New Zealand's deer industry is a role model that other sectors, and particularly others in the red-meat sector, can "certainly learn from", Primary Industries Minister David Carter says.
With export revenues of about $250 million, the deer industry might be smaller than some of the other pastoral sectors, but it was an "absolute standout" in the way it had focused on the value chain.
Now, it needed to focus on driving those productivity improvements, Mr Carter said, in an address to the annual deer industry conference in Wanaka last week.
"As an organisation, you are lean, you are agile and you have certainly astutely positioned your products at the premium and, therefore, at the lucrative end of the market."
As a former deer farmer, Mr Carter was pleased to see venison prices holding at $7-$9 kg and steady returns for velvet compared with last year.
The healthy performance across most of the primary sectors had enabled New Zealand's economy to "weather the storms" of the Canterbury earthquakes and the global financial crisis, which was "far from over".
New Zealand relied on its primary industries for its economic stability.
To realise the country's potential economic growth, those industries must continue to collaborate, innovate, build on their strengths and keep that commitment to producing high-quality, safe and premium-priced food in a sustainable manner.
The Government was committed to supporting those industries by boosting access to Asian markets, particularly China; creating responsible water and environmental policies to unlock the productivity potential of the land; providing funding for initiatives to stimulate further industry growth; and maintaining a world-class biosecurity system.