"The challenge for the primary sector is going to be that supply chains will continue to be disrupted ... it’s a roller-coaster; nothing will be normal.
"If you look at what’s happening in Europe and Australia [with more cases of Covid-19], nothing is certain and when it comes to our supply chain, we need to be careful around that," he said.
But there were potential benefits for the agricultural industry, especially as countries looked for food security within their borders and needed countries like New Zealand to supply them.
"I feel we are still in the honeymoon stage [domestically, of Covid-19] with a lot of retail spend and house-buying activity. We just don’t know what’s going to happen, and we can’t worry about what we can’t control," he said.
He said consideration was needed locally about what was being grown or farmed and how those in the industry could work together to prevent oversupply, or under supply, of product.
He believed some commodities would be under pressure but with New Zealand’s recent Covid track record, sustainability, food story and provenance, there could be demands for more of our food products.
With increasing global demand for plant-based food alternatives, where New Zealand had a role to play, he also acknowledged challenges such as ongoing environmental pressure and restrictions on seasonal labour to getting work done, particularly in the short term.
However, there were opportunities within our country to advance its technology, improve innovation to deal with a volatile world, and inspire Kiwis to work in the agricultural sector. And Carrfields was considering "what can we do today, what can we do tomorrow and how, as a company, can we adapt ourselves to meet continuing needs of consumers in a really not normal world as we knew it".
Mr Carr recently spoke at a Carrfields Contracting client day and outlined some of the highlights for the company throughout the year, despite the pandemic.
They included exceptional results for beetroot and carrot sales in India, where the company has 40 staff under its Winseed brand, and gaining the distribution rights to provide the French-made Novag no-tillage drill to customers in Australasia. It had success in this, selling several units in both New Zealand and Australia.
Mr Carr also acknowledged his team had a hand in the Guinness World Record success of arable farmer Eric Watson with the Kerrin wheat seed. Kerrin was bred by agricultural company KWS but has been commercially brought to New Zealand by Carrfields Grain and Seed.
He also talked about harvesting the first fibre-only hemp crops in New Zealand, the Farm Source Livestock acquisition strengthening Carrfields’ dairy team network across New Zealand, the placement of high-end wool yarns into lucrative luxury markets, and irrigation expansion into horticultural areas such as cherry farm developments in Central Otago.
There were new options and new market opportunities out there for farmers, he said.
The company, based in downtown Ashburton, employs about 500 people and contractors globally, exporting to 40 countries around the world.
It has staff working in Australia and India but brought home Kiwis based in Dubai at the onset of the Covid-19 lockdown.
Related Stories
Comments
It's good to see that good old kiwi ingenuity is not dead in the primary industry in this country. At last, a Company that is not just going to sit back and whinge and whine about how tough the world is and stick out it's hand for taxpayer generated grants and subsidies. A Company that is capable of planning for contingencies, diversifying, acknowledging the importance of sustainable production in a world where our customers are increasingly demanding this, Capable of driving change and not reacting as a victim of it.
Well done guys. You are the pioneers of this country's future. Keep up the good work.