Farmers Weekly NZ June 3 2024

Ag burned up over fire funding plan

AGOVERNMENT

proposal to remove the exemption status of forestry and some farm infrastructure from the fire and emergency insurance levy could lead to no or under-insurance, say sector leaders.

Insurers already face a 12.8% increase in the levy from July 1, with further increases possible from 2026 should a Department of Internal Affairs proposal for an 11c/$100 insured levy be accepted on non-residential property that was previously exempt.

Assets that would no longer be exempt include forestry, livestock, crops, silage, hay, hazardous substances, transport infrastructure such as roads and bridges, poles, quarries, retaining walls, fences and walls, water tanks, towers and septic tanks, water reticulation pipes, electrical supply and telecommunications cabling.

A Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) spokesperson said the 12.8% increase from July 1 was approved by the previous government. The first since FENZ was established in 2017, it was set to support the “fair pay” of firefighters.

Previously funding was provided through transitional levy arrangements based on those for the NZ Fire Service.

Possible changes to levy exemptions were decided by the cabinet in March after consultation in 2022-2023.

Federated Farmers board member Toby Williams said FENZ appears to be treating levy payers as an endless source of funds and should instead be looking for efficiencies.

A NZ Forest Owners Association (NZFOA) submission earlier this month on the proposed levy changes and exemption proposed from 2026 said they cannot be justified. The levy should be calculated on the proportion of incidents attended by FENZ.

“We do not believe that the forestry sector would receive the proportional benefits of FENZ services relative to the cost that it will incur because of the proposed levy.”

In 2016 it was estimated that the 2017 creation of FENZ following the amalgamation of 40 fire services from across the country would generate savings of $47 million.

NZFOA claimed that in the five years to 2022-23, FENZ costs have risen 90%, from $389m to $738m, and could further increase to $928m by 2028-29.

“It would appear that the efficiencies of scale on which the case for the merger was predicated have failed to materialise,” the NZFOA said.

Continued page 3

Farming the winner on the day

Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford offers some words of wisdom after a recent rugby clash between the Feds and Parliament in Gisborne. The sports tournament raised $300,000 for east coast farmers recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle.

STORY 31

Farmers happy in their work, but frustrated by regs, The Farmer’s Voice survey reveals.

NEWS 4

OPINION 21 SECTORFOCUS

Where native mushrooms are champignon

There is a twist in Southland mushroom grower Janine Donaldson’s story – she doesn’t really like to eat mushrooms.

HORTICULTURE 24-27

Current downturn in the sheep industry is likened to the economic crisis of the 1980s.

NEWS 8-10

Farming technology needs to be adopted in a series of small steps, says David Eade.

Neal Wallace NEWS Insurance

EDITORIAL

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ISSN 2463-6002 (Print) ISSN 2463-6010 (Online)

Jason Te Brake has been appointed chief executive of Zespri.

Te Brake is currently Zespri’s chief operating officer and will succeed outgoing chief executive Daniel Mathieson, who is leaving to join Driscoll’s, on July 1. Chair Nathan Flowerday said Te Brake has the strong commercial and stakeholder management experience the company is looking for.

News in brief Zespri CEO Carr retires

The chair of the Climate Change Commission, Dr Rod Carr, will retire at the end of his term later this year.

“Dr Rod Carr has led the Climate Change Commission since its inception, and I want to acknowledge his service as chair,” Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said.

Milk powder

Milk powder was New Zealand’s largest single commodity exported in the year to the end of April, accounting for 14% of overseas receipts.

Data released by Stats NZ shows the country exported $9.7 billion of milk powder over that period. Since April 2008, the annual value of milk powder exports has increased 109% and quantities have increased 112%.

Changes underway

Resource Management Act Reform Minister Chris Bishop said the introduction of the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill targets changes that can take effect quickly and give certainty to councils and consent applicants while the government develops new legislation to replace the RMA. It speeds up the process for preparing or amending national regulations and suspends the requirement on councils to identify and adopt new Significant Natural Areas.

Another tight season for dairy farmers

Gerald Piddock NEWS Fonterra

FONTERRA’S new season opening midpoint forecast of $8/kg MS means another season of tight budgeting for dairy farmers.

The dairy co-op announced a forecast range of $7.25-8.75/kg MS when it provided a financial update on May 29.

The forecast came as no surprise to Springdale, Waikato, sharemilker Bart van de Ven, who said: “What it means for us, that $8/kg MS midway point, is just another season of tightening the belt.

For the average dairy farmer there’s no fat at all, it’s more likely a loss again.

“We have a low-cost system so we can do it for $6/kg MS [break even], $8/kg MS is pretty good.”

His biggest cost is fertiliser, which has largely remained unchanged over the past year.

Van de Ven is mindful that other farmers with more intensive, high-cost structure systems may struggle.

“For the average dairy farmer,

Continued from page 1

They also questioned FENZ estimates of a $250m annual cost to fight vegetation fires, saying the figure is 614% higher than before amalgamation.

Vegetation fires in 2022-23 accounted for 3% of fire incidents yet the proposal will apportion 28% of levy costs to vegetation fires.

In the seven years since 2017, 43,856 hectares of vegetation burned, compared to 28,021ha from 2010-17 and 31,364ha from 2003-10.

But aircraft costs for fighting fires rose from $28m to nearly $44m over comparable periods, a

there’s no fat at all, it’s more likely a loss again. For us, we have set our system up so we can do it with less. We tightened the belts last season and we’ll do it again this season and we should be fine.”

He was surprised at the decision to leave the current season’s forecast unchanged at 7.80/kg MS, given how the GDT has tracked so positively.

The forecast advanced rate paid to farmers was updated, paying $6/ kg MS from May 29 to the end of this year before a scaled lift.

Federated Farmers dairy chair

Richard McIntyre said the $8/kg MS forecast should see a lot of farmers making a profit this season and he hopes the forecast will rise through the season as predicted by analysts.

“The fact that they are being cautious is good. We know how stressful it was thinking we’re going to get $8 and then for it to go down to $6.75/kg MS in August.

“The last thing we want is for Fonterra to over-promise and under deliver. That said, cashflows are tight on farm at the moment.”

While some may be slightly disappointed it is not higher, having at $8/kg MS midpoint along with the $6/kg MS advance rate is still a morale booster, he said.

DairyNZ head of economics Mark Storey said this is the fifth season in a row when the milk price is above $7 but offset by historically high expenses.

trend forest owners said indicates firefighting resources are heavily focused in urban areas.

“If this is the case, this reinforces our concern that rural policy holders are unfairly being burdened with readiness and overhead costs that are apportioned based on response costs.”

In 2019-20 the area of conservation land burned was 5919ha, over 55% of the total area of vegetation burned that season. In 2020/21, it made up 27%, or 3611ha, yet the $10m government contribution makes up 1% of FENZ annual costs.

Owners said about 38% of the forest estate is insured, but it is

The March update of DairyNZ’s Econ Tracker tool had an average breakeven point of $7.76/kg MS for the new season.

But Storey expects that will lift closer to $8/kg MS at its next update in early June.

“For the average farm, that breakeven price would be hitting the milk price, which doesn’t give a lot of margin to cover discretionary spending.

“It’s a pretty tight situation for farmers. While they can probably manage it in terms of operating profit, some will definitely be feeling it in terms of their cash position.”

Operating expenses are forecast

expensive, few companies will insure forests and it is not viable for commodity trees.

We do not believe that the forestry sector would receive the proportional benefits of FENZ services relative to the cost that it will incur because of the proposed levy.

Submission

NZ Forest Owners Association

In 2021/2022, forest owners estimate, members spent $11m on fire protection including 900

to ease but will still stay well above $6/kg MS for the next season according to Econ Tracker. However, non-operational expenses – interest, rent, tax and drawings – are still at very high levels. Dairy Base data put these expenses at 42% of total farm expenditure for 2022-2023, he said.

“Those expenses are becoming a large part of the budget.”

Agricultural economist Phil Journeaux said the forecast means farmers will still not be breaking even.

He calculated that the withinseason payment for the coming season when combining deferred

trained firefighters, over 215 Incident Management Team (IMT) members and equipment.

Williams said while staff in the regions are dedicated and work hard, FENZ management appear to be taking an urban approach to managing rural firefighting.

He said the levy changes will encourage farmers to closely assess what they insure.

Given the number of fires that occur or originate on conservation land, he said the Department of Conservation should either seek more funding to control vegetation or work with farmers and use grazing to control growth.

TIGHTENING:

Waikato

sharemilker Bart van de Ven says Fonterra’s forecast $8/kg MS midway point heralds ‘another season of tightening the belt’.

and advanced payments is $8/kg MS, which is below his breakeven forecast of $8.34/kg MS.

“We’re still behind the eight ball.”

Fonterra farmers also had a dividend plus capital payment, which will help carry them through the season just finishing and the expected dividend for next year should get farmers over the breakeven line.

“Our investment business is subsidising our farming business. It’s still money coming into the same business, but farming-wise the payout is not enough to cover those breakeven costs.

“Things are still pretty tight.”

Commenting on the predicted savings from creating FENZ, a spokesperson said the government at the time acknowledged “there was not a good line of sight of either rural fire sector costs or the baseline costs of the NZ Fire Service Commission, and the efficiencies might be elusive due to the legacy nature of the assets and organisational state”.

The amalgamation identified greater support expenditure and investment was needed in assets and for frontline firefighters through training and development.

Final decisions on changes for 2026-2029 will be made by the government later this year.

• Granulated products for precision farming

• Targeted soil nutrition

• Easy application with starter fertilizer and/or seed

• Trusted quality for optimal results

Bart van de Ven Waikato

Smiles, some frowns, in first Voice selfie

Staff reporter PEOPLE Trends

TWO-THIRDS of farmers are happy in their work, although a similar percentage of them are frustrated by the amount of regulation and compliance, the first survey from The Farmer’s Voice has found.

AgriHQ, which publishes Farmers Weekly, created The Farmer’s Voice as a forum for farmers to share their ideas and feelings, and to be heard by those in the industry who can effect change.

Farmers can sign up to partici-

pate in surveys, forums and other projects that will help inform food and fibre sector strategy, and guide the speed and direction of change.

This first survey asked participants some general questions about their overall view of the farming industry, with 229 responses received.

Sixty-six percent of those loved or liked their work and cited working with animals and the land and being their own boss as the key drivers of that positive view.

“As a farmer I appreciate my work surroundings and the people who I interact with in carrying out our business. I love the challenges posed by sustainability issues and

Are things getting better or worse for farmers?

I love the challenges posed by sustainability issues and restoration of our damaged taiao.

Farmer respondent

The Farmer’s Voice

restoration of our damaged taiao,” one farmer said.

But 61% thought that farming was getting worse, with only 20% seeing improvement in their work.

Worryingly, a quarter struggled with physical or mental health and a third of farmers were not confident about their future.

WORSE: Sixty-one percent of respondents thought that farming was getting worse, with only 20% seeing improvement in their work.

What do you love about farming?

