Kia ora,

If you’re like me, it’s been difficult to keep up to date with all the news  this week.

From the developments in Ukraine to protestors lighting Parliament’s lawn on fire, for a second it was almost possible to forget Omicron's inevitable sweep through the country.

It’s fair to say that Omicron has really impacted many of the  communities in which our sites are located. While we have a range  of preventative measures in place to ensure our sites keep operating  safely, we have had a number of staff at home isolating.

Despite the operational disruption we're continuing to make our voice heard on key policy issues for  our industry in Wellington. This week we met with Minister of Climate  Change, James Shaw, updated him on our Net Carbon Zero Beef  launch in the US, and heard his perspective on upcoming changes  to the Emissions Trading Scheme and the direction of travel for  Emissions Pricing through He Waka Eke Noa.

I also spoke to a group of Climate Change Cabinet Ministers, including  the Prime Minister, to share our perspective on the need for increased  investment in technology and support to reduce on-farm emissions.

Additionally we were asked to present to the Primary Production  Select Committee, and Greg McSkimming and I spoke about  our developing approach to regenerative agriculture. Our short presentation was a good chance to engage with some new MPs from  across the political spectrum. We felt that our market-led approach,  where we have deliberately focused on what customers want from  regenerative agriculture, was a valuable perspective to these ongoing  discussions.

I know it’s tough for farmers as well at the moment, with more animals on  farm than usual for this time of year and with us all looking at a longer  season. While we still face into some strong disruptive headwinds, we pleasingly  continue to see strong demand in market, and we’re working hard to keep passing this through to you.

In this week’s report: more on the Net Carbon Zero launch; a  presentation from Dan Boulton on adapting to supply chain disruption;  and the latest from the markets.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MARKET REPORT

 

Ngā mihi,

Simon