The charity Meat the Need has provided New Zealand families with enough mince to make 433,000 meals since it launched 13 months ago.
Meat the Need was set up during last year's Covid-19 lockdown to supply meat to city missions and food banks.
Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
By the end of last month, farmers across New Zealand had donated 1003 animals to Meat the Need.
The primary industries didn't emerge from the national lockdown unscathed but they certainly fared a lot better than urban centres and industries such as tourism, according to one of the project's founders, Golden Bay farmer Wayne Langford.
He says farmers were contacting him, asking how they could help people in need.
"Sometimes we forget just how much (food) we produce. ....Ninety-five percent of our dairy is exported and 90 percent of our red meat is exported. In my view, I don't think we need to chase every dollar."
Through the Meat the Need programme, farmers donate animals; sheep, lambs, deer or any cow or cattle beast and the value of that animal is converted into beef mince.
Meat the Need works with the meat company Silver Fern Farms which processes the beef into 500-gram packets of export-quality mince.
