Next week  consultation meetings will start with farmers, asking for their views on the future direction of the red meat sector.

Significant improvements in returns are promised from the ideas in the report, which is desperately needed to reinvigorate profits for sheep and beef farmers.

With the market providing record prices and unprecedended demand for nearly all the products livestock farmers produce, profits should also be at record levels.

 But Beef and Lamb NZ figures shows this is not the case, so an in depth look at structures and strategy could reveal how costs can be reduced, and profits improved.

Will you be attending one of these meetings and add your voice to beef and lambs future direction?

Preliminary findings from the red meat sector strategy will show there are significant opportunities over the next five years to secure and accelerate improvements the sector is already making reports Voxy. A round of consultation meetings to discuss the preliminary findings for farmers, following four months of information gathering and analysis, begins on Monday in Gore and will conclude on February 14. The strategy is being facilitated by Deloitte on behalf of Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Meat Industry Association, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

Deloitte partner Alasdair MacLeod, who has led the team which is facilitating the strategy report, says the aim of the meetings is to "road-test" some key findings with farmers, and he anticipates the report will be finalised by late March. "This isn't an academic exercise - the views of the sector on these findings to date are vital and we want to hear them. But we're also wanting an indication of the appetite for some of the changes that we think need to occur, as this will be vital for the sector to really progress," Mr MacLeod says.

The strategy has identified a number of key areas which require change from farmers and industry in order for market signals to flow through and to maximise returns to the sector. These areas include stock procurement processes, stock management and logistics, processing and marketing, and variable farm performance."What we've discovered during our discussions with farmers and industry is that by following the sector's best practice, using existing technology and knowledge, many of the sector participants can make significant improvements in returns over the next five years," Mr MacLeod says.

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Alasdair MacLeod

Beef and lambs future

It's important for sheep and beef farmers and the wider industry to know that their sector continues to be a significant earner for the country, generating in total over $7 billion a year, and that there are a number of farmers making very good returns, he says. Mr MacLeod says the most profitable farmers are concentrating on factors they can influence and not getting bogged down by issues they can't manage such as exchange rates and climate extremes.

Clear opportunities exist around improving stock procurement and stock management but they will require behaviour changes. There are also significant opportunities to increase sector returns through greater in-market collaboration by processors.The strategy development process has been split into two phases, with the current work focused on securing the sector by increasing shared best practice. The next phase that needs to occur will require a focus on ways to grow the sector.