NZ red meat well-placed

She made the comments at the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB) annual meeting, held online on Friday 24 March.

She says that while there are risks, the country is placed to harness its strengths, work together, and steer its way through the challenges.

“We need to do all we can behind the farmgate, across the industry, in Government and through our international relationships to strategically position New Zealand as a solutions partner, with a positive constructive influence internationally,” Poulton says.

Recently, Poulton visited the European Union and the United Kingdom on a fact-finding mission where she witnessed a convergence of multiple crises including food inflation, energy and housing, all compounded by the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, regulatory changes and severe weather events.

“There are concerns for the future of food security in the EU, particularly among some farmers and industry players. Clearly trade solutions are needed.”

Poulton says that at this stage, some consumers are not willing to pay a premium for environment and climate credentials, particularly in the EU, but this shouldn’t be confused with the increasing customer demand for environment and climate credentials.

“Both environment and climate change are expected to be the next contested spaces in trade,” she says.

“In New Zealand, our food and fibre sector drives our economy and significantly contributes to our national climate emissions profile, making it a big focus of government.”

She says that if New Zealand gets this right, it’s food and fibre sector could find the sweet spot of being strategically positioned to capture the advantages of addressing climate change.

“This could have benefits in the marketplace with our customers, when there is a consumer recovery, in trade, and also has a strategic influencer in global food systems policy on climate change.

“Other nations are watching what we’re doing – either way, they will learn from us – we need to get this right,” Poulton says.

“Our goal should be to position New Zealand and our food and fibre sector as a trusted and reliable partner on the global stage. We must open and maintain as many doors of opportunity as possible while ensuring our integrity remains uncompromised.

“In order to succeed, we must ensure we stay agile, adaptable, profitable, and flexible. This will allow us to respond quickly to changing market conditions, and build long-term sustainability.”

Poulton says that as New Zealand works to solve the challenges facing the red meat industry, we must be careful not to isolate ourselves, create an uneven playing field and make the sector uncompetitive in global markets.

“It is important to find the strategic sweet spot between having the right regulatory frameworks, being innovative and profitable, and staying competitive in the global market.”

Poulton says New Zealand’s traditional competitive advantage of pastoral-based agriculture is facing challenges due to increased costs from higher input costs, wages and meeting new regulation – with the cost of production squeezing margins.

“However, we have a powerful strength in the infrastructure of the New Zealand food and fibres eco-system that supports and enables our food producers, processors/packers and exporters to be creative, innovative, nimble, adaptable – successfully navigating international volatility,” she says.

“We must ensure that our industry is supported by policies that support innovation and sustainability, taking a whole farm systems approach to environment, emissions and sequestration, production and profitability.”