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It seems not everyone is pleased with the recommendations made today by the meat industry to lift performance and profitability in the sector.
In a rare collaboration, Beef + Lamb NZ, the Meat Industry Association, MAF and NZ Trade and Enterprise have commissioned a report in an effort to improve red meat industry profits.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand CEO Scott Champion said the study is being done because many farmers, and the sector more broadly, has really struggled for profitability.
At a meeting today, Gore farmers were the first to hear what
areas the report would be looking at, to improve the sector.
It includes a critical evaluation of stock and station agents who
traditionally broker livestock sales.
"The stock agents, as far as we can find out, are adding significantly more in cost to the sector than they deliver in value," Deloitte partner Alasdair MacLeod said at the meeting.
That surprised agents like John Faulks of Rural Livestock Ltd, who says they are selling more animals.
With dairy and forestry fast encroaching on farmland, red meat farmers say they are keen to secure their future.
Farmers mostly agreed that companies selling red meat should make an effort to come together and even perhaps market their product together.
Some were a little critical, saying the information released today was not something farmers didn't already know.
"We just need to be able to put a plan in place to implement it really," one farmer said.
More meetings will be held nationwide over the next month and the final report will be released at the end of March.
