Multimillion-dollar funding boost for meat, dairy

Minister of Agriculture David Carter Photo / Christine Cornege.

The dairy and red meat sectors received a multimillion dollar funding boost from Government today, which will chip in $144 million of a total $321m for an innovation investment programme.

The $170m dairy programme will be led by DairyNZ and Fonterra, while Silver Fern Farms, PGG Wrightson and Landcorp Farming lead the $151m red meat bid.

The Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) is a government industry initiative that invests in significant programmes of research and innovation, to boost the economic growth and sustainability of the primary, forestry and food sectors.

The Government has set aside $190m for the first four years of the programme and will invest a further $70m annually from 2013/14 financial year.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry director general Murray Sherwin said the latest round of approvals illustrated the huge potential that existed across the primary sector and a new level of collaboration for broader benefit.

"PGP is not about funding industry to do what they have always done. It's about investing in forward thinking, visionary business plans that have the potential to transform our primary sectors and bring about substantial and sustainable economic growth."

Both proposals had a strong focus on meeting market expectations, on sustainable production processes, innovation and a "whole of value chain" perspective, he said.

The dairy industry programme aimed to support on-farm innovation and enhance off-farm outputs.

The red meat bid focussed around consumer demand and if successful was estimated it would grow the red meat sector by 50 per cent by 2025.

Together with the three business plans approved in May, the total of PGP funding allocated across five projects is $164 million over five-seven year programmes.

Agriculture Minister David Carter said it was "the biggest investment by Government in primary sector innovation in decades".

"The PGP aims to transfer great ideas into research, development and ultimately products, jobs and growth. It is exactly the business innovation that the Government has identified as one of the six drivers of economic growth.

"All New Zealanders stand to benefit from the partnerships announced today because the dairy and red meat industries are pivotal to the successful performance of our economy."

- NZPA