Tag Archives: Landcorp

Beef industry stamps footprint

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The government recently announced that it will not sign up for new commitments under the Kyoto Protocol when the treaty’s first commitment period expires at the end of next year. However, this does not mean the meat industry’s sustainability focus will lessen, or that this country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation efforts for the primary sector are not important.
In August, the New Zealand Beef Footprint study was released highlighting beef productivity gains and giving New Zealand’s beef processors and exporters the comprehensive information they need for their customers about the meat’s carbon footprint.
Meat Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Tim Ritchie says that his organisation had supported the study because sustainability is still a critical issue in important markets.
“While it is possibly not as front-of-mind in markets as it was two or three years ago, sustainability remains very important and greenhouse gas emissions are a key component of sustainability.”
The study has created a benchmark for understanding where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are occurring across the beef supply chain, including production, processing, transportation and consumption.It has found that the majority (over 90 percent) of emissions occur on the farm. The footprint varies depending on the type of farm, the sex and age of the animals and whether or not animals from the dairy industry are used.
Overall, the weighted New Zealand average GHG emissions from beef animals from sheep and beef farms was 10.5kg CO2-equvalents (CO2-e) per kg of liveweight.Emissions arising from transport to market are extremely low.
Transport accounts for 4.2 percent of emissions, the report shows. In particular, oceanic shipping is very efficient and this study shows it contributes just 1.1-2.7 percent of the total carbon footprint.In addition, consumption accounts for 3.3 percent of emissions while just 2.1 percent comes from processing, which the report notes “is an area over which industry has direct control and where technologies are available to reduce emissions.”
Dr Stewart Ledgard, the lead author of the report says that until there is a globally-agreed methodology for ‘footprinting’ of meat products, it is hard to assess how New Zealand’s footprint compared to others. This study used the Life Cycle Assessment approach, which is consistent with the PAS2050 published standard for GHG footprinting.The beef study was undertaken by AgResearch and funded by the Meat Industry Association, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, Landcorp and the Ministry for Primary Industries greenhouse gas footprinting strategy. B+LNZ Ltd and individual meat processors provided data and information for the study. This adds to a study already completed on New Zealand lamb’s carbon footprint in 2010.

More reading: see ‘A Greenhouse Gas Footprint Study for Exported New Zealand Beef’, M Lieffering, S Ledgard, M Boyes & R Kemp, February 2012.

This article appeared in Food NZ magazine (December 2012/January 2013).

Landcorp to return $20 million dividend to government

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State-owned farm, Landcorp, has had a solid performance this year according to its latest accounts, says meat industry commentator Allan Barber.

Landcorp’s net operating profit of $27 million for 2011/12 was down on the previous year, but still a good performance, Barber says in a recent blog, adding that the SOE will pay a $20 million dividend to the Government.

During the year, it produced 10,176 tonnes of sheepmeat, 9,715 tonnes of beef and 2,258 tonnes of venison, as well as large volumes of milk solids, wool and timber.

Landcorp has a target of selling 80 percent of its lambs on fixed price contracts to Silver Fern Farms, Alliance and other meat companies and last year achieved in excess of 70 percent by this method, proving to its satisfaction that this provides less volatile and overall better market returns than spot trading. Lamb production is geared to meet specific weights and specification to fulfill meat companies’ contracts with northern hemisphere retailers.

As a founder partner with Silver Fern Farms and the Ministry for Primary Industries in FarmIQ Systems, Landcorp is committed to the development of integrated value chains from pasture to plate, designed to align New Zealand production and supply with consumer demand preferences. Twelve of Landcorp’s farms are now on FarmIQ’s farm management system.

The development which attracted the most publicity was the joint venture with Shanghai Pengxin to manage the 16 Crafar dairy farmers bought from the receivers and expected to get underway shortly. This fits in with Landcorp’s goal to increase its involvement in the dairy industry and a further “extension to Maronan Dairies in mid-Canterbury and further development Wairakei Estates near Taupo will contribute to this,” Barber believes.

Sheep and beef finishing has been boosted by the development of Cheltenham Downs in Manawatu and this has helped recovery from the drought years of 2007 and 2008, reports Barber.

Over the past 22 years, Landcorp has paid dividends to the government; therefore, New Zealand as a while, of nearly half a billion dollars.

“There’s no evidence that Landcorp is constrained by public ownership or that it would benefit from part privatisation,” concludes Barber.

Read the full blog item here at Barber’s Meaty Issues …

This item has also appeared at www.interest.co.nz.