advocacy and collaboration around innovation.”
4 | THE FARMLANDER
ZQRX regenerative programme so important, to ensure our growers remain ahead of the legislative curve and extract market rewards by being able to deliver to consumer's increasing expectations. The current price of strong wool also presents a significant challenge. A core focus of NZM is working with our global markets to demonstrate the exceptional work our grower suppliers do and leverage this to achieve long-term contracts at premiums to the volatile commodity market. Which international market has seen the most rapid increase in demand over the last 5 years and what is driving this in your view? A large portion of our market is North America and this is only continuing to grow. We also have strong demand in Asia and Scandinavia. Perhaps more interesting is demand by market sector and sales channel. We have seen strong demand within the active outdoor markets as people are really starting to rediscover their backyards and perhaps now starting to move toward more relaxed attire, as a result of working from home. Correspondingly, we have seen more formal and luxury markets suffering. We’ve also seen a really significant shift to ecommerce and digital platforms, with sales being up across nearly all markets in this regard. How is NZM contributing to the messages New Zealand is telling the world about our produce? We work with our brand partners and with other leaders across the sector, to ensure the product and message we
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