WORK: Sixty-six percent of surveyed farmers loved or liked their work and cited working with animals and the land and being their own boss as the key drivers of that positive view.

“I’m worried about the mood of those farmers around me,” said a respondent. “I think farming has always had its challenges, but now, with the amount of media accessible, at all times, on all devices, the repetition of negativity has resulted in the catastrophising of where the industry is at.”

The three areas of concern were regulations, profitability and the public perception of farming.

“I love it, but I am concerned about the increasing inflation and prices of operation and how we will still maintain our relevance in the world market.”

a brighter outlook than sheep and beef farmers.

Future projects will see The Farmer’s Voice use this initial survey as a launchpad to delve deeper into the big issues farmers face.

MORE:

To sign up and have your voice heard, visit https://www.agrihq.co.nz/ thefarmersvoice

Breaking things down further, women were more pessimistic than men, and dairy farmers had

‘Mitigation tech sidelined in NZ’

THE founder of a red seaweed methane mitigation company is challenging government authorities on the irony of growing tonnes of the product in New Zealand but being unable to sell it here.

Dr Steve Meller, founder of CH4 Global, visited NZ from his Australian base this week to give a presentation to a Parliamentary select committee tasked with receiving submissions on the Regulatory Systems (primary industries) Amendment Bill.

Meller believes it is worth turning up personally in order to make the most of the opportunity the Bill offers to fix regulations he said make the manufacture and sale in NZ of new methanereducing compounds expensive, time consuming and onerous.

The crux of current rules in NZ mean two years ago ACVM (Agricultural Compounds & Veterinary Medicines) regulations were introduced that blocked methane inhibitors from being used by farmers, requiring them

to meet the onerous standards of veterinary medicines.

Meantime, for Meller’s company the rest of the world has beckoned as demand for methane mitigation tech has grown, alongside regulations he said are proving easier to navigate, including those in his home base of Australia.

“As it stands, the regulations in NZ have been so onerous no company has even started the application process here. Companies looking to enter the NZ market have withdrawn their interest.”

This has included the Netherlands-based Bovaer, now well established in South America, Australia and Canada and just gaining approval for use in the United States this week.

Last year Bovaer withdrew rather than enter the ACVM process, as did CH4 Global.

Meller said arguably a company like his could legally sell his product in NZ but would be unable to make any label claim about its methane mitigation ability, meaning it would be of little use to farmers having to supply to accredited low carbon programmes.

He said it is even more absurd

I have to go in the world where there is a demand and desire to make an impact.

Dr Steve Meller CH4 Global

that it is possible to sell the product here as an animal feed without any need to register it, but it cannot be fed at significantly lower quantities with the claim it is a methane inhibitor.

NZ’s carbon edge remains at risk of being tarnished

A

DAIRY processing head

believes New Zealand’s leading position as a low carbon focused economy may be at risk as other countries move more quickly to approve and deploy mitigation technology.

Karl Gradon, CEO for Taupōbased Miraka, said he hopes the new government will fast-track and adopt new technology like Bovaer and red seaweed, compounds already being employed around the world.

“Given the importance of methane to our country’s emissions profile, we should be the first to deliver on its use in a safe and efficacious way,” he said.

Miraka has 100 large dairy farm suppliers that Gradon describes as being at the leading edge of early adopters, keen to buy into the company’s strong kaitiakitanga (environmental guardianship) core values.

“This is part of our value proposition to our customers.

“Our farmers tend to have a different risk profile.

“They want to adopt new technology quickly and that makes us a pretty appealing company to be rolling out this methane-reducing technology.”

He said at a processing level Miraka has done almost as much as it possibly can to reduce the plant’s carbon footprint.

That includes relying on geo-

thermal rather than coal power, focusing on waste minimisation and now moving towards having a hydrogen-powered transport fleet.

Overall carbon emissions are 92% below the industry’s coalfired average.

Having trained as a biochemist, Gradon acknowledged that getting solutions like methane-reducing compounds proven can take time.

But he noted despite significant and lengthy investment in programmes like the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium, no solution has presented itself yet.

“That’s compared to the reductions we have seen using red seaweed compounds.”

While red seaweed compounds are an obvious option, he maintains his company is agnostic on what products are

He said current regulations would require years of medical standard trials costing millions, out of line with other countries.

“I have to go in the world where there is a demand and desire to make an impact. Our goal on starting up was to have an impact upon climate change with urgency.”

In Australia dried red seaweed is not defined as a chemical product under that country’s regulations, and claims on methane reduction can be made.

This has the irony of CH4 Global

using its large-scale seaweed growing facility at Bluff to provide the Australian market with the product, without being able to feed it here for the same purpose.

At present the product is only suitable for feeding in a feed lot situation, but Meller said by the first half of next year the company will have a product suitable for once-a-day feeding in a pastural dairy context.

He sees the solution lying beyond the changes initially proposed by the Bill before the select committee.

This includes an amendment to enable natural non-toxic plants to be used as methane inhibitors without requiring registration as a trade name product under ACVM.

“This would not apply to synthetic inhibitors or concentrated plant extracts, which would still need to be registered and comply with other relevant legislation.”

CH4 Global also has plans and partners in line for another plant at an undisclosed location in NZ, but its go-ahead would be dependent upon the NZ market becoming more amenable to the use of such products.

Authority staunch on mitigator risks

LAGGING: Miraka CEO Karl Gradon says NZ risks falling behind in the race to reduce ruminant methane emissions.

best, and just wants to see a range of tools given to farmers to meet the emission reduction demands placed on them.

Looking overseas at the adoption of different methane mitigation compounds, Gradon said he fears NZ may only have a few short years before its “world’s lowest agricultural emitter” claim is no longer the case.

“This should be our No 1 focus. It’s critical to keeping market doors open.”

He said he regularly receives inquiries from Miraka’s overseas customers on what is being done to reduce methane emissions from livestock here.

“And that is not just from the usual suspects like Danone and Nestlé. That includes our Chinese customers. There has been a surge in awareness globally on the impact we have on the environment.”

RISKS to animal welfare, trade and public health underpin decisions about methane mitigation products, says New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle.

In a written response to Farmers Weekly on Dr Steve Meller’s concerns about New Zealand regulations, Arbuckle said the government’s decision to regulate inhibitors came after the nitrate inhibitor DCD was found in milk in 2012, with an ensuing trade risk.

He said further public consultation undertaken in 2020 on regulation options for inhibitors showed strong support from nearly all submitters for regulation.

“While some inhibitors are novel technologies, they have many similar characteristics to agricultural chemicals and veterinary medicines.”

These include risks of residues that may affect animal or plant safety.

Therefore, the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act is considered the most appropriate piece of legislation to manage them and their risks to food safety, trade, and public health, animal welfare and biosecurity.

He pointed to recent work by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) with a paper noting gaps in knowledge and potential food safety implic-

ations, including bromoformcontaining seaweeds used in feed.

This paper noted the use of these seaweeds in feed needs to be thoroughly assessed given bromoform is recognised as a probable human carcinogen, and signs of inflammation in the rumen cell wall of cows fed bromoform from red seaweed have been described.

That the CH4 product is ‘natural’ is not central to determining its status as an inhibitor because natural products, just like synthetic products, can have risks associated with them.

Vincent Arbuckle

NZ Food Safety

“That the CH4 product is ‘natural’ is not central to determining its status as an inhibitor because natural products, just like synthetic products, can have risks associated with them.”

He believed it is quite probable other countries will follow NZ and amend their ACVM-type regulations for the same reasons NZ has.

He said NZ Food Safety also has work underway to explore streamlining the current legislation for inhibitors, including modifying efficacy requirements, and considering if certain groups of inhibitor products could be exempted from registration.

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Emissions

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Dairy

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Regulation

LEFT BEHIND: Dr Steve Meller, CEO of CH4 Global, says NZ risks missing out on methane mitigation compounds as the rest of the world moves on reducing livestock emissions using them.

Race on to outbreed climate disruptions

Scott NEWS Arable

CAN our crops keep up with climate change is the question that should be high on New Zealand’s list of priorities as agriculture faces the climate crisis challenges.

Speaking at the Women in Seed conference in Christchurch, Professor Andrew Allan told a maximum turnout of 140 attendees that his biggest worry is NZ’s ability to breed new cultivars soon enough for an altered climate.

Allan is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Auckland and principal scientist at Plant and Food Research.

expertise has always been in the stress response of plants to environmental conditions.

“My biggest worry is, can we breed new cultivars for an altered climate and will we be quick enough?”

The crops of the near future will need to withstand everything from higher temperatures to new pests and diseases that will establish themselves in a far less temperate NZ as well as bursts of extreme weather events such as Cyclone Gabrielle that certainly sounded a warning, wiping out many crops.

“So what does it mean for the industry and why should we be concerned, talking about GE [gene editing] at the moment?

“For two reasons: GE is not in our NZ supermarkets but it is in supermarkets in Asia now. New regulatory techniques are coming and there are new opportunities for NZ.

“Our challenge is we are going to export to markets where other countries are not regulated; the competition is fierce.”

Agriculture is a simple equation.

“Our primary industry is based on genetics, environment, management [G x E x M]. Genetics – DNA is in everything, DNA changes all the time.

“When a breeder changes DNA that’s okay. When a scientist changes DNA people start to get upset, therefore in changing genetics the risk is not proportional to the amount of change, but rather who, or what did it, and marketing.

something we just have to get over.”

The Ministry for the Environment has produced scenarios for NZ based on global models.

In a best-case scenario, by 2040, the mean temperature will have risen in a range between 0.7degC and 1degC. In the worst case, by 2090, the mean temperature rise across the country could be 3degC.

Traditional plant breeding is a methodical process that takes time – 10 or even 20 years to develop a new crop that’s ready for the market.

We need new genetic technologies and we need to bring the NZ people with us and convince them that this is safe and a good thing.

Prof Andrew Allan Plant and Food Research

use markers for key genes, to know early whether attributes have been passed on to progeny.

“We need new genetic technologies and we need to bring the NZ people with us and convince them that this is safe and a good thing.”

Gene technology can triple or quadruple the speed with which new crop cultivars are developed, and regulations are rapidly changing overseas to allow these gene-edited crops to be grown and sold commercially.

In NZ, they are still classified as genetically modified, with strict regulations around their use.

He is working on a five-year, $14.5 million, Endeavour-funded project called The Flowering Crisis: Confronting a Changing Climate’s Threat to NZ’s crops. With his initial qualifications in plant biology, research has taken him from physiology to molecular biology to genomics.

“I’m still basically a plant physiologist. My area of

“When a scientist changes DNA we get CRISPR, a protein that cuts DNA. New technology will be different and we have to accept this.

“It’s a challenge, it’s a disruptive technology, CRISPR is a way of rapidly producing gain, we have got to get quicker because it’s happening to us quicker, and it’s still being done by scientists, that’s

Allan said the only strategy to embrace is speed.

“We’re going to have to be fast because the climate crisis is fast. Scientifically, we also must be fast, because that means we can publish first and discover things quickly before others do.”

There is a way to speed up the evolution of plants.

