HBT - Rural Focus March 2020

1

Spotlight on our region’s rural sector

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Diverse industries render Hawke’s Bay a destination

D

iversification of industry across New Zealand continues to provide opportunities for many, and Hawke’s Bay is leading the pack.

Traditionally, productivity in the region has largely stemmed from efficiency gains in the farming and horticultural sectors. While livestock numbers and the area of land used for horticulture has decreased¹, there has been an increase in the value of primary production² assisted by growth in apple harvests, vineyards and the red meat sector.

Although fine wine and horticulture are still very much an integral part of the local economy, recent productivity in the area is also being driven by large, commercial businesses across a range of sectors.

The diversity of those industries operating in the Bay has created more opportunity for its residents and is drawing more people to the region. The surge in commercial business activity in Hawke’s Bay means that both existing and prospective workers no longer need to be specialised in horticulture or agriculture to find employment.

Susan Kilsby – ANZ Agriculture Economist

Today, folk are drawn to the region to work across a diverse range of industries, including technology, export and construction. Compared to other regions - such as Taranaki, which offers

a local economy primarily centred around Dairy, Oil and Gas, Hawke’s Bay is offering a breadth of options.

Latest data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment3 (the year to March 2017) shows that manufacturing was the largest contributor to the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), contributing $1,035m, or 13.7%, to Hawke’s Bay’s regional economy - 3.8% of the national GDP for manufacturing at the time.

Other high-contributing industries for the Bay included agriculture; forestry, fishing and mining; and construction.

Employment opportunities that aren’t siloed in any one particular sector have not only boosted the region’s economic output, they have also been a key driver of Hawke’s Bay becoming both a shortand long-term destination, and the numbers tell the story.

In 2018, the average household income in the Bay was $86,700, with a GDP per capital of $47,083, a 37% increase since 2010 compared to an national increase of 30% for aggregate New Zealand3.

Even during New Zealand’s rather sluggish 2019 economy, Hawke’s Bay’s economic growth continued, with GDP for the region up 2.9% last year

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3 compared to 2.5% for the rest of New Zealand2.

Aside from GDP, in 2019, Infometrics reported that traffic flow, consumer spending, house prices and sales, tourism expenditure, car registrations, health enrolments and commercial vehicle registrations were all up in the region too4.

The attraction of the region has more recently been reflected in house price trends, with Hawke’s Bay currently taking a spot as one of New Zealand’s key growth markets. OneRoof reported an increase of 12.9% in median house prices from January 2018 to January 2019, with average property prices in the Bay reaching well over $500,000 last year5.

However, while house prices are on the up, it’s important to remember that they could cool off as prices in Auckland level out.

Hawke’s Bay continues to be a promising growth market, and we see this continuing as both diverse, commercial business undertakings and growing horticulture and farming activity drive the central North Island’s productivity.

1. Statistics NZ Livestock Numbers by Regional Council and Horticulture by Regional Council: http://nzdotstat. stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?

DataSetCode=TABLECODE7423# 2. Statistics NZ Regional gross domestic product: Year ended March 2018: https://www.stats.govt.nz/ information-releases/regional-grossdomestic-product-year-ended-march2018#hawkes-bay 3. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment data – Regional Economic

Economic Activity Source: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Hawke’s Bay

New Zealand

2018

$48,887

$58,271

2010

$35,643

Average Household income

2018

$86,700

2010

$65,300

Population estimate

2018

165,900

2010

156,300

GDP per capita

References

+37%

+33%

+6%

$44,648 $104,400 $74,700 4,885,500 4,350,700

+31%

+40%

12%

Activity Web Tool: http://webrear.mbie. govt.nz/summary/new-zealand 4. Infometrics’ Quarterly Economic Monitor – Hawke’s Bay Region, March 2019: https://www.infometrics.co.nz/ product/regional-quarterly-monitor/ 5. OneRoof Property Report – State of the Market, March 2019: https:// www.oneroof.co.nz/news/downloadthe-oneroof-property-reportmarch-2019-36042

4

Drought Mode – again?

Article and photos by Richard Hilson BVSc Vet Services Hawke’s Bay

H

awke’s Bay is usually very dry at this time of year. I say “usually”, but given the last two green summers we could be forgiven for not having seen this one coming. It will rain so don’t panic, no-one’s sure when though!

