Tag Archives: farmers

MPI backs awards for Māori farming excellence

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New Zealand’s top Māori sheep and beef farmers are being sought in this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy BNZ Māori Excellence in Farming Award.

The competition was launched by the Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon Dr Pita Sharples, at the Federation of Māori Authorities (FoMA) conference in Taupo last weekend.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has announced it has increased its sponsorship involvement from bronze to gold in a deal including $46,000 cash, which Ben Dalton, deputy director general Māori primary sector partnerships, says builds on a long-standing involvement with the competition.

“MPI is committed to working with Māori to enable the sustainable growth of their primary sector assets and this competition fits well with our objectives,” he explains.

“Māori agribusiness has a significant part to play in lifting the primary sector contribution to New Zealand’s economy. By increasing Māori primary sector productivity, we increase the wealth of New Zealand as a whole.”

MPI joins other gold sponsors Te Puni Kōkiri, the Māori Trustee and Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, together with platinum supporter BNZ and a number of other sponsors.

In a study of Māori freehold land resources – Māori Agribusiness in NZ: A study of the Maori Freehold Land Resource – MPI identified 600,000 hectares of under-performing and 600,000 hectares of under-utilised entities. There were 300,000 hectares (20 percent) of āori freehold land that were well-performing entities.

“So there is a huge opportunity to grow Māori agribusiness entities that are underperforming and supporting the Ahuwhenua Trophy shows what can be done. Even if they are at the top of the game, competitors benefit from high-level peer reviews of their farms and this opens up opportunities to further improve their performance.”

Partnering with Māori to optimise the sustainable use of their primary sector assets will contribute to the Māori economic base. “This base can then be used to self-fund Māori aspirations, whether these are social, cultural or economic,” says Dalton.

“Of the $36.9 billion Māori asset base, a significant $10.6 billion is invested in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. So harnessing the growth potential of those assets is important.”

The 2013 Ahuwhenua Trophy competition is open to Māori farming properties, either owned individually, or managed by Māori Trusts and Incorporations in New Zealand. The trophy winner will be announced in 7 June 2013. Each year, it alternates between sheep and beef farmers and dairy farmers. The 2013 competition is for Māori sheep and beef farmers.

Further information and entry forms for the 2013 Ahuwhenua Trophy can be found here.

High level of interest in Maori agribusiness funding round

There has also been a high level of interest from groups seeking to promote sustainable resource use in Māori agribusiness, says MPI.

A special Māori agribusiness round in MPI’s Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF), which provides co-funding for small to medium-scale applied research and extension projects, offered about $1 million of co-investment funding in August. It received 47 applications, of which 14 have been approved, subject to contracts being negotiated. MPI aims to have funding contractually committed before the end of December 2012 (with most to be spent in the first year but possibly spread over three years).

“MPI is committed to working with all of our stakeholders, including Māori agribusiness, to ensure that funds like the SFF deliver tangible results to the primary sector”, says MPI’s deputy director-general for resource management and programmes Scott Gallacher.

Meanwhile, the main 2013 annual SFF round opened in late August with up to $8 million of co-investment funding on offer for projects that will encourage sustainable resource use in the primary sectors. Applications closed recently and applicants will be notified by the end of February 2013, with contracts in place so work can commence from July 1, 2013.

Read more about the Ahuwhenua Trophy in the newsletter or at the website.

 

Emissions from global agriculture bigger than thought

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Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper ran an article this week suggesting that (un-named) ‘experts’ were claiming British shops should sell New Zealand lamb because British farming methods produce twice as much greenhouse gas.

The item, which has been picked up and run in various New Zealand papers, was based around a newly released United Nations Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) analysis Climate Change and Food Systems. Taking a closer look it’s clear that the comprehensive study itself didn’t actually say that but it was an interesting read, presenting for the first time the GHG footprint for the global food industry and showing that global agriculture is a much larger contributor to climate change than previously thought.

The analysis, which was recently published in the 2012 Annual Review of Environment and Resources presents figures showing that feeding the world released up to 17,000 megatonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2008, contributing up to 29 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But while the emissions ‘footprint’ needs to be reduced, a companion policy brief by CGIAR’s research programme on climate change, agriculture and food security (CCAFS) – Recalibrating Food Production – lays out how climate change will require a complete calibration of where specific crops are grown and livestock raised.

