Red meat sector disappointed by US tariffs
New Zealand's red meat sector says it is disappointed by the United States' decision to impose tariffs on New Zealand exports.
The meat industry is launching a campaign in China to make consumers aware of the unique health attributes of New Zealand's grass-fed animal meat.
Meat Industry Association (MIA) chair Nathan Guy says, while NZ has an FTA with China, 40 other countries also have access to that market and the time has come to make a big push to tell consumers that our products are better than our competitors.
"A problem we have in China is that consumers look at the supermarket shelf and they see grain-fed beef which they consider superior. It's higher priced and gets a premium, while our lean beef tends to be seen as something of a commodity, and we must change that and other misconceptions," he says.
To do this, MIA, meat processing companies and Beef + Lamb NZ are jointly developing a new supercharged and refocused version of the Taste Pure Nature awareness programme.
The new campaign will be industry-led and funded, hopefully with government help, MIA and B+LNZ have agreed to put in $2 million each over three years and they hope the government will make a similar contribution.
According to Guy, it will be up to the marketing managers of the processing companies to devise the programme.
"We are going to call it 'country of origin' and it will be around our natural attributes: animals, outdoors, health and nutrition - all the great attributes that are currently lost in translation in the market. Our competitors are making similar claims, so we can't afford to sleepwalk given that competition is so rife in China. Doing nothing is now not an option," he says.
Guy says they plan to launch the campaign at a huge food expo in Shanghai in November.
Recent rain has offered respite for some from the ongoing drought.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.