If it gets the backing of farmers, the sheepmeat increase is expected to bring in an extra $1 million.
That money will, among other programmes, help fund facial eczema and internal parasite research, which will become increasingly important as the climate changes.
Beef + Lamb chair Andrew Morrison says following its last referendum in 2015, B+LNZ revisited its strategy because it wanted to ensure its priorities were on the right path in a fast-changing world.
He says the organisation’s goals are based around supporting farming excellence, championing the sector and markets, whether that’s market development or market access.
“The main difference from the last one (referendum) is that the environment sat outside by itself as a pillar,” Morrison said.
“We’ve come to the understanding that the environment sits within everything that we do, it always did, it’s not a pillar that sits outside.”
He says when B+LNZ talks about championing the sector, that involves advocacy, which farmers want the organisation involved in.
A recent UMR survey, commissioned by B+LNZ that asked farmers what they thought the organisation’s priorities should be, found that 91% wanted advocacy.
A key part of that is working with other affected groups.
“This is a time of all hands to the pump. It’s not about us going off and doing our own stuff,” he said.
“We had the economic reset in the 1980s and now we’re in the environmental reset.
“This isn’t just a NZ conversation of a NZ agriculture conversation. This is a global conversation around sustainability.
“This government has got an appetite to embrace that and in a lot of cases quite rightly so, around things like water quality, and how you’re going to report your sustainability metrics to your customers.
“So, let’s acknowledge that it is a major environmental reset and we can’t do this heavy lifting alone, which is why we work with a whole bunch of other entities.”
Morrison says regional farmer councils help determine B+LNZ’s workstreams by identifying R&D and extension needs that are relevant to their regions.
He says during its recent strategy refresh the national body heard that based on the changing environment, facial eczema and internal parasite research is going to be increasingly important.
In setting its proposed levies for the next six years the board was very aware of other costs hanging over farmers, particularly around environmental regulations.
“So we made a conscious decision that we would pitch at pretty much a status quo levy expectation, with a small proviso that we’re going to ask for 5c on sheepmeat,” he said.
“The overarching message is that we have to cut our cloth to fit, but with all the stuff going on in the sector we couldn’t deliver the programme farmers have asked us to without asking for that 5c (on sheep).
“We’re hoping that it’s pitched at a level that people will see is acceptable.
He says B+LNZ does have reserves within its business and they will be used if necessary to help the organisation get through a bulge in spending on environmental programmes, such as farm plans and He Waka Eke Noa, during the next two years.
The referendum also asks farmers to approve a levy ceiling.
“The levy ceiling is something that you don’t activate but you have it there because without it, if we had something big hit us (before the next referendum) and we needed more money, we’d have to run a whole referendum again,” he said.
“So you set a levy ceiling, but there is no way that we would increase the current levies unless we consulted with farmers and they agreed to it.”
The proposed levy ceilings are: for lamb with the proposed rise from 70c to 75c, the ceiling would be 95c; and for beef the status quo of $5.40, the proposed ceiling would be $5.95.
There is a national roadshow to help explain the proposals to farmers, with details on the B+LNZ website.
Farmers who have not received a levy pack during the next few days who think they should have are probably not registered to vote and should go to the website to register.
Morrison has a message for farmers.
“Let’s be clear what we’re voting on here. If you vote no for the levy, it’s not only advocacy that will cease, it’s all that work on market access, R&D and farm extension,” he said.
“Sometimes people think ‘I’ll send a shot across their bows, to tell them to pull their socks up’, well you don’t tell people to pull their socks up by killing them.”
Voting closes at noon on July 9.
