Red meat rebound
The red meat sector is poised for a strong rebound this season, with export receipts forecast to top $10 billion and farm profitability to almost double.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) has appointed Bayden Barber as an independent board director.
Barber farms Angus cattle on a 100-acre block in Waimārama, Hawke’s Bay, and is chairman of Waimārama Section 3 Block 2 Trust, which consists of forestry and dry stock farming.
He is also a trustee of the Tiakitai Estate, which is leased to Horizon Farms.
A Hastings District councillor, Barber and his wife Myra run a consulting business, Ipurangi Developments Limited.
He is a member of the Hawke’s Bay Rural Advisory Group and a director of Health Hawke’s Bay Limited, a Primary Health Organisation.
Barber is also a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, sits on the board of Te Taura Whiri o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) and is a trustee on the Māori Education Trust, representing the New Zealand Māori Council.
He is of Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Tahu descent.
B+LNZ chairman Andrew Morrison says he welcomes the appointment.
“Bayden will bring an excellent mix of governance, rural expertise, business acumen and cultural capability to support Beef + Lamb New Zealand to achieve our strategic goals and objectives,” Morrison says.
“I would also like to acknowledge the excellent contribution made by Melissa Clark-Reynolds over her term as an independent director.”
The independent director position is designed to bring independent judgement and outside experience to the board.
B+LNZ’s current board is composed of six farmer-elected directors, who are regionally representative, two meat industry appointees, and an independent director.
Barber commences his role on 1 February 2021.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.