Biosecurity tops priorities for agribusiness leaders - report
Biosecurity remains the top priority for agribusiness leaders, according to KPMG’s 2025 Agribusiness Agenda released last week.
Books and music company Amazon is moving into food and you can't ignore the power it will have, says Ian Proudfoot, KPMG's global head of agribusiness.
Amazon reckons in 42 US cities it can deliver fresh food to the front door within one hour – often faster than going to the supermarket.
"We won't be going to the shops, we will be using our phones to buy food, meaning we can interact much more directly with who is growing our food," Proudfoot told the NZ Veterinary Association conference in Hamilton.
Coca-Cola has bought a dairy company, pharmaceutical companies are moving into food and we are on the cusp of a financial and cultural revolution, he says.
"The biological technologies, the physical technologies, the digital technologies are creating a whole heap of new solutions."
KPMG asked 80 of the world's largest agribusiness countries what were the key opportunities and challenges facing their businesses. Volatility, trade agreements, natural resources, changing consumers, technology and climate change emerged as key themes.
"We are not getting the climate change theme nearly as much as they are across the world. The shift to low carbon economy is gaining pace, as is food safety. That is probably most important for your industry."
NZ has grown magnificently and achieved a great productivity level, but "the reality is what we do today will not be enough to get us where we need to be tomorrow," Proudfoot says.
People will farm in different ways and with different business models. Philadelphia Cow Sheds is an example: it crowd sources (i.e. sells an interest in an animal upfront); you buy an eighth of an animal, you'll get an eighth of that meat when that animal is slaughtered.
"In 25 years... we won't see supermarkets as we see them today. They will evolve and change."
Businesses like My Food Bag will be part of that change. It has recently disrupted itself by launching a 'bargain box' cheaper than its mainline product offering.
"We have for so long focused on the average, but the reality is the average doesn't exist. What we need to be thinking about is, what are the niches we are directing our services towards?"
We can segment our communities many ways now: age, gender ethnicity – and religion will be an important sector in the future. By 2030, 3.8 billion people will be members of various religions.
A growing part of the population will be the elderly who will be managing health conditions. "Things are changing very rapidly in food; we are on the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution."
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
From 1 October, new livestock movement restrictions will be introduced in parts of Central Otago dealing with infected possums spreading bovine TB to livestock.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
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