Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics is on a mission to give breeders and farmers the tools to produce great-tasting beef backed by a strong environmental story, while at the same time improving production efficiency.

The Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme is a seven-year Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures partnership supported by the Ministry for Primary Industries and B+LNZ, which aims to boost the sector’s profits by $460m over the next 25 years.

The objectives of the programme are to:

  • develop a beef genetic evaluation system that includes traits that are important to New Zealand beef farmers and supports a sustainable beef farming industry
  • create easy-to-use tools that enable data to be efficiently collected, managed, analysed and used by farmers to make profitable decisions for their operation
  • create a new approach to extension design with the goal of increasing farmer engagement across the industry.

Stud breeders and commercial farmers are an important part of the INZB programme. If you’re interested in being involved, or for more information about the opportunities available to breeders and commercial farmers please see our Opportunities for Farmers section. It provides information about Next Generation Herds and our across-breed Beef Progeny Test.

Industy survey (beef genetic tools)

As part of an annual survey, we’re asking beef farmers, stud breeders and rural professionals for their views about beef genetics and available tools in the industry. 

It's an important way for us to measure changes in views and the uptake of genetic tools in the industry over time. It also helps to inform our activities within the INZB programme. 

So please do take the survey (even if you did it last year). It takes less than 10min and all entries can be in to win a $100 Prezzy Card. 

About the Programme B+LNZ Genetics with support from MPI is leading the INZB programme. The aim of the seven-year programme is to improve profitability and enhance sustainability across New Zealand’s beef industry through the development and adoption of improved genetics. View Opportunities for Farmers The five main components of the programme focus on building a genetic evaluation and data infrastructure, capturing new data through progeny test herds and the inclusion of commercial farms, developing breeding objectives and indexes, and supporting farmer uptake of new genetic information. View Tools and Resources INZB will focus on breeding objectives and traits that are important to New Zealand beef farmers. Tools and resources developed through the programme will enable commercial farmers to select the right genetics quickly and easily for their farm system and environment. View Governance and Advisory Groups The INZB programme is supported by a number of groups that provide governance functions, industry perspectives and technical review. View