NZMB approves up to $1.3 million to support modernising B+LNZ’s sheep and beef data platform

The New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB) has approved up to $1.3 million in industry-good funding for Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) NextGen Insights and Data Platform project. The project will modernise the sheep and beef sector’s data platform and insights capability and replace the legacy system behind the Sheep and Beef Farm survey – a critical evidence base that has supported on-farm and sector-wide decision-making for over 70 years.

The decision follows consultation with sheep and beef farmers on providing industry-good grant funding from NZMB’s $104 million reserves, with over 70 per cent of respondents supporting the proposal. Further information addressing feedback from farmers is available via this link.

Kate Acland, Chair of NZMB, noted that the investment will deliver significant benefits for red meat producers and the wider red meat sector by enhancing and future-proofing capability that provides trusted, timely and relevant information to support better decisions.

“NZMB funding will help increase the scale and speed of the build and implementation of a modernised data platform, protecting and strengthening the data, benchmarking and evidence base that supports sheep and beef farmers across the country,” Acland said.

NZMB has two key roles. The first is to help secure the best possible ongoing returns from quota markets for New Zealand’s beef, sheepmeat and goatmeat exports. It currently manages access to ten country-specific quotas covering $4.2 billion of red meat exports to the European Union, United Kingdom and United States, and representing almost $1.4 billion a year in tariff savings for the sector.

The second key role is to manage significant farmer-owned reserves and other assets in the interests of livestock farmers. The majority, currently $72 million of the total $104 million, is set aside as a contingency fund to assist the red meat industry’s response to a major industry crisis, such as a significant biosecurity incursion and/or disruption to trade in export markets. NZMB maintains a Reserves Policy that provides for the use of reserves including to grant funding to industry-good projects consistent with strict criteria.

B+LNZ identifies, designs and manages those projects, and seeks funding from the NZMB through a robust application process. NZMB has previously supported projects including sheep and beef genetics, pastoral genomics, early funding of the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) scheme, meat processing efficiency and product quality, the Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP), and the current programme aimed at eliminating the impacts of facial eczema.

Contributing to the modernisation of the sector’s data platform and insights capability adds to the quality industry-good projects that have benefited from NZMB grant funding.

_{Current: 4 September 2026}