The party’s primary industry’s spokesman Richard Prosser told the Red Meat Sector Conference in Dunedin one way of extracting greater value from meat could be to adopt a single-desk seller model.
Speaking at a political forum with Ian McKelvie, National, Eugenie Sage, Greens, and Damien O’Connor, Labour, Prosser said if in Government he would discuss the idea with the meat industry.
If adopted it would be the first time since 1983 when the Meat Board took over the marketing of sheep meat because of low prices that New Zealand would have a single-desk selling system.
Speaking after the forum, Beef + Lamb NZ chairman James Parsons doubted such a policy would have support.
“There are interests that would have a say in this and that is not what is coming through,” he said.
The performance of the politicians did not inspire those at the conference, with many saying they lacked inspiration.
They all spoke about the need to add value and for the industry to be profitable but only McKelvie spoke of the importance of improving trade access, an issue conference-goers said was of primary importance to them.
O’Connor and Sage both said agriculture would be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme if they were in Government, with O’Connor adding the growing consensus that dairying had reached its peak created opportunities for the red meat sector.
Sage said including agriculture in the ETS would be balanced by an easing in rules around forestry, from which carbon credits could be earned.
Asked how they stood on the revised Trans Pacific Partnership, O’Connor, Sage and Prosser all had reservations or provisions that would have to be met while McKelvie supported it.
Maniototo farmer David Crutchley asked their definition of sustainability, saying he believed it was about the welfare of farmers, their families, workers and the family farm.
McKelvie said Government policies were not needed to define sustainability but signals were. Prosser said the fact farming had been around for 150 years showed it was sustainable.
