Meat processing industry supports move away from coal, but concerned about livestock cuts:
New Zealand’s largest manufacturing industry is generally supportive of the Climate Change Commission’s draft report and its focus on reducing the use of fossil fuels but is concerned about the stated 15 per cent reduction in sheep, cattle and dairy numbers.
Sirma Karapeeva, chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, says red meat processors and exporters are committed to reducing and eventually eliminating the use of coal, although achieving the commission’s 2037 target will be difficult.
“We do need a fair and just transition away from coal to ensure jobs and livelihoods are not put at risk. However, our chief concern is any drop in livestock numbers may jeopardise the viability of some processing plants and jobs in rural communities.
“Meat processors rely on throughput of livestock to create efficiencies of scale and be profitable. The commission estimates that without major on-farm practice change and new technologies, a 15 per cent reduction in livestock numbers will be required to achieve the targets by 2030. This would have a serious impact on the ability of many processors to keep operating. . .
Meat industry calls for Covid vaccine priority :
The meat processing and export industry wants its workforce to be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccinations.
Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the industry was considered high-risk, due to the large numbers of people working closely together.
Countries such as Australia, the US and the UK have all had Covid-19 outbreaks at meat processing facilities.
“We saw a significant increase in the spread of Covid in that workforce, which led to the closure of plants,” Karapeeva said. . .
Time for UK to ‘walk the talk’ – Todd Muller:
One of life’s commercial shibboleths is that one should be wary of going into business with close friends because emotion is always involved.
But shibboleths are meant to be broken – as we have proven with our dear friend Australia over 40 years. You can have remarkably close economic relations with mates, and it can work.
You have to have a unifying idea (in our cases, closer economic integration and freedom of movement) and the strength of relationship to say it like it is.
So, I believe it’s time to address the elephant in the trading room. The eye-watering gap between the UK’s rhetoric on free trade and its current approach to NZ. . .
Fonterra details how farmers will be paid for sustainable, high value milk :
Fonterra has released the details of how it will pay farmers for producing sustainable, high quality milk as part of The Co-operative Difference framework.
From 1 June 2021, up to 10 cents of each farm’s milk payment will be determined by the farm’s sustainability credentials and milk quality.
“Fonterra farmers are already among the world’s best in these areas and we’re really proud of that. The Co-operative Difference payment is another way we can recognise farmers, while also supporting our strategy to grow the value of our New Zealand milk by responding to increasing demand around the world for sustainably produced dairy,” says Richard Allen, Group Director, Farm Source. . .
The total volume of wine available for consumption in New Zealand rose in 2020, Stats NZ said today.
“The volume of wine available to the New Zealand market was up 4.3 percent in 2020, in contrast to falls in each of the previous two years,” international trade manager Alasdair Allen said.
“This year’s wine volume available to the domestic market is nearly 113 million litres, surpassing the previous high of 2017.”
The volume of wine made from grapes rose 4.9 percent to 94 million litres, following falls of 2.7 percent in 2019, and 2.6 percent in 2018. . .
FarmIQ adds value to compliance:
The demands on farmers to become more compliant have grown significantly in only five short years, with expectations from the public, processors and government all requiring greater accountability for how resources of land, water and people are managed.
Regardless of what government is running New Zealand, it is more likely than not the regulations proposed or in place around water and land management are not going to change significantly. New Zealand’s need to stake its reputation as a food producer delivering high quality, sustainable products requires regulatory effort to deliver on that promise.
As the demands around compliance have grown, the ability to capture data that proves a farmer is compliant in areas of environmental management, health and safety and ultimately green-house gas emissions has never been greater. . .
Posted by homepaddock 
