Much has been
made about New Zealand’s status as “100% Pure” and how
much, or how little, needs to be done to keep that claim
valid.
While that debate rumbles on, the primary sector
has been doing much to deliver on Prime Minister Jacinda
Adern’s promise to the United Nations in September 2019
that New Zealand will be “the most sustainable food
producing country in the world.”
As overseas consumers
have become increasingly sophisticated and demand to know
where their food has been sourced from, all parts of the New
Zealand primary sector have been working to ensure the
“paddock to plate” story is more than just a story. This
work ensures our food comes via a validated, traceable,
sustainable supply chain, delivering consistently high
quality products to meet consumer expectations.
In the
pastoral sector Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Taste Pure
Nature brand launched in March 2019, rolling out in
California with a digital media campaign introducing the
“conscious foodies” target market to New Zealand beef
and lamb’s provenance.
California was chosen because it
is recognised as the market with the greatest awareness of
grass-fed meat’s nutritional value and sustainable
production base.
The campaign represents a remarkable
level of co-operation among the three companies already well
invested in the market, including Anzco, Silver Fern Farms
and Alliance.
Research by Beef + Lamb NZ has shown
Californian consumers will pay a premium for grass-fed,
naturally reared, hormone and antibiotic free meat. The
campaign aims to link consumers’ online social media and
food interests, as well as targeting retail and food service
providers they frequent.
Beef + Lamb NZ recognises market
development and brand building is a long-term investment,
and will take some years to deliver major shifts in consumer
behaviour. In its first few weeks of launch the campaign
generated a respectable 160 articles about Taste Pure Nature
and 125 million media impressions.
Despite being in its
infancy, the Taste Pure Nature campaign has already been
recognised as a market leader, claiming the Primary Industry
Team award at this year’s inaugural Primary Industries
Awards.
China is the next market in the campaign’s
sight and with its dynamic and rapidly changing environment
it is expected to prove rewarding, but challenging.
As New
Zealand’s primary exporters move to prove their
sustainability to demanding markets, emerging blockchain
technology is also doing much to help them stand by their
claims.
Blockchain acts as a type of digital ledger,
recording transactions chronologically in a data
“block”, open to selected parties to view as the product
moves through the supply chain.
Depending on the party in
the supply chain, some documents will be visible, some will
not if they are commercially sensitive, so a meat importer
may be able to look into the blockchain and confirm the
quantity and cost of the order they are receiving, but not
what other companies are also receiving a portion of the
same shipment.
Alex Sims, Auckland University head of
commercial law and blockchain expert says two of the
country’s largest food producers, Fonterra and Silver Fern
Farms are now working with blockchain technology through
their joint logistics company Kotahi and shipping giant
Maersk Line.
She describes New Zealand’s food supply
lines as the low-hanging fruit for the technology and the
way it can help lower transaction costs for exporters and
secure proof of provenance.
The same technology is also
being used to prove the provenance of New Zealand manuka
honey, a frequently imitated and counterfeited product.
It
means recipients of manuka honey in China are able to verify
the jars they have were the same ones that departed New
Zealand.
In kiwifruit packhouses around the country
increasingly sophisticated tracking and packing technology
means post-harvest operators are now able to determine the
fruit’s origin not only down to orchard, but specific
blocks within that orchard.
Specifics on crop treatments
and timing are available for full customer assurance that
crops are meeting GLOBAL GAP (Good Agricultural Practices)
standards.
Like manuka honey, kiwifruit is also vulnerable
to counterfeiting, initially by changes in labelling to
imitate Zespri branding, but more recently to actual
Zespri-owned fruit varieties like SunGold being grown
illegally in China.
With about 2000ha estimated to be
illegally grown, Zespri grower and Alliance manager Dave
Courtney said the market is working to develop DNA
techniques and tools to identify fruit by type and even
region, in order to verify its authenticity.
The efforts
to ensure New Zealand’s food products are pure, validated
and genuine are helping give the farmers and growers who
work hard to produce them the peace of mind their marketers
are able to secure top dollar for their efforts.
Duncan
Ross, Bayleys National Director Rural said these efforts are
a positive aspect of the primary sector that don’t always
get the recognition they deserve.
“There is an intensive
effort around the science and the standards growers and
farmers have to meet today that matches New Zealand’s
efforts to deliver premium food products to the world’s
most discerning
consumers.”
ENDS>>
New Zealand
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