The Country - July 2020

Issue 5 | Monday, 13 July 2020

THE

COUNTRY

This year Fieldays is coming

to you!

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THE

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Issue 5 | 3

Contents

3

Making it real

8

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks

9

16

Let’s talk about sex

18

6

Top 10 places to enjoy Fieldays Online

Rethinking the use of technology in food production

10

Why we’re talking trees

12

Is it time the RBNZ went into bat for farmers?

Just the bee’s knees

20

Loss of foreign beekeepers a concern

22

NZ pork sector faces staff shortages

Making it real

Rowena Duncum gives voice to the high and lows, hard work, love and dedication of all farmers through the story of one farmer, Bruce Eade, as he celebrates 25 years on his farm.

I

recently had the honour of being the first guest speaker on new agriculturally focused online platform ‘Herd it’. After waffling on about my life’s “achievements” (current runner-up, women’s world gumboot throwing, thank-you-very-much!) and my role with The Country, I fielded a question around how farmers can effectively communicate with urban dwellers.

This is something I get asked often, and there’s no one-size-fits-all, but something that always resonates with me is when farmers open up and showcase their lives, their achievements and when things don’t go quite so well. It makes it real. It makes it relatable.

Those in the industry can learn from it, or it could be inspirational for someone interested in agriculture. But most of all, they’re speaking directly to urban New Zealand, with no ‘media spin’ on things. And that’s the best voice there is.

A day or so later, I came across West Otago farmer Bruce Eade sharing the steps he and his family took in celebrating a milestone on farm. It ticks all the boxes I’ve just mentioned and is a really interesting tale to boot. So often we just see the end result and don’t understand what it took to get there, so I want to share Bruce’s story with you.

Today marks a very special day for us. Twenty-five years ago, we moved to our current farm. There's been some big changes since then, along with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Farming is character building to say the least, but I wouldn't change a thing.

We had a farm signed up just out of Riversdale in Southland originally, but at the eleventh hour it fell through. We then found the piece of dirt we now call home. I've driven past the original farm a few times and thought how different things would have been if we’d ended up there. Continued on PG4 >>

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“They’ll be broke and gone in five years” the old boys all said at the time.

But we’re still here...

We went from milking 180 cows through a 12-aside herringbone (ASHB) all year round at our old farm at Tisbury, south of Invercargill, to milking 300 through a 30 ASHB in the first year at Kelso.

Kelso had been a 185ha dairy grazing farm before we converted it.

The lanes were done with ‘gravel’ dug from the farm in February before we took possession in June. My father and a family friend re-fenced the whole place with our ‘mankiller’ post driver and a David Brown 995.

We were only the third dairy farm in the district, and we paid $1 million for the farm, which was a lot of money back then. "They'll be broke and gone in five years" the old boys all said at the time. But we're still here...

Our cowshed was built by Waikato Dairy Builders. The crew actually came down from the Waikato. They started in May and lived on site most of the time, in a caravan in the hayshed, that still is next to the cowshed to this day. The build seemed to take longer than it should have.

In fact, the build was so late we ended up milking 70 heifers on a twocow plant in the hayshed. We would start milking at 1pm and get home about 7pm. When the zig-zag went in the herringbone, we had the twocow plant in a wheelbarrow in the pit and thought it was heaven!

It seemed to rain every day from 10 June till end of September that first year. The crops of kale were poor, and we unintentionally wrecked many hectares of grass along the way. Our land doesn't handle heavy stock well in the winter We lost a LOT of cows that spring. As silly as it sounds, our cows, having come from a flat farm, didn't know how to calve on the rolling hills. I remember one cow, a favourite – Rachel, being cast in the rain one night. Dad and I had to roll her onto the tractor tray to get her inside.

She spent days in the hayshed, with us carting feed and water to her, lifting her and such like, but to no avail. We had to put her down. That was a very dark day and had us questioning if we had made the right move.

Because we went from 180 to 300 cows and Ayrshires were hard to come by, we had to buy a few budget cows. The rest of the numbers were made up by leasing some crossbred R2 heifers – we got to keep any bull calves, but the heifers went back to the owners.

I have a tremendous love of machinery and have amassed a large collection now, but it wasn’t always the case. In 1995 we took over with just a David Brown 995 and loader; a John Deere 6200, twin-drum UFO mower, three-furrow plough, 10ft discs and a Giltrap silage wagon.

Sometime in the early 2000s we extended the 30 ASHB to 40. In 2007 we added 80ha of the neighbours to the farm and, as before, did all the water scheme and fencing ourselves. Cow numbers increased slightly over the years to our current 540-550 herd We've always been ones to control as many aspects of daily farming life as possible and becoming fully self-contained was part of this. All young stock, silage and crops have always been done on the platform, apart from a couple of extreme cases.

After many winters on kale in 2012, we made what was considered a bold move at the time, to sink over $1 million into our free-stall barn, to get all our cows off the land during winter. Having housed 200 cows in winters since 2005, going the whole hog was a big call and an equally big investment. It has undoubtedly been the right move for us, as the future of farming constantly changes.

In May 2019 we bought 120ha adjacent to the home farm. This has made everything ‘final’ in my opinion. We have the scope to feed all our stock, not just heifers, but rear bulls as well, which also means we are on the path to zero bobbies. We use slurry from our barn to fertilise the land and make both grass and cereal silage from it. It's a continuous circle of adding nutrients and harvesting grass.

