Meat & wool farmers levy may double

M&WNZ is asking farmers to approve levy increases that could almost double what they pay now to run the organisation reports the NZ Herald. The 15,000 sheep and beef farmers who fund Meat & Wool with $32 million a year in levies will shortly hear its case for the first fee increase since it was formed in 2004. A series of roadshows will be held over the next three months, culminating in a vote in August. At the organisation's annual meeting in Gore yesterday, chairman Mike Petersen signalled a range of possible levy increases based on a per head figure tallied at processing. The beef cattle levy would rise from $3.60 to between $5.50 and $6 a head, and the sheep levy from 40 cents to between 60c and 80c. The wool levy would fall slightly from 5.25 cents a kilogram to 5c. Mr Petersen said that in recent years extra funding of up to $10 million a year had been needed from reserves built up by the former Meat Board, and the proposals canvassed the possibility of getting this money from levies instead. Though times were tough for farmers, the agricultural industries, particularly meat, were coping "relatively well". "We now have an opportunity to organise ourselves and capitalise when the upturn comes. We need to do that sooner rather than later," Mr Petersen said. An independent report showed that Meat & Wool provided good value to farmers for their levy investment. Returns had ranged from $1.73 to $23.90 for every dollar. This came from promoting New Zealand meat in north Asia, Britain and Germany, with the biggest benefit from farmers' uptake of pasture research and the improved management of hogget mating. Further gains could come from better use of the organisation's economic service. "In the last 12 months commercial companies have been coming to us seeking industry information and have been astounded at what we've got."