Genomics is already in use in plant breeding, where researchers

Hi-Cane gets high five from protection body

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Horticulture

THE kiwifruit sector is breathing a sigh of relief following a ruling by the Environmental Protection Authority that hydrogen cyanamide can continue to be used as an orchard spray. Deployed to promote uniform budbreak, the spray has become

It would have cost New Zealand $1.5 billion in lost export earnings over 10 years and that was a conservative estimate.

Colin Bond NZKGI

a vital tool for orchardists as they face increasingly warm winters, which have reduced plants’ ability to budbreak naturally.

Colin Bond, CEO for NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI), said a banning of the active used in branded sprays like Hi-Cane would have put 15% of kiwifruit growers out of business, and another 15% would have had profitability seriously compromised.

“It would have cost New Zealand

$1.5 billion in lost export earnings over 10 years and that was a conservative estimate,” he said.

He said the EPA ruling, which has included some stipulations around buffer zones and time of use, is the best outcome the sector could have wished for.

“I have never had so many phone calls and emails from growers on an issue. There is a huge sense of

relief there about this decision.”

It is estimated about 90% of conventional growers use HiCane to some extent, with growers in increasingly warm areas of Northland and western Bay of Plenty finding it a “must have” in their annual spray programme.

Along with the issue of illegally grown SunGold kiwifruit in China, the Hi-Cane issue has been one of the major concerns for investors and growers in the past two years. It is one Bond said had created financial uncertainty across the industry, even affecting orchard prices to an extent..

The initial reason for the EPA seeking a re-assessment had been due to human health concerns over Hi-Cane use. Early assessments had been based upon overseas experience on crops other than kiwifruit.

NZ needs to grapple with the issues around GE. There are opportunities and there are concerns.

“NZ’s current stance on GM is based on misunderstanding. There is a lot of fear of what it can do to our clean green image.

“But what does the climate crisis do to our pure, untainted image? Clean and green could end up brown and dead. This scares the hell out of me.

“My response is co-existence is possible and good for all; test, test, test.

“It will upset people, but not accepting new technologies is going to upset more people and we will upset our whole industry if we don’t stay viable.

“There is a pipeline of exciting new offerings for the public to consider. A new regulatory system is coming and this will, at the very least, allow us to produce some exciting examples.”

Further evidence provided to the EPA has seen the authority accept this was not the case, but the EPA had still proposed a phase-out due to concerns it affected birds and some soil organisms.

However, expert reports found the EPA’s assessment relating to birds and soil organisms was overly conservative.

Bond said NZKGI will be working with the EPA to improve its assessment models and processes.

HALT: Colin Bond, CEO for NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated, says banning the active used in branded sprays like Hi-Cane would have put 15% of kiwifruit growers out of business.

Annette

FORUM: Sold out to a capacity audience, the Women in Seed forum created opportunities for networking and professional learning for the 140 attendees.

CLIMATE: Professor Andrew Allan’s biggest worry is NZ’s ability to breed new cultivars soon enough for an altered climate.

Photo: Plant and Food Research

Cyclical pricing seen as biggest problem

Neal Wallace MARKETS Sheep and beef

THE current downturn in the sheep industry has been likened to the economic crisis of the 1980s, but a rural accountant and banking leader says there are differences.

While not downplaying the particular difficulties facing sheep and beef farmers, ANZ regional manager Marcus Bousfield said unlike in the 1980s, meat prices and demand have not collapsed. Interest and inflation rates are high and farmgate prices, especially for sheepmeat, are lower than they have been due to a low returns from China and competition from Australia.

Dunedin accountant Doug Harvie started his career during the 1980s economic reforms and said the standard ratio back then was 60% debt and 40% equity. That has since been reversed.

“I think farmers are better positioned now than they were in the early 1990s.”

That does not diminish the challenges they face, said Harvie. Bousfield remains optimistic

about the future of the sheep and beef sector, saying current problems are a cyclical pricing issue accentuated by lingering inflation and high interest rates.

“In the medium term the sun will shine again, it is just how people navigate the next nine to 12 months.”

A Beef + Lamb NZ mid-season update forecasts an average $62,600 profit before tax per farm for 2023-24, which it describes as broadly similar to the 1980s and

early 1990s – and the lowest farm profit since 2007-08.

There has been an increase in those taking advantage of the Farm Mediation Scheme.

Between July 1 2023 and May 7 this year, 34 people went through the scheme, which uses neutral and independent mediators to help farmers struggling with debt.

Cheyne Gillooly, the Ministry for Primary Industries director of investment, skills and performance, said between July 1 2020 and June 30 2021, 16 farmers completed mediation.

For the same periods in the subsequent two years, 2022 and 2023, the numbers were 23 and 22.

Gillooly said a large majority of mediations have been initiated by creditors and of the 95 cases heard between July 1 2020 and May 7 this year, 90 resulted in a mediated outcome.

“The creation of the Farm Debt Mediation Scheme has encouraged lenders to engage in conversations with at-risk clients earlier, often avoiding the need for mediation,” he said.

Under the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2019, secured creditors must offer mediation before taking any debt enforcement action against

In the medium term the sun will shine again, it is just how people navigate the next nine to 12 months.

Marcus Bousfield ANZ regional manager

farmers and eligible primary production businesses.

Bousfield urged farmers to take a medium-term view while identifying short-term savings and tweaks to their businesses.

“We are seeing more experienced

operators really shaking the tree looking at costs that do not add to the bottom line.”

He agrees with BLNZ’s forecasts of a halving in average farm profits between 2022-23 and 2023-24.

But he said farm balance sheets are in general quite robust and provide some head room for a financially difficult couple of years.

“It is hard for people to get their head around because equity does not pay the bills, but so long as people make tweaks along the way, as things recover they can go again.”

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BULLISH: ANZ regional manager Marcus Bousfield remains optimistic about the future of the sheep and beef sector, saying current problems are a cyclical pricing issue accentuated by lingering inflation and high interest rates.

SHAKE THE TREE: ANZ regional manager Marcus Bousfield urged farmers to identify short-term savings.

Farmers’ prudent habits build resilience

RELATIVELY low debt

levels are helping many sheep and beef farmers weather the current downturn, but banks are seeing higher levels of financial losses and reduced earnings.

Anecdotal evidence from some older farmers is that these are the toughest conditions they can recall, ASB rural banking manager Aidan Gent said.

He said this is reflected in farmers reporting higher levels of financial losses and reduced earnings.

“As a result, we are seeing a mix of operating performance depending on the balance between sheep and beef, property mix of store versus finishing, and those with diversified versus concentrated revenue sources.”

In the past nine months the bank has held more than 5000 customer visits with farmers.

“Our aim is to work with our customers and their advisers to navigate this challenging environment.”

Banking leaders acknowledge the difficulties and challenges facing farmers from inflationary pressures, high interest rates and lower commodity prices.

David Handley, BNZ’s manager of agribusiness and corporate banking, said it is too early to fully quantify the financial impact on the sector, but most sheep and beef farmers entered the downturn with relatively low debt levels, giving them some flexibility and resilience.

BNZ is offering interest-only terms, additional working capital facilities or, “in the rare cases where more intensive support is needed”, use of the government’s Farm Debt Mediation scheme.

“However, it’s important to note that the vast majority of our agri customers are managing through this challenging period without the need for such measures.”

Rabobank NZ Country banking manager Bruce Weir said there has been a small increase in the number of sheep and beef clients experiencing financial difficulty.

“Despite the challenges facing the sector, the bank is comfortable with the condition of our sheep and beef portfolio,” he said.

“As specialists in agribusiness, we have loaned carefully and responsibly, with very high credit standards, and believe our portfolio is overall in a position of strength to manage through this period of extended downturn.”

Weir said Rabobank is taking a flexible approach to supporting its

FLEXIBILITY: David Handley, BNZ’s manager of agribusiness and corporate banking, said it is too early to fully quantify the financial impact on the sector, but most sheep and beef farmers entered the downturn with relatively low debt levels, giving them some flexibility and resilience.

clients facing financial difficulty, working alongside clients on a one-on-one basis.

Rabobank is running free financial skills workshops for both clients and non-clients.

These cover topics that include reading financial statements, what banks are looking for

when assessing a farm business, budgeting, monitoring variances and how to respond if the farm budget deviates from the plan.

“Our credit criteria have not changed and we remain open to new lending opportunities with leading sheep and beef operators from across NZ.”

Rabobank’s research unit is taking a look at NZ’s reliance on China for sheepmeat exports and assessing how quickly demand can return to previous levels.

The bank’s Global Economics and Markets monthly outlook reports China’s first quarter GDP growth was 5.3% year-on-year, above the 4.8% forecast.

However, retail sale growth at 3.1%, was down on the 4.8% forecast, reflecting softer consumer sentiment.

A Westpac spokesperson said there has been a small increase in its agricultural customers facing some difficulty, but the number remains historically low.

“Many of our customers have made material debt repayments in recent years, when farmgate prices were high and inflation and interest rates low, meaning that they generally have stronger balance sheets than during previous downturns.”

Westpac economists are forecasting inflation-adjusted prices for sheepmeat and beef to remain low, with lamb and beef to rise by around 2.6% and 5.5% respectively in 2024, and by 4.3% and 3.1% in 2025.

It is also supporting the wellbeing of rural communities through its mental health ambassador Sir John Kirwan, who is regularly meeting with people.

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Neal Wallace NEWS Sheep and beef

LOOKING UP: A Federated Farmers mid-season confidence survey found 55% of respondents consider current economic conditions to be bad, a 25-point improvement from a comparable survey in July 2023 when the figure was 80%.

High country sentiment the lowest of the low

Neal Wallace NEWS Sheep and beef

SHEEP and beef farmers are bearing the brunt of the economic downturn with surveys showing their farm profits halving this year and little confidence that prospects will improve in the short term.

The surveys confirm what many farmers say they are experiencing: that economic conditions are reminiscent of economic squeeze of the 1980s and early1990s.

“Adjusting for inflation, the expected level of profitability for 2023-24 is broadly similar to the 1980s and early 1990s and is the lowest farm profit since 2007-08,” Beef + Lamb NZ’s mid-season update for 2023-24 states.

Compared to 2022-23, farm profit before tax is forecast to fall 54% to an average $62,600 per farm. The original forecast was a decline of 31%.

This follows a 29% drop in the previous year.

The survey shows that a 10% reduction in gross revenue and 0.7% increase in farm expenditure in 2022-23 is driving the profit decline.

Lower gross farm revenue is mainly due to a fall in revenue of 18% from sheep and 7% from cattle.

Rising farm expenditure is

driven by farm inputs increasing between 5-6% while interest costs, which account for around 16% of total farm expenditure, are forecast at $89,000 per farm, 26% higher.

“Farmers need an additional $18,000 on average on last season to service debt as term debt, overdrafts and current liabilities are forecast to increase on 2022-23 and are subject to higher interest rates this season,” the report states.

Insurance premiums have increased in some cases by 30% and most regional and district council rates increases are in double figures with some, such as Hastings DC, increasing 25%.

