Still Opportunities For NZ Beef Exports, Says Expert

NEW ZEALAND - THE world’s leading beef producer, Brazil, is losing about two million hectares of grazing land a year to crops used for biofuels manufacturing, a leading New Zealand agricultural expert says.

13 April 2007

1 minute read

Oceania

But with about 90 million hectares of grasslands available for farming, Brazil could afford to lose some to other uses and still have vast acreages, said Keith Woodford, professor of farm management and agribusiness at Lincoln University.

It had about seven times NZ’s farming land area, although it only exported a small ratio of its beef production, with about 80 per cent consumed bought in the domestic market.

Nevertheless, there were continuing opportunities for NZ beef exports despite strong South American export growth since 2001. The EU was already a net importer of beef, said Mr Woodford.

Source: Farmers Guardian