So that’s a small insight into our journey over the past 25 years. We got here through hard work (very hard work) and dedication. Not to mention our love for the pedigree Ayrshire cow, and later the pedigree Holstein cow. Plenty of bad days, but we stuck at it. I won't be around to see 100 years unfortunately, but I hope one of our family will.

Issue 5 | 4

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THE

COUNTRY

Issue 5 | 7

Top 10 places to enjoy

Fieldays Online

Farmers are the real experts when it comes to working from home.

Flexibility and adaptability are at the heart of who farmers are, and Fieldays Online was created with this in mind.

Y

ou don’t need to leave your property to check out the latest agritech launches, hear a Fieldays talk or snap up a Fieldays deal this year; Fieldays Online is bringing them all to you at the click of your mouse or swipe of your phone.

Here are our top 10 picks on how to enjoy the digital event from anywhere at any time:

4.

1.

Crop planning for spring – stay tuned in for those Fieldays Future Focus Talks to keep you in the know or bank on some exclusive deals to raise the bar with future feed.

Milking shed – when the 4am alarm goes off and you make your way to the milking shed to call the girls in, being warm and dry is often the difference between a tough day and a lousy day, so sort out your gear needs with special Fieldays Online offers from your favourite exhibitors.

In the tractor – while you’re loading up the silage, chuck in your headphones and listen to a Fieldays Online seminar. They’re a bit like a podcast but more interactive.

2.

Winter pruning – while you’re working through the vines after a busy picking season, why not listen to that Fieldays Online panel discussion you saved for later?

3.

Top paddock – taking in that amazing view over the property might have you thinking about your future, why not jump online and chat to an expert on our live Fieldays chat.

7.

5.

8.

Setting up those fence breaks for the stock – remember to take a lunch break and tune in for some new product launches from the Fieldays Online Innovations Centre.

9.

Feeding the calves – we know it’s right in the middle of lambing and calving, but when you retreat to the kitchen for your morning cuppa check out the Kitchen Theatre for some ideas to feed the big and little humans in your life too!

6.

Night checks on the herd and your headlamp is not up to snuff – grab a quick bargain before getting caught out or lock in the next days’ viewing.

Spreading the Causmag – spread out your Fieldays experience across two weeks and watch on demand, anywhere, at any time.

10.

Mid-season inspections – if you’re wondering whether your old quad or side-by-side is going to last another year on the lambing and calving beat, you know the best offers will be right here at Fieldays Online. Save a trip to town for those supplies, hop on to Fieldays Online and get access to all the deals you’d usually grab in June!

THE 8 | Issue 5

COUNTRY

You CAN teach an

old dog new tricks Bill Johnston admits he’s not the most tech-savvy bloke, but he’s determined to learn a few new tricks and give Fieldays Online a shot.

B

ill Johnston has never missed a Fieldays. The legendary Invercargill farmer has been making the annual pilgrimage since 1969 and has watched the event grow and evolve with the times. 2020 will be the first year that Bill won’t be making the trip, with Fieldays being entirely

online.

Bill is used to hitting milestones though. With 48 years of marriage to wife Anne, the 73-year-old is sure he’ll still enjoy the virtual event despite missing his yearly six-week Fieldays holiday up north. Bill admits he’s not the most tech-savvy bloke, but he’s determined to learn a few new tricks and give Fieldays Online a shot.

“It’s going to be a whole new ball game, but I’ll find a way there with a bit of help. The boss will help me. She’s a lot savvier than I am; she can manage internet banking – I can’t!” he chuckles.

Although things are a bit different for Fieldays this year, Bill is positive about the Society’s decision. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

You can’t just say it’s too hard and cancel everything until next year.

You could have done that; you’ve got to prove that Kiwi’s can-do.”

Online event is free The bonus is the online event is free. “I’ve paid for a fair few, but a few times I’ve scored some free ones,” says Bill with a smile.

Farmers are used to working from home and with Fieldays Online being two weeks instead of the usual four days, Bill reckons he’s going to spend a bit more time surfing the internet.

“I’ll have a look each day and see what tickles my fancy. Might have another browse the next day, spend an hour or so here and there.

“At Fieldays I usually do all the donkey work for my son Graeme. We both have a traipse around the place and see what we can find, then we both go back to do a bit more in-depth ‘cage rattling’ or tyre kicking, which I’m sure exhibitors won’t miss from me.

“It’s probably a bonus it’s online, mind you; they won’t have to deal with the non-serious tyre kickers. I’ll miss having a chinwag with some exhibitors, but I won’t need to walk past sites I don’t care about, so I guess that’s another bonus.

“I’ll have my own Fieldays Online holiday in the lounge, with my feet up, and I guess having it on-demand I can watch what I want when I want. We’re going to give it a go, but don’t worry, we’ll be back next year.”

Side by side events next year The Society will be bringing back the physical event alongside a digital one in 2021, an idea Bill supports.

“It’s a great idea, having the online one as well. If people can only go on one day and they miss things, they can bring it up online. Not everyone has the luxury to spend all four days there.

“We’re going to give it a go. The grandkids are tech-savvy, they’ll come and give us a hand. If Jet [Bill’s trusty canine helper] can learn some new tricks, I’m sure I can learn a few tech tricks!”

