Chairman mad about red meat

Peter McDonald
Peter McDonald
Meat Industry Excellence is ''open for business'' - but it's also waiting to see what Silver Fern Farms is up to, newly elected chairman Peter McDonald says.

Mr McDonald, a Dipton sheep farmer, has taken over from John McCarthy who has stepped down after nearly two years in the role.

Passionate about farming sheep, he runs 4000 ewes on the western end of the Hokonui Hills, supplying all his stock to Alliance Group.

A strong believer in co operatives, he is also optimistic about the future of the red meat sector.

''I've got no doubt . . . and all MIE believe, our best years as sheep and beef farmers are ahead of us.

''This is the reason I'm involved with MIE, not because I'm negative, but extremely positive. We just need to get our house in order,'' he said.

When Mr McDonald first joined MIE, he was asked why he was there. His answer was that it was out of his own self interest; to ensure his children had the same opportunity to farm in the way that was given to him some 20 years ago.

John McCarthy
John McCarthy
While they did not have to take it up, he wanted to make sure the opportunity was there and he believed that was a strong feeling with many family farms.

As far as industry reform went, it seemed that ''everyone seems to be sitting tight'' until Silver Fern Farms made an announcement over its future, with its capital raising process.

''Everyone seems to have gone to ground. Until that happens, no one can really map out a way forward,'' Mr McDonald said.

He commended Mr McCarthy for how he had driven MIE and for the time and effort he had put in.

Mr McCarthy was very capable and took ''a huge amount on his shoulders to do everything''. Mr McDonald realised he could not do that all on his own and he and deputy chairman Tim Coop, from Banks Peninsula, intended working closely together.

While acknowledging his approach would differ from that of Mr McCarthy, Mr McDonald said MIE's message to farmers would not differ. Consistent profitability for sheep and beef farmers was the goal.

MIE was about doing things and it was about ''walking the walk, not just talking the talk'', he said.

Historically, processors had been, and still were, the ''gatekeepers'' of all information in the red meat industry.

MIE's aim, through the Pathways to Long Term Sustainability report it commissioned, and launched in March, was to get more information to farmers.

The relationship between processors and farmers had been on a ''need to know basis'', Mr McDonald said.

The goal with the report was to put information to farmers, with a secondary goal of hopefully teasing out any information from the co operatives, and that had not yet happened.

It seemed there was a desire for the ''decade old question'' around Silver Fern Farms and Alliance Group answered.

He questioned whether there would be a continuation of the ''strategy of attrition'' or whether the future was going to be co operation.

''If we want to go strongly into the marketplace together, we've got to start having conversations and start talking to each other.''

When it came to co operative director elections later this year, MIE's supporters would be looking to the group for guidance in selection of candidates, he said.

It was important that people felt free to come forward because there would ''never be a better opportunity to stamp their mark on the future direction of both co ops''.

Mr McCarthy said it was appropriate to have a chairman from Southland as that was where the group had its origins and he believed it would be Alliance Group shareholders who would decide the ''future construct'' of the industry.

''It's time to pass the baton. I'm proud of what we've achieved but any organisation, particularly a voluntary one, regularly needs new energy and leadership.

''This is particularly important as we move into the election cycle around the two co operatives,'' he said.

Mr McCarthy was elected to the position in October 2013, when West Otago farmer Richard Young stepped down to successfully seek election to the board of Silver Fern Farms. MIE had been formed earlier that year to push for reform in the red meat industry.

He believed Mr McDonald and Mr Coop would ''recharge the sagging energy'' that seemed to have gone out of farmers around the need for reform.

''It is a marathon and I think fair to say that the constant efforts of those with vested interests have dented the momentum.''

The executive requested that he, along with adviser Ross Hyland, continue to develop the NewCo proposition, which involved blending Alliance Group and Silver Fern Farms, and so he remained part of the executive.

Publishing the ''Pathways to Long term Sustainability'' report had been a ''watershed'' and the group's subsequent work and analysis on the NewCo concept helped identify issues and opportunities for the industry, he said.

''Farmers have always asked that we show them a road map, the NewCo business case is the way forward and offers a very real opportunity to turn this industry and New Zealand agriculture on its head.

''It has the potential to be the shot in the arm, the game changer that agriculture and New Zealand desperately needs. It is just so important that, after all this work, that we don't drop the ball on his one.''

Despite copping ''some flak'', chairing MIE had been an overwhelmingly positive experience, Mr McCarthy said.

He urged closer farmer scrutiny around the Red Meat Profit Partnership and, while he supported the retention of Beef and Lamb New Zealand as a farmer funded body, he believed questions needed to be asked about the industry board model.

 

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