A large drop in lamb numbers is expected to result in hundreds of job losses for the meat export industry from next year

Close to one million fewer lambs are predicted to be available for processing next season, across both islands.

It's mainly due to land use change, especially to forestry.

Federated Farmers meat and wool industry group chair, Toby Williams, says more farmers are converting to trees as that's where the money lies.

He says there's criticism of the Government's setting which favours short-term carbon over long-term posterity.