Register your interest for Fieldays Online here: www.fieldaysonline.co.nz

Future Focus Brought to you by

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The Future of Food

The Future of Globalisation

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COUNTRY Rethinking the use of THE

Issue 5 | 9

technology in food production The Futu ure of Food, a new document from a Professor Sir Peter Gluckman-led team at the Un niversity of Auckland, features the importance of technological development in sustainable food production. With the changes wrought by Covid-19 worldwide, Jacqueline Rowarth comments, it couldn’t have come at better time.

O

nline technologies achieved a new prominence in everyday living during lockdown.

Keeping up with friends and family, continuing with business meetings and education, and procuring new objects of need, want or desire were all enabled in a way that would have been impossible only a few decades ago.

The ability of users to manage the technologies increased, and the technologies themselves changed; new programmes were launched and some of the shaky connections through rural broadband improved. People across the country and the world engaged willingly.

The same willing engagement is evident in food producers – particularly in New Zealand, where a small percentage of the population (approximately 4 percent on the land and another 11 percent in support industries) look after half of the land area.

Technology keeps them in touch with ideas and potential opportunity.

Rural businesses at the forefront There have been well-documented difficulties with new technologies and systems but despite the frustrations, rural businesses – which include those operated directly by farmers and growers – have been at the forefront of stimulating, adopting and adapting technological advances.

Doing better is always the goal.

Doing better is always the goal.

The importance of technological development in sustainable food production features in the new document from Koi Tu: Centre

for Informed Studies at Auckland University, which is led by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman (immediate-past chief science advisor to the prime minister).

The Future of Food is part of a series under the general title ‘The Future is Now’. It states that “innovation must focus on finding new, more sustainable production methods, improviing sup pply-c chain efficiencies, and incorporating innovations from other industries, such as the use of drones and artificial intelligence”.

More science funding needed

Impeccable timing

Workforce planning vital

The ideas in the document aren’t new, but the fact that they have been collected together and issued from an august body at the University of Auckland means that they might gain traction.

And the timing is impeccable – Covid-19 has changed people’s thinking about what is important in life. Safe, nutritious food is high on the agenda.

The Koi Tu document states that horticulture is “well placed to adopt precision technologies, with data and sensors to manage resource inputs” and robotics are being developed for harvesting and processing.

These systems are also being advanced in agriculture. Robots are measuring pasture, and hyperspectral scanning of hill country is occurring for fertiliser requirements. Precision irrigation is already world leading and lasercutting in abattoirs has reduced waste and increased carcass value.

More technology use necessary The increased use of technology is worldwide, but more is necessary. In the last couple of months, nature research journal Nature Sustainability has featured several articles highlighting how sustainable intensification of production on existing farmland and with fewer inputs “is an aspirational and data-hungry challenge”.

Scientists working in Europe have calculated that optimising fertiliser inputs and allocating 16 major crops to the most appropriate land would reduce the area required to maintain current production quantities by nearly 50 percent.

Sustainable intensification closes the yield gap between developed and developing countries and spares natural ecosystems from food production requirements.

It isn’t just cropping that is benefitting.

Last month US management consulting firm McKinsey focused on food sustainability and suggested that digital and biotechnologies could improve the health of ruminant livestock, requiring fewer methane-producing animals to meet the world’s protein needs.

New Zealand researchers are making big contributions to advances, particularly in leading the agricultural greenhouse gas research. They could do more with an improved science funding system – what the Koi Tu document called “taking research seriously”.

Authors concluded that “tto be strategic, the science system needs to fix its splintered nature and the misplaced incentives on which it is based”.

The authors also suggested that workforce planning requires addressing, with the development of a positive strategy for the food sector, including higher education in agriculture incorporating technology.

The late Hon Jim Anderton indicated that workforce planning was vital for the food production sector back in 2008. Now New Zealand needs a revamp not just in higher education but also through schools.

Teaching through the lens of food Julian Cribbs, author of The Coming Famine, has suggested that every subject should be taught through the lens of food. Technology and innovation are clearly part of the mix.

If we have a food-production-literate population (in New Zealand and the world), we would be able to protect the environment better. The land-sparing approach enabled by sustainable intensification can also indicate areas best left as habitat, helping to balance agriculture and conservation.

Sustainability balancing act The authors of the 16-crop study suggested that it is the balancing act, rather than any singular focus, that embraces the spirit of sustainability.

Sustainable food production – optimal food (weight of product, carbohydrate or protein) for fewest inputs (fertiliser, pesticides, land) and lowest environmental impact (GHG and nutrient losses) is already far better in New Zealand than most countries can achieve. More is possible with education, technology development and adoption.

The Koi Tu document explains the challenges and opportunities.

And, yes, investment in rural broadband connectivity is part of the solution. The rural sector welcomes the recognition of difficulties and support for improvement from CBD Auckland.

Dr Jacqueline Rowarth is a farmer-elected director of DairyNZ and Ravensdown. The analysis and conclusions above are her own. jsrowarth@gmail.com

THE 10 | Issue 5

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Why we’re talking trees Sam McIvor, CEO Beef + Lamb New Zealand, says turning productive farmland to plantations for carbon farming will have negative effects on rural communities and the Government should rethink its flawed approach.

