An annual event?

She was one of many industry leaders who attended the BBQ at Parliament recently to commemorate the first export of frozen sheep meat to the UK in 1882.

She says it is exciting to publicly celebrate the success of the industry and to acknowledge the fabulous job that farmers and processors and others in the sector are doing.

Karapeeva says the BBQ at Parliament and all the events that have happened around National Lamb Day were exciting.

"We Kiwis should be a little more forward-leaning and much more proud of what we have achieved," she told Rural News.

"When you look at where we started and where we are today, it's a remarkable achievement. We are quite humble folk, and we just take it for granted and don't necessarily stand for a lot of pomp and ceremony and that stuff," she says.

Karapeeva says what NZ has achieved over the years took a lot of hard work and that needs to be acknowledged. She says the country has moved massively in 40 years from the days of freezing works to highly sophisticated processors.

"No longer do you get those mass carcasses being exported as a very low value commodity. Our processing companies are exporting food to discerning consumers all around the world and that is a huge shift," she says.