With the rapid evolution of the global food system and the opportunities and challenges that creates, now is the time to develop a primary industry strategy.
That was one of the messages from KPMG in its 2012 Agri-business Agenda released this week.
It believed such a strategy should be led by a single champion, probably appointed by the Minister of Primary Industries, and a nucleus steering group convened to act as their sounding board and provide creative, visionary thinking.
The project would require close government engagement but KPMG considered the initiative should be a private sector-led partnership.
The funding should come from entities that stood to benefit from implementing the vision and strategy.
The process of creating a final strategy was likely to involve several phases and iterations, initially involving a limited group of people which would broaden from the nucleus as the project progressed. It was critical that engagement with the wider community also occurred.
"New Zealand has seen the benefit that can be derived from an effective pan-industry strategy in the tourism sector.
"The primary sector is bigger, generates more export earnings and probably has more opportunities to become great," the report said.
Other key messages in the report included.-
• An uncompromised bio-security environment should be a top priority for both government and industry.
That was the clear message from the agribusiness industry leaders surveyed for the report.
Maintaining a world-class biosecurity system to protect New Zealand's economic interests was rated as a nine or 10 priority by 83% of respondents.
That was not surprising given the challenges being faced by the kiwifruit, aquaculture, potato and bee sectors and had again been reinforced by the discovery of a Queensland fruit fly in Auckland this month.
There remained concerns whether enough was being done to sufficiently protect the border.
• Industry leaders showedlittle interest in foreign ownership of agricultural land and assets. The Crafar Farms sale might have caught the public's attention but industry leaders were more concerned about the negative impact on foreign direct investment (FDI).
• Creating a need for organisations that were able to take a longer term perspective on strategic opportunities had sparked much debate about the role of "industry good" organisations.
Industry good organisations were encouraged to explore the long-term benefits of such initiatives as, a more active role in the future in people development, engaging with women in the industry, the inclusion of independent directors from outside the industry to fill skill gaps, and making inter-generational investments for the long-term good of the sector.
• There was a widely-held perception that there was a failure to deliver an "innovation future" for New Zealand.
There was a growing recognition that innovation needed to become part of the day-to-day job of everybody in every organisation in the primary sector.
Eighty-one percent of the leaders KPMG engaged with endorsed its call for a clear pan-industry strategy for the agribusiness and food sector, KPMG New Zealand executive chairman Ross Buckley said.
KPMG believed New Zealand must take advantage of its strong co-operative foundations and invite others involved in agribusiness to collaborate in the development of the strategy.
"Undoubtedly we have the talent within New Zealand agribusiness, but we critically need a vision for what can be achieved together to enable our country to prosper," he said.
The potential for the primary sector to create long-term wealth had not changed.
The generation of wealth would depend on the primary sector having a clear vision for its future, an innovative eco-system that positioned it on the cutting-edge of consumer demand, and a strong spirit of collaboration to link the strategy and innovation to commercial opportunities, KPMG New Zealand/Asia Pacific head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot said.
Top 10
Priorities for agribusiness industry leaders (in order)
1. Maintaining a world-class biosecurity system.
2. Robust practices to support New Zealand's clean, green image.
3. All parties in value chains working towards common goals.
4. Investing in irrigation infrastructure and water storage.
5. High-speed rural broadband network.
6. Equipping future leaders to take governance roles.
7. Completing high-quality trade agreements.
8. Mutually beneficial business collaboration.
9. Integrating innovation systems with our customers.
10. Creating brands to tell New Zealand's provenance story.