T

rees have become a hot topic with farmers lately, and with good reason.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand supports protecting and restoring native bush and the planting of forestry on farms in a way that complements the landscape. However, we’re concerned about the impact of policies that economically incentivise wholesale land use change from pastoral-based farming into exotic trees for carbon offsetting.

Put simply, we’re not anti-forestry – we’re against policies that will lead to widespread carbon farming, which will have detrimental effects on our rural communities.

Picking up the tab Proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will incentivise fossil fuel emitters to offset their pollution by planting trees – or planting pollution on farms. This means sheep and beef farmers and rural communities are being asked to pick up the tab for other industries’ pollution.

We acknowledge there’s a place for offsetting – trees absorb carbon dioxide and it’s good for the climate to plant some forests in the right place. In fact, some of our farmers are doing exactly that within their farms.

The problem is that the Government has not set any limit on how much offsetting can happen through the ETS, nor on how much land can be converted to forestry to create carbon credits for sale – that is, carbon farming. We’ve asked for a limit but as yet no limits have been applied.

Without a limit, the Government’s own projections show sheep and beef farmland decreasing by nearly 20 percent over the next 15 years, and the land in exotic forests increasing by 25-30 percent over the same timeframe.

This is a slap in the face to an industry that has already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent since the 1990s, and has worked to protect and restore native habitats on our farms to the tune of 2.8 million hectares, the second largest holding of native vegetation in the country.

Negative effects Turning productive farmland to plantations for carbon farming will have negative effects on rural communities. It reduces biodiversity, and is potentially negative for soils, and freshwater.

It also adversely affects jobs and exports – two critical ingredients in New Zealand’s Covid-19 recovery. And allowing fossil fuel polluters to

just offset means they don’t have incentives to reduce their emissions.

Sheep and beef farming and processing accounts for more than 92,000 jobs in New Zealand. Can we afford to lose more than 18,000 jobs over the next 15 years if large-scale afforestation occurs?

Farmers are actively working to reduce emissions. Through the He Waka Eke Noa partnership between the primary sector, Ma- ori and Government, we’re being accountable and doing our part.

Flawed approach We’re committed to protecting the environment as well as providing food, jobs and export earnings for New Zealand. However, the Government is effectively kicking the can down the road, and kicking rural communities in the guts by incentivising pollution-planting in rural communities.

It’s not only rural communities that are up in arms, but the concern is branching out into urban communities. It’s time for the Government to rethink its flawed approach.

The Government is effectively kicking the can down the road, and kicking rural communities in the guts by incentivising pollution-planting in rural communities.

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Rabobank is a bit different, actually, very different.

We should explain.

You see, there’s two sides to what we do.

Growing a better New Zealand together

First up, we’re a bank that lends money to New Zealand’s farmers and producers, and we work with those rural businesses to help them be more successful, resilient and sustainable.

That’s one side.

At the same time, all New Zealanders can join us as an online savings bank to earn interest and, just as importantly, know that your savings will help us create more successful, resilient and sustainable rural businesses.

We’re bringing town and country together.

Find out more at www.rabobank.co.nz

Growing a better New Zealand together.

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RAB0022

COUNTRY Is it time the RBNZ THE

12 | Issue 5

went into bat for farmers?

There’s no debating that farmers are a vital part of the economic recovery journey for New Zealand, says Andrew Laming, so it’s s time they got the lowered interest rates they deserve.

T

he Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) regulations stipulate that banks have to hold significantly more of their own capital in a farm loan than they do in a home loan. They put this differentiator in place after the significant run up in Agri debt prior to the Global Financial Crises (GFC), as this, combined with the subsequent retraction in commodity prices, caused a near meltdown of the system.

Rightfully so, they wanted to prevent this from happening again. However, in hindsight, things never really panned out to be as bad as what they thought; whilst non-performing loans ran very high post GFC, they have improved considerably to where they sit today. Banks also didn’t experience the losses they all thought they might.

Sure, things aren’t perfect out there, but the risk that each bank was facing back in GFC times, versus in real time today is considerably different.

This graph below is a good illustration of the relative change in risk for the Agri lending sector over this period.

Banks favour housing over agriculture Capital regulations now mean banks favour housing at the expense of growing New Zealand’s all-important agricultural sector.

Well over 50 percent of New Zealand farmers fall in the bottom half of the risk curve for banks.

At present, we’re seeing interest rates on those farmers creeping up to and above 4-5 percent on floating, versus 2.5-3 percent on home loans.

▪ To an average farmer, that is likely to be 5075c per kg of milk solids.

▪ Across New Zealand, that could be up to $500m every year of lost GDP (using the assumption that 50 percent of farmers are in this bucket).

asking farmers to repay money back like never before (not a bad thing in itself, but we must be aware of the consequences like falling land values) and we’re seeing them take that capital to the home loan sector.

In the last six months, Agri went back by $1.0bn. All other loans went up by $11bn (most of the growth comprised housing loans).

While all of this is occurring, we are seeing some of the best profits on record occurring in the Agri sector, and yields that are outperforming other property-based sectors by a long stretch.

Where’s the logic? Driven by profit, of course If we’re unequivocally honest – banks are a commercial entity, they like to make money, and as much of it as they can so these trends are a prime example of the unintended consequence of regulations such as that mentioned at the beginning of this article.

We often argue that the banks should display the leadership required to look through this with a wider portfolio approach, but leopards don’t change their spots; although we do note (and appreciate) one or two banks at present definitely taking this approach.

