Tuesday, 03 November 2015 13:21

Feasting on joint ventures

Written by  Peter Burke
Landcorp general manager commercial Andrew MacPherson and chief executive Steven Carden sample the company’s produce. Landcorp general manager commercial Andrew MacPherson and chief executive Steven Carden sample the company’s produce.

Tender export lamb chops and delicious sheep milk gelato were on the menu in Wellington last week.

It was part of a show-and-tell night by Landcorp, the state-owned farmer, to impress its investors and stakeholders on its progress in producing high-value export products with joint venture partners.

About 100 invited guests saw and in some cases sampled some of the products Landcorp and joint venture partners are producing under the PAMU brand (te reo for 'to farm'). Also on show were unique wool slippers made by the Danish company Glerups using wool from Merino NZ, and handbags made from deer leather by NZ Light Leathers.

The lamb is part of a joint venture with Silver Fern Farms to supply the UK supermarket Tesco and the sheep milk is a new joint venture in high-value products for Asia.

The raw materials come from Landcorp farms. Its chair, Traci Houpapa, said the event was to acknowledge its strategic partners' roles in Landcorp becoming a global supplier of niche products from milk, meat and fibre.

"We recognise if we stay at the farmgate we are simply not going to achieve the value add return on our products and that's where NZ farming needs to go," she told Rural News.

"We are still working on the strategy so it's a long-term project. This evening we are demonstrating that Landcorp's strategic partnering with others makes a lot of sense."

Houpapa says Landcorp is also looking at how it can partner with other NZ farmers to achieve "strategic critical mass".

More like this

Featured

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

National

Machinery & Products

Tech might take time

Agritech Unleashed – a one-day event held recently at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton – focused on technology as an ‘enabler’…

John Deere acquires GUSS Automation

John Deere has announced the full acquisition of GUSS Automation, LLC, a globally recognised leader in supervised high-value crop autonomy,…

Fencing excellence celebrated

The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards,…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

A step too far

OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…

Save us from SAFE

OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter