- Overview
- ANZSIC codes
average workforce
of total food and fibre workforce
in poultry meat production are managers
of eggs come from 20 farms
What is the pork, poultry, bees and other sector?
Pork, poultry, bees and other includes pig farming, poultry farming and processing, beekeeping, horse farming, hunting and trapping and other livestock farming not classified elsewhere, such as alpacas.
This information expands on and interprets our data visualisation for all sectors, which can be filtered by sector and parts of it, like processing or production.
How many work in pork, poultry, bees and other?
Data for year ending 31 March 2023.
| Designation | Count |
|---|---|
| Core production | 9,167 |
| Core processing/production | 3,458 |
| Strongly connected | 13,975 |
| Total | 26,542 |
Designation workforce counts won't necessarily sum to the total - some people may work in more than one designation. The total indicates the overall unique average number of people who work in the sector.
Seasonal change: Workforce over a year
Our data visualisations show average workforce counts across a year for the pork, poultry, bees and other sector.
Roles and skill levels
MPI and NZIER's report 'The food and fibre workforce: Data on its size and composition' from June 2022 sets out the proportion of managers, semi-autonomous and managed staff in the pork, poultry, bees and other sector.
Poultry
Core production – meat
Most poultry meat farms are within an hour’s drive of the processor. Processors provide birds and farmers fund the infrastructure and land. Farmers must abide by strict company policies around light, heating and animal welfare.
Poultry farms are capital intensive. They usually have an owner-operator, two workers and around 250,000 chickens. Around a third of staff are managers and the rest managed, reflecting the owner-operator model.
Core processing/manufacturing – meat
Industry operators primarily process live poultry (including chickens, turkeys and ducks) into cuts and value-added processed poultry products. Industry activity includes abattoir operation and dressing to poultry meat and frozen poultry manufacturing and packing. Almost all workers are managed with a small number of semi-autonomous staff with specialisms such as hygiene.
Production and processing/manufacturing – eggs
There are around 160 farms in the egg-laying business, but 85% of eggs come from 20 farms.
An owner and part-time workers often staff many smaller farms. Large farms may have around 200 workers over several sites. Most staff are managed.
Bees
Core production – beekeeping
Apiculture New Zealand provided workforce skill composition estimates.
The common owner-operator model means around half of workers are managers, with around a third semi-autonomous.
Beekeeping uses around 200 part-year workers in February and March for honey extraction.
Core processing/manufacturing – honey
100% Pure New Zealand Honey estimates 100 companies in honey processing. Many businesses are small, so the proportion of managers is high.