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Both ANZ and KPMG issue reports on the rural sector. ANZ tries to capture the...
A drone mustering sheepANZ Bank’s Red Meat Benchmarking report and KPMG’s 2019 Agribusiness Agenda were both released during Fieldays week and both addressed the challenges facing the agricultural...
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The key to preventing another loss at ANZCO is facing up to some hard...
ANZCO’s 2018 pre-tax loss of $38 million was the worst result in the company’s history.The exporter has traditionally posted a profit, even in difficult years for the meat industry which has always had...
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Allan Barber challenges Shane Jones to consider the unintended consequences...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones plants a tree.There’s an irony about the combination of the Provincial Growth Fund funded one billion trees programme, sheep and beef land being sold without needing...
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Allan Barber reports on the red meat sector's views of the future, and their...
Last week’s Red Meat Sector Conference in Christchurch provided delegates with plenty of challenges to think about when planning for their companies’ future operating environment.Meat Industry...
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Allan Barber says sustainable pastoral farming is being sacrificed for...
Tax-advantaged exotic forests are taking over pastoral farmlandIn contrast to its positive social agenda to improve the average person’s lot by lifting the minimum wage, increasing teachers’ pay rates...
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Allan Barber says shifting consumer attitudes and preferences are probably a...
Amid all the debate about agriculture’s responsibility to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets, and the appropriate levels for those targets, it may seem counterintuitive to claim an equally pressing...
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Allan Barber assesses the long and short term risk factors for New Zealand...
Any hopes Brexit would be sorted this year are receding further into the distance with every new twist and there’s a strong chance the situation will have changed again by the time you read this. For...
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Unintended consequence: Farmers who have invested in long term fresh water...
Sheep and beef farmers are generally in agreement with the principles behind the Ministry for the Environment’s discussion document on the national direction for essential freshwater, but there is...
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The rural sector has enough challenges to face without being kneecapped by a...
Food producers feel like they have been tackled in the air by their own governmentThe latest Rabobank quarterly Rural Confidence Survey has shown a dramatic fall in farmers’ view of the outlook for...
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Allan Barber says the growing Chinese influence poses a strategic challenge...
In a remarkably short time, China has developed into the single biggest factor in global protein consumption and its influence is likely to continue growing at a fast rate.An analysis by Australian...
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Allan Barber reports that from a successful long-term market building...
The Lamb Company was established nearly 60 years ago in Toronto to represent several New Zealand meat companies in North America, focusing initially on lamb and the Canadian market. In the intervening...
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Allan Barber reports the unique red meat industry marketing structure is well...
Beef + Lamb New Zealand Inc. is the domestic organisation responsible for promoting beef and lamb within New Zealand and is further distinguished from its near namesake by its unique funding model. Its...
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Allan Barber assesses progress after four years of 'transformation' at the...
Alliance Group directorsAlliance’s 2019 annual report states upfront the company is in the fourth year of its transformation strategy ‘to capture greater market value and maximise operational...
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Allan Barber reports the fall in schedule prices is a temporary transition as...
It is difficult to see any real reason for panic over the sudden pre-Christmas reduction in demand for sheepmeat and beef from Chinese importers which has led to prices coming off their peak.Livestock...
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Allan Barber sees a new decade with an unprecedented set of challenges which...
Assuming the new decade has already begun, unless one takes the pedantic view it won’t start till next year, there are plenty of signs it will be completely different from the past 10 years. In many...
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Allan Barber sees the UK moving into a period of uncertainty as it tries to...
At long last, three and a half years after the surprise referendum result, the UK has formally left the EU, with expressions of sorrow in the EU parliament, dignified satisfaction from the UK...
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March will be a crucial month in which it will become clear whether or not...
Newspaper headlines driving panic buying in Auckland supermarkets suggest either we are all facing an existential threat or, more likely, a small percentage of the population is reacting like idiots,...
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Allan Barber sees the intricately interwoven global supply chains having to...
When I started to trawl through possible topics to write about this week, I had the bright idea it might be worth asking meat processors what contingency plans they have in place in case an employee,...
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Allan Barber hopes that with other immediate priorities, farmers may be left...
My last few columns have dealt with the potential impact of Covid-19 on world trade, exports to China and meat processors, but suddenly in the last two weeks the virus has become the main factor in our...
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Allan Barber says that with Chinese shoppers switching from pork to beef and...
Processing is under severe constraints during the lockdown, although, as an essential service, meat companies are working hard to feed New Zealanders and service key export markets.In a newsletter to...
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Allan Barber offers some more detail and context around the very good profit...
A delicious resultThe country’s largest meat exporter, Silver Fern Farms, has announced a record pre-tax profit of $89.6 million and $70.6 million after tax for the 2019 year, a huge improvement on the...
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The retiring chief executive of the meat industry trade group has steered the...
Tim Ritchie, MIATim Ritchie came into the Meat Industry Association as CEO at the end of 2007, initially intended to be for an 18 month period, and retired earlier this month over 12 years later. His...
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The traffic lights are changing in the world's major meat markets, some have...
In a recent conversation, Alliance CEO David Surveyor described world red meat markets by comparing them to traffic lights.Contrary to the evidence earlier in the year, when buyers stopped buying...
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Allan Barber sees a clear divide between meat processors who have and haven't...
The country’s meat processors have followed two distinctly different paths in response to the government’s wage subsidy scheme which is available to all businesses for 12 weeks, providing they can...
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The pandemic shock to consumers is changing their meat buying habits very...
The days of bemoaning our meat exporters’ lack of flexibility when everything was exported as frozen carcases are now a distant memory. Even the days of growing the profitable chilled lamb business...
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