Meat forum highlights
Released 25 Jun 2008
Federated Farmers staged a forum on the meat industry at its annual general meeting in Christchurch on Tuesday. The forum was designed to draw on a range of opinions from some key people in the sector. Here is a sample of their comments:
Mike Peterson, Chairman, Meat and Wool New Zealand:
"The status quo is not an option."
"Food is the new fashion."
"Food security is a new phenomenon."
"There is a need for a new culture in trading and marketing."
"There is a lack of trust between farmers and companies."
"So much finishing land is being taken from the sheepmeat industry for dairying."
Professor Keith Woodford, Lincoln University:
"Processing and marketing lamb is a hard game - more fortunes have been lost than made."
"The meat industry is in trouble for multiple reasons."
"There is a danger of focusing on the mega merger rather than focusing on co-operative structures."
"Overcapacity is a problem - meat company assets are hard to sell for cash and more rationalisation is required."
Simon Gatenby - Taylor Preston Meats:
"Excess capacity is the bane of the lives of people in the industry."
"The sheepmeat market is showing signs of recovery."
"Lamb is almost a luxury meat."
"Meat farmers need to think carefully about what they want and work out the best way this could be delivered."
Today the Meat and Fibre Industry Group will hear from Mike Peterson on the Commodities Levy Act and from John Greer of MAF on sustainable land management. In the afternoon, the National Council of the Federation will meet and this will include an address by retiring president, Charlie Pedersen.
