Income the pits at $20,000

The messages from either side of the farmgate are the same - NZ's red meat producers are in big trouble, with gross farm incomes this year expected to average just $20,000. And it is all down to long, complex supply chains to market that add costs at every step, yet fail to capture any substantial retail margin for the farmer. This year the best farmers in the world will produce 12% more lamb from 31% fewer sheep since deregulation of the NZ farming industry. They have radically redesigned their farm systems for maximum efficiency since 1985 "“ yet the margin for those added efficiencies goes to the retailer, not the producer. Mistrust and poor direction have stricken the meat industry, says sheep and beef farmer and 2008 Nuffield Scholar James Parsons. He advocates a "˜collaborative value chain' in which the producers' group, processor and retailer all overlap and share information for maximum supply chain efficiency