A Federated Farmers mid-season confidence survey found 55% of respondents consider current economic conditions to be bad, a 25-point improvement from a comparable survey in July 2023 when the figure was 80%.

Across the dairy, meat, wool and arable sectors, 29% expect to make a profit, 36.8% to break even and 32.4% to make a loss.

Looking ahead to the coming year, 16% are expecting an improved profit, 44% to stay the same and 37.1% to worsen.

Dairy remains the most positive group with 39% expecting to make a profit this year, 38% to break even and 21% to make a loss.

For the coming six months,

13.3% expect profitability to improve, 36.7% expect it to stay the same and 46.7% to worsen.

For meat and wool, 19.5% expect to make a profit, 34% to break even and 45.5% to make a loss, but looking ahead, 23.5% expect profitability to improve, 45.2% to stay the same and 28.4% to worsen.

For arable, 23.3% expect to be profitable, 43.3% to stay the same and 30% expect a loss, but in the next six months 8.6% expect to be profitable, 43.7% to break even and 45.2% to be worse.

In the coming year, 21.6% of arable farmers expect to increase debt, 42.7% to stay the same and 21.3% to reduce.

Across the three sectors that equates to a quarter of meat and wool and arable farmers and 17% of dairy expect to increase debt, while 31.8% of dairy and 10% of sheep and beef expect to reduce debt.

The remainder expect debt to stay the same.

The greatest concerns for farmers are debt, interest rates, farmgate and commodity prices, regulation and compliance costs, climate change policy and the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Their priorities for the government to address are fiscal and monetary policy, the business environment, regulation and compliance costs.

Big chill a lot like

what

we saw in ’80s

Neal Wallace NEWS Sheep and beef

THE question Doug Harvie and his farming clients are asking is, ‘How long will it take for sheepmeat prices to recover?’

Doug Harvie, a partner in the Dunedin accountancy firm Harvie, Green and Wyatt, said most of his clients are coping but notes their economic resilience will be thoroughly tested should current low prices and high costs continue past this year.

Harvie sees a comparison between current conditions and the 1990s, soon after he started his accountancy career.

Product prices and confidence were also low then – but there are some fundamental differences.

Harvie said the standard ratio back then was 60% debt and 40% equity. That has since been reversed.

“I think farmers are better positioned now than they were in the early 1990s.”

That does not diminish the challenges they face, said Harvie, evident by the annual accounts he is seeing.

Typically sheep and beef farmers spend 60% of their gross income on farm working expenses, 20% on debt servicing and 20% on personal drawings, tax and capital expenditure.

Those ratios have shifted this year to up to 70% farm working expenses and more than 20% on debt servicing, with little left over.

“A lot will break even and some will do okay but it is getting harder to generate a profit and you can’t avoid cost increases, which have become permanent,” he said.

Another issue is determining the value of land given there have been few sales.

Waikato farm consultant Rob McNabb said the speed with which sheepmeat prices fell and interest rates increased has rapidly transformed what had been several profitable years.

While sheep prices have been hit hard, beef has remained relatively buoyant which, depending on a farm’s exposure to beef, is helping determine farm profitability.

McNabb said another key factor is that banks understand the volatility of farming.

Farm balance sheets are generally sound and banks are in

TOUGH TIMES: Doug

a partner in the

and Wyatt, says it is getting harder to generate a profit and ‘you can’t avoid cost increases’.

a strong position, so can support farmers. Those in a position to do so can still access credit.

“I’m not seeing banks pushing the panic button.”

McNabb said a legacy issue will be increases in the cost of labour, fertiliser and fuel, which are out of farmers’ control, but appear to now be locked in.

I’m not seeing a lot of positive budgets for next year.

Rob McNabb Farm consultant

“While they still have strong balance sheets they are quite worried about future costs, for example compliance and investing in capital works to be compliant.”

His farmer clients are cutting spending on fertiliser and deferring repairs and maintenance.

Given the low sheepmeat prices, he said sheep and beef farmers are looking carefully at their businesses and how sheep fit into those systems especially with wool costing about $14 a stock unit to grow and harvest, a significant cost when returns are low.

Clients that have diversified will in general make a profit but those with a heavy reliance on sheep will have any profits eroded.

McNabb said next financial year is looking lean.

“I’m not seeing a lot of positive budgets for next year.”

Harvie,

Dunedin accountancy firm Harvie, Green

Farmers running out of banking room: NZAB

Hugh Stringleman MARKETS Finance

FARMERS face less banking competition, higher interest rates, decreasing viability, and an inability to access the right long-term capital for their business.

This is the main thrust of a briefing to the Parliamentary Production Select Committee given by NZAB, the nationwide agricultural loan broker.

The select committee invited briefings from the banking sector out of concern about the apparent disparity between rural and urban bank lending practices.

NZAB managing director Scott Wishart and director Andrew Laming wrote the briefing paper and appeared before the committee.

“We see a significant funding gap opening up over coming years whereby farmers are unable to

meet their funding needs,” they said.

Higher interest rates driven by Reserve Bank of New Zealand requirements will reduce competition and reduce farming viability to absorb economic downturns or invest for future growth.

Banks are now required to hold about double the amount of their own capital for rural loans as they do for housing loans.

Bank equity is not infinite, so at treasury levels, decisions are made about where bank capital is placed to get the best possible return on the Tier 1 equity.

“An agri loan needs to earn at least double the margin of a home loan to achieve the same level of return on equity,” NZAB said.

That flows on into higher interest rates, and lending to farmers is now less attractive to banks, which must do more work in performance monitoring, farming resources, regulation and governance quality.

Rural banking staffing levels have declined.

Banks have slowly yet materially moved away from rural lending and business lending, which favours home loans ahead of productive sectors.

Since 2010 agriculture lending has come down from 15% of the total to 11%, despite the primary sector maintaining its economic contribution.

Actual bank losses are low, although not disclosed, said Wishart and Laming, from their own experiences.

They commented on the selectivity of banks in competing for loans that meet long-term stress-testing criteria, versus those that don’t and are effectively stranded without ability to move banks.

“This often means these particular loans are priced to the risk curve, resulting in materially higher margins, exacerbating their deteriorating economic position.

“A single bank thus has an

effective monopoly on those stranded loans.”

The RBNZ requirements are impacting negatively on new entrants to the primary sector, restricting pathways to viable competition.

The agriculture sector will need increasing capital investment in the coming 10 to 15 years to maintain its competitive advantage international and meet its environmental obligations.

Banks like Kiwibank that are not currently in the agri sector have little incentive to compete,

given the high capital hurdles. NZAB’s view is that greater competition is required, which ultimately will come from new pools of capital, lending directly to NZ farmers.

“There is significant interest in lending to NZ agriculture from several NZ and global funds.

“This won’t replace banks but will increase the options available to farmers so they can access the capital they need to grow.”

Federated Farmers and Rural Women NZ have also briefed the select committee.

Back to square one in search for DINZ CEO

Annette Scott PEOPLE Deer

DEER Industry New Zealand is starting from scratch in a second attempt to secure a new chief executive.

The organisation spent three months searching for a new leader following the departure of Innes Moffat after 18 years with the body, and appointed a new chief executive to start in June.

However, a last-minute glitch has sent it back to the drawing board to renew its executive search.

DINZ chair Mandy Bell said that a candidate who had agreed to

lead the organisation would now not be joining as chief executive in June after the board agreed to

release him from his contract in response to changed personal and family circumstances.

This is about the entire farm becoming a sustainable asset and giving them suppor t for a discount off their term lending associated with that farm

Tim

Henshaw,

Head of Agribusiness, Westpac

INTERIM: Rhys Griffiths has been appointed interim chief executive of DINZ after a last-minute glitch saw the appointed candidate reconsider taking the role.

“While we are disappointed, this is a mutual decision and the board supports this person as he prioritises a family situation that has emerged.

“He is an exceptional leader and we wish him well as he re-prioritises.”

Bell said considering the organisation’s need to start again and allow time for a new recruitment process, the board has appointed senior leadership team member Rhys Griffiths as interim chief executive, effective June 10, to support DINZ’s organisational transition and maintain momentum towards its new vision and strategy.

Griffiths has taken up the role

with support from the DINZ chair and board to ensure that, in addition to his chief executive’s responsibilities, he can maintain his leadership on international markets and value chain initiatives.

“While we have lost several months onboarding a new chief executive, we are fortunate with respect to the strength of our senior leadership team and board, and we are confident we will find a high calibre leader in the coming months,” Bell said.

Griffiths welcomed the opportunity to gain further executive leadership experience and to support DINZ during the coming months.

Sustainability loans fuel weather impact resilience

I S TE N N OW

It’s been almost a year since Westpac introduced its Sustainable Farm Loan to the market Head of agribusiness Tim Henshaw joins Bryan to discuss the types of work borrowers are undertaking. Flood protection, drought resilience and emissions reductions are the three prominent areas he’s seen.

BRIEFING: Banks have slowly yet materially moved away from rural lending and business lending, which favours home loans ahead of productive sectors, says a NZAB briefing to the Parliamentary Production Select Committee.

Fonterra news sours start of Aus season

AUSTRALIA’S dairy farmers face a reduction in farmgate milk prices of $1/kg or slightly more as they head into a new season.

Fonterra Australia’s 550 suppliers also face the uncertainty of company divestment and a possible new multinational owner in the next 12 to 18 months.

RaboReseach dairy analyst Michael Harvey expects Australian milk prices for the new season to be around $8 to $8.20/kg milksolids because of lukewarm market conditions at home and abroad.

Australian dairy processors have a June 3 deadline to announce their new season offers.

Dairy farmers can and do move between processors from season to season where they are in overlapping collection areas, like western Victoria, Gippsland, and northern Tasmania.

Contributing to a softer milk price outlook has been an increase in Australian milk production, up to 8.35 billion litres in the 2023-24

financial year to end June.

The mid-season growth of 2-3% has improved the production forecast from 8 billion to 8.35 billion litres, according to industry body Dairy Australia.

This will be the biggest milk output in 30 years, as overall production has declined about 1 billion litres in that time.

“Since the previous update end March, there has been a continuation of timely rainfall and a transition back to more average weather conditions in a lot of regions,” analyst Eliza Redfern said.

The upswing in milk production was not uniform with a drier-thanaverage autumn in southwest Victoria and Tasmania offset by wetter conditions elsewhere.

An absence of floods in dairying districts has also helped boost production, particularly in the colder months when Australian output is highest.

Dairy Australia expects the 202425 season to produce about 8.3 billion litres.

Fonterra Australia collects about 14.billion litres annually from 550 farms.

Australia-based managing director Rene Dedoncker said all

milk supply contracts would be included in a possible sale of the Australian operations.

“These contracts are vital to our business. Any purchaser of the business would then be obligated to comply with the terms of agreements until expiry of the term of the agreement.

“Fonterra in Australia is committed to continuing to operate as normal, including working with our farmer suppliers, continuing to produce and deliver dairy products for consumers and customers, and supporting the communities in which we operate without disruption.

