Enhancing resilience for New Zealand red meat producers by understanding the options, barriers and enablers to selling direct to the consumer

Abstract

Natural hazard events have significant impacts on rural communities through disruption to infrastructure and lifelines, production systems, and disruption to fast-moving agri-food chains. Selling direct-to-consumer (D2C), or farm to fork, is one way to help mitigate some of the risks arising from natural hazards, and maintain and potentially enhance, social, environmental and economic resilience. D2C sales may also add value, shorten the supply chain and increase the sustainability of the food system (Çakmakçı et al., 2023, FAO, 2022; Floriš et al., 2022). This project explores farmers’ perspectives on the barriers and enablers to selling red meat products D2C. The aim of the study, using a series of semi-structured interviews (N=14) with livestock farmers, is to understand how the interaction of farmers’ values and knowledge, and the NZ rules relating to food production, distribution and sales, shape outcomes for producers and strengthen rural resilience.