Red meat exports hit second consecutive monthly record
Federated Farmers urges Government to press ahead with conservation reform
Vegetable industry makes case to Parliament for practical settings and sector growth
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Red meat exports hit second consecutive monthly record
New Zealand's red meat sector has posted a second consecutive monthly export record, with May results reaching one-point-six billion dollars — forty-four percent above the same month last year and surpassing April's record of one-point-four billion.
Beef exports drove much of the result, reaching seven-hundred-and-seventy-one million dollars — up fifty-one percent on May last year. Sheepmeat exports hit five-hundred-and-ninety million dollars, with the average export value reaching a record fourteen-dollars-ninety-six per kilogram.
MIA chief executive Nick Beeby says the figures reflect both strong international demand and a significant lift in processing volumes after a slow start to the year.
The US remains the standout market, with beef exports rising eighty-eight percent to a record four-hundred-and-thirteen million dollars. Export values to China also reached their highest levels in several years for both sheep and beef.
Gulf Cooperation Council exports remain below last year's levels due to Middle East disruption, but are recovering.
Federated Farmers urges Government to press ahead with conservation reform
Federated Farmers is urging the Government to press ahead with conservation law reform despite the recent decision to remove land disposal provisions, saying the broader changes are long overdue and desperately needed.
Meat and wool chair Richard Dawkins says the current legislation is outdated and unnecessarily restrictive, and that despite significantly increased budgets, the conservation estate is being overrun by pests, weeds and wilding pines. He says the case for reform couldn't be clearer.
Federated Farmers West Coast president Simon Cameron points to the one-point-two million hectares of land retired from grazing since 1990, saying it was immaculate under active farm management — but pests and weeds moved in when the farmers moved out.
Both Dawkins and Cameron say conservation cannot succeed through passive protection alone, and that farmers, hunters and tourism operators are the natural partners for active land management.
Vegetable industry makes case to Parliament for practical settings and sector growth
New Zealand's vegetable sector is taking its case to Parliament today, with growers and industry leaders meeting decision-makers at a showcase hosted by Agriculture Minister Todd McClay.
The sector produces more than one-point-two million tonnes of vegetables annually, generating one-point-one billion dollars in farmgate returns and employing around nine-thousand-six-hundred people nationwide.
Potatoes New Zealand and NZVeg are using the showcase to outline five priorities for future growth — practical resource management settings for crop rotation and land use, access to modern crop protection tools, energy certainty for greenhouse growing and storage, regulatory confidence to support long-term investment, and growing domestic vegetable consumption.
Potatoes New Zealand chief executive Kate Trufitt says growers are passionate and forward-thinking, and with the right settings in place there is a real opportunity to ensure the sector thrives for generations to come.
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