opinion Go dairy farming for a real living wage. page 30
southdowns Easy lambing and early mean kill dates find favour with commercial producers. page 41-43
Rural NEWS
angus forum A new premium brand soon to be launched in Auckland resturants.
page 13
to all farmers, for all farmers
october 22, 2013: Issue 548
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Watchdog promises more bite P E TE R BU R K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
THE MEAT Industry Excellence group’s (MIE) new chairman John McCarthy says that as a “watchdog group” it will get involved anywhere it can make a difference for the betterment of farmers and the meat industry. McCarthy, who has farming interests near Ohakune, has succeeded Richard Young who is standing for the board of Silver Fern Farms. McCarthy applauds Young’s leadership of MIE, saying he is one of the best chairmen he has worked with. Another former MIE executive member, Dan Jex-Blake, is also standing for the SFF board. McCarthy says MIE is endorsing both Young and Jex-Blake, but neither is standing as MIE candidates. McCarthy describes Jex-Blake as commercially savvy and hard-working. “The meat industry is reaching a crossroads where farmers really have to make up their minds to continue to support the status quo or reach for the sky,” he told Rural News. “It’s basically a vote for being price-takers in perpetuity,
or for change. That’s not a criticism of the current model, it’s just the way it is.” MIE says sheep and beef farmers should not continue to be forced into the hills by the dairy sector. McCarthy says the ginger group is committed to scale and volume and to committed supply. “Committed supply is the way to go. It gives companies a bankable platform that gives bankers certainty and allows them to do long-range planning as opposed to the short-term planning that dominates New Zealand at the moment.
“It also obviously has advantages in the market because if you have committed supply, volume and scale, it puts you in a much stronger position when you are dealing with the supermarket chains. It cuts down the risk of being kneecapped on price; when you’ve got 26 players in one market that’s what inevitably happens.” MIE wants better cooperation between the cooperatives and McCarthy concedes this may not be amalgamation. He says if the cooperatives worked together they would control 53% of the
supply. That’s why he is urging farmers to vote for the two former MIE members standing for the SFF board. “MIE is totally focused on farmers’ fortunes. We don’t want to appease everyone and we think the whole industry has been badly served by the model of having to keep everyone happy – pretending we are all as one – when we are not. “We are prepared to state our position and put our line in the sand and defend that because we are confident about the reasoning behind our arguments.”
she's a winner! Isabel Tait, from Western Southland, was one of ten agriculture students recently honoured at Massey University’s annual awards dinner in Palmerston North. About 200 students, staff and guests attended the function, which recognises the outstanding achievements of Massey’s top agriculture students. More page 16
Adapt or die! P ET ER BUR K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
MANY NEW Zealand primary sector companies are failing to keep pace with competitors and are not innovative enough in connecting with consumers. This is one of many points highlighted in the latest KPMG Agenda report which, this issue, focuses on “evolving a truly customer-centric industry”. The 40-page report recommends changes it says are essential for New Zealand to retain its competitive advance in global markets. KPMG claims our primary sector companies are more akin to Nokia and Kodak in their willingness to review the world through “a different lens”. Both these companies have been overtaken by others – such as Apple – which are far more innovative. The report says most New Zealand companies have not been willing to take a blank sheet of paper and re-engineer how they deliver to customers. “Put simply, New Zealand exporters are not consistently producing innovations that can sustainably retain a price premium for our products.” KPMG recommends New Zealand companies incorporate new technology in their products to enhance consumer experience and/ or provide a ‘virtual’ shopping environment. – (More on the KPMG report, page 5.)
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