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The environmental impact of producing red meat in New Zealand is lower than other countries, research suggests.
Stuff’s new series, A Meaty Business, explores New Zealand’s economic and nutritional dependence on meat. Today we ask, how sustainable is the meat New Zealand produces? Step back a couple of decades, and a juicy steak or a bowl of bolognese would never have prompted any questions about what it took to get it on one s plate. But with climate change an increasing concern, many of the country’s meat export customers are asking awkward questions about red meat. How much greenhouse gas was created, rivers muddied, how much fertiliser and water used?
Opinion: How sheep and beef farmers tackled a tough year
22 Dec, 2020 09:00 PM
4 minutes to read
The Country
Opinion: Beef + Lamb New Zealand chairman Andrew Morrison and Beef + Lamb New Zealand CEO Sam McIvor reflect on the challenges of 2020, and look to the future for the red meat sector.
The response to adversity in 2020 has really underlined the passion, pride and resilience of sheep and beef farmers and our processing companies.
This in-built resilience has stood the sector in good stead during 2020 and underlined its critical contribution to our communities, to the environment, and to New Zealand s economy.
In the face of disruption caused by the global pandemic, our sheep and beef sector showed tremendous agility in where it exported and how the product was delivered to consumers.
Fonterra has recently raised its
farmgate milk price forecast range for the 20/21 season, lifting the midpoint of its forecast range to $7.00 per kgMS. This is a clear sign that risks to downside are reducing as the co-op calved 20c off the bottom of its forecast range, taking us to a $6.70 - $7.30 band.
This is not a huge surprise given last week it was noted that there was the potential upside to forecasts.
We’ve had a solid run at recent Global Dairy Trade auctions, with Chinese demand for whole milk powder holding strong. Recent results were significant. Fonterra already has contracted a large chunk of this season’s production compared with the same point in previous seasons, which is also a good sign. Dairy prices are proving incredibly resilient, and demand is very strong which is great to see given how challenging the year has been and the dire forecasts predicted earlier in the year due to COVID-19.