Together, the two reports “shed new light on the intertwining evolutions of climate change and the world’s food system and their potential impact on humanity’s relationship with food,” says CGIAR.

Climate change mitigation and adaptation are critical priorities, according to Bruce Campbell, CCAFS’ programme director. “Farmers around the world, especially smallholder farmers in developing countries, need access to the latest science, more resources and advanced technology. This research services as an urgent call for negotiators at the upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha.”

CGIAR Consortium chief executive Frank Rijsberman says: “We are coming to terms with the fact that agriculture is a critical player in climate change. Not only are emissions from agriculture much larger than previously estimated, but with weather records being set every month as regional climates adjust and reset, there is an urgent need for research that helps smallholder farmers adapt to the new normal.”

Climate Change and Food Systems assesses the entire food system’s emissions ‘footprint’ – in total somewhere between a fifth and a third of the greenhouse gases emitted by people on this planet. “This figure accounts for every aspect of food production and distribution – including growing crops and raising livestock, manufacturing fertiliser and storing, transporting and refrigerating food. Agriculture accounts for around 80 percent of these emissions, but the combined contribution of transport, refrigeration, consumer practices and waste management is growing,” according to CGIAR.

“The food-related emissions and, conversely, the impacts of climate change on agriculture and the food system, will profoundly alter the way we grow and produce food. This will affect different parts of the world in radically different ways, but all regions will have to change their current approach to what they grow and eat,” says Sonja Vermeulen, the head of research at CCAFS and the lead author of the study.

Delving deeper

Climate Change and Food Systems adds the figures across the aggregate global food chain, and assuming a growth in emissions of three percent a year, gives the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for 2008 in the range of 9,800 to 16,900 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) from the food system, inclusive of indirect emissions associated with land-cover change. “Thus the food system contributes 19-29 percent of total global anthropogenic GHG emissions … Of this, agricultural production, contributes 80-86 percent at the global level, while the remainder comes from pre-production (predominantly fertiliser manufacture) and the post-production activities of processing, packaging, refrigeration, transport, retail, catering, domestic food management and waste disposal (landfills).”

Reflecting findings from New Zealand’s own 2010 GHG footprint for lamb, where 80 percent of emissions were also found to be from on-farm, the study notes that packaging for both vegetables and meat “is of minor importance in terms of total food emissions.” Transport “makes a large direct contribution” – for example, of the 19MtCO2e produced transporting food around Britain in 2002, 10Mt were emitted in the UK, all from road transport. An interesting estimate from a US researcher is that the same amount of fuel “can transport five kg of food only one km by car, 43 km by air, 740 km by truck, 2,400 km by rail and 3,800 by sea”. So, if that is correct, transporting the five kg of food 3.15 kms by car is the equivalent of a 12,000 km journey by sea, in terms of fuel used. For New Zealand lamb, transport accounts for five percent of the product footprint.

Refrigeration is noted to be the “major energy-intensive component of the food chain”. Limited data brought together by the study suggests that it accounts for one percent of total global GHG emissions and another researcher has estimated it accounts for 15 percent of electricity use worldwide. Food waste also contributes to GHG emissions directly through methane emissions from landfills and handling the waste to get it to landfill.

New Zealand: lead role

New Zealand has been taking a lead role on the world stage in tackling agricultural emissions. The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGgRC), was established in 2002 and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) opened in 2010. The latter recently released its highlights for 2012 detailing progress made in research focusing on mitigation of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, in understanding soil carbon and in developing integrated systems. The work on the GHG footprint for New Zealand beef was also recently released and will be covered in the forthcoming Food New Zealand magazine (December/January 2012) and included in this blog.

 

Awaiting an SMS from Daisy

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Improve your breeding regime with the help of text messaging from your cows.

Everyone knows information technology holds great promise as an enabling technology in various fields. Well, mobile phones and text messaging may soon take on a whole new meaning for cattle farmers. Let’s just say farmers may soon start getting text messages from the cows in their herds, writes Gerry le Roux of Sciencelens.

