When travelling around the globe Zespri kiwifruit is the NZ product found nearly everywhere. There is no doubt the single-desk seller has been effective in getting its branded product widely distributed.
Kiwifruit, apples, lamb and wine are the NZ exports most seen in supermarkets worldwide.
Some Kiwi products have appeared in the most unexpected places. I’ve seen Westland Dairy Co-op butter in a supermarket in Odessa, Ukraine, and Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc in a wine shop in the Loire Valley, France.
On one trip to southern France in 2007 we saw Silver Fern Farms’ branded lamb hind-quarters being offered in a supermarket for a price well below French lamb, probably because it was chilled lamb close to its use-by date and had to be sold-off quickly.
The French farmers said to us, “We need your lamb because we can’t supply enough for the market but please don’t sell it so cheaply”.
Without doubt the greatest changes have been in China, with the shift from a centrally planned to market-based economy. Although the country’s economic growth has slowed recently the pace of development is still truly incredible.
The rate that infrastructure is constructed boggles the mind. Airport terminals, high-speed rail services and even complete cities are built in just a few years.
An uncomplicated resource consent process, toll roads and because the Chinese government essentially owns all land has helped enormously in “getting things done”.
In agriculture we have witnessed a change from Chinese peasant farmers with two cows to modern dairy farms owned by businessmen with thousands of cows.
Farms are getting bigger and new technology is widespread and a recent development has been the exponential growth in online sales of agricultural products with companies such as Tmall.
Ron McPhail has been involved in agricultural tourism since 1992.
While the viability of farming and maintenance of the countryside depends on income support the recent trend has been towards environmental and per-hectare payments in Europe rather than subsidising products. That should ultimately be good for this country’s exports.
Another expansion is the growing trend towards appellation – a protected name – in developed countries.
Distinguishing locally sourced product by its origin and building a story around it is becoming increasingly prevalent. We saw how common appellation d’origine contrôlée (controlled designation of origin) has become in France on a tour there last June.
This reinforces the need for NZ to move away from commodities to branded products that have a quality image and a good story to go with them. There has been a lot to learn over the years.
• Ron McPhail is managing director of specialist agricultural tour operator CR McPhail Ltd.
