Global supply chains and networking: A critical perspective on learning challenges in the New Zealand dairy and sheepmeat commodity chains

Vertical and horizontal networks in food chains and rural areasinteract on rural development through a potentially global reach.This paper adopts a knowledge systems framework incorporatingnetworking dimensions to explore problems of supply chain reorganisation.In New Zealand this framework is being applied in agri-industriesthrough the input of research institutes, partly in responseto buyer-driven pressures for supply chain realignment and productionto more precise specification. The paper reports on networkinginterventions by AgResearch in the farmer-processor relationin two New Zealand export food chains (dairy and meat). Findingsfrom the Learning Challenges Project where focus groups areused to conceptualise and define aspects of the chains and toascertain knowledge networking dimensions point to the potentialof networking methodologies as policy tools.