• $809m
    Total Revenue for Poultry Farming in 2023
  • ~60%
    Of the pork consumed in NZ is from overseas
  • 5,340
    Individuals worked in Poultry, Pigs and Other Livestock Farming across 2021
  • 135
    Learners enrolled in Poultry and Pork related programmes and qualifications in 2021

Overview

With over 150 layer farms, Aotearoa produces around 1 billion eggs every year, selling roughly $286 million worth of eggs. On average, New Zealanders eat nearly 240 eggs per person per year. The Poultry Meat industry has 180 farms around the country and all New Zealand’s poultry is raised in barns or free-range.

In 2021 there were over 632,150 pigs (equating to around 44,930 tonnes) killed for local production. Around 66% of production is in the South Island and 34% in the North Island.

The Poultry, Pigs and Other Livestock industry group is relatively small in Aotearoa. In 2021, we counted 5,340 people in the Poultry, Pigs and Other Livestock workforce, with 19% of the workforce identifying as Māori. Export revenue for the industry is small, with most of the pork consumed by New Zealanders coming from overseas. In fact, imported pork comes from over 25 countries and constitutes around 60% of the pork consumed in Aotearoa. This is a challenge for the local industry, especially when the price of imported pork is cheaper, and the local industry is held to higher animal welfare standards than imported pork.

The biggest challenge for the industry currently is changes to government regulations around animal welfare. The Pork industry is awaiting an outcome on the government’s proposed Code of Welfare for Pigs, which would change the rules around use of farrowing crates for sows. A change to the Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare came into effect on 1 January 2023, which banned layer farms from using conventional cages. This has been compounded by a variety of factors, including the country’s two major supermarket chains phasing out the sale of colony cage eggs, and moving to only selling free-range and barn eggs.

Find out about our work to assess the quality of programmes delivered by providers for this industry here.

A snapshot of the Poultry, Pigs and other livestock farming workforce development plan is available for download here. Please note that this reflects a point in time (July 2024). The most up to date information is on the workforce development plans website.

2025 Investment Advice

Muka Tangata provides advice to TEC on investment in vocational education to influence funding decisions that considers industry needs, to help match skills and workforce demands with supply.

Learn more

Projects

Since we first developed our workforce development plan for Poultry, Pigs and other Livestock, it has become evident that there is a gap in provision for both Poultry and Pork programmes and qualifications. Providers are reluctant to invest in programme development for such a small number of learners. Although Poultry and Pork specific enrolments are small, they are all work-place based programmes.  Because the industries struggle to attract people into the workforce, having historically relied on skilled migrant workers to fill a gap in skills, it is imperative that the right skills are being taught to those who are looking to enter the workforce.    

This is our plan to address the vocational education and training opportunities that arose from our engagement, research and analysis. It includes real projects that we are committed to delivering, with most of these spanning across some or all Muka Tangata industries. Our Projects have replaced our previous “Roadmap Actions” and present a consolidated view of our mahi. Some of the previous roadmap actions have been completed or closed out following a review of our work programme and engagement with industry on the priority of these actions. 

Training that works
Simplify qualifications
Insights for industry
Success for learners and workers

Highlights