New Zealand must become a world leader in the business of food production to maximise the ''enormous'' opportunities in the decades ahead, ANZ managing director commercial and agribusiness Graham Turley says.
The business of agriculture no longer ended at the farm gate; it ended on ''dinner tables on the other side of the world''.
New Zealand had the potential to capture $1.3 trillion more in agricultural exports between now and 2050.
''To simply be an efficient producer is not enough. We must develop cutting-edge follow-on industries that enable us to capture value at every step of the process,'' Mr Turley said.
New Zealand agriculture was quickly changing to meet the needs of traditional markets, as well as the growth markets of Asia.
It was ''crucial'' the focus of the farming sector now was producing the right products, at the right price, for those diverse markets.
''New Zealand is a world leader in agricultural production. The next step is for it to be the world leader in the business of food production - from start to finish,'' he said.
The latest analysis by the Ministry for Primary Industries showed the goal to double the value of New Zealand's annual primary sector exports to $64 billion by 2025 was achievable.
It would involve realising the full potential of existing opportunities and identifying and acting on new ideas and innovations.
It would require annual growth of about 5.5%, some ''big changes'' in the way the primary industries operated and strong government support, MPI director-general Wayne McNee said.
ANZ's latest AgriFocus report said just about all New Zealand's main soft commodity prices were set to show some improvement in 2013-14. However, in many cases the forecast improvements were only modest and followed declines in 2012-13.
