Silver Fern Farms
Silver Fern Farms Limited is a prominent meat processing and marketing cooperative based in Dunedin, New Zealand, established in 1948. Initially known as the Primary Producers Co-operative Society, it rebranded to Silver Fern Farms in 2008. The company has evolved significantly over the decades, particularly after becoming a joint venture with Shanghai Maling Aquarius in 2017, which brought substantial capital investment. Silver Fern Farms specializes in procuring, processing, and marketing lamb, beef, and venison products, emphasizing sustainability by sourcing from grass-fed, free-range animals raised without antibiotics or hormonal growth promoters.
With 14 processing sites across New Zealand, the company utilizes advanced technology and eco-efficient designs to promote sustainable practices. It serves both retail and restaurant markets, offering a variety of meat products, including meal-packaged options for home cooking. The cooperative structure of Silver Fern Farms involves over 6,200 normal shareholders and 15,800 rebate shareholders, who are local livestock farmers. The company is committed to environmental stewardship, implementing practices that minimize its ecological footprint and engaging with farmers to promote sustainable farming methods.
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Silver Fern Farms
- Date founded: 30 September 1948
- Industry: Meat processing and marketing
- Corporate headquarters: Dunedin, New Zealand
- Type: Private
Silver Fern Farms Limited is a meat processing and marketing company headquartered in Dunedin, New Zealand, and run as a cooperative. Founded in 1948 as Primary Producers Co-operative Society (and later known as PPCS), it changed its name and brand to Silver Fern Farms in 2008. By 2017 Silver Fern Farms finalised a major external investment, becoming an equal partnership between Silver Fern Farms Co-operative and Shanghai Maling Aquarius Company Limited. Shanghai Maling Aquarius is a food manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Shanghai, China. It is a subsidiary of Bright Foods, a government-owned multinational food and beverage manufacturer that is the largest food manufacturer in China.
Silver Fern Farms procures, processes and markets lamb, beef, venison and related red-meat products for export and domestic consumption. It products are sourced from free-grazing and free-roaming, grass-fed animals that are raised in New Zealand without antibiotics. Many of its product lines also use animals given no hormonal growth promotants. Its retail products include meal-packaged lamb, venison and beef for home preparation and consumption. Its restaurant products include premier hand-cut, high-quality reserve beef, Angus beef and Cervena venison as well as standard beef, venison and lamb cuts.
Silver Fern Farms operates fourteen processing sites in New Zealand. Its flagship beef plant, Te Aroha "Te Kauuta" in Waikato, uses advanced technology and incorporates eco-efficient design elements and processes to promote sustainability.
Silver Fern Farms Co-operative is owned by over 6,200 normal shareholders and 15,800 rebate shareholders who raise livestock and supply meat to Silver Fern Farms Limited. Shares are traded on the Unlisted Exchange of New Zealand through select brokers.
History
In the mid-1940s many livestock farmers in New Zealand worried that the NZ meat export industry was being taken over by large British companies, such as Borthwick and Vestey. According to NZ farmers, these companies underpaid for animals and used overseas distribution operations, which lowered profit margins for local livestock suppliers. Determined to increase NZ farmers' involvement in the meat export industry and increase their margins, a group of farmers formed the Primary Producers Co-operative Society on the South Island. It was registered as a cooperative society on 30 September 1948.
The Primary Producers Co-operative Society's original purpose was to market livestock suppliers' products. Lacking processing capabilities, members would contact meat-processing companies and negotiate deals in which the company would process the co-op members' stock and then allow them to market it directly. By the early 1980s the co-op wanted greater control over meat processing. In 1982 it acquired its own processing plant by purchasing Canterbury Frozen Meat Ltd.
From the late 1980s through 2007, the company expanded and grew from a small South Island co-operative to the largest meat company in New Zealand. Under the direction of chief executive Steve Barnett, from 1986 to 2007, it grew to have twenty-four processing plants. In 1988 it purchased four plants from Waitaki, at Finegand, Marlborough, Burnside and Islington. During the next decade it bought several other small processing plants. In 1999 the organisation formally renamed itself PPCS Limited.
In the late 1990s PPCS launched a hostile takeover of Hawkes Bay – based Richmond Meats, one of New Zealand's largest meat companies. Rather than making an overt bid for the company, it initially used secretive and deceptive practices to obtain a stake in the rival company. The High Court deemed PPCS's method illegal in 2002, a ruling largely affirmed by the Court of Appeal. However, PPCS was still able to purchase Richmond Meats in 2004, making it New Zealand's largest meat company.
PPCS then campaigned to enter new markets and gain market share through an integrated supply chain strategy. On 3 June 2008, it changed its name to Silver Fern Farms, after one of its brands. It changed its business strategy to be more market-focused than production-centred, modernised the company structure and targeted more affluent customers. It pursued a marketing approach known as Plate to Pasture, which identifies what the consumer wants and then produces differentiated offerings to meet that desire, from the source ('pasture') through processing and distribution until it arrives on the consumer's 'plate.' New product offerings included meal-sized portions that could be easily prepared by home consumers. Market expansion included the United States, European countries, China and other Asian countries.
Silver Fern Farms' acquisitions made it the largest meat company in New Zealand but weakened its financial stability. It closed some processing plants and reorganised others. It incorporated in 2014 and began negotiating a deal with Shanghai Maling. In March 2017 the two companies finalised an agreement, which gave Shanghai Maling a 50 per cent ownership of Silver Fern Farms in exchange for a capital investment of $260 million in cash. The co-operative owns the remainder.
Impact
As a major supplier of meat in New Zealand, Silver Fern Farms directly affects many consumers' everyday lives. The company also has a significant economic impact both domestically and internationally. In addition, the organisation is aware of its social and environmental footprint and considers itself strongly committed to sustainability. It works with its co-op farmers to encourage sustainable management and conservation practices. It provides Land and Environment Plan workshops and tools to help farmers assess the impact of their farming activities on the environment and to identify and implement practices that best utilise natural resources while minimising environmental risks.
Silver Fern Farms also implements environmental management practices in its meat plants. It has installed wastewater treatment and energy production systems that lower environmental impact. It participates in a monitoring programme by the Taranaki Regional Council to identify any harmful effects on groundwater, surface water, land and air, and takes remedial action as necessary. In 2014 the Taranaki Regional Council awarded Silver Fern Farms its Environmental Award for environmental leadership in business for its management of wastewater at its Waitotora plant. During the 2020s, Silver Fern Farms launched its Net Carbon Zero by Nature program. This program worked with more than 16,000 farmers to create carbon-neutral meat products. It involved reducing emissions across the entirety of the meat production process.
Bibliography
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O'Dowd, Sue. "Green Initiative Helps Everyone." NZFarmer.co.nz, 2 Jan. 2015, www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/64568392/green-initiative-helps-everyone. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Rousseau, Oscar. "China's Maling Enters Beef Industry." GlobalMeatNews.com, 2 June 2016, www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2016/06/02/China-s-Maling-enters-beef-industry. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"Silver Fern Farms Annual Result." Silver Fern Farms Co-operative Ltd, 16 Jan. 2017, www.silverfernfarms.coop/about-us/our-news/latest-news/silver-fern-farms-annual-result. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
"SIlver Fern Farms' Net Carbon Zero Program: A Pioneer in Sustainable Meat Production." Food Tank, 2023, foodtank.com/news/2023/09/silver-fern-farms-net-carbon-zero-program-a-pioneer-in-sustainable-meat-production/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Silver Fern Farms, 2017, www.silverfernfarms.com. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Stirling, Nigel. "Meat Co-op Finds the Silver Lining." NZ Herald, 20 July 2017, www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c‗id=16&objectid=11891853. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Van Beynen, Martin. "How the New Governor General's Firm Made a Cool $20M." Business Day, Stuff, 16 Apr. 2016, www.stuff.co.nz/business/78888650/how-the-new-governor-generals-firm-made-a-cool-20m. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
Wallace, Neal. "'PPCS' Consigned to History." Otago Daily Times, 3 June 2008, www.odt.co.nz/business/ppcs-consigned-history. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.