It’s not uncommon for some banks to be out in the field talking to farmers, and using their go-to saying of “Well, if we can’t get the required return on this Agri loan, we can’t lend it to you…” or versions of the same thing.

If we peel it back, what they’re actually saying is that the underlying regulations make it significantly more profitable for them to lend to other sectors like housing.

The (highly) simplified example below shows the impact. In short, a bank needs to charge a margin that is significantly higher to get the same return that it does in the home loan market.

This isn’t right.

Non-performing loans, by sector (% of total loans by sector)

That’s a significant amount of money that could and should be invested back into the agricultural sector to enable growth, be it in the form of meeting new environmental standards, investing in greater productivity or paying down further debt etc.

Additionally and by default, banks are lending less into the agricultural sector – in fact they are Scource: RBNZ BBS.

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Issue 5 | 13

Simplified model to explain risk-weighted assets differences in banking Loan size

RBNZ risk weighting

Average tier 1 capital ratio

Bank equity required on this loan

Margin (if the same)

Return on the equity if same margin

Theoretical bank target return

Margin to get theoretical bank return

Home loan

1,000,000

30%

13.5%

40,500

1.00%

24.7%

15.0%

0.61%

Agri loan

1,000,000

100%

13.5%

135,000

1.00%

7.4%

15.0%

2.03%

Note 1: Margin is not margin over BKBM but margin over bank’s average cost of funds.

Note 2: Risk-weighting percentage in this example is illustrative only. Each bank as a different risk-weighting % based on the credit quality of the portfolio.

RBNZ has power to influence At present, some banks are hiding behind the RBNZ, pointing the finger at them and claiming, “It’s not our fault”.

We call on both parties to stand up and make a change to see more support directed at our agricultural sector, which will of course play a far bigger role in recovering our economy than housing will.

We’ve recently seen the relaxation for the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) rules for housing – why can’t we see some of this creativity with the riskweighted asset settings imposed on banks in regards to Agri lending?

Whilst we know the RBNZ is doing the right thing by making the sector less risky (which will be good

in the long run), the banks are simply passing the buck down the line – to the farmers. I doubt that is what was intended when the RBNZ finalised this in 2011.

This impact on farmers was less of an issue when a farmer could still refinance, but that is harder to do with falling asset values (ironically the result of less lending to the sector).

We’re not advocating for the complete removal of these restraints, but the RBNZ needs to be aware of this growing issue and thus take a leadership position in finding some middle ground to help our farmers keep driving our economy.

They’ve shown the required creativity and leadership in other sectors in the past – it’s time to do it again here.

Time to support the farming sector Farming plays a key role in keeping our economy afloat.

No one can argue that now, more than ever, we need to support our farmers. They’re our biggest export sector – that actually sell something on the world stage, for real dollars.

We’re asking them to invest in their businesses to limit the impact on the environment, we’re asking them to be great employers and we’re asking them to drive New Zealand out of the looming recession.

Shouldn’t we make sure they have all the support they deserve?

NZAB director Andrew Laming has worked in the agribusiness banking industry for 17 years.

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NAIT ready for calving?

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Check with your meat processor about their requirements for accepting bobby calves.

Selling calves: All my calves are NAIT tagged correctly I have registered the calves in my NAIT account – after tagging them first I have recorded a movement in NAIT for the calves I sold – within 48 hours of them leaving.

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I’ve filled out an ASD form and have a Declaration to Livestock Transporter (DLT) form ready – if required

Buying calves:

Failure to comply with NAIT obligations may result in fines or prosecution issued by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

I’ve checked the calves I bought are tagged and NAIT registered I received an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form from the seller I have recorded a movement in NAIT for the calves I bought – within 48 hours of them arriving I’ve updated the calves’ production type to beef – if brought in from a dairy farm.

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THE 16 | Issue 5

COUNTRY

Let’s talk about sex Glenn Dwight calls on all Kiwi men to open up about a topic that is an essential component of a healthy life.

K

iwi males: we’re famous for being of few words. Ask us how our day is going and we’ll say “not bad”; ask us what we’re up to and you’ll get “not much”, and when it comes to organising contraception, we’ll usually say “not my problem”.

So this article is all about talking – and talking about those things we often find hard to talk about: sexual health, reproductive responsibilities, and prostates.

Now if we were playing that classic game ‘Name My Sex Tape’, ‘Sexual Health, Reproductive Responsibilities and Prostates’ probably isn’t the best title, and I am pretty sure would not be a huge internet hit.

But maybe it needs to be because pornography is too regularly substituting for accurate sexual education. Long before Dad pulls out that 1973 Playboy magazine and starts talking awkwardly about the birds and the bees, using almost impossible to understand analogies, children are being indoctrinated by pornography.

Aside from the completely unrealistic nature of pornography (we don’t even have cable TV repairmen in New Zealand) there is also the massive problem that contraception is Even almost non-existent. So it’s important that as parents or are not trusted adults we talk to our children about safer sex.

We need to can the stigma

STIs are increasing One other thing to think about is how age and sexuality affect our sexual practices (yeah I know, a moment ago we were hiding behind ‘putting on pads’ and ‘going out to bat’ and now we are diving right in there! Just because she is post-menopausal or he ‘looks sweet as’ down there, don’t necessarily go chucking those condoms away. Even if you are not worried about an unwanted pregnancy, safer sex still needs to be on your radar.

