Meeting the Market
New Zealand's farming systems ensure food producers here meet most if not all the requirements of the world’s affluent consumers, but they need reassurance, they need verification and we need to provide it if we are to retain – let alone extend – our share of those high-worth, high-paying customers.
Against this background, senior reporter Neal Wallace is on a six-week tour – August 23 to October 6, 2024 – of the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Dubai and China, our most valuable dairy and meat markets.
He will be meeting and talking to, among others, customers such as McDonald’s, Tesco and Sainsbury’s and asking what their customers want now and what they will want in the future.
Methane busters only months away for Dutch farms
Next spring is delivery date for new tools that could eventually cut cow methane by almost a third.
Peace and politics on a famous Welsh farm
UK farmer Gareth Wyn Jones’s enormous social media following gives him the clout to advocate for the sector he loves.
The market needs you to know your numbers
Comprehensive and comprehensible data to back up environmental claims is increasingly the price of doing business, writes Neal Wallace.
Serving up a tasty dish of lamb and beef
Alliance’s London office is spearheading a range of promotional and sales opportunities for New Zealand red meat in the UK.
New trade era of rules and flag-waving
Free trade’s golden age is over as nationalism and entry barriers abound, expert says.
Nestlé continues to urge farmers to cut emissions
Dairy accounts for about 21% of the company’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and is Nestlé’s largest single source.
Record support for farmers in 54 countries
Direct financial support accounts for 9% of farmers’ income in those countries, often distorting the market.
Food companies, retailers need partnerships to meet the market
Closer relationships among suppliers, processors and retailers needed to meet sustainability targets.
Greening of Europe could create food gap
New opportunities for New Zealand exporters as policies erode bloc’s food production, strategist predicts.
Carrot and stick in Danish emissions approach
Denmark to start charging farmers for agricultural GHG from 2030.
Key lessons from having met the market
Neal Wallace catches Farmers Weekly readers up on the core messages he is picking up on his epic Meeting the Market assignment.
Fonterra making its ‘whey’ in Europe
Kiwi co-op’s only dairy factory on the continent turns out a range of value-added dairy products at its facility outside Amsterdam.
Demographic shifts a challenge to dairy
Population growth does not necessarily equate to a growing appetite for the sector’s products as they stand.
Green efforts are slowing, but not disappearing
War and pandemic bite into profits and plans, but the push to be more sustainable is not going away.
Dutch dairy sector’s big cowpat problem
The political and regulatory treatment of the manure produced by the industry in the Netherlands has farmers steaming.
FLAG targets a signal of change to come
Food producers should be preparing in earnest for future sustainability targets, says a Rabobank analyst.
EU forestry regs a potential pain point for NZ exports
EU rules about proving the origin of products to help combat deforestation aren’t going away.
Flow of goods brings NZ-EU trade agreement to life
First consignment of beef from New Zealand arrives in Europe under new trade terms.
A growing appetite for sustainable dairy
Mars Snacking, via Fonterra, is a huge consumer of New Zealand’s clean green product.
Eating what comes naturally: dairy protein
Increasingly put off by highly processed plant-based products, the US is displaying a keen appetite for dairy protein.
Glimmers of new deal for farmers in EU
Heartened by signals from Brussels, bloc’s organised agriculture looks for action to follow rhetoric.
Big food puts big money into big goals
These large, complex businesses are not about to abandon us, but they want to see continuous improvement on sustainability, writes Neal Wallace.
Getting noticed is first step for NZ lamb in US
With fierce competition for limited shelf space, lamb has its work cut out for it in huge California market, writes Neal Wallace.
Macca’s gets its order in for NZ beef producers
McDonald’s wants Kiwi beef producers to address climate change and tackle the bobby calf issue before it becomes a problem for the fast-food giant.
Attribute-based food choices bring new opportunities
US consumers place real value on the environmental and personal health characteristics of their food, SFF’s man in LA learns.
Going straight to the source for global market insights
Farmers Weekly senior reporter Neal Wallace heads off on a six-week, seven-country assignment to New Zealand’s key agricultural export countries.