The role of lamb producer groups in the New Zealand industry

Abstract

This report was undertaken to provide a greater understanding of the positive role lamb producer groups have in the New Zealand sheep meat industry, due to the repeated negative comments about the industry and its performance publically and in the media. The majority of research used in the report was completed by qualitative interviews with all key stakeholders of a producer group, in this case the Waitrose Lamb Producer Group which involves a UK retailer, a processor and farmer suppliers from New Zealand. The customer, processor and farmers were interviewed to reveal their views on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of being involved with a lamb producer group. As a result of the valuable discussions that were had with each link of the value chain, this study has identified a number of key factors which determine the current strengths of a lamb producer group and the opportunities that are going to enable the producer group to meet future demands of the consumer.