“While 2011/12 was a poor year financially, strategically it was a progressive one.”
Keith Cooper, Silver Fern Farms.
“While 2011/2012 was a poor year …”
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Category Archives: New Zealand At Home
Top dog
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The Supreme Champion in the 2012 Devro New Zealand Sausage Competition is this mouth-watering Smoked Kielbasa from Island Bay and Strathmore Butcheries’.
New Zealand’s top sausage for 2012 is …
New Zealand’s top sausage for 2012 is a Smoked Kielbasa from Wellington’s legendary Island Bay and Strathmore Butcheries.
The 2012 Devro New Zealand Sausage Competition ran over three days last week, with the Supreme Award and People’s Choice Award winners being decided on Friday night.
From 450 sausages only one can reign supreme, however, and that went to the Smoked Kielbasa. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded a swell but only the best of the best made it to the Supreme judging round.
Don Andrew, owner of Island Bay and Strathmore Butcheries says he’s overwhelmed by the win. “More than anything I want to thank all our loyal customers for their support. To win this award is the ultimate prize in the craft of sausage making,” he said, encouraging butchers to keep on entering.
The People’s Choice Award was won by Franklin Country Meats with a Smoked Paprika and Cheese Sausage.
The competition, which has been running since 1994, is proudly supported by Devro and Kerry Ingredients.
New Beef + Lamb ad for New Zealand
Check out the new B+LNZ Inc TV advertisement, featuring the organisation’s new Iron Maidens, for the New Zealand market here.
MPI backs awards for Māori farming excellence
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.
Trading Among Farmers reality at last
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Trading Among Farmers is reality at last, writes agribusiness commentator Allan Barber in his latest blog post. Although a dairy topic, it’s an interesting read.
The day when outside investors can apply for units in the Fonterra Shareholders Fund to be listed on the NZX and ASX has arrived at last. Getting to this point has been a long and tortuous process during which Fonterra has consulted its members, finally gaining the required majority vote in favour of establishing Trading Among Farmers (TAF).
TAF will enable those Fonterra’s shareholders that wish to free up some capital to deposit shares in the fund, provided they retain enough shares to match their milk supply. These shares can either be bought by other shareholders who would like to increase their shareholding or exchanged for the units with rights to dividends and share price value changes.
Conversion to sustainability
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The Press’ Tim Cronshaw has written an interesting read on one of this country’s largest deer producers Graham Carr’s conversion to sustainability at his 9,000 deer Peel Forest Estate in South Canterbury. Read more …
Optimistic signs for coming season’s red meat trade
After some harrowing experiences last season for the meat industry, both processors and farmers, 12 months on things are looking up. This sense of optimism hasn’t yet been reflected in prices from the meat companies, but statements from those in the know strike a perceptibly more positive note, writes industry commentator Allan Barber.
Last year, the lamb kill was down by a million, there was drought in significant livestock areas, the dollar was too high and so was the procurement price for lamb. While beef remained relatively unaffected by the hype, the price really not changing much in a year, sheepmeat was a completely different story. Driven by the unholy combination of scarcity and tight shipping deadlines for the Christmas trade, the procurement price hit $8 a kilo and struggled to get down from that level.
The net result was too many buyers chasing too few lambs which were also allowed to put on too much weight. The export markets got a severe dose of indigestion and inevitably inventories built up fast on both sides of the world. All this time, the New Zealand dollar stayed obstinately high.
We will find out in November how badly this set of circumstances affected the profit and balance sheet performance of the meat exporters, although Blue Sky’s result to the end of March gave a pretty good indication of the effect of the first six months of the season.
Farmers won’t be as unhappy as the processors and exporters because they received more for their stock than it was worth and, although the lamb price has now dropped from $150 to below $100, this is still better than in many previous years. According to Keith Cooper in Silver Fern Farms’ (SFF) news release last week, he predicts the price will bottom out at about $4.80 per kilo after Christmas, equivalent to $90 for an 18.75 kg lamb. It will then rebuild to $5.80 or $109 by this time next year. Cooper has also said last year’s pricing got way out of kilter and won’t happen again this year.
Cooper’s optimism is based on favourable European buyer response in the last couple of weeks, culminating in the European food fair at SIAL in Paris last weekend. UK supermarket chains also seem to be positive about the forthcoming chilled New Zealand lamb season which starts with Christmas and continues until British lamb starts to appear in the chillers after Easter.