“We are committed to keeping our people, farmers and community updated as this process progresses and will share any new information as soon as we can.”

Fonterra has eight manufacturing sites in Victoria and Tasmania.

Australia Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett, farming in southwestern Victoria, said Fonterra’s divestment proposal was unsettling right before the new milk price announcements. He told the Weekly Times newspaper in Victoria that farmers

REASSURANCE: Fonterra

Australia managing director Rene Dedoncker says all milk supply contracts will be a vital part of any sale of company assets.

would prefer to see an Australian buyer but much could change in the coming months.

“Maybe this is the dramatic news that gives Australia a wakeup call about the state of the dairy industry,” Bennett said.

“There are many issues about the sustainability of farmers, processors and paying a fair price for dairy products at the retail level.

“Of course, farmers would want to see an ethical business, preferably an Australian business, take on Fonterra’s assets, but it’s early days.”

DISRUPTIVE: Australian dairying leader Ben Bennett says the Fonterra divestment proposal is unsettling ahead of the start of the new season.

The Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals (BCCM) said the Fonterra intention is another step in a sorry tale of dairy industry consolidation.

Fonterra wants to grow further value for its shareholders, but they are in New Zealand, not Australia.

Norco is the only dairy cooperative left in Australia.

“There is a public policy imperative to understand ownership and maintain domestic sovereignty over food supplies,” the BCCM said in a statement.

“Only Australian co-ops can guarantee this.”

We’re here for the good of the country.

Hugh Stringleman MARKETS Dairy

Bull sale clearance rates good, top price of $22k

Hugh Stringleman

MARKETS Livestock

BULL sales in late May averaged $6000-$7000 and achieved good clearances at lower prices than twoyear-old bulls in 2023.

Most vendors notched up $6000-plus averages and nearly all the top prices have been in the range $11,000 to $16,000. At the upper end of the highest prices for Herefords was $22,000 paid for Monymusk Resolution 220204, from the Monymusk Polled Herefords stud at Te Anau. He was bought by Glenbrae Herefords. The clearance was 22 out of 29, the average $7636 and Glenary station paid $13,000.

Umbrella Range Angus, Waikaia, had a full clearance of 41 bulls and one of the best season-to-date averages of $8380, about 10% down on 2023.

Top price was $13,500 for Lot 2, Umbrella Range 22821, paid by Glen Nevis station.

Kai Toa Charolais, Te Kuiti, achieved a top price of $15,000 paid for Kia Toa Thorn T25, sold to Drew and Carolyn Dundass, Taiaroa Charolais, Paerau.

The sale average was $6862 for 29 sold out of 30.

Rauriki Charolais, Waipukurau, sold Rauriki Ransom T67 or $11,500 to A and V Ellingham of Waikopiro Farm Trust and the overall result was 16 sold out of 20 offered, averaging $6967.

Stoneburn Hereford and Angus at Palmerston had a full clearance of 21 Angus bulls, averaging $6428, with $9000 made twice, by Shag Valley, Palmerston and by Castle Hill Ltd, Middlemarch.

In the Hereford lineup, $11,000 was paid by Greer Farm Partnership, Ranfurly, for Stoneburn 220056 and the offering of 16 had 14 sold, averaging $5700.

In South Westland three vendors at a combined Saturday sale achieved around $6000 averages and a top price of $9800 for

SOUTHERNER: Top price for Herefords in the May sales was Monymusk Resolution 220204 at $22,000.

Glacier Mort 824 from Glacier Herefords.

Flagstaff Herefords had a top of $8500 for Flagstaff Ovation T23 and Bannock Burn Angus had a top of $8200 among 10 sold.

Glenside Simmentals, Lawrence, had a good top price of $15,000 paid for lot 2 Lonestar 22003 and the sale average $6500 for 12 sold out of 13 offered.

Hill Valley Simmentals, Roxburgh, sold eight of nine, averaging $5065, with a top of $6500 for Lot 2, Hill Valley Luke L4.

In the Bay of Islands Longview Shorthorns sold 20 of 22 and averaged $6085, with a top of $11,500 paid by Bullock Creek for Lot 1 Longview Terrific T100, followed by $10,500 paid by by Brown Shorthorns.

Potawa Simmentals, Piopio, sold 19 out of 23 to average $5555 and the highest price was $14,000 paid by Opawa Simmentals, South Canterbury.

In the Bay of Plenty Morton Shorthorns had a top price of $7500 paid by a commercial farmer and sold five of nine averaging $5660.

NZ Hereford president Gray Pannett at Limestone Hills, Millers

Flat, sold 44 out of 53 and averaged $7100.

The top price of $16,000 was paid twice, while Koanui Herefords paid $9000 for Lot 2, Limehills Minefield 2200792.

Delmont Angus, Clinton sold 27 of 30 bulls offered, averaged $7746 and had a top price of $12,200.

In the north, Rock-End Herefords, Mahoenui, sold 21 of 23 and averaged $7057. Top price was $15,000 paid by a commercial farmer and Matapouri Herefords, Northland paid $9500 and $6000.

Tarangower Angus, also at Mahoenui, achieved a top price of $15,000 for Tarangower 22028, bought by Mt Mable Angus, Woodville.

The clearance was 32 from 35 and the average price paid was $8771, one of the best to date.

Colvend Angus and Shorthorn, Otangiwai, had a top price of $12,000 with Paratrooper 338, bought by Carrfields agent Bruce Orr for an east coast commercial client.

Twelve out of 14 Angus sold for an average of $7040. Five of the 11 Shorthorns sold, for average of $5000 and a top price of $6500.

Mighty herd flows through Temuka

Suz Bremner MARKETS Livestock

THE new dairy season approaches, and that means May is the month to tidy up the last of the cull dairy cows before Moving Day.

May 2024 will go down in the books as the busiest on record at the Temuka saleyards in terms of throughput of cull cows, as the four Monday prime and boner sales of May each pushed past 1000 head. By month end, a total of just over 4100 cows had gone past the rostrum at these sales, the highest May tally in AgriHQ records, which date back to 2010.

This just nudged out 2020, and far exceeds the total tally average since 2010 of 2700 head.

The consistently high volume

reflects the success of the competitive environment at auction, one which more farmers are happy to take advantage of.

Within the total of 4100, dairy cows made up 92%, with the balance beef cows.

The consistently high volume reflects the success of the competitive environment at auction, one which more farmers are happy to take advantage of.

Since 2010, cull dairy cows have commonly made up 80%-93% of the tallies, so this year’s levels are relative.

Price has been one attraction

of the auction process and at the beginning of April most boner cows were trading at $1.40-$1.54/kg, which was on par with last year.

Boner prices closely follow the manufacturing cow schedule movement and currently, auction prices for Friesian and Friesiancross cows have lifted to $1.60$1.73/kg. That was a 7c/kg fall from the previous week, though much of that can be attributed to the high volume.

Price levels have followed a very similar level to last year, and still are doing so, though they are trading 15c/kg up on the five-year average.

MORE:

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Know where your food lives, chef says

INVERCARGILL chef Ethan Flack says both the general public and chefs need to appreciate the work that farmers and growers put into producing food.

Flack is known by Southland farmers and growers as a proponent of sourcing locally produced goods, and for hosting food events for small groups in his kitchen, where he talks about the growers and farmers who supply him.

This passion for sourcing local food was ingrained when Flack took off to the United Kingdom after high school and worked in multiple Michelin-star restaurants.

The chefs in these restaurants not only procured local goods but often also grew their own produce, he said.

“I learnt not only to be a chef but to also be a butcher and fishmonger. That background in learning to appreciate the product is key,” he said.

All parts of his journey focused on “getting back to the soil and focusing on produce”, he said.

“Farmers are the ones who understand the soils and climate the best. They are the ones who

produce for us and it’s essential to appreciate that. The general public needs to be more aware of what goes into the products they eat,” he said.

Southland born and bred, Flack said he began cooking at 10, when his dad encouraged involvement with the Sunday roast and taught him cooking as a life skill.

As a student at Boys High in Invercargill Flack studied catering under Scott Richardson, who he said had a big influence on him. In future he plans to grow his

own food and produce his own honey, but said when that day comes he would like input from local producers and will ask them to teach him, and wife Josie, about the ins and outs of growing.

Local produce is a focus of his not only because of lower food miles, and because there is less wastage when sourcing local, but “the mindset around it is also positive”, Flack said.

“If we communicate with producers, they get a sense of satisfaction. The finances go back to them, there’s so many small wins. Some things may be more expensive than buying from a corporation, but that connection point pays for itself,” he said.

Flack said he “believes in the connection point between food and the producer”.

“Eating and sourcing local also gives a sense of place and encourages conversation that filters much further than the plate of food.”

Flack says he believes Southland produce has a lot of flavour, an opinion backed up by one of his suppliers, David Wilson, from Wilson’s Vege Stall, who said growing produce for longer in colder climates increases taste. There is evidence of flavour linking to nutrient density, Flack said.

Farmers are the ones who understand soils and climate the best. They are the ones who produce for us and it’s essential to appreciate that.

Ethan Flack Chef

Building relationships with producers takes time, he said.

He worked at specific places to gain specific skillsets he could bring back to NZ, for example making ice cream for eight months at one stage.

All the restaurants and chefs he worked under had a“connection back to the soil and the appreciation of produce”.

“I don’t like the idea of making one phone call and getting everything you need for the menu. You have to speak to the butcher or fisherman, then there’s that understanding of what’s currently available and how you can use it”.

He spent a half day every week for the first year of his time overseas working in a garden, and said seeing the changes it undergoes helped him appreciate produce more.

It’s common sense to use seasonal produce, he said.

“It has more flavour, is more nutrient dense and is cheaper.”

All the producers he sources from are concerned about the increasing cost to farm, another reason for him and others to support local producers, he said.

“If I am going to spend my dollar, I want to know where it’s going, you worked hard to earn it, if we can actively support local by buying and talking about it, it helps the local economy”.

“I try to spend a lot of time speaking to producers, just checking in, making sure when their produce is not in season they are still doing okay. It’s about much more than just buying their product. It’s the personal relationship that I value.

“You’ve got to think and look wider than yourself and your business, and need to look outside your business at who you support and how you support them.”

Flack said gaining experience beyond New Zealand is very important.

Flack also sells a Southern Goodie Box from his kitchen, with 16 products from 14 producers –13 of them based in Southland.

For a private 60th birthday party he recently cooked for he sourced butterfish from a local fisherman, cooked lamb from Southland Leelands, procured oysters from Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters and three-coloured carrots from Southland grower Wilson’s Vege, he said.

BACK TO BASICS: Chef Ethan Flack mills his own wheat for baking.

Gerhard Uys PEOPLE

Food and fibre

STAR TURN: Chef Ethan Flack says working in Michelin-star kitchens in the UK opened his eyes to the value of using locally grown produce and meat, and building lasting relationships with farmers and growers.

Photos: Gerhard Uys

SALES: Ethan Flack not only uses locally sourced products in his dishes, but also sells locally produced goods from his Invercargill kitchen.

