Merry Christmas from ANZCO

Tēnā koutou katoa

As 2021 draws to an end, I’d like to thank you for working with us during the year.

Like many other companies, we continue to be challenged by the ever-changing COVID-19 situation but we’re pleased with the way our sites and our people continue to respond positively. Across our business, each ANZCO department has performed to a high level to help us through the challenging year including our logistics team that has been very creative with the way it has managed the supply chain ongoing issues.

The global market outlook is looking good and we expect this to continue to hold for the coming year. You can read more about this in Rick’s market update in this email.

Aside from the focus on COVID, I’d like to share a few of the positive developments we’ve made in our business this year.

In 2021 we achieved Toitū Carbon Reduce certification for our entire New Zealand business. Knowing our carbon footprint provides us with better data so we can adopt science-based reduction goals and make informed decisions to improve environmental outcomes. We have a number of projects underway to help us reduce our carbon footprint.

The company continues to invest in new technology to help us make better decisions. This investment is across our entire operation – from the international documents we provide for our export products to a new livestock portal. This investment is about streamlining our processes and making things as easy as possible for our partners and suppliers, as well as providing up-to-date information for decision making. 

We take our responsibility as a significant employer in the regions in which we operate very seriously. Our two main programmes in this area are Helping Make Ends Meat and Sponsor a School.

Through Helping Make Ends Meat we’ve donated more than 12 tonnes of 1kg mince packs (equating to 120,000 total serves) to the New Zealand Food Network which distributes this product to foodbanks around the country from its Auckland and Christchurch stores. Foodbanks often struggle to access protein, so we get very positive feedback from this initiative and are pleased to be able to make a difference in the lives of so many. 

Since 2011, we have donated more than $1.2m to rural schools through ANZCO’s Sponsor a School programme where we donate to nominated rural primary schools, linked to supply from dairy farmers. This is a company donation – there is no cost to participating farmers. In 2021, ANZCO donated more than $106,500 to schools across New Zealand that have used the donations for a range of things from sports equipment to in-class resources. The programme is our way of thanking dairy farmers for choosing ANZCO Foods, and showing our support for local rural schools and communities. We continue to be overwhelmed by the positive community feedback – from dairy farmers and rural schools – making this initiative even more rewarding. We’re always looking for more farmers to register for the programme: the greater the support we get, the higher our donation to schools.

He Waka Eke Noa has been a big focus for the year. This is the industry’s chance to have a say in how farms can be accountable for their emissions through an alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). By March 2022, we need to have demonstrated to Government that everyone across the sector is engaged in this with everyone knowing their greenhouse gas numbers by the end of 2022 and having a plan to reduce emissions by 2025. The current conversation is about how alternatives to the ETS might be priced. An on-farm option and a processor-hybrid option are currently being discussed at workshops around the country in February and I encourage you all to take part. Check out dates and locations of these workshops: Agriculture emissions pricing options – February roadshow | Beef + Lamb New Zealand (beeflambnz.com)

In closing, thank you for working with us during 2021. While we’re hoping for a more settled 2022, we are certainly planning for more challenges and will continue to work with you as the year unfolds. 

Meri kirihimete from all of us at ANZCO Foods,

Peter Conley
Chief Executive