Confidence in long-term market-led strategy
Farmers should have confidence in the long term value of Silver Fern Farms market-led strategy.
Shanghai Maling's investment of $360m into Silver Fern Farms in return for 50% ownership is a game changer into a complex market, says SFF chief executive Dean Hamilton.
The can bring some real value to the company on a number of fronts, he told a China Business Summit in Auckland today. They are 38% owned by Bright Food, one of the largest food conglomerates in China.
"We visited an enormous inland customs clearance business in the middle of Shanghai which is very exciting for us in terms of our ability to bypass the port clearance system so we think that will give us a quite exciting opportunity," Hamilton said.
"Secondly Shanghai Maling have the largest fresh pork distribution business in Shanghai so they know how to handle chilled product, they have their own trucks. So in terms of partnering with someone who understands that part of the supply chain, we believe that has got great opportunity.
"Thirdly between themselves and Bright they have over 6000 supermarkets. So trying to get in into a very complex part of the end market, the opportunity to leverage those supermarket will put us in a unique position."
Fourthly they have a direct to home business now, he said.
Avian flu getting into New Zealand's poultry industry is the biosecurity threat that is most worrying for Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.
The annual domestic utilisation of wool will double to 30,000 tonnes because of the edict that government agencies should use woollen fibre products in the construction of new and refurbished buildings.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
Buoyed by strong forecasts for milk prices and a renewed demand for dairy assets, the South Island rural real estate market has begun the year with positive momentum, according to Colliers.
The six young cattle breeders participating in the inaugural Holstein Friesian NZ young breeder development programme have completed their first event of the year.