The livestock is processed by Silver Fern Farms where it is turned it into mince and distributed to charity groups.
O’Malley said it is not quite right that farmers can feed millions of people overseas but there are still people hungry in New Zealand.
Langford said the concept was planned long before covid-19.
While he acknowledged farmers are under their own pressures from banks and the questions around their environmental performance he encourages the sector to think about those on the breadline.
“Have a think about that mother trying to feed her three kids at the moment and there’s nothing in the cupboards. If ever there was a time we should reach out as farmers it would be now.”
Langford hopes to get 1500-2000 animals donated by the charity’s third year of operation.
“It sounds like a lot but when you consider three to four million go through the processing plants every year it’s a small percentage of what we are doing.
“It’s just a little bit when the farmer can.”
Farmers wanting to donate an animal can do so in two ways. If they are a SFF supplier they just contact their agent. Non-suppliers can donate via Meat the Need’s website.
“You can either come through us and we’ll send in the animal for you or, alternatively, you can donate a virtual animal online – send it to your processor and then donate virtually online.”
That virtual donation is the cash equivalent of the price of the animal, which is then sent to the charity. It uses the money to buy mince from SFF.
City missions and foodbanks can register with Meat the Need on its website to get deliveries.
Langford hopes Meat the Need will be around for the future in a similar way the IHC calf scheme is.
“As time goes on there’ll be an increasing need for this in terms of food poverty and that type of thing.”
Meat the Need began as an idea after Langford donated some mince to his local food bank about 18 months ago,
The Golden Bay dairy farmer was told by the food bank operators the mince would last them for two months, which surprised him.
While he was milking his cows the following day he thought no one would ever go hungry if other farmers made similar donations.
He soon realised extrapolating the concept across the country would be a challenge.
“Eventually, I got to the point where I was thinking this idea was bigger than me and during that time I met up with Siobhan O’Malley.
“We were having an entrepreneurs meeting and we pitched our 10 best ideas and this one was by far the one that came to the top of the pile. It was something we were both interested in and wanted to achieve.
Langford said while they had interest from a number of processors, Silver Fern Farms really wanted to be involved.
It is also a nationwide company that processes cattle, deer and sheep and can handle the predicted volume of stock.
It took a year to organise its logistics, funding and meet food safety requirements.
The meat is turned into 500g packs of mince rather than cuts for practical reasons.
It makes it easy for food banks and city missions to handle and store and gives more cooking options for those receiving it.
In the future, Langford hopes it will be expanded across the primary industry to include dairy, horticulture and arable products.
The initial response since Meat the Need was launched on social media on April 19 has been huge, he said.
“I’m so thankful for that because whenever you have an idea like this you wonder if anyone will actually buy into it.
“I think the need from farmers has been there for some time and I think it’s shown in the first 24 hours that I think this is one they’ll pick up.”
Being a registered charity it has established a board, which includes both Langford and O’Malley as well as Jessie Chan, Julia Jones, Richard Luxton and Cheyenne Wilson.
