New Zealand's red meat sector to upgrade through government funding

The red meat industry in New Zealand is now ready to upgrade its production performance through taxpayer funding as mutually proposed by three of the country's major agricultural companies.

Silver Fern Farmers, Livestock Improvement and PGG Wrightson's joint proposal to design a transformation model for the New Zealand red meat sector has been confirmed it has approval to advance to a business plan stage from the Investment Advisory Panel of the government's Primary Growth Partnership fund. The business plan is expected to be tabled for consideration by the panel within two months.

The proposal outlines a plan to revitalise the struggling red meat industry from a traditional and underperforming production model to one which improves on-farm productivity, optimises processing efficiency and delivers higher value customer-focused end products.

The Primary Growth Partnership is a joint government and industry initiative created to invest in programmes of research and innovation to boost the economic growth and sustainability of the agribusiness sector.