Because here are the hard facts. New Zealand surveillance data (provided by ESR, funded by the Ministry of Health with the cooperation of the diagnostic laboratories) tells us that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) affect males and females differently.

For example, their most recent research found that most cases of syphilis were in males aged 20-39 years and that the rates of syphilis for men across all age groups has been increasing the past five years.

Gonorrhoea rates have increased significantly in the same period, with higher rate increases reported in males. While the highest rates of chlamydia are reported in women under the age of 30, there is justifiable reasoning to suggest this may only be due to a lower testing rate in males.

if you worried about an unwanted pregnancy, safer sex still needs to be on your radar.

It’s long past time to treat sexual health for what it is – an essential component of a healthy life. The conversations around safe practice need to have the same stigma as talking about washing your hands to prevent the flu – no stigma at all.

Kiwi males are also known for spouting endless sporting analogies. Dads, it’s time for you to step up to the plate and talk to your sons about sexual health: ask how they would feel about receiving the HPV vaccine, ask if they are accompanying their partner to Family Planning appointments, ask if they are sharing the cost of contraception.

And while on the sporting analogy, imagine if we could talk about sex as freely as we do about sport. We’ve all heard that guy who brags about how many ‘runs’ he scored on the weekend, but imagine if we talked about improving communication so we knew for sure if our partner wanted to run or not, why our wicket keeps falling over, how rubbing the ball high on the inside of our thigh is actually to subtly scratch that damn itch...

If your mate was sitting in the changing room and said he was about to go out and bat without pads and a box you’d have no problem telling him he was mad. Safe sporting chat is easy, but safer sex chat, we often struggle with.

When it comes to sex, men, we need to make sure we are doing our part to ensure it is safe. When we buy an icecream, we expect (otherwise demand) a paper condom for the cone, but when it comes to our penises – peniseis – peneigh (what is the term for more than one penis?), we can be far less discerning. And sorry guys, but telling Derek* that ‘his personality is the only contraception he needs’ doesn’t really work. No, wait, it doesn’t work at all!

Get your prostate checked

There is one more topic we need to talk about to make my original title true and that is prostates. More specifically, prostate cancer. Yup, it’s about this point that every male reading this is experiencing sphincter tightening. How do I know this? Because I used to be that person too.

NEVER TALK ABOUT IT. But recently I had to have a digital rectal exam. At this point you may be thinking I am about to tell you a story about how smoothly it went… well, the story doesn’t go exactly like that because I had built the exam up into something bigger than it was.

I never talked about it with my mates; I never talked about it with anyone. So by the time I got to the doctor, I was (his words, not mine) ‘tighter than a tiger’. I think that was meant to relax me, but unfortunately it didn’t, so he suggested I pull my knees up tight into my chest.

It was at this point I fell off the bed, smacking my head on a table on the way down, ending up on the floor with my pants around my ankles and a very confused doctor standing above me looking like a gloved cricket umpire with his finger in the air. Howzat?!

Now I tell this story not to put anyone off having their prostate tested. I tell this story because after that, the test was easy – but more importantly it showed me that it is important to talk about these things.

Yes, men, sometimes in life, someone may need to put a finger up your bum, but the alternative is that the Umpire of Life might give you the ultimate finger and end your innings for good. Also, it is a funny story and a great way to broach an awkward conversation.

So come on guys, let’s start talking about prostate tests – and checking our balls while we are at it. *Sorry to all the Dereks reading this, I am sure you are all great New Zealanders with equally great personalities.

Since his easy digital rectal exam, NZME Creative Director Glenn Dwight’s sphincter is no longer ‘tighter than a tiger’; in fact, it’s loosened up nicely – thanks for asking.

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THE 18 | Issue 5

COUNTRY COU

Just the bee’s knees J nees Brazilian by birth, Linden Gomes always wanted to go “somewhere else”.

Initially that was Hawaii, where the beekeeper honed his queen-rearing skills for four years, but now it is Te Awamutu after he chanced on life in New Zealand four years ago.

W

ith a senior queen-rearing position at Kiwi Bee (the beekeeping arm of Comvita), his wife vivian working alongside him, and a growing passion for photography, 39-yearold Brazilian Linden Gomes has found his “somewhere else”.

The harsh winter of the Waikato proved the biggest learning curve for Linden when he joined Kiwi Bee in 2016.

“In Hawaii the weather was very different and in Brazil it is also very hot, especially where I come from in the north-east,” he explains.

“When I came to New Zealand everything was totally new. I had never had a winter before. Overwintering small mating nucs [small hives for mating queens] is totally different here.”

Hawaiian Queen Linden learned beekeeping in Brazil’s state of Paraiba, working as an assistant to university professor Dr Patricio Maracaja, before spending four years in Hawaii rearing queens for the company Hawaiian Queen from 2008 to 2012.

Hawaiian Queen would rear in excess of 40,000 mated queens a year, allowing Linden to advance his skills considerably.

In 2012 he returned to Brazil with plans to launch his own business and work alongside universities, as his professor had, but soon learned his time outside the country meant the projects he had hoped to undertake were no longer available.

Beekeeping is a low-paying career in Brazil and Linden could not muster the investment required to start his own beekeeping business, so he traded hive-tools for dog and cat clippers and launched a pet-grooming business with wife Vivian.

