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 | 4,408 | 2,117 | 17,792 | 305 | n/a | 24,597 |
| Dairy | 37,525 | 15,050 | 910 | n/a | n/a | 53,392 |
| Forestry and wood processing | 12,333 | 10,900 | 18,433 | 195 | n/a | 41,803 |
| Horticulture | 34,992 | 25,933 | 4,283 | 244 | n/a | 64,835 |
| Pork, poultry, bees and other | 8,333 | 4,250 | 14,642 | n/a | n/a | 27,158 |
| Red meat and wool | 43,908 | 25,842 | 5,250 | 389 | n/a | 75,147 |
| Seafood | 5,867 | 4,358 | 1,125 | 566 | n/a | 11,750 |
| Cross sector | 27,933 | n/a | 12,442 | 24,022 | 5,462 | 69,735 |
| Indicative % | 47% | 24% | 21% | 7% | 1% | 360,200 |
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.