New Zealand needs to “get fixated on how we are going to win”, says Bagrie, as current conversations in the primary sector are too much dominated by the ‘opportunity’ story.
““It’s a subtle shift away from opportunity – towards execution. It needs to have that harder edge,” Bagrie told a recent DairyNZ Farmers Forum in Whangarei.
“The time for talk in New Zealand is done. If you see presentations from the likes of Fonterra or other suppliers or entities that are talking about those markets, get them focused away from the opportunities – ask them why and what are they doing to win,” Bagrie advised farmers. “You need a sustainable answer to that to drive confidence in your businesses.”
Bagrie says everyone is talking the upside of China and the opportunities are real, but he has concerns. New Zealand’s exports into China have grown 18% per year for the past six years – but Chinese imports into New Zealand have grown 20% per year.
“Right here and now we are talking a big gain – but we are actually losing market share,” he said. With a free market agreement in place we should be making much bigger gains.
Bagrie said when he listens to presentations by New Zealand’s top exporters, including Fonterra, he is “amazed” at how much talk there is about China. They put up “wonderful slides” on lots of mouths to feed, that they will eventually relax the one-child policy and it looks a great story.
“I put up my hand and say ‘that’s great – how are you going to execute’? What’s the strategy?” said Bagrie. “A lot of countries around the globe recognise China is there too and they are starting to milk a lot more cows.
“It is not just across the dairy sector; I am seeing this across other pockets of the rural scene. I am looking at the meat industry and whether we will get consolidation there.
“I am looking at the composition of New Zealand’s boards. How many of New Zealand’s food exporters have a person of Asian descent on their board? If you can name one please let me know. At the moment I can’t find one. I can find one for manufacturing but I can’t find one in the food related area.”
To be fair, Bagrie says he believes there is “good stuff” going on behind the scenes, citing a recent Fonterra presentation with an impressive page on strategy. “What I would like to see was that sort of stuff getting out there more and more.”
He told the farmers as suppliers to these entities they needed to be asking questions.
“If you have got confidence in their strategy, that’s going to drive confidence in your own strategy. But it needs to start at the top. We need to be taking that debate to the conversation more and more across New Zealand today.”
