• Any New Zealand feed manufacturer that manufactures 40,000 tonnes of feed or more per annum may apply for membership of the Association as a Category A member.
  
  
• Any New Zealand feed manufacturer that manufactures less than 40,000 tonnes of feed per annum may apply for membership of the Association as a Category B member.
  
  
• Any person, firm or company other than a feed manufacturer that has an interest in the industry may apply for membership of the Association as an Associate member.

The purpose of the NZFMA is to promote and protect the interests of the Industry. As such the initial objectives of the Association included:

• Establishment of Industry Agreed Standards and Codes of Practice for the production of Compound Feed that complies with all food safety requirements.
• To assist in enabling the sourcing of raw materials for use in the Industry at the lowest total cost within the framework protecting quarantine regimes, whilst encouraging to the maximum extent possible the development and expansion of domestic industries.
• To establish and maintain effective communication among members and between the Industry and the government, government departments, local bodies and other industry groups.
• To establish and review Industry research and development needs and priorities.

Benefits to NZFMA Members closely reflect the objectives laid out for the organisation. Benefits therefore include

• Access to the New Zealand Feed Manufactures Code of Good Manufacturing Practice for the production of Compound Feeds, Premixes and Dietary Supplements.
  
  This Code has now been approved by the MAF Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Group, as an industry standard for oral nutritional compounds (including compound feeds) under the ACVM Act 1997.  This enabled compound feeds to be largely exempt from registration and regulation under the Act, in turn saving members considerable time and associated costs. Savings in time and associated costs have been identified as a major benefit of belonging to the Association. 
  
  A further review of this Code is currently underway. 
  
  
• Comprehensive submissions on issues affecting the Industry are prepared in conjunction with Association members and submitted on behalf of members to Biosecurity New Zealand, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and other relevant bodies.
  
  Recent examples of this are the Draft Import Health Standard for the Importation of Animal Feeds of Plant Origin release by Biosecurity New Zealand and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority Review of Animal Feeds. The NZFMA submissions on both papers are available under Consultation in the Members section of the NZFMA website. 
  
  
• As a consequence of the good working relationship that the NZFMA has with government the Industry has had input in areas such as
  • BSE surveillance
  • Ruminant to Ruminant protein regulations
  • Genetic Modification Regulation and Registration of Oral Nutrition Compounds and their use in Compound Feed
  • An increase in imported grain, and subsequent quarantine regulations
  • Food Safety
    
    
• The minutes of Executive Meetings and Annual General Meetings are available to all members and can be found in the Members section of the website.
  
  
• NZFMA Members can request that the Executive Committee consider and if necessary address specific issues. 

Sub-committee meetings of the Association may be at the request of the Executive to address industry specific issues. Minutes of these meetings where relevant are available in the members section of the NZFMA website.

• Where research projects beneficial to the Industry and with specific research objectives have been identified, the NZFMA may consider funding some of this research in conjunction with other research partners. 
  
  
• The NZFMA compiles Compound Feed Production and Raw Material Usage Statistics for every quarter and every year. These statistics are available to all members in the members section of the website. 
  
  
• Free attendance at the NZFMA Industry and Technical Seminars held each year in July and November respectively. 

Speakers at the Industry Seminars are generally representatives of the New Zealand regulatory authorities and other similar bodies. Topics of presentation are closely aligned with those regulatory issues facing the industry. 

The Technical Seminar focuses on issues of a more practical nature. For example, recent presentations have focused on mycotoxins, vitamin and trace mineral supplementation and recent research developments in alternative plant protein sources.

The presentations given by speakers at the NZFMA Seminars are available in the members section of the website.