There are

for farmers to read the Farmers Weekly than any other newspaper.

more reasons

They’re the same reasons more advertisers use Farmers Weekly.

News. Insights. Analysis. The Farmer’s Voice. Opinion. Special Reports. Features. People Stories. Technology. Dairy Focus. Sheep & Beef Focus. Horticulture Focus. Arable Focus. Ag&Ed. AgriStars. Federated Farmers News. World News. Real Estate. Livestock. Marketplace. Jobs. Sale Yard Reports. Market Snapshot. Weather. Advertisements and Catalogues.

“ I read Farmers Weekly every week. It’s always on the dining room table. The key part is reading about the other parts of the ag industry – it’s good to know what’s happening with the sheep and beef, and the hort guys too.

Sam Ebbett

Inglewood dairy farmer, Federated Farmers National Share Farmer Chair and Taranaki Dairy Chair

From the Editor

hits hill country

Neal Wallace Senior reporter

up to 70% on farm working expenses and more than 20% on debt servicing, with little left over.

Fortunately for NZ Inc, the dairy sector has been performing comparatively well.

Fonterra announced this week a forecast milk price for this season of $7.80kg/MS and an opening mid-point milk price for next season of $8kg/MS.

It was an economically and mentally devastating period for farmers.

Dunedin accountant Doug Harvie says the standard accounting ratio for farmers back then was 60% debt and 40% equity.

Letters of the week

Still sweet on honey

Neil Walker Taranaki

I THOUGHT Richard Rennie’s article “Spiralling losses sting honey sector” (May 27) was almost dystopian in its tone. Yes, it is true that there has been a downturn related to post-covid times, the changes in mānuka honey standards and general economic conditions, but in my opinion the views here are wildly pessimistic and do not reflect the real situation.

I do not think it is helpful to promote such negativity when really the facts speak otherwise. We are not going to Hell in a handcart. Rennie forgets that honey is a stable popular commodity found on the tables of the world and it is not a cheap commodity.

The sale of high grade mānuka has definitely not stopped and the medical and health demands are still just as strong as ever overseas. The market in New Zealand has been dysfunctional and dominated by corporate players and profiting middlemen. We all have to do things smarter and improve both our quality and commercial skills. You have to ask, if things are so pessimistic why are the oversea-based players so interested in it?

In my opinion the honey industry has a very strong future and some of us will continue to strongly invest in it.

TGibson 06 323 1519 bryan.gibson@globalhq.co.nz

EDITORIAL Carmelita Mentor-Fredericks editorial@globalhq.co.nz

That has since been reversed and, after a couple of buoyant seasons, strong beef prices, relatively low debt and strong balance sheets, farmers have a temporary buffer.

by GlobalHQ, PO Box 529, Feilding 4740. New Zealand 0800 85 25 80 Website: www.farmersweekly.co.nz

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HERE is no doubt the current trading environment for sheep and beef farmers is the toughest in many years.

Wallace 03 474 9240 neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz

Some farmers sheep and beef farmers, however, are comparing their plight to the economic upheaval of the 1980s and 1990s, arguably the sector’s most economically challenging period in many decades.

Andy Whitson 027 626 2269

Caught in a perfect storm of high inflation and interest rates and low sheepmeat prices, some farmers are describing it as the toughest financial period in their lifetime.

New Media & Business Development Lead andy.whitson@globalhq.co.nz

Steve McLaren 027 205 1456

Auckland/Northland Partnership Manager steve.mclaren@globalhq.co.nz

The facts support that claim.

Williscroft 027 298 6127 colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz

Scott 021 908 400 annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz

Stringleman 09 432 8594 hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz

Beef + Lamb NZ’s mid-season update for 2023-24 concludes that, adjusted for inflation, the expected level of profitability for the 2023-24 year is the lowest farm profit since 2007-08.

Piddock 027 486 8346 gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz

Rennie 07 552 6176 richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz

Stirling 021 136 5570 nigel.g.stirling@gmail.com

ISSN 2463-6002 (Print) ISSN 2463-6010 (Online)

Debbie Brown 06 323 0765

On July 14 it will be 40 years since David Lange’s Labour Party was elected and Lange, encouraged by his finance minister, Roger Douglas, set about transforming what was a heavily centralised and controlled economy.

Jody Anderson 027 474 6094

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Partnership Manager jody.anderson@globalhq.co.nz

Donna Hirst 027 474 6095

At 16.3% in the year to March 2023, onfarm inflation was the highest since 1981 and higher than 10.2% for the previous year, itself a 40-year high.

PUBLISHER Williamson 027 323 9407 dean.williamson@globalhq.co.nz

Once again questions are being asked about the long-term viability of

Noticeboard/Word Only/Primary Pathways classifieds@globalhq.co.nz

Grant Marshall 027 887 5568 Real Estate Partnership Manager realestate@globalhq.co.nz

But once again questions are being asked about the long-term viability of sheep.

Andrea Mansfield 027 446 6002 Salesforce director andrea.mansfield@globalhq.co.nz

Reforming the agricultural sector, which was propped up with development and livestock incentives and subsidies, was central to that.

PRODUCTION

Lower North Island/international Partnership Manager donna.hirst@globalhq.co.nz

Grant Marshall 027 887 5568

He immediately cut development grants and livestock subsidies, which had incentivised growth in the sheep flock to 70 million.

South Island and AgriHQ Partnership Manager grant.marshall@globalhq.co.nz

As our series reveals this week, typically sheep and beef farmers spend 60% of gross income on farm working expenses, 20% on debt servicing and 20% on personal drawings, tax and capital expenditure. This year those ratios have shifted, with

Javier Roca 06 323 0761 Livestock Partnership Manager 027 602 4925 livestock@globalhq.co.nz

Commendably, meat companies are trying to reduce volatility by marketing lamb to high net worth consumers, promoting its naturalness and low environmental impact, but that is a long-term game.

Lana Kieselbach 027 739 4295 production@globalhq.co.nz

Advertising material adcopy@globalhq.co.nz

Ironically, in response to low meat prices in the 1980s and early 1990s, some farmers were considering shifting to all-wool farming.

Today the reverse is happening.

Livestock prices plummeted to the point where lambs were worth a few dollars and it cost more to process cull ewes than was recovered through meat value.

SUBSCRIPTIONS 0800 85 25 80 subs@globalhq.co.nz

While a recovery in wool prices is another long-term game, it is essential if we are to reduce the financial volatility of sheep farming and improve its long-term viability.

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Inflation peaked at 17% in 1983 and hit 16.6% in June 1985 and 18.3% in March 1987. Interest rates twice nudged 18%.

Another $5/kg to current wool prices would be an excellent start to improving the viability of farming sheep.

In my view ... Honey has a plan and it’s sticking to it

Karin Kos Kos is chief executive of Apiculture New Zealand

FARMERS Weekly’s frontpage article last week headlined “Spiralling losses sting honey sector” would have readers believing the end is nigh for the New Zealand honey-producing industry. But that is far from the case.

That is not for a moment to deny the very real pain being felt by beekeepers around the country. The combination of high operating costs and honey prices below expectations have taken their toll on many.

Understandably, it is difficult in this environment to consider the significant opportunities that still lie in the NZ honey industry’s path.

NZ’s uniqueness in the world as a high-value honey producer in a relatively low-value global commodity honey market means there is still plenty to strive for.

Less than 0.1% of consumers in our potential export markets have an awareness of mānuka honey and its heralded properties. Other emerging food producing sectors would love to have that runway in front of them.

It’s not just looking to the medium and long term that should encourage some optimism.

Both exporters and businesses servicing the honey export sector are currently reporting the slowdown in their own operations that followed the initial covid spike in demand is finally turning around.

This is being borne out in recent export trends. Revenue from honey shipments for the year to April this year are up 15% on the same four months in 2023.

Not only that, but the value of our honey has started to rise again. The average price per kg for the first four months of 2024 was up 10% from 2023.

We know that export price rises don’t necessarily trickle down to producers in real time. But some honey exporters are reporting they are paying 30% more for some lower value grades of honey than they did last year.

That said, there is no disputing the struggle that beekeepers have been experiencing over successive seasons.

A confluence of challenges emerged in the immediate postcovid years that made beekeeping a more difficult financial proposition than it had been during the years when overseas demand for mānuka honey was escalating beyond expectations.

Many of these impositions have been shared by producers of other NZ food exports, including a rapid rise in input costs that in many cases exceeded the trajectory of returns.

For honey producers, the sharp increase in costs came at a time when the industry’s successive years of over-production (the volume of honey harvested in NZ far exceeding the demand from both domestic and overseas consumers) was inevitably matched with a significant tailing off of demand for honey, with so much already stored, harvested across multiple seasons.

In response, the sector has understandably been downsizing. It’s always easy to make in hindsight, but the reality is the sector expansion was unchecked, with producer prices rising sharply in the 2010s and attracting a whole new cohort of beekeepers.

Other primary sectors have experienced similar bursts of growth in the past, driven by such favourable pricing incentives. The downsizing has been painful for many, and there is nothing to be gained from saying “told you so” when people are trying to manage an exit in circumstances of financial hardship.

At the same time, there is a responsibility among those still managing to operate successfully, and the industry’s nominated leadership to understand how an unchecked cycle of expansion and contraction can be prevented again, and ultimately work out how the industry can grow sustainably, so businesses at all

levels of the NZ honey supply chain can confidently invest in its future.

Industry-good body Apiculture New Zealand recognised the need for a plan to better manage the sector growth several years ago and commenced a project, with funding support from the Ministry for Primary Industries and the honey industry, to develop a strategy to future-proof NZ apiculture.

After consultation with industry participants throughout the country and input from experts who had contributed to turnarounds in other sectors, the New Zealand Honey Strategy 2024-2030 was published in February this year.

One of the key recommendations is for the sector to do better at working together and leading with a strong voice.

To date the apiculture sector has not been optimally aligned, and to some extent the advent of the unchecked production was due to

One of the key recommendations is for the sector to do better at working together and leading with a strong voice.

different parts of the supply-chain not communicating effectively with each other in a timely way. That’s a priority being addressed in the work programme, as is bee health and biosecurity, critical to support the farming and horticultural sectors with pollination services.

We know it will take time for a turnaround to occur and that the sleepless nights being experienced by beekeepers over their viability won’t disappear straight away.

However, there is a strong will, a solid plan and industry investment in building a sustainable future for the apiculture sector.

Modern tech has got rural Kiwis covered

Anna Mitchell

Mitchell is executive general manager of fibre frontier at Chorus

OUR recent conversation with Farmers Weekly on improving rural connectivity has sparked lively interest and valuable feedback from those living in rural communities.

It’s been encouraging to see many back our vision for better modern connectivity services reaching all of New Zealand. A few concerns have been raised around the national copper network phase-out, which will see Chorus retiring the network that has traditionally supported landline phones within the next decade. We know that phasing out copper will be a daunting prospect for many who have relied on this technology in critical times, and we intend to support them through this transition.

The key point, though, is that this process is all about

upgrading everyone to new telecommunications technologies – which the majority of rural New Zealanders have already shifted to – that offer better speed, reliability and resilience than the copper network.