According to a recent New York Times article, researchers in Switzerland are in the final testing stages of a device that implants sensors in cows to alert farmers when the cows are in heat. The electronic heat detector, which is implanted into the  genitals, measures the cow’s body heat. This gets transmitted to a device around the cow’s neck which determines her motion activity. The results from the two measurements are combined using specially calibrated algorithms, with the correct combination of increased body heat and increased restlessness being an indicator that the cow is in heat. When this happens, an SMS is sent to the farmer’s phone, alerting him to the fact that the cow is sexually active.

The device, which is expected to be brought to market in Switzerland in early 2013, is the brainchild of several academic researchers at a technical college near the Swiss capital Bern.  It is claimed that the device can play an important role in breeding, particularly in the dairy industry, since dairy cows, which are placed under ever increasing stress to produce more milk, are showing less and less signs of heat. This makes it difficult for farmers to use visual inspection to know when to introduce the bull, or artificial insemination. The new system is claimed to have a recognition rate of about 90 percent.

The main drawback of the device, at least initially, will be cost, which is expected to be about US$1,400 per unit and some farmers are skeptical whether it will be worth the investment.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on this technology, to see to what extent it will be accepted in the industry and how this will affect the cost of the units.

 

Try lamb, says joint promotional group

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A joint promotional push is getting United States consumers to try lamb.

Project partners involved with the Tri-Lamb Group, which has a goal to get more Americans eating lamb, are meeting with two Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ Ltd) farmer directors.

Central South Island director, Anne Munro and Southern South Island director, Leon Black are in Idaho, representing New Zealand sheep farmers alongside their fellow Tri- Lamb Group representatives from Australia and the United States.

B+LNZ Ltd chief executive Dr Scott Champion says the collaborative promotion by the three sheep producing nations is built around the understanding that the profitability and sustainability of the lamb market in the US is important for farmers in all three countries.

“If more Americans are eating lamb, then each country stands to gain from the opportunities that increased consumption will provide.

“The programme includes online food and nutrition blogs that share lamb recipes and podcasts showing how to build simple and healthy lamb meals for the family. They’re tracking a lot of interest.

“This week the Group reviewed last year’s programme and considered continuing support for the initiative, called ‘Making Lamb Famous in the United States’.”

For the year ended 30 June, the United States was New Zealand’s third largest sheepmeat market by value (NZ$256 million), behind the United Kingdom (NZ$534 million) and Germany ($NZ275 million) and ahead of China (NZ$247 million).

View Lean on Lamb online food blog.

 

Input sought on animal welfare proposals

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Meat exporters, processors and producers have an opportunity to give their input, alongside other interested parties, to the Government’s proposed changes to New Zealand’s animal welfare system.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter says the proposals set a strategic direction for animal welfare and improve the way the current Animal Welfare Act 1999 operates.

“Animal welfare matters. It matters because how we treat animals says something important about us as a society. It also matters for New Zealand’s reputation because our trading partners and international consumers rightly expect us to maintain high standards of animal welfare.”

The proposed national strategy, the first of its kind, will canvass the views of stakeholders with animal welfare interests, identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current system and set a vision for New Zealand’s animal welfare system into the future, the Minister says.

“The proposed changes to the Animal Welfare Act will clarify the way it operates and make it easier to enforce.”

Radical change is not proposed, as the suggested values, outcomes and approaches are already implicit in the system, neither is it seeking to lift standards, the Ministry for Primary Industries’ discussion paper says. A key proposal is that codes of welfare, which currently set the standards for animal welfare, are replaced with a combination of regulations and guidelines. Regulations will be directly enforceable in law. Guidelines will provide information and advice but will have no legal effect.

Delivering the strategy will require action from the meat industry in terms of implementing industry schemes to improve welfare; recognising and building stockmanship skills, educating members about best practice and meeting standards, measuring animal welfare performance and engaging with the public and consumers. It also encourages continuing collaboration in setting standards, co-investing in research, contingency planning and the existing joint Government/industry initiative to improve animal welfare compliance.Many of these actions are already in place.

The closing date for submissions is 28 September 2012. Read more about how to make a submission and to read the discussion paper.

