Ingredients

NZ Merino inks $8 million contract to supply US-based SmartWool

The New Zealand Merino Company, which markets the nation’s wool to customers on behalf of suppliers, has inked an $8 million one year deal to supply 600 tonnes of New Zealand fine and medium micron wool to US sock and apparel manufacturer SmartWool. NZ Merino aims to boost sheep grower returns from wool through supply agreements with companies such as New Zealand outdoor clothing brand Icebreaker and Danish slipper manufacturer Glerups. The SmartWool supply contract continues an 18 year partnership which has been worth $150 million to NZ Merino growers. “The SmartWool contract is testament that a new way of doing business can work in our commodity based primary sector,” NZ Merino chief executive John Brakenridge said in a statement. “There certainly seems to be heightened awareness of this model now in the primary sector. It brings producers closer to end users and that’s important in making sure we supply a premium offering. It means NZM growers get the best possible return.” Colorado based SmartWool’s parent company, VF Corp, counts The North Face, Timberland and Vans among its global brands. SmartWool started as a ski sock brand in 1994 and has since diversified into performance and lifestyle apparel, selling products in 40 countries. SmartWool’s customers were increasingly interested in the company’s ‘brand story’, particularly fibre that was accredited through NZ Merino’s ZQ programme which requires standards for animal welfare, environmental care and social sustainability, as well as the high quality of the wool, said SmartWool president Mark Satkiewicz. The company’s focus on new product innovation required more complex fibre micron and volume analysis in advance of the contract, Satkiewicz said.

Industry invests in farming women

From left: UYFB facilitiator Justine Kidd, AWDT executive director Lindy Nelson and facilitator Sam Orsborn at one of the UYFB pilot programmes held in 2014. A programme to improve on-farm performance and profitability of sheep and beef farmers by developing the business skills of farming women is being funded by the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP). Funding from RMPP will see up to 160 sheep and beef farming women throughout New Zealand complete the Agri-Women’s Development Trust’s (AWDT) Understanding Your Farming Business (UYFB) programme during 2015. Successfully piloted last year with 90 women by the AWDT, in partnership with Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the programme equips farming women with the business knowledge, skills and confidence to better engage as critical farming partners. The Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) is a unique collaboration between nine industry partners and the Government who are coordinating efforts to increase profitability and productivity in the red meat sector. All investment is centred behind the farm gate, aligning with the recommendations in the Red Meat Sector Strategy. The UYFB programme is one of the first RMPP-funded activities to roll out to farmers. “We welcome this investment in women who make up 50 percent of our sector but who have usually gained their skills through default rather than design,” AWDT executive director Lindy Nelson said. “The RMPP support enables us to extend our targeted development to women in farming partnerships while creating change agents to help achieve the Government’s goal of doubling agricultural sector exports by 2025.” RMPP General Manager, Duncan McKinnon said the AWDT programme fitted extremely well with the aims of the RMPP. “We’ve done some very comprehensive research into the characteristics of high performing farmers and a common factor is the family farming partnership. Those businesses where the husband and wife and wider […]

Accreditation milestone for Synlait Milk

Synlait Milk has become a registered manufacturer of retail-ready infant milk formula for export to China. The Canterbury company announced on September 30 it had received approval from the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China. Managing director John Penno said the latest registration was a major milestone for the business. It added to its registration as a manufacturer of general dairy products and infant formula base powders for export to China, granted in May. ”Being able to manufacture and export high-quality finished infant formula products to China will help Synlait Milk deliver on its value-added strategy, and provides an important confidence boost for our China business where we see significant opportunity for future earnings,” Dr Penno said. Synlait had applied for registration after the Ministry for Primary Industries approved the risk management programme for its dry blending and consumer packaging plant. The plant could process 30,000 metric tonnes a year at the rate of 110 cans a minute. That made it ”a cost-competitive solution for large-volume customers”, the company said. ”It was our intention to build the best plant of its type in the southern hemisphere, particularly in terms of operating efficiency and product quality standards, and feedback from our multinational customers who refer to the plant as `next generation’ affirms our goal,” Dr Penno said. ”We now have an integrated facility on one site in Canterbury, New Zealand that gives us full manufacturing and packaging control, and delivers on the needs of our infant formula customers for a complete, integrated supply chain solution, from raw milk sourcing and collection through to manufacturing and retail packaging.” Automation reduced physical handling of product, and a purpose-built, in-process laboratory inspected every can processed.

