Unlocking sector’s potential
THE red meat sector has treated Southland farmer Andrew Morrison well.
That is not to say there have not been challenges and he has not lost sleep over the likes of ‘‘debt and grass’’.
But he had confidence in the sector and his election as chairman of Beef + Lamb New Zealand was about putting time back into an industry that had ‘‘served a lot of people well’’ and had the ability to continue to do that, he said.
Mr Morrison replaces James Parsons, who stepped down after serving as chairman for four years.
Mr Morrison has represented the southern South Island region on B+LNZ’s board for the past four years.
He and his wife Lisa — who have two children, Bryn (19) and Kelly (15) — farm a total of 1030ha of breeding and finishing units spread between Southland and Otago.
He farms the couple’s 150ha home farm near Gore, although his wife was in charge of daytoday management.
Mr Morrison felt both privileged and excited about the role, as it was an industry that he loved and saw so much potential in.
‘‘It is not always easy, but it is a truly great valuesbased sector to be part of. These farming values flow into rural communities.
‘‘I am a strong believer in the contribution healthy rural communities make to the wider economy. I see merit in supporting and enhancing the unbelievable potential we have in agriculture and in rural communities.’’
He believed farmers spent too much time ‘‘fixated on negatives’’ yet there were so many opportunities in the sector.
B+LNZ had been very well served by previous chairmen — Mr Parsons and, prior to that, Mike Petersen, who is now New Zealand’s Agricultural Trade Envoy.
He acknowledged the contribution Mr Parsons made to both B+LNZ and the wider red meat industry during his tenure.
‘‘James provided leadership during some challenging times in the industry, especially with climatic events, biosecurity breaches and farming’s environment footprint being called into question.’’
Although he had a more reserved leadership style than those two, who were both very outgoing, Mr Morrison said he was a very peopleoriented person.
He loved conversations, saying there was more to be gained by working with people and finding solutions, as opposed to pressuring them.
While the chairman was the ‘‘front man’’, it was the team behind that actually delivered the results and there was a ‘‘fantastic’’ team at B+LNZ.
Mr Morrison would be leading it as the levyfunded organisation implemented a revised strategy.
Released last year, the strategy put more emphasis on enhancing farmers’ environmental position, unlocking market potential and greater government and public insight engagement, while still supporting farming excellence.
Alongside continuing investment in extension programmes and ongoing research and development to support farmers, key priorities were the launch of the environment strategy and Red Meat Story.
Both of those were critical to setting up the sector for a strong future, Mr Morrison said.
One of the most important elements of the new strategy and recent structural changes was the focus on developing insights.
B+LNZ was now constantly looking ahead and undertaking research and developing thinking to position the sector for future challenges and opportunities.
The alternative proteins report was an example of the kind of substantive work it wanted to produce more consistently and there was further work in the pipeline, particularly concerning the environment.
‘‘The red meat sector is in a strong position with an unprecedented global demand for protein. We need to leverage our competitive advantage of producing natural grassfed, hormone and antibioticfree sheep and beef,’’ Mr Morrison said.
There would always be challenges in the sector, such as alternative proteins, and you would ‘‘be a mug’’ not to address and understand the challenges, which was why the report into alternative proteins was done.
There had to be a reason why consumers moved away from a product, like red meat, so it was a matter of addressing those issues, he said.
He believed there was a ‘‘cusp of change’’ which had been signalled by the New Zealand public through the election cycle, and requirements of markets.
New Zealand’s production, animal welfare and food safety systems meant it was in a very good place for all the work that had been done previously.
Sheep and beef farmers tended to ‘‘quietly get on with their job’’ and did not like ‘‘singing their praises from the hills’’.
‘‘If you want to go to market, you have to be bold about that and tell the good stuff we’re doing. We have to be a bit bolder about what we’re prepared to tell them,’’ he said.
Productivity gains in the sheep industry had been ‘‘unbelievable’’ — ‘‘we have to acknowledge we are really good at what we do in our sector,’’ he said.
Any debate was good debate, whether it was about the sector’s role in water quality or climate change.
The primary industries also needed to work together on the likes of biosecurity, water quality and animal welfare.
‘‘It doesn’t just become a sheep thing, we’re all farmers. There’s no future in sectorising these things,’’ he said.
He was looking forward to meeting key partners in government and in the agricultural sector.
‘‘The red meat sector is stronger if we are able to work with others so effective collaboration is vital,’’ he said.
Mr Morrison was also on the boards of Ballance AgriNutrients, Ovis Management Ltd, the New Zealand Meat Board, and the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium.