Feds make case for rural bank lending probe
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
Farmers are hoping that processing capacity at meat plants will return to normal within a month.
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne says the meat companies are working hard to achieve normal processing capacity.
“The works assure us they are catching up fast and will be close to normal soon – sheep much sooner than beef,” Milne told Rural News.
“The North Island is further through their kill than the South Island. Hopefully by mid-June things will be near right again.”
Covid-19 meat processing protocols, which require physical distancing between employees to prevent the spread of the virus, reduced the industry’s processing capacity in level 4 by about 50% for sheep and lamb and 30% for beef.
Longer wait times, up to six weeks in some cases, put additional pressure on winter feed resources as farmers were forced to hold on to stock for longer.
Alliance chief executive David Surveyor has told farmers that the company is continuing to increase processing capacity across the network.
“Our plants are running overtime, extended shifts and at weekends,” he told suppliers in an email last week. “We are also transporting livestock from the South Island to the North Island to ease the pressure in the south.”
Surveyor says the co-op is on track to reach its Alert Level 3 target of over 90% capacity for ovine and over 95% for bovine across the network.
“The Meat Industry Association is working on a new processing protocol for Alert Level 2 and there is an expectation this will enable us to increase capacity further,” he says.
Meanwhile, Alliance will be offering a deer supply contract from July through to December 2020.
Surveyor says this will provide farmers with some certainty, helping manage risk during significant market uncertainty.
He says Alliance has been responsibly managing its inventory and sales.
“However, there does appear to be some inventory build-up in global markets and we expect this to impact sales prices in the short to medium term.
“We continue to have long term confidence in the deer industry,” Surveyor says.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has informed staff it will cut 391 jobs following a consultation period.
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