Analysis

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Energy-saving technology a first for sheep and beef industry

Alliance Group is investing in a range of initiatives to improve its environmental footprint including a heat pump to reduce diesel use. The new energy-saving high temperature heat pump at the co-operative’s Nelson plant, which will help cut carbon emissions, recycles waste heat from the plant’s refrigeration systems. A first for the New Zealand sheep and beef processing industry, the heat pump has been installed in collaboration with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Meanwhile, Alliance is also examining fuel options for its other plants. It is currently looking at upgrading the existing boiler at its Mataura plant in Southland to provide a number of benefits including improvements to emissions and efficiency, and considering further opportunities for other sites in the future. “Alliance has a comprehensive sustainability programme in place to improve our impact on the environment and we have the financial strength to invest in these improvements,” says Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor. “We recognise we have to play our part and improve our environmental footprint. Our customers and consumers have high expectations for how the co-operative manages the natural environment and they also expect transparency and ethical food production. “As a 100 per cent farmer-owned co-operative, we are committed to meeting high standards of environmental practices and we are constantly looking ahead to make sure our practices allow us to be in business for the long term so we can continue to support our farmers and rural communities. “It is fantastic that the high temperature heat pump makes sound environmental sense and good business sense too.” Alliance’s seven processing plants, which employ almost 5,000 people at peak season, have annual performance targets for fuel and electricity use, which make up the majority of the co-operative’s annual emissions (107,877 tonnes of CO2 equivalent). “We regularly monitor our […]

Launch of New Zealand Food Network set to bolster support for thousands of Kiwis living with food insecurity

With many New Zealanders facing increased financial hardship as a result of Covid-19, national levels of food insecurity have risen sharply in recent months – and rose further when the wage subsidy scheme concluded in September. Now, a new venture is set to provide much-needed additional support to the hundreds of community organisations around the country that are working overtime to meet this growing need. The New Zealand Food Network (NZFN) will enable food hubs – such as food rescue organisations, iwi and charities – to expand their positive impact in the communities they serve, and beyond, by transforming supply chain processes to create better efficiency and synergy. The NZFN will act as a centralised distribution hub, collecting and safely storing bulk food donations at its Auckland-based warehouse, with food then able to be requested on an as-needed basis (and at no cost) by food hubs around the country, without compromising their existing supply channels. Donations will include not only surplus and rescued food, which would otherwise go to landfill – but also bulk donations of saleable product from a community of generous donor partners. Providing a comprehensive and streamlined solution to connect supply and demand, the NZFN also promises to eliminate the issue faced by many community organisations of a lack of on-site storage infrastructure, which can often see them having to turn away large food donations. The amount of food made available to any single organisation will depend on supply, the levels of deprivation or food insecurity in the communities they serve, coupled with their storage capacity. New Zealand Food Network founder, Deborah Manning, says the launch marks the culmination of over two years of planning and preparation – with efforts expedited from the start of lockdown, to help meet the new wave of demand caused by the […]

KiwiHarvest urges Kiwis to waste less and feed more this World Food Day

Today, on World Food Day, Aotearoa’s largest food rescue organisation, KiwiHarvest is calling for New Zealanders to Waste Less and instead Donate Food to local organisations – as the economic impact of COVID-19 means that more Kiwis are struggling with food hardship than ever before. Blandina Diamond, KiwiHarvest General Manager, says that while initial donations from generous individuals and businesses have been a significant help, demand for food has remained consistently high, even since lockdown came to an end. Between April and September of this year, KiwiHarvest distributed over 1.2 million kgs of food – an increase of over 60% from the same time last year. Before COVID-19, KiwiHarvest distributed an average of 98,000kgs of food per month to its recipient agencies which rose to 216,000kgs at its peak in June, an increase of 120.4%. “The support we’ve received from businesses and individuals so far has made an enormous difference to those in need. In spite of this generosity, we’re going to see the fallout of COVID-19 being felt for a long time, and food insecurity in Aotearoa being an ongoing issue for many of our most vulnerable whanau and families. “At the same time, figures from Love Food Hate Waste estimate that each and every year Kiwis throw away over 157,000 tonnes of food which could feed over 337,000 people. It’s disheartening to see so much good food going to landfill which wastes growing and supply chain resources and creates greenhouse gases, when it could instead be redistributed to communities in need. “This World Food Day, we’re encouraging individuals and families to look at their own food choices and behaviours to see how they can reduce their food waste and instead donate food to their local food bank or organisation to help create a food secure Aotearoa,” says Diamond. […]

