A recent survey undertaken by Primary Purpose shows an increasing appreciation from New Zealanders for our country’s food-producing industries, with sheep and beef farming at its highest favourabilty since the survey started in 2019.
It also shows lack of evidence of a rural-urban divide in New Zealand.
“The survey shows the positive sentiment towards key food production industries has grown significantly since 2021,” says Primary Purpose’s partner Marc Elliott.
“In particular, the results show a positive outlook toward all livestock industries with sheep and beef farming ahead of both dairy and deer farming with a 66 per cent positive rating, up 8 points from 2021 (and 12 points from 2019). Dairy farming had a 63 per cent positive rating, also up 8 points from 2021.”
Marc says the main reason given for this is an acknowledgment by the public of the economic benefits farmers bring - their significant and vital contribution to New Zealand’s economy through exports and job creation across rural and urban areas.
Another key reason is food security and the role the primary industries play in providing a stable and abundant local food supply.
“While this shows how well the sector is valued, the public did raise concern about negative environmental impacts, especially the overuse of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers contaminating waterways and soil health. They also raised concerns about food affordability, with some consumers feeling that locally produced food is more expensive than imported alternatives, making it hard to access and giving a sense of missing out on what their own country has to offer,” he added.
The survey found that older New Zealanders are more likely to have a positive view of the industry than younger New Zealanders.
When asked about their view of sheep and beef farming, people aged 60+ gave a favourable rating of 80 per cent, while this dropped to 54 per cent for those aged 18-29.
One of the survey’s purposes was to understand whether the perception inside the sector of a growing rural-urban divide was real or not.
“Interestingly, the survey suggests that the rural-urban divide is more perception than reality,” says Elliott.
Julian Ashby, B+LNZ Chief Insight Officer, says the growing support for food producers, and our sheep and beef farmers, amid key challenges, is extremely encouraging.
“It shows the farmer story is being heard by the public and this is helping to drive favourability for our red meat sector by all New Zealanders.”
You can read the report on the Primary Purpose website.
Note: Results in the report are from questions in a Primary Purpose Nationwide Online omnibus, an online survey of a nationally representative sample of 1050 New Zealanders, 18 years of age and over. The margin of error for this size survey sample is plus or minus 3.1%.