Napier played host to the Deer Industry New Zealand conference this week, with the sector enjoying a nice boost in value and demand after the trials of the pandemic.
Executive chair Mandy Bell prefaced the event with a message urging deer farmers to embrace the market-driven pull towards greater sustainability and transparency.
“The key to success is being able to assure consumers of NZ venison and velvet products that the standards being used are verifiable and genuine,” she said.
Key exporters like Silver Fern Farms, Alliance and First Light Foods echoed her view.
Each has seen a change in expectations from customers, especially in the high-end space where venison and velvet operate.
The SFF chief customer officer responsible for the company’s sales and marketing operation, Deer Industry NZ board member Dave Courtney, said there are consumers who are focused on carbon footprint, biodiversity and water quality.
“We need to build that into our systems to keep moving in the right direction. It’s better to be responding to the pull of the market than just the push of regulation.”
Now that our government is taking a breather from the relentless regulation farmers have faced, many critics are questioning the market-driven push for sustainability and traceability.
Many global corporations are incorporating ESG reporting, which shows progress on environmental, social and governance benchmarks.
It is taking a while for some others to get their heads around the fact that money is not the only indicator of success.
Profits are important, of course, but consumers are increasingly shunning those who profit from pollution and exploitation.
Some critics say it’s led by agenda-driven corporate culture, rather than actual consumer preference.
Separating parts of distant cultures tells of straw man creation, though.
Spend a day watching United Kingdom television and it’s notable that the vast majority of the advertisements are built around the providence of the product, not just its performance.
The evolution of these concepts doesn’t happen solely in a high-rise boardroom – it’s an ongoing conversation between buyers, sellers, marketers and all of the data that’s captured.
Businesses spend vast amounts of money and time researching the habits, values and actions of their current and future customers.
There aren’t many successful businesses that ignore the data uncovered in this process.
The truth is that accounting for these externalities makes good businesses sense. The age of profiting at the expense of workers and the environment is coming to an end.
Our primary producers should be excited by this opportunity. Compared to other food exporting nations, our farm systems stand out for their sustainability and for the pay and conditions workers enjoy.
It’s worth noting that it’s not just rich, Western consumers driving this change. In this edition Ellie Copeland outlines the movement in Chinese sentiment.
In the past, international brands have been associated with quality there, but more recently its Chinese brands that enjoy that perception.
She says that with exporters like the European Union working towards clear goals laid out in sustainability strategies, it’s important for NZ to continue moving the dial as well.
This conversation between families, communities, retailers and regulators is happening and it’s getting more intense.
We’d be foolish to close our ears to the chatter.
In Focus Podcast: Dairy season ending on a high
Senior reporter Hugh Stringleman wraps up the dairy commodity season for us, following this week’s GDT auction, the second to last of the season.
