Editorial: NZ's great China move
OPINION: The New Zealand red meat sector, with support from the Government, has upped the ante to retain and expand its niche in the valuable Chinese market - and the signs are looking positive.
Meat Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Sirma Karapeeva sees no end in sight to the shipping and logistical woes that the meat and other primary sectors are facing.
She says these involve big, complicated global issues beyond NZ's control.
"It's going to become one of those norms that people are just going to learn how to deal with it and in the best way they can," Karapeeva explains. "I don't see it ending anytime soon."
Meanwhile, a study aimed at highlighting the health and nutritional benefits of meat from NZ pasture-reared animals is nearing an end.
In its annual report, the MIA says Pasture Raised Advantage (PRA) programme assesses the health, nutritional and wellbeing benefits of consuming NZ pasture-raised beef and lamb compared to grain finished beef and plant-based alternatives.
The programme has been running for two years and the final clinical trials are about to begin with the food being fed to people and tracking how they react and feel.
Karapeeva says the research is world class and looks at the digestibility of meat and how the body responds to the nutrients it gets. She says it also looks at comparing the wellness and wellbeing implications of meat verses plant-based diets.
"We get a lot of information in the press and social media about what is good and bad for you and what is healthy and what is not," Karapeeva told Rural News.
"A lot of that information is driven off a US or grain fed production system, which is very different to the way we do things here. Part of this project is to put this information in context and say this is how it works in NZ."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the relationship between New Zealand and the US will remain strong and enduring irrespective of changing administrations.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
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