They hope it will also serve as a bridge-building exercise in preparation for Brexit.
The visit, run by the British High Commission in NZ and supported by the NZ Government, will include about 20 farming, processing and meat promotion representatives, plus British government officials.
They plan to meet all the leading players in the NZ farming scene.
“One of our objectives is to learn from NZ’s experience of coping with the removal of farming subsidies, especially how producers adjusted and developed following that change,” United Kingdom delegate and livestock committee chairman of the National Farmers Union of England and Wales Charles Sercombe said.
“We want to look at the technical side of NZ’s processing sector while also focusing on the country’s regulations and how they compare to what we currently have in the UK.
“This will include studying production standards, health and welfare requirements and so on.
“There will also be quite a strong emphasis on exploring how our two countries can co-operate better in the future, particularly in relation to farm trade and what we can learn from NZ’s expertise in developing overseas markets.
“In the UK we have obviously always had a market on our doorstep and we might now (post-Brexit) have to look at how to develop new markets.
“Finally, towards the end of the week we have a series of workshops planned to discuss how we might better exchange knowledge, expertise, understanding and development.”
Although talk of future free-trade agreements is not a scheduled part of the programme Sercombe said he would be surprised if issues such as market access after Brexit are not raised.
“NZ farmers are obviously very keen to protect their market share in both the UK and the EU so I’m sure we will touch on these points, especially how they will apply in the brave new worl’ after Brexit,” he said.
UK National Sheep Association (NSA) regional vice chairman Thomas Carrick was to be part of the British delegation before winter storms made life simply too demanding for him to leave his Cumbrian farm.
He was still happy to outline his objectives for the visit, however, which will now be taken by an NSA staff representative.
“We want to get some good dialogue going with farm leaders in NZ as we have a lot of shared interest in accessing markets around the world,” he said.
“We are also competitors, of course, in the domestic UK market where it would be good to have a better or certainly improved relationship when it comes to issues surrounding NZ access into the UK.
“The visit from our perspective will be a fact-finding and relation-building opportunity.
“Going forward, of course, we don’t know yet what our government is going to do.
“We therefore need to arm ourselves with as much information as we can get.
“We also need as many friends as possible.
“I’m sure the same is true for farmers in NZ.”