So, what should you be thinking about?

Beef farmers

Cows should already be pregnant so reproductive issues won’t normally be a consideration. For calves though, the pressure is on. Calves are eating lots of grass and drinking much less milk but competing with their dams for every blade of grass is not desirable.

Take home message:

Wean early, unless you are targeting weaner fairs or don’t like looking at smaller (younger) weaners. Cows need less quality now so offer it to the calves.

Watch out for:

Do the weaning process right in terms of drenches and vaccines and consider doing the dehorning and AHB tagging if the job won’t take too long.

Sheep farmers

No weaning issues to consider here but many ewes are currently looking hard for a feed of any sort of quantity and lambs and hoggets have very little in the way of quality anywhere as most crops are fried now.

Don’t let ewes lose weight or it will be very hard to put back on. Try to put weight on in the lead up to ram joining for a “flushing” effect. Data from the Bearing Study in 2000/01 showed a 14% lift in scanning for a 5-6kg lift in bodyweight.

Droughts take that all off and then some…

Look at your pasture – is it as good as hay or worse? If you saw that in spring would you ask sheep to eat it?

If it isn’t flash, even meadow hay will boost ewe weights (at a bale to 70-80 ewes) and silage or baleage will be even better. Maize and barley are common HB supplements and they work well… but stock need to be well adjusted and also given time to learn to eat it.

Take home message:

Don’t be afraid to supplement breeding ewes pretup and into the first cycle. It works extremely well if you plan ahead.

Watch out for:

• Start early enough for ewes to get adjusted to the supplement.

• Grain needs to be started in very small quantities and increased to final ration over 10 days at least.

• Remember to still offer the pasture option for the ewes that don’t want supplement.

• Check ewe faecal egg counts pretupping too – aim to feed sheep and not worms!

• Dip soon, if the timing is right. Way better to have that covered than try

to be reactive when the first showers come through. Struck ewes are dry ewes at scanning.

• Ewes adjust quickly to grass-based supplements as they ‘know’ it and their digestive system doesn’t have to alter too much.

Don’t switch supplements off too soon and be aggressive in your parasite control programmes when the rain comes.

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5

Celebrating all that’s good about fruitgrowing in Hawke’s Bay

By Ben James President HBFA In late January the HBFA held their annual Industry Awards Night where we recognized those studying towards a qualification in horticulture. We were joined by over 260 people to celebrate the educational achievements of over 120 trainees. We now need a bigger venue to host this event in which is a fantastic result of continuous training and focus of staff development with in our industry.

Sixty five people graduated in 2019, with qualifications ranging from level 4 national certificates to diplomas in horticulture. Scholarships worth $13,000.00 were granted to help our trainees and that included scholarships for degree level study. This is a really positive sign for the industry and our training programs.

We also acknowledged 45 grower trainers and businesses for their efforts and support of these graduates. All of this horticulture training is ‘earn while you learn’ based giving trainees great practical and theoretical skills to support their career growth.

The weather has been challenging for growers with very little rainfall since harvest in 2019. We are now seeing the region become extremely dry.

Water levels in our rivers are low with irrigation restrictions as a result of the extreme dry.

Despite this, and the two hail events that ripped through Hawke’s Bay in the early season, fruit quality looks to be above average with great taste, dry matter and volumes. Innovative marketing campaigns such as the Hailstone Heroes have meant that even the summer fruit with some cosmetic hail damage was successfully sold and received by the customers with great success. This is yet another example of horticulturalists innovative ways and our ability to manage through adversity and disruption.

The Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers Association has been working hard to update and modernize our image.

We have completed a rebrand and communication revamp which has seen us join the social media world. We hope this will help reach our members and the public to help keep people informed, network and come together as Hawke’s Bay Growers. We have also redesigned our website as part of this process. We can be found online at http://www.hbfa. co.nz or on social media (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn by searching HBFA or Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers Association.)

Please have a look and engage, like follow and share our page to

help support this primary industry in Hawke’s bay. We are part of Hawke’s Bay’s fabric with many families in Hawke’s Bay directly involved in horticulture or involved in one of our support industry’s such as transport.

We grow the world’s best fruit here in Hawke’s Bay and this often is forgotten and not celebrated.

