Does the meat industry have a 10 year strategy??

Last week's release of the Strategy for NZ Dairy Farming, produced by DairyNZ in conjunction with Fed Farmers and the Dairy Companies Association , should serve as a wake up call for the red meat industry reports Scoop. "Farmers know where we need to be, but how to get there is not clear, so an inclusive pan industry strategy is needed," says Bruce Wills, Fed Farmers Meat & Fibre chairman. We started down this path last year with the Meat Industry Taskforce but as not all parties contributed, this came to an abrupt and disappointing end. The work behind Federated Farmers T150 campaign highlights the desperate need for a strategy. "Farmers and others in this vitally important industry want and need a profitable and sustainable future. A comprehensive strategy is the best way to achieve this outcome."Meat & Wool is best placed to bring together the processors and Fed Farmers around one table. We see this process being taken to all parts of NZ to create a future we can all buy into. "The red meat community has been through some incredibly tough years. The industry has survived by decimating the national flock. As farmers we have just endured the toughest year in two generations. Lamb returns may have doubled in the last year, but farming leaders say the need to restructure the meat industry remains reports The ODT. The Meat Industry Action Group, which last year led the debate to change the industry's structure, will meet in Dunedin today to discuss its future and its leaders say many farmers had requested it not be disbanded. Chairman John Gregan said the issues and problems that encouraged the creation of the group remained. The only difference was that cheques farmers had received this season were double what they were last season. The likelihood of a boom and bust cycle for lamb remained so long as the meat industry had a business plan that maximised the throughput of lambs at the meat works and treated lamb as a commodity, he said.