Global relationships key for red meat sector - McIvor

That's one of the key messages from Beef+Lamb NZ chief executive Sam McIvor who leaves that role to take up a new one as chief executive of Ospri later this week.

McIvor has headed B+LNZ for the past eight years but has worked there in other capacities for 17 years. He's also worked for Ospri in the past.

McIvor told Rural News that having strong relationships in multiple forums will be crucial for NZ in the coming 10 years. He says we weill be consistently challenged about the right to farm animals for food, how we care for them and justify that to people who see it unnecessary to kill animals for food.

He says the industry will alo face conversations around climate change, biodiversity emissions reduction and livestock's environmental footprint.

"There will also be discussions around the nutritional value of red meat and its co products and we absolutely have to be at the forefront of any international dialogue on all of these subjects," he says.

McIvor says, in conjunction with this, B+LNZ and the wider industry needs to give clear signals to farmers as to how they can best invest and adapt to the change that will inevitably occur. In that regard, he says technology is changing at a massive rate and while things like AI have been promised for a long time, it feels that it is here now.

"So we as a sector have to embrace technology, whether it's to reduce costs, increase our efficiency or produce cost-effective verification and assurance. We have got to get our heads around that," he says.

McIvor says in his new role at Ospri, technology will play a huge role in enhancing traceability systems and linking up with all those who are involved in the sector. He says in the past there was no great interest in sharing data, but there is a lot more maturity now and the value of data sharing will need to become the norm right through the value chain.