Agricultural equipment sector remains positive

The agricultural equipment sector remains in a positive mood throughout the country says the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA), which represents the sector in manufacturing, retailing and distribution. TAMA sales statistics for the year to date (September 30) are down around 18 percent compared with 2019‘s record-breaking year, however indicators remain positive as New Zealand enters the peak of another growing season. TAMA president Kyle Baxter said despite sales volumes being down in some equipment ranges, members were confident regarding business trading across dealerships and local equipment manufacturing. Customers were already discussing their machine requirements for autumn and spring 2021, which was a really encouraging sign, Mr Baxter said. “Everyone has benefited from a mostly favourable winter around the country. This weather was greatly appreciated by many customers in a year that has seen a never-ending list of challenges.” Mr Baxter said one big challenge still facing TAMA members was the continuation of international border restrictions. “Many TAMA members rely on overseas staff to fulfil a broad range of roles within dealerships, manufacturing and technical support roles. With these roles not being able to be filled from overseas during the season, and possibly beyond, TAMA is urging its members to look at other options available.” These options included COVID-19 government funding for businesses who take on new apprentices or retrain unemployed people from other sectors. The TAMA triennial employment survey, which came out in August, showed that the industry had 318 apprentices but needed 176 more. The survey also showed that around 25% of the workforce could likely retire in the next 15 years while only 32% of staff are aged under 30. “We want to attract more under 30s into our industry to help ensure sound succession planning. Given the huge uptake and integration of […]

ABB Ability Liquid Routing Library launched for food and beverage production

Process automation technology provides customers with optimal routing and ‘cleaning-in-place’ to increase efficiency and reduce costs. ABB has launched ABB Ability Liquid Routing Library which is a control engineering inventory for food and beverage manufacturers and those in other liquid related industries, including tank farms, pharmaceuticals and chemical resin plants. The new digital application draws on ABB Ability System 800xA, the most powerful Distributed Control System (DCS) automation platform in the market and will support routing and cleaning in place (CIP) functionalities needed for liquid-led production. It can be used wherever products are transported, stored or processed in tanks and lines and is particularly relevant to dairy, brewing, sugar, mills and edible oil application programming. Ready-made objects including libraries, typicals, and templates for product routing, with recipe-based CIP, track and trace, preventive plant maintenance, Excel-based bulk data tools are made available for customers through the library. Functionalities include alarm handling, alarm propagation between different units, queue handling for online production changes, control and supervision of process objects, interlocks and transfer of product and equipment settings like product codes, unit names and unit states. ABB Ability Liquid Routing Library will support food and beverage customers in their digitalisation journey. Customers are driving innovation in process automation, digitalising their production sites for greater speed, consistency and quality and Liquid Routing Library is an important piece of this jigsaw. Having a complete library for product routing, with ready-made objects and templates will allow users greater visibility and understanding of what is happening at each stage of the process. We know that routing and cleaning in place support are vitally important in food and beverage plants. This is built-in and at-any-stage ABB support from experts or additional documentation is available. Operators will be able to diagnose issues quicker than before and have solutions ready, […]

Fonterra sells China farms

Fonterra has agreed to sell its China farms for a total of $555 million (RMB 2.5 billion*1), after successfully developing the farms alongside local partners. Inner Mongolia Natural Dairy Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China Youran Dairy Group Limited (Youran), has agreed to purchase Fonterra’s two farming-hubs in Ying and Yutian for $513 million (RMB 2.31 billion*1). Separately, Fonterra has agreed to sell its 85 per cent interest in its Hangu farm to Beijing Sanyuan Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (Sanyuan), for $42 million (RMB 190 million*1). Sanyuan has a 15 per cent minority shareholding in the farm and exercised their right of first refusal to purchase Fonterra’s interest. CEO Miles Hurrell says in building the farms, Fonterra has demonstrated its commitment to the development of the Chinese dairy industry. “We’ve worked closely with local players, sharing our expertise in farming techniques and animal husbandry, and contributed to the growth of the industry. “We don’t shy away from the fact that establishing farms from scratch in China has been challenging, but our team has successfully developed productive model farms, supplying high quality fresh milk to the local consumer market. It’s now time to pass the baton to Youran and Sanyuan to continue the development of these farms.” Mr Hurrell says the sale of the farms will allow the Co-op to prioritise the areas of its business where it has competitive advantages. “For the last 18 months, we have been reviewing every part of the business to ensure our assets and investments meet the needs of the Co-op today. Selling the farms is in line with our decision to focus on our New Zealand farmers’ milk. “China remains one of Fonterra’s most important strategic markets, receiving around a quarter of our production. Selling the farms will allow us to focus even more […]

Nigeria to increase shea industry exports amid growing global demand

Tridge, a global sourcing and market intelligence hub for food buyers and suppliers, has reported the latest market trends affecting the food and agriculture sector. This week the biggest news relates to the expansion of the Nigerian shea industry due to an increase in global demand. Nigeria, one of the top producers of shea nuts and butter, is looking to expand its business to regions that have the most potential for growth such as North America and Asia. Currently, the largest market for Shea butter is Europe with an estimated 250K metric tonnes exported to the continent yearly. Breakthroughs in exports are expected to happen after Nigeria has addressed the key challenges impacting the industry. This includes the fact that around 50% of shea nuts are utilised for exporting purposes and processing, and much of the product is left unused in the wild. Hoshik Shin, founder and CEO at Tridge said: “Shea butter is used worldwide for a variety of uses in the food industry as well as in the cosmetics sector, with a market value estimated to reach at least USD 3B in 2025. “Demand for the product has also increased as the production of shea butter is more environmentally friendly than counterparts such as palm oil. Not requiring any deforestation of the production area also makes it more appealing to customers”.