New Zealand opportunity Linden’s passion for beekeeping remained though.

So, when the prospect of coming to New Zealand and working for Kiwi Bee arose in 2016, he jumped at the opportunity.

He had been in New Plymouth for the wedding of a fellow beekeeper with whom he had worked in Hawaii.

“From Auckland to New Plymouth, I fell in love with New Zealand. I stayed 12 days after the wedding and said, ‘I need to find a job here’.”

Another beekeeping friend pointed him towards Kiwi Bee and a job and work visa were soon finalised.

Linden, Vivian and their two children, now aged seven and 17, set a course for New Zealand in September 2016.

“Until I faced my first winter, I didn’t know how different it was,” Linden says.

“Taking mating nucs through winter, that was the biggest difference because we used to overwinter hives in Hawaii with very small populations and they would continue growing. The queens never stopped laying.

“In New Zealand, 2017 was very wet and we lost mating nucs, which was really frustrating. At the same time, it taught me a lot, how to deal with the seasons.”

Spring and summer months have also thrown up some new challenges.

“In Brazil and Hawaii we can check matings after 15 days. Here we have to wait a bit more, because

the matings are a bit later. You can really see the difference between early spring and when the summer is hitting us. We can see the matings become faster and earlier, than in early spring. That is what I like about queen rearing – it is a new thing every day.”

Queen production team

without gloves undesirable, and they are also prone to swarming. Linden says he has heard of swarm-cells being built on a newly mated queen’s first round of brood.

Kiwi respect for apiculture

Added to that, along with beekeeping not paying well in Brazil, honey as a food product and apiculture in general does not garner nearly the amount of respect as they do in New Zealand, he suggests.

That interest from Kiwis in beekeeping has also acted as encouragement for a new hobby, with Linden developing an enjoyment for photography of bees – to go along with his wife’s experience behind a camera.

He says he has received good feedback on his photos (including featuring on the cover of May’s Apiarist’s Advocate) and plans to continue honing his shutter skills.

“I was always trying to learn and this season I decided I would really invest in it. It seems people really like it and I am very happy with that … if people like it, then why not?”

With husband and wife enjoying their queen-rearing, Beekeeper’s daughter developing their photography skills and with brighter Linden met his wife through his beekeeping, Vivian prospects for their kids in New Zealand, the Linden being the daughter of Professor Maracaja, with whom family plans to apply for residency later this year. he started beekeeping. In Brazil, aggressive African “I don’t miss Brazil,” Linden says. “I just don’t. I don’t bees are the strain of choice and so Linden says that lie about where I come from, but I never felt like a an interest in the beekeeper’s daughter may have Brazilian. I always wanted to go somewhere else.”

That somewhere else is now Te Awamutu and may helped draw him to the hives. be for a long time to come.

“I think I probably needed the motivation.

The Africanised bees by themselves “Everything has worked out so well since probably wouldn’t have done it,” he we got here,” he says. “We have nothing jokes. to complain about and we are hoping In queenQueen-rearing is not popular in to stay here forever.”

Brazil. The high aggression level of rearing it is

By Patrick Dawkins, Apiarist’s Advocate the Africanised bees makes working eMagazine, www.apiaristsadvocate.com

When Linden first arrived in the country he worked in a queen-rearing team of five beekeepers; now he runs his own queen production team of two, alongside Vivian, a professional photographer turned part-time beekeeper.

“She began helping out with cell bars and grafting.

We realised she was learning and improving every day, so we became the two beekeepers of the queen unit,” Linden explains.

“In queen-rearing it is easier to control the quality if you have fewer people doing it. I have realised that, in the last few years, we have had fewer complaints about the queens than when there were five of us.”

The Linden have produced about 3500 mated queens for Kiwi Bee in each of the past two seasons.

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THE 20 | Issue 5

COUNTRY

Loss of foreign beekeepers a concern Employers of migrant beekeepers could be left scrambling to find workers this spring if, as expected, New Zealand’s border remains closed to foreign nationals.

M

any beekeeping operations rely on skilled foreigners to tend to their hives through the spring, summer and autumn months, employed on temporary work visas. Some of these beekeepers have been allowed to remain in New Zealand over winter, with an eye to them being in place when the beekeeping season begins again in August and September.

However, many of the workers who left New Zealand to return to their homelands at the completion of the 2019-20 season, expecting to return later in the year, could be unable to enter the country.

Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) chief executive Karin Kos says they have been in contact with Immigration New Zealand over the issue, but the chances of any workers being allowed entry is slim at this stage.

“The reality is, there are a lot of restrictions and the government has pretty much said that the bar is set really high for exceptions to the border restrictions. So I think it is going to be very difficult for employers to bring migrant workers into the country. The expectation is that it probably won’t happen this year,” says Kos.

discovery of new cases of COVID-19 entering the country in June, Kos says ApiNZ is doing what they can to find solutions.

“We are still working on it. The beekeeping companies I am talking to are saying they are constantly talking with immigration. We are talking to them as well, asking for any updates, or if there are changes from government, then we want to Staffing pressures know. They understand the issue.”

Foreign workers have formed much of the ApiNZ has been contacted by several employers workforce at some of New Zealand’s biggest who are concerned at the potential void left by the beekeeping companies in recent seasons, with absence of foreign workers.

