Speech - Red Meat Conference 2026
Thank you for having me to open this year’s conference. It’s good to be in a room with the people who grow it, process it and sell it to the world. Farmers, processors, exporters and the people who back them.
I want to talk about one idea this morning. Grow more and sell more. That’s the job. For you and for us.
Where we are
Let’s start with where we’ve come from.
When we came into office in late 2023, rural confidence was at minus 66 per cent. An all-time low. Farmers felt like they were under attack. Rules came thick and fast. Many of them made no sense on the farm. We said we’d end that. And we did.
Two years later confidence was at plus 37. Farmers were allowed to farm again. Today farmers are more confident about profitability than at any time since records began. You can see it in the numbers. Red meat and wool exports hit $14.8 billion in the year to June. Up 20 per cent on the year before. Average sheep and beef farm profit is forecast to nearly double this season, to around $287,600 a farm. Good prices helped. Lower interest costs helped. But none of that counts unless someone does the work. That’s you. Well done.
What we’ve done together
Those results didn’t happen by chance. We’ve worked on them together.
First, we opened and protected markets. We concluded free trade deals with the UAE, the Gulf states and India. And we brought the EU deal into force many months early. We fought for you in Washington. When the US put new tariffs on, government and industry lobbied hard together. Beef is now back to normal tariff rates, or zero.
When China investigated beef imports, we made our case together. Our quota is bigger than what we normally send, and bigger than Australia’s. That means no limit on our beef trade to China. And we took on the EU’s deforestation rules. New Zealand farmers don’t clear forests to raise cattle. We held those rules off. And we’re now moving towards a form of exemption for New Zealand.
Second, we backed the value of what you produce.
We created a grass-fed standard for our exports, backed by government assurance. Most of our competitors can’t say their animals live outside on grass all year. Buyers want proof. Now we can give it to them, and they’ll pay more for it.
In China, government put $8 million alongside the sector behind Taste Pure Nature. It tells Chinese families the New Zealand story. Grass-fed. Free range. Safe. And we set a goal together. Make New Zealand lamb their first choice.
We backed the Dairy Beef Opportunities programme, with more than $10 million of government funding matched by the sector. It turns dairy calves into good beef, and more income for dairy and beef farmers alike.
Third, we fixed the rules.
We made freshwater farm plans simpler and cheaper for sheep and beef farmers. We made the winter grazing and stock exclusion rules sensible and workable. Rules written for flat dairy land never made sense on hill country. We stopped whole farms being turned into pine trees for carbon credits. Good sheep and beef country was being lost, and rural towns with it. Productive land should stay productive. And we replaced the RMA. The final laws passed last week. That removes the need for up to 22,000 consents. That’s billions of dollars back in your businesses instead of in consultants’ fees.
That’s what working together looks like.
A good problem to have
Here’s where we are now. We have more market access than we can supply. That’s a good problem. But it’s still a problem. Buyers around the world want what we produce. But if we can’t fill the orders, someone else will. The Government wants to double the value of our exports by 2034. You want to reach $24 billion by 2035.
Some of that will come from better prices. But not all of it. We won’t get there standing still. We have to grow more and sell more.
Grow more: land use flexibility
That’s why, at Fieldays this year, I announced National’s land use flexibility policy. It starts with a simple belief. The people who own and farm the land are the best people to decide how it’s used. Not officials in Wellington. Not a council plan written ten years ago. You.
Markets change. Prices change. Seasons change. Farmers need room to change with them. Right now too many farmers are stuck. They see a better use for their land but the rules say no. Or the consent takes so long the chance has gone.
Land use flexibility gives you that room. It lets you put land to its best use and produce more. And it does that while still meeting our environmental and climate commitments.
This isn’t about lowering standards. Our exports sell on trust. Our trading partners expect high standards and we’ll keep meeting them. What changes is how we get there. Focus on real risk. Use the evidence. Back good practice. Write rules people on the ground can follow. And trust farmers to meet them in the way that works on their farm.
Grow more: more from every hectare
Growing more also means getting more from the land we already farm. At Fieldays we put $3.55 million into the LIFT programme. It aims to lift hill-country pasture use by around 20 per cent and feed conversion by up to 30 per cent. That’s more meat off the same hills.
We’ve sped up approvals for vet medicines and other farm products. You’ll get the tools your overseas competitors already use. And we’re backing new tools to cut methane, with $437 million over four years. With Beef + Lamb, we’re breeding lower-methane animals through Cool Sheep and now Cool Beef. The first methane bolus for beef cattle is close to a decision.
We’ll cut emissions with science, not by cutting production. More food. Smaller footprint. That’s how we compete.
Sell more: open more doors
Growing more only pays if we can sell it. And free trade deals work. Look at the European Union. In the first two years of our free trade agreement, exports to the EU grew by $3 billion. The primary sector led the charge. And red meat was out in front. That’s what happens when we open a door and you walk through it.
Now take India. Today our sheepmeat faces a 33 per cent tariff there. At current prices that’s about $4 a kilo. On 20 October, that tariff goes. In 2022 we supplied 85 per cent of India’s sheepmeat imports. Then Australia got tariff-free access. Our share fell to just 9 per cent. From next month we’re back on a level playing field with Australia. And India’s middle class is expected to reach around 700 million people by 2030.
Think about the size of that market. Around a billion people in India eat meat. If every one of them had just one New Zealand lamb chop a year, that’s more than our entire annual lamb chop production.
Now imagine they had two.
That’s the scale of the opportunity in the years ahead. India won’t be the last. We’ll keep opening doors, because every new market gives you more options and more pricing power.
The headwinds
I won’t pretend it’s all easy.
The conflict in the Middle East is pushing up fuel, freight and fertiliser costs. We know rural families are spending more of their income on fuel. And the longer it goes on, the harder it bites. Fertiliser companies tell us they have enough product and are locking in future supply. We’re watching closely so we can act early if we need to.
And on the US lamb investigation, our case is simple: New Zealand lamb isn’t hurting American farmers. It fills gaps in their supply. We’ll make that case firmly, just as we did on beef.
Rural communities
Strong farms need strong communities around them. Our $4 million Rural Wellbeing Fund backs groups like Young Farmers, Farmstrong and Whatever with Wiggy. Farming is hard work. People need to know there’s support when they need it.
Closing
So that’s the plan.
Give farmers the freedom to use their land. Get more from every hectare. Prove our quality to the world. And keep opening doors. Grow more. Sell more. The future for this sector is full of opportunity. I’m confident that working together we can make the most of it.
Thank you for all you do for our regions and our economy.
I’m pleased to open the 2026 Red Meat Sector Conference.
