agronomy tour
35 green tractors
Wheat, barley, beans and even lupins on PGW’s Agronomy Tour. page 23
There’s only one make of tractor for Neil Houghton. page 29
Rural NEWS
strong views Fonterra’s newest board member speaks out.
page 10
to all farmers, for all farmers
december 13, 2011: Issue 506
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Beef niche beckons SU DES H K I SSU N
NEW ZEALAND has a unique product and the story to go with it, says an innovative marketer. Gerard Hickey, Firstlight Foods, told farmers at a recent BLNZ field day in Southern Hawkes Bay that New Zealand’s grass-fed Wagyu beef has captured the imagination of affluent consumers in Japan, the US and Europe. Wagyu beef, famous for its marbling, originates in Japan and is normally reared on grain in feedlots. But Hickey says there is an ‘anti feedlot, anti grain’ move taking place, opening the door for our grass fed, free range Wagyu beef. Firstlight is working with a small, select group of farmers including Maori incorporations, family farmers and breeders finishing grass-fed Wagyu beef. Hickey says young, affluent consumers want a free range, natural product rather than animals produced in feedlots, which “tend to be associated with antibiotics, hormones and a whole lot of industrialisation”.
F2 Wagyu heifers.
“So whereas feedlots may be the future to feed the world, the view is that New Zealand’s ideal customer is someone who wants the story; they want to buy something they know has been well looked after and well grown.” The success of New Zealand Wagyu has stemmed from a quest for excellence by all involved. Innovation, R&D, product differentiation and a ‘value
chain’ approach has made the difference, he says. New Zealand is selling steers and heifers; no bulls. Cross breeding gives them extra hardiness to cope with New Zealand conditions. They are grass-fed year round and supplemented in tighter feed periods with silage, hay and some crops. Animals must be finished prop-
erly before they are slaughtered otherwise the meat does not marble fully and starts to lose its ‘structure’, Hickey says. Wagyu is genetically predisposed to marbling, but needs good nutrition as well. Unusual about Wagyu is where the value lies. “Whereas the forequarter of a traditional animal would go to burger meat, the Wagyu has heavy marbling in the forequarter and we make those into premium barbecue cuts which get sold in Japan and Korea. Cuts that from another animal would be ground up for hamburger meat are, in a Wagyu, highly valued for their style of cooking. “In the US the high value middle cuts are sold to steak houses and specialty restaurants looking for a ‘grass fed story’ and great steak. We also do a range of burgers mainly from the leg end of the animal; much of this goes to Europe.” Currently about 6000 Wagyu steers and heifers are slaughtered each year, coming from about 15,000 Wagyu beef animals around the country. Hickey says the aim is to lift the herd to about 50,000 in the next few years.
Council dairy idea ‘misrepresented’ HORIZONS REGIONAL Council chairman Bruce Gordon says his council has been misrepresented in the mainstream media over claims it plans to buy a dairy farm. About two years ago the council sold its 11% shareholding in Port of
Napier for $9 million. It still holds a 23% share in Centreport/Port of Wellington. The interest earned, currently about $1.5 million, eases HRC’s rate demands. The dairy farm idea is to achieve revenue equivalent or better than the bank
investment, but also with an opportunity for capital growth. “It was all generic, but somehow it’s come out that we are buying a dairy farm,” says Gordon. Gordon describes the fallout from the meeting as a nightmare with a lack
of understanding of the issues. He says the council does not want to spend the $9 million on any single project, it just wants to invest the money wisely, protect the capital and use the interest from the investment for the benefit of the community of the region.
Strawberry slip prompts review MAF DIRECTOR-general Wayne McNee says he’s asked for a detailed review of last month’s strawberry growing kit biosecurity incident. Packs containing strawberry seeds were imported from China by Tui Products with nearly 7000 offered for sale by The Warehouse. When this was drawn to MAF’s attention last month they were withdrawn from sale and a media release issued requesting the 1362 packs sold be returned, or, if they were already growing, destroyed. As of Wednesday last week, MAF Biosecurity said 67 kits had been returned and eight calls seeking destruction advice received. With eight kits bought by MAF itself, that’s 83 kits accounted for, or 6.1% of those sold. However, because buyers were given the option of destroying kits or resulting plants themselves, accounting for all those sold will not be possible. “It was important to make compliance easy for purchasers,” Andrew Coleman, deputy director general compliance and response told Rural News. Coleman says the product recall was “thoroughly promoted by widespread advertising in national newspapers, signage in The Warehouse stores, website promotion and a MAF media release which received substantial news coverage.” to page 3
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