Strength in Unity: Livestock Leaders and Government Align on Foot and Mouth Preparedness
It is not often that you see every corner of the livestock industry lining up with government officials to sign the same document. But that is exactly what happened at Fieldays, where a new operational agreement was inked between the Government and six of New Zealand’s major livestock and processing organisations.
This milestone agreement marks a turning point in how the country prepares for and would respond to, the unlikely arrival of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) on our shores.
The signing parties – Beef + Lamb New Zealand, DairyNZ, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, Deer Industry New Zealand, NZPork and the Meat Industry Association – joined the Ministry for Primary Industries to formalise how readiness and response for FMD will be managed and crucially, how the costs will be shared.
This agreement has been a long time coming and the tone from all involved was one of relief and commitment. It gives legal weight to shared responsibility, ensures industry has an equal seat at the decision-making table and outlines how both readiness and response activities will be funded. Perhaps most importantly, it secures a framework where the expertise and interests of farmers can guide the response effort, should FMD ever reach our borders.
DairyNZ Chief Executive Campbell Parker, who has been appointed inaugural Chair of the Foot and Mouth Disease Council (FMDC), said biosecurity remains a top priority for the dairy sector.
"Biosecurity is a key priority for DairyNZ as it helps us to power more productive and resilient farms - with dairy farmers the biggest sector investors in the biosecurity system," he said. "Dealing with an outbreak of FMD would cost the livestock sector billions, and we want to be involved in deciding how those costs would be best spent."
Under the terms of the 11-year agreement, the livestock sector will shoulder 40 percent of readiness costs and 15 percent of response costs, with a fiscal cap set at $450 million. The Government, which carries the lion’s share of the risk with an indicative exposure of $2.5 billion, has left its contribution uncapped, acknowledging the scale of response that might be needed in a worst-case scenario.
The agreement is not just about sharing cost. It gives formal recognition to industry voices in planning and response activities. Beef + Lamb New Zealand Chair Kate Acland said this was backed by strong farmer support during their recent voting campaign.
"We needed their formal approval to sign the agreement and our farmers told us they want to have a voice in decision-making about readiness and response activities and funding," she said.
The meat and dairy processing sectors have also thrown their support behind the deal, citing years of groundwork and recent international outbreaks as sobering reminders of the stakes involved.
"Recent overseas FMD outbreaks including in Europe, reinforce the importance of getting to this point and ensuring government and industries’ combined resources, knowledge and capability can be deployed in the most efficient and effective way to reduce risk and impacts," said Kimberly Crewther, Executive Director of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand.
For smaller but no less significant sectors like pork and deer, having a defined role and influence in any future response has been warmly welcomed. Rhys Griffiths, Chief Executive of Deer Industry New Zealand said, "Such representation is crucial, not just for the deer industry but for the wider primary industries and the channeling of farmer perspectives to government."
His comments were echoed by NZPork Chief Executive Brent Kleiss, who noted that "NZPork is pleased pig farmers will have a seat at the table in planning and decision-making so that our sector’s unique needs are understood and addressed as we shape a co-ordinated national response."
There is an operational backbone behind the agreement. The Foot and Mouth Disease Operational Agreement (FMDOA) sets out clearly how decisions will be made, who will make them and how costs are split. The FMDC, made up of one decision-maker from each signatory group, will drive readiness activities, ensuring that industry insights are embedded from the outset.
Cost-sharing between sectors has been calculated on a mix of farm gate and export values. At the time of signing, dairy farming will contribute the largest share at 41.85 percent, followed by sheep and beef farming at 19.89 percent and dairy processing at 18.85 percent. Smaller contributions come from sheep and beef processing (15.68 percent), the deer industry (0.68 percent) and pig farming (0.35 percent), with the Government covering any gaps left by non-signatory sectors such as goats, wool and some processors.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of this agreement. New Zealand’s reputation for having a clean, disease-free farming system underpins almost every export dollar earned by the livestock sector. An outbreak of FMD would not only devastate rural communities and shut down trade for months, it would undermine decades of careful stewardship.
Sirma Karapeeva, Chief Executive of the Meat Industry Association, summed up the significance of the moment: "The agreement has support across the agricultural sector and shows a clear commitment of both Government and industry to work collaboratively on FMD."
The real strength of this agreement lies in the trust and transparency it enshrines. It acknowledges that no single organisation, farmer, or government agency can tackle FMD alone. Instead, it embraces a model of shared responsibility that places farmers, processors and policy makers on equal footing. That is not just good biosecurity. It is good leadership.