work in food and fibre
in core production
in biggest sector: Red meat and wool
in smallest sector: Seafood
Where are people in the food and fibre sectors?
Around half the food and fibre workforce is in core production and a quarter in core processing/manufacturing, or first-stage processing.
A fifth of the workforce is in strongly connected businesses, including second-stage processing, businesses that depend on the core like fertiliser manufacture and businesses inter-dependent with the core, such as, veterinarians.
Seasonal change: Workforce over a year
Seasonality can drive big changes in workforce with peaks in production, processing or both.
Use our data visualisations to see how the workforce changes in each sector across a year.
Roles and skill levels
Roles and skill levels differ much across the food and fibre sectors. These are explained in detail in our report.
Some findings:
- The highest proportion of managers are found in arable and red meat and wool core production (both over half), probably because of high numbers of owner-managed farms.
- The highest proportions of managed staff (around 9 in 10) are in horticulture and pork, poultry bees and other (core processing/manufacturing).
- There are high proportions of semi-autonomous workers in core processing/manufacturing in forestry and wood, and red meat and wool – both around half.
How many work in the food and fibre sectors?
|
Sector |
Core production | Core processing | Strongly connected | Relevant | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arable | 4,958 | 2,058 | 16,692 | 292 | n/a | 23,968 |
| Dairy | 38,367 | 15,258 | 806 | n/a | n/a | 54,383 |
| Forestry and wood processing | 12,317 | 11,325 | 18,808 | 199 | n/a | 42,607 |
| Horticulture | 35,100 | 26,542 | 4,150 | 245 | n/a | 65,428 |
| Pork, poultry, bees and other | 8,808 | 3,800 | 14,442 | n/a | n/a | 27,008 |
| Red meat and wool | 45,083 | 25,058 | 5,125 | 398 | n/a | 75,406 |
| Seafood | 5,758 | 4,492 | 1,042 | 558 | n/a | 11,691 |
| Cross sector | 27,225 | n/a | 12,058 | 23,478 | 5,740 | 68,451 |
| Indicative % | 48% | 24% | 20% | 7% | 1% | 360,367 |
Workforce counts for each designation and sector won't necessarily sum to the total - some people may work in more than one sector and designation. The total indicates the overall unique numbers of people.
Past year numbers can change as: (1) the IDI extracts are on an "as at" point in time basis, so data refreshes will re-read in any backdated data updates submitted by data providers; and (2) every data refresh involves re-extracting all the past years which are then subjected to Stats NZ's random rounding rules.