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6

Challenging times don’t affect a positive outlook The past six weeks, without any decent rain has seen the Hawke’s Bay countryside rapidly brown-off and feed resources dwindle away. To add insult to injury the outbreak of coronavirus in China and subsequent shut down of export markets has compounded the issues for all farmers as exporters struggle to find homes for product that was destined for our largest export partner.

This all comes on the back of several issues creating uncertainty, which is taxing the confidence of farmers.

weeks and as we have seen before, Hawke’s Bay can quickly return to a lush green state with the onset of autumn rain.

Whist the outcome of the coronavirus is still uncertain, we have seen these types of issues dealt with effectively before and it is obvious there is a massive global effort being put in to shut it down as quickly as possible.

What’s more the fundamentals for commodity prices remain very positive as

the demand for quality New Zealand food outstrips supply. There is plenty of reason to believe they will return once the current troubles subside.

So for those farmers who have no obligations around succession, and assuming their environmental compliance plans are in order, the coming autumn would be an excellent to capitalise on the years of hard work by offering their property to the market.

The banking sector’s recent moving to greater capital requirements, when lending to the rural sector, has made securing finance more difficult. Yet these financing challenges carry some benefits including strong competition among banks for good farming clients.

By Tom O’Sullivan East Coast Sales Manager PGG Wrightson Real Estate

O

h, what a difference a few weeks can make in the life of a farmer.

Pre-Christmas we had some decent rain, the grass was growing and generally markets were very healthy - all was well.

Farmers are also facing increasing scrutiny relating to environmental compliance. The uncertainty around how this will impact is stressful, however the picture will become clearer as we move forward and this clarity will rebuild confidence.

This all makes for a character-building period.

However, as the landscape has become more challenging in the past few weeks, the speed of recovery can also be rapid.

Forecasters are starting to talk about a change in weather patterns in the coming

The recent lack of rain has seen Hawke’s Bay move rapidly into drought.

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Helping grow the country

8

Telling the good stories

By Chrys Ayley

S

eemingly Kate Taylor’s energy knows no bounds. The exuberant journalist, author, volunteer firefighter and CHB councillor has an extraordinary passion for people that shines through in all her work. “I enjoy being with people, talking to people, helping people. I’ve always been a positive person.”

Kate is a well-known, and a highly respected freelance rural journalist who is based in Takapau where she and her family thoroughly enjoy their rural lifestyle. Her latest high profile achievement was being elected a councillor for Central Hawke’s Bay District Council in last October’s local body elections.

It was about the same time that Kate received the honour of being named the Rural Champion for 2019 in the NZI

the country conducting interviews and taking photographs. “The book is my pride and joy. Writing that book was definitely one of the highlights of my working career. I’m an avid reader so having my own name on the front of a book was very cool.”

Kate left full time paid employment as a journalist with the Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune (now Hawke’s Bay Today) 20-years-ago when she and husband Thomas were expecting their first child.

Sarah is now a music student at Victoria University and Lachlan, their son, is a prefect at Lindisfarne College.

“I wanted to be a stay at home mum and I wanted to have a career that I could intertwine with being a mum and I was fortunate that I had a love for writing that I could do around the kids.”

“Working for myself allowed me to have more freedom over what I did and who

Kate at the Rural Women NZ business awards, with representatives from Jardin, who sponsored the Rural Champion Award.

aspect, a rural platform and something completely different. The book was a catalyst to what’s next.”

“I also work for the Poplar and Willow Research Trust, am editor of the New Zealand Herefords magazine, and I recently did a publication for the Hawke’s Bay Rural Support Trust, which I loved, and it came at the right time, post-book. So my writing about other people’s struggles was therapeutic for me too!”

Keeping things fresh and always moving up another level is part of her philosophy. Completing the Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme in 2017

Rural Women Business Awards. “I was absolutely stoked to win the award,” she says. One of my favourite sayings while going through the process for the Rural Champion Award was that I was the champion for the true rural champions – all those farmers and growers and rural women out there protecting the future for NZ agriculture – I was a vehicle helping their stories to be told.”

Originally from an Otago farming family Kate met Thomas at Eskview Young Farmers Club within a few months of moving to Hawke’s Bay. Kate competed in the Young Farmer of the Year regional finals at Dannevirke in 2001 less than a year after giving birth to Sarah. She’s pleased to see that the passage of time has encouraged more young women to not just enter the contest but have a good crack at winning.