Games legacy, global campaign against hunger starts

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British Prime Minister David Cameron with Michel Temer, Vice-President of Brazil, Football legend Pele (left) and Olympic double gold medallist Mo Farah (right) at the Olympic hunger summit in Downing Street, 12 August 2012. Photo: Foreign & Commonwealth Office (some rights reserved).

A more serious tone is emerging post-Games, with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and Brazilian Vice-President Michael Temer taking the opportunity to put the spotlight on helping millions of children suffering from malnutrition in the the world’s poorest countries.

Olympic double gold medallist Mo Farah, Olympic great Haile Gebrselassie and football legend Pele, who have all campaigned to end the cycle of hunger and poverty by tackling their root causes, joined the leaders, along with others including non-governmental organisations and private sector, at Number 10 Downing Street last Sunday – the closing day of the Games – to highlight a push to tackle global hunger ahead of the next Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Long term exposure to a poor and inadequate diet and repeated infections have left 170 million children in the world suffering from stunting – a condition which stops children from fulfilling  their potential because their bodies do not grow and develop properly. The United Nation’s World Health Assembly recently agreed a new global target of a 40 percent reduction in the number of stunted children by 2025.

The ‘hunger summit’ has been inspired by a declaration by the G8 at its last summit in the US in May, where President Barack Obama announced the creation of a new alliance on food security with African leaders and the private sector as part of an effort to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next decade. Alongside three initiatives announced by the UK at the London summit. other initiatives are underway by India, the EU, the World Food Programme and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation to make an impact on global levels of undernutrition, according to Downing Street. The UK will take up G8 chairmanship from next year.

An article in The Guardian newspaper says that the initiative has received ‘cautious welcome’. Campaigners argue that while control rests with the larger companies, it takes away the power of small farmers to feed their people.

The article quotes the Gates’ Foundation head of agriculture, Sam Dryden, who attended the summit, acknowledging the pressure of large corporations – as well as agricultural subsidies in the West – in squeezing out smallholder farmers in Africa.

“Agriculture is a local experience, eating is a local experience,” he is quoted as saying. “It is important that African countries develop their own systems and that smallholder farmers grow the crops they want to grow.”

 

 

In the news this week (3)

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People are key to the success of Riddet Institute’s Agri-Food Strategy wrote Jon Morgan in a Dominion Post opinion piece early on last week. “The prize is too great to abandon,” he said.

So, focus is now shifting to the week-long chief executives’ Primary Sector Boot Camp at Stanford University in California later this month, which will be attended by over 20 chief executives including meat industry leaders Keith Cooper of Silver Fern Farms and Mark Clarkson of ANZCO Foods, alongside Minister of Primary Industries David Carter. On the table for discussion will be the Agri-Food Strategy.

Agmardt is principal sponsor of the private sector-led chief executive forum designed to unlock the global potential of New Zealand’s primary sector. At the time of the sponsorship announcement at the end of April, Jeff Grant chairman of the Agmardt board of trustees said he regarded the boot camp as an ideal fit under the grant body’s new strategic priorities.

“A key outcome of the boot camp is to explore and drive in-market collaboration within New Zealand’s primary sector, which is strongly aligned with Agmardt’s new strategy to fund activities that enable New Zealand agribusiness to identify and explore potential opportunities within the global marketplace.”

Grant said the willingness by senior industry leaders to be involved in the camp to discuss and explore strategies for greater collaboration and alignment across a wide range of primary industries, “is extremely encouraging.”

Other supporters of the Primary Sector Boot Camp, which will comprise leaders from the dairy, beef, sheep, seafood, viticulture and horticulture sectors, include the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Ministry for Primary Industries and NZ Trade and Enterprise.

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Other news appearing over the week included:

Protein sources of the future –A new New Zealand/Dutch study has outlined the coming challenges to meeting future demand for protein. In a review published this week in the journal Trends in Food Science and Technology, Dr Mike Boland from the Riddet Institute and his colleagues at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands have drawn on a range of research sources to peer into the future of the world’s food supply. They say, as demand is outstripping supply of meat, mankind will “need to get creative” with its protein sources, considering competition between humans and pet food industries, noting that rabbits and other novel animal species, “should not be discounted as having an important part to play in future animal protein production systems,” and speculate that there may be ways to derive dietary protein from food waste from biofuel crop leftovers. Whatever happens, consumer acceptance will be key, say the authors.

