Red meat, Malcolm Bailey and positive farming news

26 August 2013

Red meat, Malcolm Bailey and positive farming news

A ‘bloody marvellous opportunity’ is how Federated Farmers is describing the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP), which will be independently chaired by former President, Malcolm Bailey. The RMPP is a Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) announced in January.

“We are thrilled to have our old comrade on board. Malcolm is of the highest calibre and we know he’ll do a great job,” says Jeanette Maxwell, Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre Chairperson.

“Federated Farmers has a vested interest in the success of the RMPP because it provides a model of cooperation in an industry where that’s been in short supply. For those who say nothing positive is happening we say, ‘look at this.’

“In January, Federated Farmers said we hoped this PGP could arrest a race to the bottom and those words have never been truer, or for that matter, more relevant.

“Frankly, we’ve never had anything like the RMPP before, which is through the line and multi-faceted. It involves Beef + Lamb New Zealand along with the processors, Alliance Group, ANZCO, Silver Fern Farms, Greenlea, Blue Sky Meats and Progressive Meats. ANZ Bank and Rabobank are involved as is Deloitte.

“With the RMPP in the final stages of contract negotiations with the Crown, it will invest across a portfolio of projects to build capability and make the red meat sector more profitable, confident and productive. We are at a stage where the need to get this right is crucial.

“That makes Malcolm Bailey’s role pivotal. Not only is Malcolm a past President of Federated Farmers, he has been a former Special Agricultural Trade Envoy and is currently a Director of Fonterra Cooperative Group. If that is not enough, he is a Director of Westpac NZ, Chairman of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand and a member of the Food & Agriculture International Trade Policy Council.

“We are as excited by this as Malcolm Bailey is. He will chair the RMPP to achieve a step change in farm productivity and red meat sector performance,” Mrs Maxwell concluded.

ENDS

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