Young Farmers has played a huge part in Kate’s life and it was a thrill to be commissioned to write 50 Years Young: A History of the Young Farmer of the Year that published in early 2019. It was a significant undertaking that took over a year to complete as she travelled

I wrote for.”

Kate’s list of assignments and achievements in the past 20 years is testament to her relentless motivation and enthusiasm that stems from three key drivers-people, passion and positivity. As a freelancer she started writing, predominantly rural features, for the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Hawke’s Bay Today and the Dominion Post. Today Kate has many other clients and the list reads like a Who’s Who in New Zealand rural circles.

A position she particularly enjoys is being the East Coast Regional Coordinator for the NZ Farm Environment Trust, a role she’s held for more than a decade. The Ballance Farm Environment Awards run by the trust is in its 10th year on the East Coast this year. “It’s great to promote the good work of farmers and growers. There are some awesome stories to tell. It’s been a wonderful organisation to be part of.”

Does she ever get downhearted? “After the book was published…I did thump down a little bit. That was one of the reasons I stood for council. It was another challenge with a community

The book – Kate’s pride and joy!

really made Kate think about why she does what she does.

Kate’s articles have her name on the top “but it’s not my story it’s theirs. I find it easy because I love doing it. The more experienced I get I realise it is a skill. I’m good at telling people’s stories in their own words.”

Does she ever get tired of the focus on rural life? “No, I’ve done so many interviews, written so many stories.

I love driving down a new road I’ve never been down before! Rural people are special. They are open and usually positive and passionate about what they’re doing.”

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Another Hawke’s Bay success story-ahead of the weather

By Chrys Ayley

I

t was a chance encounter between a weather forecaster and a weather measurement scientist that led to the expansion of Metris, a local weather forecasting, consulting and measurement technology company. Metris were the recipients of the 2019 Napier Port Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Innovation Award.

Dr Mark Bart was working in the air quality industry and in 2017 was thinking there might be some better use for his atmospheric science skills and knowledge when he stumbled upon the web site of local meteorologist Howard Staines who was then the sole owner operator of Metris.

“I stumbled on Howard’s web site, I gave him a call and said I’m keen to get into meteorology and he said that’s funny that I’m keen to get out of it,” said Mark. Soon it was agreed that they should join forces with Howard to continue forecasting and Mark developing the business.

Mark is an atmospheric measurement scientist with many years-experience, both here and overseas, in cloud physics, atmospheric chemistry, meteorology and atmospheric dynamics consulting and cloud computing.

In layman’s terms the services Metris offer revolve around mitigating the risk

from weather events for horticultureapple growers, pears, kiwifruit and summer fruit growers, Mark says.

While based in the Bay Metris also work with growers in Marlborough, Wairarapa, Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty.

There are now four employees one independent director. Paul Heaps is the sales and service manager and Suzan is the administration manager.

The independent director is Head of Communications & Sustainability at Silver Fern Farms, Justin Courtenay.

Mark believes that it’s sensible business practice to have personnel with corporate experience in a small company.

Paul and Mark have known each other since childhood and they grew up together in Te Awanga. While Mark went onto university Paul became an electrician, travelled and worked overseas before working as a sales representative for Ideal Electrical. With a keen eye for detail, Paul, who is very well known in the Bay, specialises in weather station selection, quotes, maintenance and installation.

Paul, left, and Mark celebrate success at the 2019 Napier Port Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Awards.

Metris has a network of selfregulating sensors, some 200 in Hawke’s Bay alone, which feed data to a sophisticated computer system.

Howard then applies his knowledge and experience to that information to provide

subscribers with reliable and highly accurate weather forecasts. There are also subscribers in the Bay of Plenty, mainly kiwifruit growers, who are keen on subscribing to receive frost forecasts, Mark says.

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11 “We sell the data and that was one of the factors they took into consideration at the awards. Our business model is different.

“Weather risk changes for horticulturists depending on the season. During the spring it’s about frost, when the frosts are going to occur and where. We provide sensors that measure the temperature and return data in real time. Subscribers will get a text message so they know when to initiate frost mitigation measures be they windmills, helicopters, sprinklers to protect fruit from frost early in the season.”

