Glenys Christian
Over the gate
An advertising campaign promoting New Zealand beef in world markets is a great idea. But after its launch just a fortnight ago in Asian markets, farmers might be forgiven for asking why it took so long in the gestation.
They know they supply a quality product, and have watched world markets swing in their favour.
Clean, green and natural are all attributes which grass-fed New Zealand beef does not have to strive to attain - these values merely needed to be backed by better quality-assurance schemes. The launch delay was not for this reason alone, though.
The real problem, as with most matters concerning the meat industry, was the lack of common purpose among all players. And, bizarrely enough, this stumbling block to greater marketing success has not yet been fully removed.
Meat New Zealand director Tim Brittain, who attended the official functions launching NZ beef as "far and away the best in the world," gave a full report to Auckland farmers recently.
But when asked why the promotional video featured European and not Asian diners, he reverted to the old industry standby of attack as the best defence. The promotion, he told the farmers, centred on New Zealand's natural environment and was not designed to give them "the warm fuzzies." Farmers have no difficulty grasping the concept of using travel brochure-type imagery to advertise our primary products.
But what does trouble them is that they pay Meat NZ, which made the video and launched the promotion, over $21 million a year in levies. Some accountability is only fair, so it is with good reason that much of the debate about producer-board reform has centred on this issue.
Mr Brittain explained that around $1 million would go into the new beef promotion this year, particularly in Japan, where there is stronger competition from the United States, Australia and, increasingly, Canada for the beef-buying yen.
Many farmers wonder why, when you can't come near to beating the marketing power of those countries, you should even get into the game. But Meat NZ has made the decision, and now farmers want to know their money is well spent.
As one told Mr Brittain, there would be precious little left of the meat industry if it found itself without any product to market.
Some attention must be paid to the person at the start of the equation - the producer - who is feeling pressured by low returns and the increasingly likely prospect of rises in interest rates and the level of the dollar.
With a cool $1 million of their money going on beef promotion, farmers are certainly entitled to do a few sums on how they could put that cash to good use several times over on their own properties.
That amount of farmer money surely means that just a touch of warmth from Meat NZ is very much in order.
