Large meat co-op formation 'window of opportunity' passing

The ''window of opportunity'' for a large meat co-operative to form is diminishing, Federated Farmers Otago meat and fibre chairman Simon McAtamney says.

Whatever happened to the future form of Silver Fern Farms once the outcome of its capital-raising efforts was known would most likely dictate change in the industry, Mr McAtamney said in his report to the organisation's annual meeting.

Meat Industry Excellence wanted farmers to ''go to their pockets'' and back an Alliance Group-Silver Fern Farms merger as a starting point.

But regardless of the potential of that concept, the appetite for ''throwing more money'' the way of the co-operatives was quite weak among many shareholders, he said.

Federated Farmers North Otago meat and fibre chairman Greg Ruddenklau, in his annual report, said lamb prices had not reflected values that were needed to produce them.

Farmers needed price signalling and certainty that ''isn't just a figure at a meeting'', Mr Ruddenklau said.

''There have been a lot of reports and recommendations on the direction the meat industry should take but nothing tangible has happened yet,'' he said.

Mr McAtamney said two other big issues for Otago meat and fibre farmers were health and safety and farmers' readiness for the Otago Regional Council's plan change 6A.

WorkSafe NZ's intentions to reduce accidents and injuries on farms were admirable and the statistics could not be argued against.

But there was uncertainty around what exactly farmers were expected to do regarding meeting compliance and who was liable if something did go wrong.

''There is quite an industry sprouting up around health and safety and messages appear to be quite confusing. People are lining up to take our money but not necessarily make our farms safer,'' he said.

Farmers needed to think about their everyday practices and whether they could do things differently to minimise harm.

That was more important in terms of preventing injuries than ''ticking boxes''.

''Unfortunately, it may not be until after the outcomes of some prosecutions under the new Act that we know exactly what we are expected to comply with.''

It was good to see the Clutha Development Trust gain funding for its water quality monitoring project and hopefully there would be more of those initiatives throughout the region, Mr McAtamney said.

It was also a good idea for farmers to do some of their own sampling and get an idea of the state of their water quality, he said.

Federated Farmers was surprised and disappointed with the recently announced new targeted water quality rate.

While it would be lower for meat and fibre farmers, some dairy farmers would pay up to $2000 a year, Mr McAtamney said.

Targeted rates should mean the ratepayer derived the benefits from such payments, he said, and he questioned what value they would get from that.

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