“As the fruit starts to set the disease risk starts to come along – bacteria and fungi like to grow when it’s warm and wet so we do measurements and forecasting around what that risk might look like so clients can plan when to put on fungicides and spray.

the Met Service might so forecast, for example, for Longlands, Roy’s Hill and Twyford to give a closer idea about what the temperatures are going to be. Our frost forecasts are a primary reason a grower would subscribe.”

The majority of the market, some 75% is located in Hawke’s Bay Market. “On a frost night we could get up to 15002000 opening the forecasts. Bigger growers have multiple orchard managers subscribing,” he says.

Communication is generally by email and there’s a web site where clients can review data real time. While emails are popular Metris still has a few clients who prefer to receive a fax!

“Then we do wind forecasts, what the wind is going to be during the day to help them think when they might put their sprays on.

“During the harvest horticulturists need dry spells. They don’t want to pick fruit when it’s wet, so we help predict, help them make a decision when to get the picking crews out or grapes off the vines.”

As the season progresses pruning starts and Metris supplies various forecast including how much moisture is in the air.

“I guess we are best known for our frost forecast. We scale it more finely than

Paul Heaps is the Sales and Service Manager.

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Delivering a genuine, honest product

By Chrys Ayley

J

oanie Williams left school at 14 and spent the next 15 years working as a dairy farmer. She had strong stock skills, enjoyed being an AI technician and was passionate about cows, production and performance.

Joanie and Richard Williams are passionate about sustainability.

After several more years in the dairy industry Joanie was inspired the late Neil Armitage of Patoka to embark on a new direction. Joanie went along to the farm with husband Richard who was filming a promotional video. Neil, a biological dairy farmer, was dismayed at his high quality milk being mixed with inferior milk. He suggested that Joanie had the motivation and the brains to do something about it and this made her seriously think about the potential for quality milk once again being made available to consumers.

“That was in March 2010 and by June that year I had leased a building, registered a limited liability company and we were in the market by labour weekend that year.

“From the beginning we have recognised the value of products that have been produced on biologically active soils. Our farmers can verify soil management and on-farm practices throughout their farm systems,” she says.

The staff have given the bottle filling machines names like Buttercup and Daisy!

The Origin Earth factory, on the outskirts of Havelock North, is close to the farmers

who supply the milk. Once at the factory, milk is immediately crafted into cheese, pot set yoghurt or bottled.

Throughout the decade there has been an abundance of milestones achieved, possibly too many to mention, Joanie says.

Gaining their first milk order from a café, Flight Coffee in Onekawa, was significant.

Soon after Al Borrie opened Box Espresso in Clive and became a client. Al now operates another three coffee shops in the Bay using their milk. New World was next followed by Hawthorne Coffee.

Hawthorne went a step further as “they designed their roast to suit the milk and it’s a beautiful partnership.”

Paolo Pancotti, formerly chef at Milk and Honey, and now Catering Manager at Hereworth School has been a keen supporter since the outset too. Origin Earth has been supplying large quantities of milk in bulk re-usable containers since early 2018. Paolo trialled the bulk milk container project and it’s now another key service offered by the company to café owners, businesses and schools (who use in excess of 18L a week). Joanie says the bulk delivery clients are all very keen supporters of the project.

They also offer a milk bottle refill service, either by delivery, or at the shop which is aimed at reducing single-use plastic milk bottle waste.

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13 Customers can bring their own bottles or buy glass bottles. “Hawke’s Bay is an extremely enthusiastic about addressing environmental issues. We have reduced our use of plastic bottles by over 3,500 every week which is roughly equivalent to 50,000 plastic supermarket bags every week.”

provable story. I think that makes us a little bit special. When your business is based on something as fundamentally basic as milk one of the drivers for us was to deliver a genuine, honest product.

It’s a great story, it’s a great taste, it’s a pretty neat thing to be involved with,” she says.

As a small business owner the hours Joanie works can range from 80-100 a week. Richard helps when he can but as a TV cameraman for Country Calendar and Rural Delivery he too is busy. Joanie can be up early at 3.15am to collect milk, run the pasteuriser, train the cheesemaker, attend to maintenance, troubleshoot and fill in if staff are on leave.

Along the way Joanie and Richard have picked up numerous awards such as the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards in 2015, 2016 and 2017. They were finalists in the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards Emerging Business Award category in 2012 and won the Central Region final of the Westpac Business Growth Grants Award 2018. The prize included a trip to Hawaii to attend the Nurture Change Business Retreat which they both found very inspirational.

