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 | 4,883 | 1,992 | 16,225 | 280 | n/a | 23,322 |
| Dairy | 39,525 | 14,500 | 1,258 | n/a | n/a | 55,192 |
| Forestry and wood processing | 12,692 | 11,317 | 17,467 | 185 | n/a | 41,568 |
| Horticulture | 36,958 | 25,325 | 4,108 | 228 | n/a | 65,878 |
| Pork, poultry, bees and other | 9,467 | 3,575 | 13,542 | n/a | n/a | 26,525 |
| Red meat and wool | 47,208 | 23,983 | 5,208 | 370 | n/a | 76,553 |
| Seafood | 6,142 | 4,508 | 1,083 | 512 | n/a | 12,046 |
| Cross sector | 27,675 | n/a | 11,283 | 21,460 | 5,805 | 66,157 |
| Indicative % | 50% | 23% | 19% | 6% | 2% | 358,215 |
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.