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DCANZ executive director Kimberly Crewther.
New Zealand dairy companies say their policy priorities for the incoming government are the same as they were for the previous Labour administration.
Dairy Companies Association of NZ (DCANZ) executive director Kimberly Crewther says the focus must be in the areas of trade, food safety, biosecurity and climate.
She says they strongly support NZ having a broad and ambitious trade strategy that creates opportunities for exporters to grow the value of their trade. She says this means continuing to engage with trading partners after free trade agreements (FTAs) are in place to ensure the agreements deliver on their intent.
Crewther says it includes making good use of the working mechanisms under the agreements to advance resolution of non-tariff barriers to trade and where these aren't part of th FTA utilising other review mechanisms to complete tariff elimination.
DCANZ says they also want new doors opened into markets which are currently not covered by FTAs.
According to Crewther, NZ is far from "peak FTA".
"There are obvious gaps in its bilateral and regional trade agreement coverage in relation to Middle East and Africa, South Asia, and the US. Working towards new high-quality agreements with these geographies will be of significant benefit to the economy," she says.
Crewther says growing NZ's relationship with India is strategically important. She says it's important to 'future proof' NZ's trade by continuing to invest in evolving the global rules-based system. She points out that the OECD recently highlighted that agricultural subsidy payments have reached $851 billion globally and the majority remains market distorting, with negative price outcomes for unsubsidised producers and for the environment.
"The work that MFAT and MPI officials are undertaking to seek new subsidy disciplines is important to us. It is also important that the NZ government works to ensure sustainability comparisons produced by inter-governmental bodies, like the FAO, to provide a fair reflection of our performance," she says.
On the home front, DCANZ wants the incoming government to resolve impediments to exports arising from our own domestic policy settings. Crewther says DCANZ has been seeking alleviation of the trade barrier imposed upon our exporters by NZ's own requirement for an exemption to export a product which does not fully adhere to this country's Food Code requirements. She says this even though the product does meet the legal requirements of the importing country or international Codex standards.
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Despite near universal optimism in the rural sector, a panel of New Zealand’s leading food and agri minds caution that the sector must be intentional about its future path.
The panel say this is needed if the sector is to successfully
navigate the social, economic, environmental and technological forces impacting its operating environment.
Their views form part of the latest version of Rabobank’s annual white paper ‘Succession 2050 – gearing up for New Zealand’s food and agri future’.
The white paper focuses on the topic of succession at an industry level.
In addition to Rabobank’s own insights, the paper brings together a selection of 14 leading New Zealand and international food and agri experts – including trade negotiators, economists, systems analysts, scientists and technologists along with sectoral experts in sustainability, the future of fibre and Māori enterprise – to share their perspectives on what the New Zealand food and agri sector could look like in 2050 and what needs to change to achieve that vision.
Launching the new paper at the Primary Industries New Zealand Summit in Auckland today, Rabobank New Zealand CEO Todd Charteris said the experts who contributed to the white paper had identified plenty of reasons for New Zealand to be confident about its food and agri future.
“To name just a few, we’re a major food producer in a food-hungry world that’s on track to need 56% more food by 2050,” he said.
“Our food and fibre exports are also growing strongly and are forecast to hit $64.3 billion for the year to June 2026, while our government has signalled its plans to help double overall New Zealand exports by 2034.”
While there were many reasons for optimism, Charteris said, the expert contributors had also noted a host of changes taking place across the global food and agri operating environment that would need to be navigated for the industry to achieve ongoing success in the decades ahead.
“A number of key changes shaping the future of the sector came through in the perspectives of the expert contributors,” he said.
“There are the well-canvased issues of increasing global food insecurity, the challenging trade environment driven by geopolitical tensions, and the need to produce food within planetary limits."
“However, the experts also raised emerging trends, including what we’ve called ‘Identity eating’ – which is the growing way of signalling who you are as a person through what you eat – and is leading to higher demand for ethical and health-conscious foods.
“Another key trend identified out to 2050 was ‘Exponential everything’, which covers the transformation of the sector through science and technology.”
Rather than let these changes wash over it like a tsunami, Mr Charteris said, the broadly held view among the expert contributors was that New Zealand’s agriculture sector would need to lean in and proactively shape the changes occurring around it.
“We heard this message in many different ways; whether it was influencing global trade policy, embracing technology, capitalising on sustainability, training up for the future, defending our advantage in dairy or kiwifruit, growing Māori enterprise or more deliberately utilising all the wealth in our big blue backyard,” he said.
Charteris said the white paper contributors had identified 23 changes they would like to see in New Zealand between now and 2050 that will help set up the sector for success.
“Essentially, they boil down into five buckets with four to five ‘work ons’ in each bucket,” he said.
“At the centre, we need a change model that starts from the customer perspective and works outward from that, feeding into more purposeful decisions about land use and production systems.
“Then once we are clear on what customers are asking for and where we want to play, we need to stack talent and technology.
“Between these items we have the elements of a 2050 growth engine.”
What’s exciting, Charteris said, is that New Zealand has the geography, the capacity, the ideas, and the time, to make something outstanding of its future.
“My wish is that our experts’ thinking will inspire others to join me in pushing for a more deliberative strategic future for New Zealand,” he said.
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