“The customer requirement globally has changed. Customers want to know where their food has come from and they want to know that they’re getting complete natural food not stuff that’s been reconstituted to look like a genuine product,” she says. “Hawke’s Bay is leading the way in innovation and doing things differently.”

“People want to be able to meet the farmer, meet the grower, and chefs want to be able to source locally and say where the product came from.

Traceability is proof of the story. If you can’t trace it you’ve got nothing.

Increasingly across the primary sector traceability has become more achievable through technology.”

“We deliberately chose to be absolutely transparent; we’ve set out to have a

There’s a steady stream of customers at the shop both regulars and tourists.

In the meantime, and as if Joanie didn’t have enough on her plate, she is competing, with a friend, in the Taupo Ironman on 7 March even though until recently she hasn’t been a runner, swimmer or cyclist! Her first ever competitive experience was the Harbour to Hills Triathlon on 26 January.

Joanie was pleased to complete the event on time. “I’m not a competitor I’m a completer.”

As for the future they have strong expansion plans that will be very much based on the local model: partnering with other farmers and potential processors to supply other markets. “We believe the model in Hawke’s Bay is replicable in other regions.”

Origin Earth has received many awards for its cheese.

HAWKE’S BAY SINGLE FARM ORIGIN MILK, YOGHURT & CHEESE

SINCE 2010

ORIGIN EARTH

393 Te Mata Road, Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

Ph: (06) 878 2786

Origin Earth owner and director, Joanie Williams, is in training for the 36th IRONMAN Taupo on 7th March 2020.

Joanie would love you to sponsor her with all donations going to the local non-profit organisation Nourished for Nil whose mission is to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste and redistribute it to the Hawke’s Bay community.

Search ‘Origin Earth’s Joanie Williams Competes in Ironman Taupo for Nourished for Nil’ at Givealittle.co.nz to donate.

14

NZ’s natural advantage businesses in line with changing consumer, societal and regulatory requirements that, I believe, sets us apart.

One of the biggest drivers of change is climate change, as this impacts on farmers’ businesses on so many levels.

While we are having to build resilience into our farming systems in response to climatic extremes, we are also having to respond to regulations developed to reduce this country’s greenhouse gas emissions and do our bit to slow global warning.

We are also having to deal with a massive media focus around red meat consumption and its link to global warming.

George Tatham Director Beef + Lamb New Zealand

D

espite the dry weather, stock around our region are in great condition which is testament to our farmers’ management skills and genetics which underpin our world-leading production systems.

Like any business we have our challenges, but it is our farmers ability to adapt to change and evolve their

While livestock production does create greenhouse gas emissions and there is still more for our sector do to, what is not well known in New Zealand is that the sheep and beef sector has reduced its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent since 1990. No other sector has achieved this.

There are also a huge number of trees on sheep and beef farms. We have commissioned research to measure the amount of emissions that are being offset by these trees and hope

to release a report on this in the next few months.

The challenge for us is to leverage our natural advantage to generate a premium in the market place and this was the reason Beef + Lamb New Zealand invested in the development of Taste Pure Nature, New Zealand’s first Red Meat brand.

The brand was launched onto the Californian market in March last year and in those 11 months there have been over one billion media impressions.

These include 270,917 website visits, 6,382,805 brand video views, 327,000 ad clicks and 108,463 social media engagements.

Earlier this year Taste Pure Nature was launched in China and B+LNZ is working with industry partners on a rollout strategy.

NZ’s natural environment is central to Taste Pure Nature and this includes native biodiversity, much of which sits on sheep and farms.

Native flora and fauna are typically highly valued by farmers for both aesthetic and functional reasons and we welcome the government’s willingness to protect and enhance this country’s native biodiversity through the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB).

However, there are parts of the policy we have concerns about, particularly the broad definitions of Significant Natural Areas (SNA) and potential restrictions on farming activities that can be carried out within a SNA. There is a lot in the NPS that farmers support, but these areas need to be worked through carefully to ensure that the NPS recognizes, and allows productive farming practices to sit alongside indigenous biodiversity.

Submissions on the proposed NPSIB close on March 14 and I would encourage all farmers to engage in this process.

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