Damien O’Connor: NZ united on global trade
When it comes to international trade, politicians from all sides of the aisle are united, says Labour's trade spokesman Damien O'Connor.
However, New Zealand's agritech community seems to be making a worthwhile contribution to the country's economy as well.
A recently released NZ Agritech Insights Report 2022 showed that of the country's Top 200 technology exporters - around 10% or 22 companies - were responsible for $1.6 billion worth of business.
"Agritech is critical to the country's efforts to produce high quality, high value food and fibre products with a lighter touch on the environment," says Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor. "It is not only contributes to economic growth but is also vital to the prosperity and wellbeing of our regions - through high value employment and the products and services they provide to our primary industries."
Encouragingly, the report delivers a snapshot showing that NZ's agritech sector delivers about 11.4% of the country's Technology Investment Network' 200 revenue, with its $1.6b contribution - up $118 million on the previous year.
The sector is employing around 5,400 people, paid on average $95,000, with average earnings generated per employee of $296,000. Categories in agritech include data solutions (29.9%), post-harvest (29.4%), animal and crop health (26%), growing and harvesting (9.1%) and environmental management (5.6%).
Key companies in the NZ Agritech sector include the likes of Gallagher Group, LIC and Datamars, which have revenues in excess of $100m. In the $20m to $100m sector, Waikato Milking Systems reported a result of $73m and Trimax returned $40m.
At the other end of the spectrum, Robotics Plus, Levno and Rezare Systems delivered revenue of $10m, $6.1m and $4.17m, respectively.
Encouragingly, the report also listed more than 100 companies operating in the NZ's Agritech sector, with many new names starting to emerge - such as Cropsy, Halter, Milktech NZ and UBCO.