LtoR Stuart Gordon CEO of Waikato Innovation Park Minister Steven Joyce and Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker Oct2014

Waikato Innovation Park receives $3M to ramp up value-added food production

The Waikato Innovation Park has received a $3 million equity injection from Callaghan Innovation. It will use the funds to kick off a $5.0 million expansion of its FoodWaikato spray drying facility this month. At full capacity, the new manufacturing capability is expected to inject an additional $38.5 million per year in export revenues back into the New Zealand economy from the sale of new, value-added consumer products. “With this expansion, FoodWaikato will provide a greater level of development and innovation capability to dairy companies – that’s cow, goat and sheep – as well as fruit and vegetables producers. “We’re moving from helping our customers manufacture ingredients that sell for around US$4,700 per tonne to US$20,000 per tonne. At full capacity, we will produce around 2500 tonnes of new, value-added products,” explained Waikato Innovation Park CEO, Stuart Gordon. Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce said the investment aligns with Callaghan Innovation’s goal of accelerating commercialisation of innovation by firms in New Zealand. “The expansion of FoodWaikato provides more open access facilities that support smart ideas coming out of the food and beverage sector. “With an estimated $38.25 million per year of additional export revenues expected to flow back into the New Zealand economy due to this one initiative, the FoodWaikato plant expansion will help more companies take their innovations to new export markets and help the Government reach its goal of doubling the value of exports by 2025,” Joyce outlined. Stuart Gordon said expanding the facility is all about helping more companies take their innovations to new export markets. “There’s no other open access spray drying facility in Australasia where companies can manufacture smaller runs of their first commercial batch of a new product. The only option for them is to build their own plant, which is cost-prohibitive for most companies […]

Rural Contractors question machinery and parts costs

Rural Contractors New Zealand is questioning the high cost of machinery and parts that contractors and farmers are currently paying. RCNZ President, Steve Levet says with the falling forecast milk price for the coming season dairy farmers are going to be careful when making decisions this year – and cost cutting will be top of mind. “With the reality of a lower dairy payout this year, sheep and beef farmers already under the pump and arable producers also feeling the squeeze – further pressure is going to come on contractors to at least hold or reduce our costs,” he explains. “Rural contractors do not have the luxury or the ability to absorb continued cost increases and just pass them on in our pricing to clients. So while farmers are not able to wear any price increases; contractors certainly cannot afford to carry on losing money either.” Mr Levet says rural contracting is a tough business and in today’s highly competitive environment it is not easy to make a profit.“Contractors are already running pretty tight operations and there is not a lot – or in most cases any – fat to cut.” He says like their farmer clients rural contractors will have to look at reducing their costs. “For most rural contracting business; one key area of cost is that of machinery and parts. Ask anyone about the costs of parts and they will all tell you the same thing: eye-watering!” Mr Levet says this has seen many contractors – and farmers – look at sourcing parts from either non-aligned dealers and/or the internet. “Just like consumers in the other parts of the economy; many rural contractors are finding the attraction and availability of cheaper goods via the internet a genuine way for them to cut costs.” He admits there are […]

Upskilling one strategy to cope with lower payout

With the announcement of a drop in Fonterra’s forecast milk solid payout, there’s an urgent need for farmers to review and revise budgets and to monitor cashflow going forward, to ensure debt levels don’t rise unnecessarily. Agribusiness management training is one way that farmers can address these issues and apply better management practices to their businesses. As farm budgets come under scrutiny, farmers may need to cut back on spending or look at increasing their milk production and improve on-farm performance, to offset the lower payout. Primary ITO’s Diploma in Agribusiness Management supports farmers to hone their business management skills so they can manage risks like a volatile payout and take control of their business. Key learning areas such as Business and Finance, where students learn how to develop and monitor financial plans, monitor on-farm performance against objectives, and develop a budget to share with their bank manager or accountant, are all directly applicable to the farmer’s own business. Cath Blake, Manager of Dairy Training Limited, says “Good cashflow budget development and implementation are core parts of successful and profitable business performance. The skills farmers gain by completing the Diploma in Agribusiness really assist in managing financial risk such as the drop in payout this season. This financial capability helps farmers to look to the future goals of the business and gives long term confidence that the dairy industry is a great business to be in.” The cost of human resources can also be a point of contention when budgets are tightened. Staff are often let go of or professional development and training costs are slashed at times of reining in expenses. Mark Paine, DairyNZ strategy and investment leader (people and business) says “Recruiting the right staff and keeping staff motivated can mean staff turnover is reduced. The cost of […]

ESL – technology delivering packaged beverages with superior freshness

With a lot of talk in the beverage industry about non-heat pasteurisation, we are pleased to announce that there is another effective method available that is more economic, more efficient, more beneficial and more compact than other alternatives on the market. With increasing desires to process and consume beverages/food with all the nutritional components still intact, we have some improved and realistic solutions relevant to products such as fruit juices, protein drinks, isotonic drinks, milk, bottled water and RTD’s. Available are proven, non-invasive alternatives to heat-based pasteurisation, preserving the organoleptic integrity of the raw materials and the finished product. This is certainly one of the significant growth areas of innovation in the beverage industry. For more information about this technology, please contact Paul Baggio at info@fbpropak.com.