NZ Government Says Farmer Co-ops Need To Think Ahead

This report, dated August 29th, is written by Stephen Ward for the New Zealand Herald.

According to a New Zealand government report, farmer co-operatives are concentrating too much on short-term growth. As Ward notes, four of New Zealand's five largest food companies are producer co-ops. Much, if not the majority of NZ's 30,000 food and drink businesses are small or medium sized - something that finds favor in Distributist Thought.

The government report advocates the co-ops and food businesses search for openings in foreign markets. But Distributism advocates that the local market - whether the neighborhood, region or nation - takes precedence over an international market.

If that country's co-ops must find new ways to think long-term in their business outlook, then it must do so, but not if it means taking steps that would - in subtance - make it no different than a globalist conglomerate. Distributist would urge caution in taking any help, financial or otherwise, from the NZ government if such advice turns them away from serving the New Zealand people first and foremost.