New NZTE chairman – Interesting to note that former Fonterra chief executive, Andrew Ferrier, has been named as the new chairman of the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) board. Replacing Jon Mayson, he will commence his three year term on 1 November. Announcing the appointment, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says that Ferrier will bring “strong governance and strategic capability to the NZTE board”. Ferrier is a director of Orion Health Ltd and CANZ Capital Ltd. He was appointed to the University of Auckland Council in March 2012. Prior to his work with Fonterra, he was involved with the global sugar industry. Born in Canada, he has been a New Zealand citizen since 2008.

A new Code of Welfare for Meat Chickens came into effect on 26 July, setting out the minimum standards and best practice guidelines for the poultry industry. The new Code replaces the Code of Welfare for Broiler Chickens that was released in 2003. The new Code has a broader scope and includes chickens that have access to the outdoors, says the National Animal Welfare Advisory Council (NAWAC). “Another key change is that farmers will have to take the environment of the chicken into account when deciding how many chickens to keep in a designated area,” NAWAC chair John Hellström says. “Farmers will also be required to stay within the minimum standards for stocking density, but they will now have to also consider things like litter quality, lighting, air quality and temperature when deciding how to house their chickens.” Find out more here.

NZUS Council sponsors MPs visit to Washington – Two MPs Peseta Sam Lotu-Liga and Hon Shane Jones, co-chairs of the New Zealand US Parliamentary Friendship Group, recently returned from a successful NZUS Council sponsored visit to Washington DC. The visit – particularly timely given the stage of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations – raised NZ’s profile and also gave the MPS the chance to gain valuable insights about US negotiating interests. In a full programme over a four-day visit, the MPs met with members of the Friends of NZ Congressional Caucus and a range of Congressional representatives and had meetings with senior officials in the State Department, Treasury and US Trade Representative’s office. They were also guests of honour at a well-attended lunch hosted by the US NZ Council. Other guests included Congressional staff, senior US company executives and Council members and supporters. The NZ US Council met the costs of the MPs domestic travel in the US and related on-the-ground costs. Arrangements in Washington were made by the New Zealand Embassy.

World price slump put lamb back on Kiwi menus – the NZ Herald reported over the weekend on the news that prices for Kiwi consumers are down too and they are responding enthusiastically. Read more… 

Finally, with the London Olympics in full swing this week, it seems only right to congratulate all of the Kiwi athletes, but particularly B+LNZ Inc’s bronze medal award-winning Iron Maidens Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh for their  success in the women’s pairs (rowing) and Alison Shanks (cyclist) for her tremendous efforts in the team event. All the best now to Sarah Walker (BMX) for her event yet to come on the world sports stage. Go Team NZ!!


 

 

 

 

 

Delivered: second Red Meat Sector Conference

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Delivered, as promised: Excellent, inspirational and thought-provoking speakers, all appearing in a packed programme for the 250 delegates attending the second Red Meat Sector conference.

Congratulations must go to the Meat Industry Association (MIA) and Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd (B+LNZ), joint organisers of this year’s well-attended Red Meat Sector Conference at Rydges Lakeland Resort hotel in Queenstown.

Alongside heartening optimism for future demand for red meat, recurrent themes were the massive potential for New Zealand of emerging markets in Asia, especially China, water issues, the need to utilise best practice, the need for all links in the chain to tell the industry’s story to the public, plus the rapid emergence of social media as a tool for communicating with consumers.

In his opening comments, MIA chairman Bill Falconer also noted that, while not as quickly as some would like, encouraging progress is being made on the Red Meat Sector Strategy and that “small starts are being made across the board.” Later in the day Rob Davison, from the B+LNZ Economic Service, outlined a number of matrices that the Economic Service is developing that will help to track progress against the strategy, and these matrices will “focus conversations, thinking and actions to drive the future”.

The Conference also saw the announcement of new Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) funding for the red meat sector, for a project to develop high-value grass-fed marbled beef, using Waygu genetics.