Take satellite internet, for example. Universally available, providers like Starlink already account for 33,000 connections across the rural connectivity market due to its superior service, as well its reach into the farthest points of the country.

Wireless Internet Service Providers are another great option that offer home broadband using wireless technology tailored to rural communities’ unique needs.

The three mobile networks also sell wireless broadband services in many parts of rural NZ. For those in particularly remote areas, the government’s Remote Rural Users Fund offers support for upfront costs.

The move away from copper doesn’t signify the end of landline

phones either. The underlying network technology is changing, but you can still have a home phone using satellite or wireless broadband – allowing you to keep your phone number and a more familiar handset.

This technology has been used for voice calling since the mid2000s, and almost one in three respondents with a landline already use voice over internet protocol, according to the 2022 Federated Farmers Connectivity survey.

For those without mobile coverage, there is “Wi-Fi-calling” on modern smartphones, enabling you to make and receive calls using home broadband instead.

Some people may remember they could make calls on corded telephones in a power outage. Those memories are real, but they don’t tell the whole story.

All connectivity options rely on some form of power. Back then, old-school copper landline phones did need electricity; they just

didn’t need it to be in the home. Instead, the phone was powered from the telephone exchange. If there was a local power cut, the exchange might still be connected to the grid or have a battery backup.

Today’s copper networks mostly depend on kerbside cabinets that also require power. While all active cabinets have batteries, these provide only limited backup, and so will not always function in a power outage.

For those concerned about the reliability of your power supply, having your own independent source of electricity, regardless of what phone and internet service you’re on, is a good idea. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) device or generator as a back-up can be a huge help if you frequently experience power outages.

The 111 Contact Code also means service providers need to provide vulnerable consumers with a means to contact 111 in a

power cut if they’ve switched to a new phone technology like fixed broadband.

Power considerations aside, the copper network is at its end of life. It relies on a high volume of electronics and considerable distance between locations, making it susceptible to degradation due to distance, cable age and weather conditions. The resilience of fibre was seen with Cyclone Gabrielle last year when eastern North Island copper premises were eight times more likely to lose service than those with fibre.

We recognise that for rural communities, connectivity is even more vital in connecting people to the world. However, as the copper network continues to age, it does not meet the needs of Kiwis today and into the future.

Shifting to better modern alternatives will enable that connection to be more reliable and capable for Kiwis – wherever they call home.

FLIGHT PATH: NZ’s uniqueness in the world as a high-value honey producer in a relatively low-value global commodity honey market means there is still plenty to strive for, says Apiculture NZ CEO Karin Kos.

Give us the options on land use change

phosphorous and nitrogen affecting about a third of our catchments.

Reading the report I was unaware of the definition of pollution.

Alan Emerson Semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath.emerson@gmail.com

IRECENTLY finished reading the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s Going with the Grain report, all 84 pages of it. As you’d expect, there are issues raised that I would support and those that I don’t.

The concern I have is that the report is based on modelling, which many scientific papers are. The problem with that is that modelling is based on assumptions and if the assumptions aren’t 100% correct, the model is flawed.

Simon Upton starts with four issues, the first being that the way we use our land needs to change.

That’s followed by climate change increasingly being the driver of that change, plus the issues of our fragmented policy landscape. Finally, he is concerned that the responsibility for environmental management is increasingly being left to property owners.

If we want a sciencebased solution there needs to be solid scientific oversight rather than a bureaucratic wand.

The report deals at some length with forestry and the Emissions Trading Scheme. Upton has concerns about planting trees for climate change mitigation. He flags how 54% of our current farmland would have to be in trees by 2075 to mitigate that climate change. That’s 5.4 million hectares.

I agree that it would be a selfdefeating exercise. The Upton solution is to only use trees to mitigate biogenic methane. In practical terms that means point six of a hectare of forest to mitigate the methane emissions of one cow.

The report goes into some depth about pollution from farming, specifically E coli, sediment,

As far as sediment is concerned, a 1940s map of areas susceptible to erosion shows a much greater problem in NZ than currently exists. One could humbly suggest that the use of new pasture species, fertiliser and deeprooted plants have assisted with ameliorating the problem.

Upton is also committed to wetlands, which, unsurprisingly, I’m not.

He makes the statement that “it is difficult to accurately measure and attribute environmental damage (or benefits) to land use choices made by individual landowners”.

That begs my question: If it is that difficult to measure environmental issues how do you define where the problem lies?

The report is positive on the effects of climate change. Granted, we will lose land when the oceans rise but primary industry productivity will rise by between one and 10% and internationally commodity prices will improve.

I totally agree with the report’s assumption that the policy landscape is fragmented. It certainly is, which creates confusion. Locally the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) made the statement that the previous government wasn’t going far enough with its environmental legislation and that GWRC was going to take it further. Heavens only knows where they’re going to stand with the new coalition government’s environmental policies.

Upton calls for an “integrated approach to the environmental impacts of land use” and says catchment groups are the appropriate vehicle for achieving that.

I support the catchment group approach. In Wairarapa alone there are 17 such groups and they do an excellent job.

START SOMEWHERE: Alan Emerson says an issue he has with the report is that it says ‘the natural starting point for governance at a catchment level would be regional councils and mana whenua’ – and he does not agree with either.

for the moment, both the climate and the market will have a major effect on that.

What I would like to see happen is a scientifically based analysis of future farming options. I know that we’re continually told that crops are better than animals but on our class of country crops aren’t an option.

When the late Jim Anderton was minister for primary industries, he established an $800 million fund

to consider future options for food production. He assembled a group of top NZ scientists to analyse options and report back.

I totally supported that move.

The problem was when the government changed and David Carter became the new minister, the fund was disbanded and the $800m returned to the Consolidated fund.

We need that now.

There’s absolutely no point

in claiming that the present systems aren’t sustainable for several reasons, starting with the argument that it’s not that simple as some of our practices are sustainable while others may not be.

What we need are options and solutions. We need a greater investment in science than we are currently achieving as it will be science that drives us going forward.

Huge gap between meat company fortunes

Meaty matters

An issue I have with the report is that it states that the natural starting point for governance at a catchment level would be regional councils and mana whenua. I don’t agree with either.

If we want a science-based solution there needs to be solid scientific oversight rather than a bureaucratic wand.

There was some discussion on market-based mechanisms governing biogenic methane but I believe the sector is onto that.

Both Fonterra and Silver Fern Farms currently have policies in place to handle those issues at the producer level.

My point is that, yes, land use will change as it has for centuries. Putting aside environmental issues

Allan Barber Meat industry commentator: allan@barberstrategic.co.nz, http:// allanbarber.wordpress.com

WITH annual results now published for the companies that are required to report, it is possible to draw conclusions about their relative performance, although the huge discrepancy between them makes it rather difficult to make an informed assessment.

The inescapable initial impression suggests Alliance, with a $97.9 million pretax loss, suffered by far the worst from a universally acknowledged difficult season, with Silver Fern Farms a poor third with ANZCO posting a satisfactory profit of $60.9m; the

smaller South Island processor, Blue Sky Pastures, showed it is possible to make a profit, albeit reduced, from sheepmeat.

The first point to be made is the difference between the respective financial periods with Alliance still reporting at a September year end, aligned with the traditional meat industry season, and Blue Sky a June year, while the other two companies balanced at December 31 in accordance with the requirements of their major shareholders.

Secondly, Alliance was particularly affected by the predominance of lamb and mutton through its plants, when by general consent beef processors were less badly hit by sudden market price drops. Other mitigating factors were the aftereffects of covid and the decision to put on extra processing capacity to handle a forecast drought peak that never arrived. Apart from these points, there should be no excuses for what can only be considered a very poor result and a major disappointment after the previous year’s record surplus.

The main reason for the substantial loss was evident from the detailed financial statements – revenue declined year on year by 9% or $207m, whereas the cost of sales was only $6.7m lower.

This indicates a disastrous failure to reflect market conditions in the procurement schedules, while the excess plant capacity and labour availability destroyed productivity and efficiency. In addition, finance charges were $11.1m higher because of increased debt.

There should be no excuses for what can only be considered a very poor result and a major disappointment after the previous year’s record surplus.

SFF’s loss of $36.4m for the calendar year 2023 was almost as disappointing in that it was the first loss for several years and followed a $262.4m pre-tax profit in 2022. Analysis of the financials here shows a broader set of causes than at Alliance. Revenue was down by almost half a billion dollars, partly offset by a $309m reduction in direct costs, but employee benefits were $54.8m higher, interest costs were three times greater and other operating expenses (presumably overheads) rose by 15% or nearly $47m.

Continued next page

Your technology still needs you

Eating the elephant

David Eade

David Eade is a Whanganui sheep and beef farmer with a finance background, specialising in investments within the primary sector. eating.the.elephant.nz@gmail.com

TECHNOLOGY can come in many forms, whether it be virtual fencing for cattle, drones, or the latest buzzword, artificial intelligence.

History tells us that we must adopt technology to stay profitable in competitive markets. Successful early adopters take on significant risks in the hope of generating additional margins, though typically for a short amount of time. As technology becomes more proven, the margins get thinner until what was once revolutionary is now standard. The computer

The upshot of these swings and roundabouts was a decline in profit performance of $299m.

SFF Co-operative chair Rob Hewitt blamed Cyclone Gabrielle and the disruption to its North Island processing plants at Pacific in Hawke’s Bay and Dargaville, as well as the challenging market conditions for the result. But it is clear from the financial statements that intended moves to control ballooning costs were not implemented during the last financial year and it is now up to the recently appointed CEO, Dan Boulton, to apply the brakes to the overspend.

While the company’s market-led approach remains the preferred strategy, the current year must show clear signs of improvement if the Chinese major shareholder is to continue its tolerance.

Both Alliance and SFF accounts indicate their suppliers, whether co-operative shareholders or not, enjoyed greater reward for their supply than they should have.

This contrasts with the annual result for the year ended June 30 2023 by Blue Sky, which admittedly does not extend to the period when Alliance experienced the sudden drop in its inventory values. Blue Sky posted a solid pre-tax profit of $4.9m, down from the previous year’s $24.6m, but it obviously managed its cost base

is a good example of this trend towards commodification of tech.

When deciding on new technology, many of us (myself included) look for a fully automated solution. We want to know if this new tech can do what we are currently doing, with no human touch.

That’s unrealistic. Instead, we should view the adoption of technology as a series of small steps. Despite the hype, there are no out-of-the-box solutions that addresses the entirety of a problem. By banking on silver bullets, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

Acknowledging that technological adoption is a mindset and continuous process – rather than learning and using one product – helps soften the inevitable setbacks that come when we take on something new.

At this stage, the real value of technology lies not in full automation, but in humanassisted automation. This is when people tailor technology to fit their systems, usually by trial and error, and discover new ways of extracting small bits of value

Take, for instance, two neighbours running similar farming systems with comparable costs and revenues. If one adopts virtual fencing that enables them to produce more at a lower cost, they generate additional margins. With these margins, they increase their competitive edge

well on declining revenue from the highs of 2022, with total expenses $19.4m lower. Although a fraction of the size of its neighbours, Blue Sky demonstrated the benefit of focusing on its core business.

