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Future of Food: Seeing Red – Can red meat recover its glorious past?

Dec 17, 2024

Seeing Red. Can red meat recover its glorious past? – The sheep and beef sector is in a fight for its life. Can red meat recover its glorious past?
  • Red meat faces four major headwinds: changing consumer demand, China’s slowdown, trade protectionism and new protein technologies.
  • Red meat is not necessarily bad – it’s globally perceived as badly grown and badly served.

  • New Zealand is uniquely placed to build on its grass-fed advantage to be nature-positive. 

  • Disruption of the red meat sector with new and novel proteins may still be decades away but is a real threat as many companies globally are working on new alternatives. 

  • Innovation helped New Zealand farmers shift from volume to value; it can help make even more from less as co-products from the cow become increasingly valuable. 

  • It’s time to create a rich New Zealand food story that is science – informed, built on te ao Māori principles, spirited in tone and sourced from pure, local ingredients.