New rural employee support hub launched

DairyNZ and partners have launched a new Rural Employee Support Hub, to provide information and help to farm employees so they have the best possible experiences and careers on farm. The hub is a website ruralemployeesupport.co.nz and a free employee support phone line (0800 694 121) where people can have their questions answered, big and small. “Dairying is a sector that’s built on people – people are the key to our success, so we want everyone in dairying to have a rewarding career long-term and that’s where the Rural Employee Support Hub plays a key part,” DairyNZ people team leader Jane Muir said. The website is packed with information and tips to support and help employees excel in their jobs on farms. Information includes careers, training and development, remuneration and tenancies. There are sections on personal health including keeping active, nutrition and mental health support. On a practical level, there’s help on animals, farm health and safety. There’s even access to legal support if needed. The hub is a DairyNZ and Ministry for Primary Industries initiative, being delivered by Federated Farmers and supported by Dairy Women’s Network and New Zealand Young Farmers. “As a sector, we are really focused on ensuring employees enjoy and are fulfilled in their jobs, and that farm bosses have great talent working for them. It’s a two-way relationship,” said Jane. “Employers are well supported through DairyNZ and Federated Farmers, and we want to ensure employees have the same level of support and know where to go to ask questions.” Farm employees can call the hub’s free 0800 support line for information. The line provides confidential, impartial advice and is available Monday to Friday 8.30am-5pm. People can also email via the website. The initiative is a six-month pilot […]

The Interview:James Crow, Little Island

We want to command a dominant export position, as NZ animal protein business have done in the past. How do you see current business opportunities for your company? This is new territory for us all but what the past two months have reaffirmed is that the need for locally manufactured food with environmental credentials is only growing. Consumers have become more aware of what they are consuming over the lockdown and will be more receptive to the health and lifestyle benefits that plant based foods can offer. As our hospitality channels rebuild, we will look to develop specific products and formats for that industry as well. Our current capital raise via Snowball Effect will allow us to react more quickly to these developing trends to expand our current range, while also acquiring a plant based yoghurt business to round out our offering. Do you export and to where? We have tested the waters with exports into an independent Australian retailer chain of 100 stores and a successful two year pilot in a premium Singapore supermarket chain of 45 stores. This work has shown where the opportunities are and the work that will be required to secure these regions for Little Island in the future. After 10 years, is everything on track? For a start-up “on track” is generally code for you tackled the last obstacle and are charging ahead. The secret to our success so far has been building production capacity and knowledge in what we do, from the ground up, and this is going well. We have very good business fundamentals that now require further capital to accelerate growth. Through our current capital raise we have a solid strategy to develop our people and products to become the dominant plant based business both in New Zealand and in our […]

First Fieldays Online a virtual success

The Fieldays Online concept and digital platform was created in just under 108 days. As New Zealand went into the national lockdown the New Zealand National Fieldays Society (NZNFS) began building an online event following the cancellation of the physical Fieldays; effectively transforming the largest agricultural show in the Southern Hemisphere into a completely virtual experience. The success of the event, which was held from the 13th – 26th July, was measured in several ways, from visitor numbers to global reach. Total digital visitors hit 90,455, with attendees from over 75 countries accessing nearly 300 exhibitors and over 24 hours of Fieldays TV content. Digital adoption in higher age groups exceeded expectations with 40 per cent of registered users in the 50+ age group. “The analytics show great viewership and engagement with the explosion of international visitors and, locally, a much higher regional spread beyond the traditional Fieldays. The success of this years’ event was a testament to the strong collaboration with our exhibitors and our relationships with industry leaders that got behind it despite not having a benchmark,” said Peter Nation, CEO NZNFS. The timing of the event was positioned to allow time for exhibitors to return to business post lockdown and leverage the event to the fullest; whilst this fell during the beginning of calving, registered users in the dairy industry ranked third in industry type. “It’s great to see Fieldays increasingly showcasing how we take our agricultural innovation global. Supporting growth and uptake of agritech will help future-proof the industry, increase high-value exports while improving sustainability and efficiency,” remarked Simon Yarrow, Agritech Group Manager at Callaghan Innovation. International supporters, Enterprise Ireland, who attended Fieldays for the 14th year, found that moving to an online event widened engagement with clients and colleagues overseas. “Despite the cancellation of the […]

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