Filipino beekeepers the most numerous of the “Some employers do have staff on the ground various nationalities. However, Kos says she and are trying to recruit other New Zealanders, but expects the border restrictions to have an effect it is not easy. So I think there will be pressures on across a wide range of apiculture businesses and staffing entering the new season,” says Kos. with workers from many nations.

Around 200 migrant workers came to New “It is not just bigger companies, there are some Zealand to work in apiculture last year, but the smaller companies who employ migrants, and not total number of beekeepers who remained in just Filipinos, there are some people come in from the country at the end of the season cannot be Eastern Europe, among others. confirmed, Kos says.

“I think everyone would prefer to employ New Zealanders, but the reality is, this industry has Searching for solutions grown so much that employers have had to keep While the likelihood of a reduction in border up with the growth.”

Apiculture, as an industry, is not alone in its restrictions being eased was reduced by the reliance on foreign workers and those who would usually call on migrant beekeepers should be making alternate plans for staffing, as best they can, Kos says.

“You have to work with what you have got, expecting that it is going to be difficult for migrant workers to enter The beekeeping the country. It is not just us as beekeepers, but all companies I am primary industries who talking to are saying are facing the issue. In fact, we are probably they are constantly not as badly affected talking with as some of the other industries.” immigration.”

Author: Patrick Dawkins, Apiarist’s Advocate eMagazine, www. apiaristsadvocate.com

Miraka harnesses innovation in geo-spatial mapping Taupō-based dairy processor Miraka has a strong history of innovation and sustainable practices, with a focus on making decisions with a long-term view.

Located 30km northwest of Taupō, Miraka uses renewable geothermal energy to generate over 300 million litres of premium milk products each year. The company is owned by a group of Māori trusts and sources milk from 100 farms in the Central North Island region.

Miraka’s goal is to become the most sustainable dairy company in the world. In a first for the industry, the company has rolled out farm-specific carbon emissions reports to each of the over 100 farms they work with. They also supply each farm with bespoke farm environmental plans, incorporating geo-spatial mapping tools provided by Eagle Technology.

“ArcGIS allows us to provide really detailed information to our farmers” says Grant Jackson, Miraka’s General Manager of Milk Supply. “The maps help us identify critical risk features in the landscape that could contribute to potential environmental degradation. Once these are identified we can then work with the farmer to develop mitigation plans and a timeline for implementation. This information is added as a layer to the map, and can be accessed at any time. The farmer can drill down into the layers, interact directly with Miraka’s certified farm environmental planner, and make adjustments to the plan as necessary” says Grant.

Miraka’s investment in emissions reporting and environmental management plans puts them at the forefront of sustainability in the dairy sector.

“For us it’s always been about valuing kaitiakitanga and making decisions with a long-term view” says Murray Hemi, Miraka’s Kaitiaki and GM Environmental Leadership. “Miraka is leading the way in New Zealand dairying with our focus on animal welfare, sustainable land management, and actively supporting farming best practice. By supporting our farmers to apply environmentally sound practices we are helping to create climate-resilient farms and world-class products” he says.

More information: Eagle Technology Agribusiness Lead: Murray McCallum E: mrm@eagle.co.nz M: 021 763 044 www.eagle.co.nz/agtech Register for the Eagle Technology Agtech webinar, 11am, July 16: https://bit.ly/3fHwXN1

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THE 22 | Issue 5

COUNTRY

NZ pork sector faces

staff shortages New Zealand’s pork sector is calling on the Government to urgently review its current policies on skilled migrant workers as it faces severe staff shortages.

E

ach year, New Zealand’s pig farming industry relies on experienced workers from overseas to meet a shortfall in staff with the necessary skills required to work with the country’s pig herd.

However, the industry is concerned skilled migrants already working on pig farms in New Zealand may not have their visas renewed or existing workers trying to return from overseas visits will be blocked, leaving many farmers with significant staffing shortages.

“The sector’s strong preference would be to have a pool of available skilled and unskilled New Zealand workers,” says NZ Pork Chief Executive David Baines.

“However, pig farming is a relatively niche sector in New Zealand and the reality is that there is a significant shortage of New Zealanders applying for roles.

“The industry relies on a supply of skilled migrant workers who have been trained in their home countries. The numbers in total are small, particularly compared to major industries such as dairy, but the productivity of the industry is very vulnerable because of the precision nature of pig farming.”

NZ Pork has requested an urgent meeting with the Minister of Immigration Iain Lees-Galloway to discuss the issue.

Pig farming is a relatively niche sector in New Zealand and the reality is that there is a significant shortage of New Zealanders applying for roles.

Pig farmer survey A survey of pig farmers has found that many fear their existing skilled migrant staff may be required to leave New Zealand as a result of immigration measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple farmers raised concerns that migrant staff may not have their visas renewed this year, that migrant workers cannot currently enter New Zealand and that existing staff on visas are facing difficulties returning from overseas visits.

Further concerns raised include the cost of visas, processing times, a lack of pathway to residency and a lack of consistency from Immigration New Zealand in terms of visa length and conditions.

“While we recognise that COVID-19 has and will continue to leave New Zealanders out of work, and will hopefully create some opportunities for New Zealanders who are prepared and willing to work on pig farms, the sector cannot wait for such people to perhaps become available,” says Baines.

“Our animals need continuous skilled and committed care to be provided.”

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