SFF’s news release provided an interesting, if slightly puzzling, piece of information which stated that Marks & Spencer had awarded their new contract for chilled lamb to Alliance, having dealt exclusively with SFF for five years, because “we could not offer Organic lamb to M&S.” As far as I can understand, and from memory, M&S have always insisted on knowing where their lamb came from, eventually insisting on identifying the lambs’ farms of origin and traceability, but organics have never been a requirement in the past.
Cooper subsequently confirmed to me that the M&S tender specified a proportion of organic supply as part of the supply which SFF couldn’t guarantee to fulfil.
Alliance suggested that it was not required to supply certified organic lamb under its new contract, although all suppliers involved belong to the company’s Hoofprint programme which measures their carbon footprint. In fact, it’s hard to see how enough organic lamb could be available, especially in the pre-Christmas period, while there is little evidence the UK supermarkets are willing to pay a sufficient premium for organic supply.
In contrast, beef prices appear set to continue stable, underpinned by drought conditions which have affected feed supply and cost in the USA; however, any weakness in the New Zealand dollar would inevitably flow through to better livestock prices, much as meat companies might want to hang onto any bonus they receive.
I imagine meat exporters will be keen to put what was reasonably torrid 2011/12 season behind them and bed in the capacity changes they have decided on, so their new season’s performance can benefit. Sheep farmers can’t aspire to the $150 lamb, but they can expect more certainty and consistency on which to base their farm business.
This article has also appeared at www.interest.co.nz.
Deer industry about to do “hard yards’
The time for talking is over and the deer industry is about “to do the hard yards”, says Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) chairman, Andy Macfarlane.
Writing in the latest Deer Industry News, Macfarlane says the “industry prize of profitability should be enough to keep us focused on the job.”
The goalpost presented at the 2012 conference has been “determined, reviewed and confirmed as $1.27 per kg venison increase in EBIT by 2022″, achieved from productivity gains alone, Macfarlane explains.
“We also believe we can increase venison tonnage by 50 percent in that time, while simultaneously improving the market return from venison, hence adding to that $1.27 per kg.”
The 50 percent increase in tonnage takes venison output back to a little less than 2007 and 2008 levels, he says, but from an organised stable herd rather than from a reduction of capital stock. The Europe venison marketing strategy and formal access into China and Korea for venison co-products and velvet underpin the on-farm market return. Member processors are now putting together their three-year marketing plans for submission to access increased DINZ funds.
In addition, after consultation with farmers, AgResearch scientists, vets, farm management consultants, processors and educationalists, Primary Growth Partnership funding is being sought from government for on-farm productivity initiatives to deliver an integrated initiative “that we are confident will deliver the additional $1.27 per kg of venison sold,” says Macfarlane, adding that by his calculations it should generate additional industry EBIT of $42 million a year.
To show commitment “by purchasing some of our own ‘training gear’”, industry is being asked to contribute 4 cents per kg of venison fro seven years (initially $900,000 a year).
“The cost is temporary but the return – over $30 per $1 of levy money initially invested – is permanent.”
The title of the PGP bid is ‘The next generation – premium by nature and design’, which he says is significant.
“We have a premium product sold in premium markets. Our animals are pasture-fed and raised in a natural environment. We are poised for our third generation of deer products, produced by our third generation of deer farmers.”
The latest Deer Industry News magazine (Issue 56, October/November 2012), is out now.
Australian agriculture minister to visit
The Australian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Hon Joe Ludwig will visit New Zealand for bilateral and primary industries meetings over the next two days.
Hon Ludwig, who will be joined by Primary Industries Ministers from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory, will meet with Minister Carter this afternoon.
“This visit is a valuable opportunity to discuss two-way trade and issues in the primary sector that affect both Australia and New Zealand,” says Carter.
While in Auckland Hon Ludwig will also chair the Standing Council on Primary Industries meeting.
“This meeting is attended by Primary Industries Ministers from New Zealand and Australia and allows us to share approaches, ideas, and views on the challenges and opportunities facing the primary industries.
“One of the issues we will discuss is the food sector opportunities available to both countries.
“By focusing on our food industries, New Zealand and Australia have the ability to increase productivity, innovate and add value to the domestic and export sector. There are opportunities in working together.
“We enjoy a strong relationship with Australia, our largest trading partner, and meetings such as this play an important role in enhancing primary sector collaboration between our two countries,” says Carter.