Two projects to develop premium markets for New Zealand venison and lamb have won $41 million in government and industry co-funding under the Primary Growth Partnership.
Passion2Profit has been given $16 million to help develop new markets for chilled venison and help deer farmers become more productive and profitable.
The Ministry for Primary Industries, which co-ordinates the PGP programme, is giving almost $7.4 million. The rest is coming from Deer Industry New Zealand and partners.
The other project, Targeting New Wealth with High Health, gets $25 million over seven years to reach existing and emerging markets with a new class of premium lamb products with improved health qualities. These include lower levels of saturated fat and higher levels of polyunsaturated fat and healthy omega-3 oils. Half of the funding will come from MPI.
The Primary Growth Partnership aims to boost the value, productivity and profitability of the primary sector through investment between government and industry. It has 18 long-term programmes with about $720 million of co-investments.
