Red meat sector battles on
It's a bloody tough year for sheep farmers, but the worst may be over, and the future looks optimistic.
Trade Minister Damien O'Connor says he and other trade ministers around the world will need to get used to developing relationships via Zoom.
O’Connor, who is also the Agriculture Minister, told Rural News that Covid-19 will limit the normal face-to-face encounters between NZ politicians and their counterparts around the world and they will just have to get used to the new environment and do the best they can.
O’Connor praised his predecessor David Parker for the relationships he has developed with other trade ministers over the past three years and says he will do his best to build on this.
“I guess there will be more calls at all hours of the day across the world to remind people that we still exist and are committed to get around the table and do a deal,” he told Rural News.
“Nothing good comes easy, and as a small nation at the bottom of the Pacific we have always had to battle hard to get access and be heard. We have done well and I hope to continue with that. We are regarded as honest brokers who are up-front and treat people as equals and I will continue to do that,” O’Connor says.
At present, NZ has a number of negotiations under way – specifically an FTA with the EU and a similar preliminary negotiation with the UK, which aside from the normal trade differences are further complicated by the impact of Covid 19. This uncertainty is further complicated – although maybe for the better – with the election of Joe Biden as the US President elect.
O’Connor is now in a unique position in the Labour Government’s new cabinet line-up with his combined portfolios of agriculture, and now trade and export growth. In that sense, he has control over the primary sector from paddock to plate.
“I am very excited, happy and humbled to be given the opportunity to contribute positively in these crucial areas of the NZ economy,” he told Rural News.
“We are a nation of food and fibre producers and 95% of our efforts all have to go offshore so that we can survive. There are too few of us to consume the production that we generate and we have to knock on doors and ask governments to allow their people to buy our products.”
O’Connor believes there is a growing recognition across the primary sectors that consumers drive the success of NZ primary producers. He takes up his new roles at a time when worldwide there is a lot of protectionist views being expressed.
“But because of Covid, there is also a growing awareness of food security and the interdependence between the trade of food between countries and the production of food within them,” he says.
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.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…