Tuesday, 10 October 2023 13:55

Look beyond China

Written by  Glenys Christian
Ian Proudfoot says the Chinese market is going through a fundamental reset, meaning NZ companies needed to think about more market options. Ian Proudfoot says the Chinese market is going through a fundamental reset, meaning NZ companies needed to think about more market options.

The cost of living crisis is putting even more pressure on farmers to ensure they are delivering what customers want.

This is what KPMG head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot told the recent New Zealand Grain and Seed Trade Association conference in Auckland on the outlook for the agricultural sector. He added that the everyday low price supermarkets offered was the “unassailable truth.”

“There’s pressure to make food even cheaper. The challenge for farmers is to be sure it reflects the effort that goes into producing it, as well as satisfying the consumer,” Proudfoot said.

He added that supermarkets had to make sure that the product was right, packaging fitted shoppers’ requirements and that channels by which goods reached them were suitable. This could mean decisions such as whether meat products needed to be 100% pure or could be blended with pulses.

Proudfoot says no one in the NZ agricultural sector is performing better than the others but some companies had shown themselves to be more agile in responding to trends.

He added that the Chinese market was going through a fundamental reset of its economy, meaning NZ companies needed to think more about more market optionality. Proudfoot says it’s critical we to continue with free trade agreements. He says while NZ had thought about India for a long time, it now needed to be moving things further and faster – especially with Australia gaining the same first mover advantage there which NZ had enjoyed in China.

Proudfoot added that NZ exporters also needed to be thinking about competitors they hadn’t seen before such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He says both wanted to ensure food security through use of disruptive technology to grow food in their harsh environments.

Proudfoot said NZ needed “better biology quickly” which meant setting the right regulatory environment for agriculture to be able to access and use lighter chemicals and gene editing technologies. Agriculture needed to be open to using artificial intelligence and “run at the horizon as fast as we can”. Through investment in automation and use of robots farmers would be able to develop the people employed in the sector more. They would need to be employers of choice not relying on transient workers meaning use of a different skill set for some. And when it came to consumer trust in new farming methods he said the answer was to shine a light on their operations in an open, honest and comprehensive way.

“Explain your business and show you’re doing the right thing by use of robust data.”

More like this

Organic Dairy Hub liquidation process continues

The liquidation of failed co-operative Organic Dairy Hub is continuing, and net proceeds will be distributed to farmer shareholders once final tax obligations have been met, according to the liquidators.

Farming sector morale on the wane

More evidence - if it was needed - that farming sector confidence is on the wane, burdened down by increasing red tape and workforce shortages.

Featured

Better animal genetic gain system

A governance group has been formed, following extensive sector consultation, to implement the recommendations from the Industry Working Group's (IWG) final report and is said to be forming a 'road map' for improving New Zealand's animal genetic gain system.

SIDE 2025's new schedule, venue

Annual farmer gathering, the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE), is set to make history as it heads to Timaru for the first time.

Taranaki piggery goes solar

Installing 400 solar panels at their Taranaki piggery and cropping operation will have significant environmental, financial and animal welfare benefits for the Stanley family.

Editorial: Keep FTAs coming

OPINION: The dairy industry will  be a major beneficiary of a new free trade deal between NZ and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).

National

Food charity to hold online auction

Meat the Need, New Zealand’s dedicated charity delivering locally sourced protein meals to food-insecure communities, is launching an online National…

Machinery & Products

An ideal solution for larger farms

Designed specifically for large farms that want to drill with maximum flexibility, efficiency and power, the new Lemken Solitair ST…

Landpower increases its offering

Landpower and the Claas Harvest Centre network will launch the Claas Scorpion and Torion material handling solutions to the market…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Leaky waka

OPINION: Was the ASB Economic Weekly throwing shade on Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr when reporting on his speech in…

Know-it-alls

OPINION: A reader recently had a shot at the various armchair critics that she judged to be more than a…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter