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Food and Fibre Partnership Group

About the FFPG

nz landscape with hills

The Food and Fibres Partnership Group (FFPG) is a strategic group established in July 2020 to help accelerate current and new transformation efforts across the food and fibres sector.

The FFPG implements the vision and strategic direction for the food and fibres sector, and shares responsibility for implementing key elements from the Government’s Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential Roadmap.

The group consists of chairs and chief executives from across the sector, Māori agribusiness leaders, and government agency chief executives to ensure it reflects the views and interests of the wider sector and recognises the importance of moving forward together. 

The FFPG’s role

Hands holding soil

The FFPG is coordinating efforts across our food and fibres sector to help accelerate current and new transformation initiatives to meet a range of goals.  These include improving sustainability and wellbeing, boosting productivity and profitability, and lifting value.  Underpinning this work is a strong recognition that protecting the health of Te Taiao (our natural world) is critically important.

The FFPG is:

  • partnering alongside the sector, Māori agribusiness, and government to align objectives, and enable more efficient resource use and better communication and engagement
  • ensuring strategic issues in the food and fibres sector are identified and addressed at an early stage.
  • complementing sector strategies and other transformation programmes underway.
  • working with sector groups such as the Māori Primary Sector Leaders Forum and the Food and Fibre Leaders Forum to ensure a broad range of perspectives and knowledge are channelled into the FFPG’s work.

As a partnership, the FFPG will reflect the principles of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) and this will play a significant role in helping to realise the potential of the Māori economy and its contribution to the sector.

FFPG priority areas

Seedlings in petri dish

At the July 2023 Food and Fibre Partnership Group (FFPG) meeting, four focus areas were identified as priorities to advance over the coming year.

  • Data interoperability and sustainability credentials
  • Supercharging investment
  • Farmer and grower connection/communication
  • Labour/workforce
Farm road to Southern Alps

Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential

The roadmap identifies actions within the food and fibres sectors to achieve ambitious targets for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive economy. Many of these priority areas require a greater focus on science and innovation.

It’s important to note that some new and existing initiatives will not be listed in the roadmap, but will still make an important contribution to delivering the roadmap.

The FFPG has met with the chief executives of New Zealand Crown Research Institutes and the Cawthron Institute about the role science, innovation and mātauranga (knowledge) plays in supporting transformation in our food and fibres sector. 

Following this engagement, FFPG is identifying common research, science, and innovation priorities across government, industry, science providers, and Māori.  This will form the basis of a ‘science accelerator’ plan to help deliver the roadmap, while connecting resources and minimising duplication of effort.