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Beef + Lamb NZ chairman James Parsons.
Beef + Lamb NZ in 2009 just sneaked through in the levy vote as an organisation, with 51.5% support by farmers.
In last year's referendum the organisation received 85% support, chairman James Parsons says.
A bunch of factors contributed to that increased level of support, Parsons told the BLNZ annual meeting on March 23.
The farmers' council structure has been "absolutely critical" to driving greater engagement with farmers.
"Our management team have developed a culture under the leadership of Scott Champion where we've become much more responsive – we've engaged with farmers in a much more genuine way," he said. Champion was farewelled at the annual meeting
"We shook off some of that old 'producer board' culture that we'd inherited from the Meat Board and the Wool Board when we merged into Meat and Wool New Zealand and we've become a much fitter and more responsive team."
BLNZ was created by farmers to do the things that farmers didn't want to do themselves: knocking on the doors of Parliament, investing collectively in research, extension activities, market access, market development type work and providing leadership for the sector.
"I'm not suggesting for a second that we're perfect; we've actually got a lot of room for improvement. To be honest, that's what excites us as an organisation: we know we've come a long way but we know we've got so much more potential to deliver greater value for farmers," Parsons said.
BLNZ spends about $5 million annually on research and development. "We then leverage a significant amount through other parties and government to invest in research and development that really fits the needs of sheep and beef farmers."
A constitutional review was committed to last year in the referendum process. It is in need of an overhaul, from a governance structure through to technical amendments, Parsons said.
Parsons told Rural News the last time the annual meeting was in Northland was about 12 years ago.
"The local farmer council was proud of the opportunity to host it up here and Northland often gets forgotten so it was an opportunity to showcase some of the things that are going on. If you are south of Auckland you forget about how much land is north of the [Auckland Harbour] bridge."
Parsons, who has a 478ha hill country farm at Tangowahine, Northland, said one of his directors had never been to Northland.
"I had to explain what kikuyu was," he joked.
Recent widespread autumn rain will have triggered the germination of subterranean clover seeds, and the resulting seedlings should be allowed to reach the 3–4 trifoliate leaf stage before grazing, says Beef+Lamb NZ.
A hub farm in each of Beef + Lamb NZ’s seven regions and more focus groups are being rolled out for the red meat sector this year.
The red meat sector is poised for a strong rebound this season, with export receipts forecast to top $10 billion and farm profitability to almost double.
Progeny testing at Pāmu’s Kepler farm in Southland as part of Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Informing New Zealand Beef programme is showing that the benefits of hybrid vigour could have a massive impact on the future of beef breeding.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) has reiterated calls for New Zealand to revise its methane targets after the Government's "disappointing" announcement of its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
On the eve of his departure from Federated Farmers board, Richard McIntyre is thanking farmers for their support and words of encouragement during his stint as a farmer advocate.
A project reducing strains and sprains on farm has won the Innovation category in the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2025.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other sector organisations, has launched a national survey to understand better the impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmers.
One of New Zealand's latest and largest agrivoltaics farm Te Herenga o Te Rā is delivering clean renewable energy while preserving the land's agricultural value for sheep grazing under the modules.
Global food company Nestle’s chair Paul Bulcke will step down at its next annual meeting in April 2026.
Brendan Attrill of Caiseal Trust in Taranaki has been announced as the 2025 National Ambassador for Sustainable Farming and Growing and recipient of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy at the National Sustainability Showcase at in Wellington this evening.
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