Porkmark launched in New Zealand

Porkmark launched in New Zealand

New Zealand Pork producers now have the opportunity to compare their own operation with others in New Zealand and overseas, while logging on to a wealth of information made available by the introduction of an electronic benchmarking system launched by the New Zealand Pork Industry Board this month.

‘Porkmark’ is a user-friendly, on-line management information system operated through a simple web–based software programme, which has been specifically developed to provide the New Zealand pork industry with a national electronic benchmarking system.

The Board’s Chief Executive Angus Davidson, said whilst a number of individual groups throughout the country run independent programmes there has been no single national system to date.

“Previous attempts to conduct on-going national benchmarking processes have been largely unsuccessful because of the time required by producers to manually enter and calculate the key performance indicators by hand.

“An electronic web-based national system for collecting, collating and disseminating data, will solve these problems. It is very easy to use and will provide instant feedback to the producer,” he said.

Mr Davidson said individual producers need to know how competitive they are and what aspects of their operation they can improve in order to maintain on-farm profitability.

Porkmark will identify average and best performance for key performance indicators which will in turn allow producers to identify their own strengths and weaknesses.

Additionally the information will provide a lot of valuable industry-wide performance data, previously not available, that can be used for future projections and international comparison.

A national benchmarking scheme is seen as being a critical component of the industry’s strategy of being an internationally competitive producer and exporter of premium quality pork and pork products.

Mr Davidson said that as is the case with other business sectors, the use of information technology is becoming more widespread within the pork industry, and it is hoped that the availability of the programme will spur greater ‘e-acceptance’ among producers.

Whilst there are some rural areas in New Zealand where internet access is not reliable, the Pork Industry Board is encouraging the uptake of Porkmark and its benefits by inviting producers to bring their data for entry at the technology transfer sessions being planned at the time of the launch.

The programme is viewed with such importance that the Board is offering to update ongoing data on a confidential basis for those without reliable access to the Internet.

“We consider Porkmark’s easy-to-use format and instant feedback will be the key factors in encouraging wide-spread participation by producers in the programme which we believe will become a critical tool in running a successful pork producing business, Angus Davidson said.

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