As the global recession bites there needs to be a concerted export push that could include using Ardern’s international profile to fly the New Zealand flag.
“The Government has invested in trade and we need to continue with that but put it on steroids.
“We need all hands on deck to open markets and promote our products.
“We need more focus, whether it’s led by the Prime Minister, Minister of Trade or Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to open those doors to exporters. It’s a no brainer.”
Dairy Companies Association chief executive Kimberley Crewther said recruiting Ardern has merit because anything that links NZ’s internationally recognised response to covid-19 with the quality of our food production has to be positive.
“NZ has received positive international attention for the way we have responded to covid and it reinforces a number of our characteristics or qualities such as robust producers of safe, healthy and quality food.”
Maintaining access to existing dairy markets is crucial but priority must be given to negotiating free-trade agreements with the United Kingdom, the world’s second largest dairy importer, and Europe.
McIvor says the Meat Industry Association and B+LNZ are studying how consumer patterns have changed during the covid outbreak but he sees a greater role for his organisation’s Taste Pure Nature brand to promote the values of NZ red meat.
Crewther says dairy exporters face a similar challenge with online purchases growing in popularity, which creates marketing and supply chain challenges.
Replacing access to the thousands of migrant workers farmers and orchardists rely on is emerging as another significant obstacle.
In the dairy industry alone 5000 of the 34,000 farm owners, managers and staff are migrants but travel restrictions have turned off the supply.
DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says even extending the visas of those already working here leaves a shortfall of 1000.
Added to that is a shortage of several thousand seasonal and full-time workers in horticulture and up to 2500 vacancies in the meat industry.
With job losses expected to grow as the economy contracts Mackle hopes some unemployed will get dairy jobs, hence the timing of its Go Dairy recruitment campaign.
“It is an opportunity for the NZ dairy sector to get more Kiwis into the production end of the food-value chain.”
The provision of $19 million in this year’s Budget to attract and train 10,000 people to work in the primary sector over the next four years is welcomed by Mackle and Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva.
Karapeeva warns extra investment in services and infrastructure might be needed to encourage those who lose their jobs in urban centres to move to rural areas where there are vacancies and where they will expect schools and medical facilities.
“We need to create attractive packages.”
Mackle says rural and urban sectors need to address the issue of water security and despite fundamentally disagreeing with the Government’s Essential Freshwater proposals, food producers want to find a workable solution.
“We are saying that we will work to come up with an alternative that gives the right outcome, that is supported scientifically and economically and gives dairy farmers certainty.”
Mackle says the debate needs to dispel the myth water storage automatically results in increased dairying and focus on how it allows more flexible land use to grow high-value crops and horticulture and helps with animal welfare during drought.
On climate change Mackle says the food sector is asking the Climate Change Commission to review methane targets based on the latest scientific evidence and the post-covid environment.
“We need a more pragmatic way to get a workable outcome with methane regulations that means less economic drag for farmers than has been proposed.”
McIvor says addressing water infrastructure, investing in a comprehensive nationwide soil map and removing gaps in the coverage and quality of broadband will help the primary sector grow its economic clout.
Crewther also wants the national electricity grid upgraded to give dairy companies more options and reduce reliance on coal-fired boilers.
