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The Meat Industry Excellence Group’s (MIE) much-vaunted and so far highly secretive report into meat sector reforms is due to be released later this month.
No one can accuse MIE and its supporters of lacking passion or determination, and their initial efforts in rousing farmer support and getting endorsed candidates onto the boards of Alliance Group and Silver Fern Farm is commendable.
However, passion and understanding aside, this knotty question remains: given all the huffing and puffing by MIE, what real and tangible reforms will it actually achieve? The reality is that getting a couple of directors onto meat co-ops’ boards, and increasing voter turnout among apathetic suppliers is nice – but it doesn’t mean much.
Not long ago MIE’s predecessor ginger group MIAG (Meat Industry Action Group) was calling for similar meat sector reforms and even got a number of endorsed candidates onto the boards of Alliance and SFF.
And what happened? MIAG’s leader gave up and went dairy farming, while its meat company directors either retired or got voted off the boards and nothing has changed in the ensuing years!
MIE claims it has… “strong farmer support for a new processing and marketing co-operative with much greater scale…. There is clearly a groundswell and we need to get on with it.”
But will this ‘groundswell’ translate into actual support for MIE’s recommendations for reform when they are finally published? Especially when it requires farmers to dig into their own pockets to pay for industry consolidation (read plant closedown) and reduces their opportunity to shop around?
And how will farmers feel about the lack of capacity in the industry when they are desperate to get stock killed in a dry year?
No doubt all will be revealed when the MIE report is published.
While admiration for the group’s efforts and work are one thing, one gets the uneasy feeling that this latest effort at meat sector reforms will just turn out to be another doorstop – with a $200,000 price tag.
It would be good to be proven wrong, but the history of the New Zealand meat industry is littered with good intentions and dozens of ‘change reports’.
We’re not holding our breath.
OPINION: The Hound hears that tension was in the air at the recent Silver Fern Farms AGM, with the board reportedly dazed and confused at why their CEO would continue to hammer farmers to lower their emissions in perpetuity, without being able to state a dollar value for any of the touted premiums.
Despite Silver Fern Farms (SFF) posting a $21 million loss last season, chief executive Dan Boulton believes that better days are coming.
Alliance Group has secured greater access for chilled beef exports into China following approval of its Levin and Mataura plants to supply that market. With its first load of beef from Levin clearing Chinese customs in early January and a shipment from Mataura recently arriving in China, journalist Leo Argent talked to Alliance general manager safety and processing Wayne Shaw.
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Alliance Group says it has secured greater access for chilled beef exports to China, following the approval for two of its processing plants to supply the market.
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An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
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