All the presentations were a veritable smorgasbord of information, packed with facts, statistics and views from many facets of the industry, enabling delegates to pick out what was relevant for their part of the value chain. While every single one of the speakers was passionate and eloquent about their topic, from an export food manufacturing perspective the highlights were excellent presentations from McDonald’s Arron Hoyle and vertically integrated meat processor Agri Beef’s Rick Stott from the US.

Besides the serious business, there was entertainment and laughter too. Lunch – finger food featuring B+LNZ Ambassador chef Ben Battersbury’s speciality “alternative cuts, not cheap cuts” like lamb riblets –  was amusingly heralded with witty comments from him. After dinner speaker Davey Hughes of Swazi Apparel gave an hilarious account of hunting expeditions in Africa and shared a few (tongue-in-cheek) items from his latest collection, including a new ‘mankini’.

Also noteworthy, was a significant Australian presence at the conference in the form of representatives from Meat & Livestock Australia and Aus-Meat. This put physical form to MLA’s managing director Scott Hansen’s opening comment in his presentation that “Australia sees a close collaboration with New Zealand.”

There was positive feedback from delegates, who came from all parts of the sector, including farmers, processors, equipment suppliers, researchers and media.

This article appeared in Food NZ magazine (August/September 2012). Copies of most of the conference presentations are available at www.mia.co.nz or redmeatsector.co.nz.

 

NZ farmer confidence plummets

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Federated Farmers has found that farmer confidence has plummetted in its latest Farm Confidence Survey.

In January, the mid-way point for the 2011/2012 season, farmer confidence in their profitability was strong. The 2011/2012 season was probably one of the best in recent times for meat, wool and dairy and would be difficult to top, says Federated Farmers‘ president Bruce Wills. However, this has gone fully into reverse gear with most farmers now expecting farm profitability will worsen over the coming year, he says.

“The past few months have seen large falls in commodity prices, with the June 2012 ANZ World Commodity Price Index down 12.3 percent from January. The exchange rate has not fallen to the same extent so has eaten into farmgate returns.”

The $64,000 question for all farmers at the start of the 2012/2013 season is whether prices will fall further. “We are all keeping a wary eye on the global economy and, frankly, we don’t like what we are seeing,” says Wills. “That New Zealand is ‘less bad’ when compared to Europe and North America, provides cold comfort when our dollar is kept artificially high because of it.”

The survey showed farmers continue to believe that prudent fiscal policy should be the Government’s highest priority – which is reducing government spending, balancing the books and reducing government debt.

Some headline results from the survey are:

  • A net 38.7 percent of respondents expect general economic conditions to worsen over the next 12 months.
  • A net 30.4 percent of respondents expect to increase production over the next 12 months (down from a net 47.7 percent in January).
  • A net 13 percent of respondents found it harder to find skilled and motivated staff (up 1.8 points from January).
  • Respondents’ biggest single concern is the level of commodity prices and/or farmgate prices, cited by 20.2 percent of respondents.

Hickson Fed Farmers Agribusiness Person of the Year

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Congratulations to Craig Hickson, managing director of Progressive Meats who last week was named the 2012 Allflex/Federated Farmers Agribusiness Person of the Year.

Five “exceptional nominations” were received by Federated Farmers, according to president Bruce Willis. Hickson was picked out from the five by judges Andrew Newman, Cr Hon Christine Fletcher and Waikato University’s Professor Jacqueline Rowarth.

“Craig is a hands-on farmer but the name of his company pretty much sums up his philosophy,” said Willis at the Auckland gala event where the award was presented to Mike Petersen, chairman of Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd in Hickson’s stead. Hickson himself was away in Australia representing the industry at LambEx 2012 and talking about questions Australian lamb producers should be asking their processors.

“[Hickson] runs a mixed 1,200 hectare sheep,deer and beef farm in Hawke’s Bay and in addition to Progressive Meats, is a member of the Meat Board. Craig is also a director of Ovation New Zealand and a number of other meat companies.”

Hickson has been an Meat Industry Association council member since 2003 and is also a Board director for Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, Ovita Ltd, Lean Meats Ltd, Te Kuiti Meats Ltd, Progressive Leathers and Venison Packers.

An associated award, the Ravensdown/Federated Farmers Agribusiness Personality for 2012 went to agricultural scientist Dr Doug Edmeades, who was also a finalist for Agribusiness Person of the Year.