Bucknell to chair NZPork's board
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
With a lack of overseas workers, New Zealand’s pork sector is calling on the government for urgent action.
The sector wants the Government to urgently review its current policies on skilled migrant workers as it faces severe staff shortages, according to industry group NZ Pork.
Each year, New Zealand’s pig farming industry relies on experienced workers from overseas to meet a shortfall in staff with the necessary skills required to work with the country’s pig herd.
However, NZ Pork says the industry is concerned skilled migrants already working on pig farms in New Zealand may not have their visas renewed or existing workers trying to return from overseas visits will be blocked, leaving farmers with significant staffing shortages.
A NZ Pork survey of pig farmers found that many fear their existing skilled migrant staff may be required to leave New Zealand as a result of immigration measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The sector’s strong preference would be to have a pool of available skilled and unskilled New Zealand workers,” says NZ Pork chief executive David Baines.
“However, pig farming is a relatively niche sector in New Zealand and the reality is that there is a significant shortage of New Zealanders applying for roles.
“The industry relies on a supply of skilled migrant workers who have been trained in their home countries. The numbers in total are small, particularly compared to major industries such as dairy, but the productivity of the industry is very vulnerable because of the precision nature of pig farming.”
Further concerns raised include the cost of visas, processing times, a lack of pathway to residency and a lack of consistency from Immigration New Zealand in terms of visa length and conditions.
NZ Pork has requested an urgent meeting with the Minister of Immigration Iain Lees-Galloway to discuss the shortage of labour.
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.
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