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 | 4,975 | 2,033 | 16,675 | 280 | n/a | 23,963 |
| Dairy | 39,783 | 14,400 | 1,108 | n/a | n/a | 55,208 |
| Forestry and wood processing | 12,783 | 11,442 | 18,500 | 196 | n/a | 42,880 |
| Horticulture | 35,075 | 26,192 | 4,117 | 256 | n/a | 64,815 |
| Pork, poultry, bees and other | 9,167 | 3,458 | 13,975 | n/a | n/a | 26,542 |
| Red meat and wool | 46,183 | 24,375 | 5,292 | 396 | n/a | 75,996 |
| Seafood | 6,017 | 4,450 | 1,022 | 541 | n/a | 11,908 |
| Cross sector | 26,800 | n/a | 11,900 | 22,580 | 5,769 | 66,990 |
| Indicative % | 49% | 24% | 20% | 6% | 2% | 359,327 |
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.