The year’s star performer of the quartet was ANZCO, with an excellent profit in challenging circumstances, which CEO Peter Conley attributes to having a very clear strategy around its core business and carefully chosen added-value products, boosted by the acquisition of Moregate

Another way to think of technology on farm is that it buys you time.

by doing things like paying more to attract and maintain top talent, reinvesting in technology or investing in their own learning.

These small bits of value contrast with the conventional thinking that a farmer needs to expand or speed up the current system by buying a bigger tractor or the neighbouring farm to grow – even though the economics often don’t quite stack up on those decisions these days.

Australia, which forms part of ANZCO Biosciences.

Profit was helped by $28m in compensation for the M bovis outbreak at the 5 Star beef feedlot, but this was offset by the sixmonth stand-down period and cost of livestock depopulation.

The accounts show a $100m increase in interest-bearing loans, which was necessary to cover the substantial tax following the 2022 profit, 5 Star repopulation, and the growth of the biosciences business, which generates high margins requiring large initial investment.

Another way to think of technology on farm is that it buys you time. This idea came up in recent conversations with farmers in operational roles that are working with robotics and remote collars. They work alongside technology to make better decisions and create more time for more complex tasks that add value – like one-onone training with team members, strategy development, more new technology or even just getting off farm to protect their wellbeing. Their engagement levels are at all-time highs as they go about finding new ways to use the time the new technology buys them. Tellingly, none of them to go back

Conley also attributes the strong performance to a different overseas office model, which is focused on driving incremental returns with the minimum of overheads. The overseas office network plays a fundamental role in building key customer relationships and informing livestock procurement to meet customer expectations. Recent adjustments include opening a China office with one employee to start with and the closure of the Taiwan office. ANZCO’s future performance improvements

to their pre-technology work life.

We are quickly moving towards a future with few absolute limits. As more and more technological fixes for farming problems are developed, the limitations won’t be the ones we are used to – manpower, on-farm data or access to knowledge – but on our individual appetite to get to grips with the new technology.

The openness to being a novice and making mistakes with this or that new app, sensor or gadget will be what separates farmers and systems.

What we can achieve on our farms will be limited not by our tools, but by our imagination and creativity.

are to be achieved by growing the value-added food and healthcare business, adding more value to the raw material, and careful investment in IT and infrastructure.

The current trading year is proving to be tough, a sentiment echoed by all the companies, with no bounce-back in China expected until next year, slow improvement in Europe and continuing volatility in the United States.

One CEO confirmed profit last year was sound and anticipated a similar trend this year, while Greenlea’s Tony Egan felt the industry was moving into a transitional phase in which greater value would be extracted from innovation and product development, combined with partnerships to achieve greater scale.

He cited specifically the investment in the Waitoa protein processing facility as an example that will produce greater returns, ultimately to the benefit of suppliers.

The year 2024 will be a challenging one for the meat industry, as companies attempt to repair or strengthen their balance sheets. Those that lost money last year will be determined to correct that under threat from banks or major shareholders, while profitable companies will be keen to maintain or improve performance.

PROCESS: We should view the adoption of technology as a series of small steps, says David Eade.

MUTTON: Alliance was particularly affected by having so much lamb and mutton move through its plants, when by general consent beef processors were less badly hit by sudden market price drops. Continued from previous page

Deer industry legend finally calls it a day

Stock and station agent Ron “Schroeds” Schroeder can remember a time when the industry he helped build wasn’t even part of the ag curriculum. Annette Scott reports.

A“TRUE doer” for the deer industry, Ron “Schroeds” Schroeder, is calling it a day after a momentous career he stumbled upon as a sheep and beef livestock agent in Marlborough.

After 50 years in the field, including four decades with deer –most as PGG Wrightson Livestock’s upper South Island deer specialist – Schroeder is retiring.

He has been a matchmaker of buyers and sellers, procuring and transacting thousands of deer deals over his lengthy career, his work taking him the length and breadth of the country as well as overseas.

He has been a staunch supporter of New Zealand Deer Farmers Association and Deer Industry NZ events, with his ability to gauge the pulse of the industry over the years invaluable to both organisations as well as stock agent colleagues and countless individual deer farmers.

When he was at Lincoln College, now University, in the early 1970s, deer were not on the curriculum so his initial experience was a few years later, visiting a property in Southland

“A farmer was holding a dozen weaners captured in Fiordland. Without fencing, they were in his garage. When I went back the following year, the stock numbers

had increased, the deer were fenced, and I realised there were prospects for something bigger.”

Based in Seddon and working as NZ Farmers’ Co-operative’s Marlborough sheep and beef representative, he bought and sold his first deer in 1978, at a time when helicopter operators had recently started capturing live feral deer to stock farms.

“Venison was the focus, building bloodstock to underpin the industry, though the market was paying more for stock than the deer were worth as venison.”

I told him I knew he’d look after me, and the salary wasn’t the point.

When Farmers’ Co-operative and Pyne Gould Guinness merged, Schroeds received a call.

“It was Humphrey Gould. He invited me to Christchurch and asked me to set up a deer operation.

“I wanted to carry on growing with my clients, and most were already with Pyne Gould for other business, so it was an easy change.

“I agreed and was out the door when Mr Gould called, ‘Wait a minute, we haven’t talked about salary!’

“I told him I knew he’d look

after me, and the salary wasn’t the point.”

Driven by excitement for the industry, his passion blossomed.

“I could see a real future in the animal for venison, and latterly velvet, the industry growth based on genetic development and I had the fortune in the late 80s to get overseas exploring in England and Scotland, Europe and Canada, to bring in some of those genetics.”

Over the course of five years he had 21 trips overseas importing bloodlines.

In recognition of his service to the industry Schroeds received the coveted New Zealand Deer Industry award in 2022.

“That was a humbling experience, totally unexpected, completely out of the blue, and the highlight of my whole career.”

After 50 years he remains a critical and dedicated agent and is by any standards an outstanding, albeit a quiet and modest, achiever for the deer industry.

“A true doer who is respected and admired and has a legion of business friends and personal association across the industry in an exceptional career,” industry colleagues says.

A self-confessed “old school operator”, Shroeds does not deny his love for deer.

He farms them, buys and sells them, hunts them, eats them and

INDUSTRY GOOD: Going out on a high, Ron Schroeder says there’s a lot of good people in the industry making good things happen.

some believe dreams about them and even roars like them.

In more recent years his greatest satisfaction has been looking after the next generation of deer farmers.

The biggest legacy of his career is the mentoring and encouragement of young deer farmers and agents.

“I love that, working with the offspring of initial clients, they are like a breath of fresh air and extremely passionate, but still there is a lack of young blood coming through.”

While Schroeder has been through a lot of challenges in the industry, from the lows of $4/kg

for venison, the impact of land use change and the covid pandemic, he is confident about its future.

“I am very bullish about the industry. In the pioneering days it was set up on venison, and velvet was a byproduct; now it’s mainstream for growers and breeders and doing very well, and there are lot of good people in the industry making good things happen.”

Schroeds retires at the end of June, planning to rekindle his love of fishing and do a little more on the Cheviot lifestyle block he and wife Jacqui have called home since 2014.

Burkes backed with national recognition

OVER two decades of commitment to farm environment improvements has earned Bay of Plenty twin brothers Rick and John Burke the inaugural Cawthron National Freshwater Champions award.

The brothers decided to act on the family’s Katikati drystock farm almost 25 years ago, after learning the property was one of the most environmentally degraded in western Bay of Plenty. It was discharging record levels of sediment into Tauranga harbour, and because it accounted for a quarter of the small catchment it was having a disproportionate affect on the entire district’s environmental quality.

The award recognises their efforts since, awarding them the individual-family award for their efforts including wetland development, fenced waterways, land retirement and reticulated water systems to exclude stock from waterways.

For the Burkes, the award is a double header, with nearby Project Parore picking up the champion

award for the Established Catchment award. This project’s proven history of improvement and results started as a result of the Burkes’ initial work in their Te Mania catchment.

The brothers continue to host field days on the family farm near Katikati, but John Burke said they have finished much of the heavy lifting on the 300 hectare property and are now spending more time

mentoring and helping others along their sustainability journey.

“But as a country we really need to have a more unified vision for land use in New Zealand. This requires a pan-sector approach,” he said.

He also appreciates he has been luckier than most, having his brother managing the farm’s daily operations while he could focus on environmental improvements

specifically, something few farmers have the luxury to do.

He has also been instrumental in developing the Tīmata (kickstart) native tree planting programme, attributed with significantly lowering the cost of establishing native forest blocks on farms.

However, he is adamant the country also needs more focus on weed control post planting, claiming regional and district councils have dropped the ball when it comes to effectively managing weed populations.

The Burkes were among an assortment of award recipients at the event that has been remodelled from the original NZ Rivers Awards.

Other award recipients included Professor Huhana Smith of Horowhenua, recognised as Te Ao Māori Freshwater Champion for integrating her artistic, academic and landowning skills into helping improve freshwater in the Horowhenua district.

The Moutere Catchment Group was awarded a champions award for its early impact. Up and running for only five years, the group has more than 200 members and has planted half a million native trees and built two wetlands.

Independent freshwater educator

Mel McColgan was recognised for her efforts in engaging with schools and communities across the Tasman district.

Both Burke brothers have also been actively involved in establishing the nearby Wai Kōkopu Catchment group near Te Puke. As with their own property, this group focuses upon the heavily degraded water systems feeding into the Waihi Estuary with John Burke one of the group’s “lighthouse” farmer leaders.

Group technical adviser and freshwater campaigner Alison Dewes said the Burke brothers had been pioneers in the early days with the efforts they had made on their own farm.

“What they have achieved in the last 20-plus years highlights what most other farmers have to achieve in the next five to seven if we are to address our environmental challenges.

“We are fortunate to have them. They have been the petri dish, and have not been afraid to talk about what works and what their mistakes have been.”

She said having catchment groups acting as a church for likeminded farmers to gather around has also proven hugely valuable in order to provide a safe, confident venue for exchanging knowledge.

Richard Rennie PEOPLE Environment

GREENER: John Burke and his twin brother Rick began an environmental repair job on their family farm that has turned them into leading proponents for farm environmental work today.

Kōura not gone from Kakahu after all

eDNA tech had a pleasant surprise in store for a biomonitoring team recently when it turned up evidence of freshwater crayfish in a river long thought to have lost the species. Annette Scott reports.

FINDING kōura (freshwater crayfish) in the Kakahu River was one of the highlights of recent eDNA monitoring and biomonitoring for Opuha Water Ltd.

The South Canterbury irrigation company’s most recent water quality report focuses on eDNA sampling and biomonitoring undertaken in the river.

eDNA is material that is left behind by organisms as they move through their environment. This material can be skin, hair, scales, mucus and faeces.

The process can identify thousands of species of fish, insects, crustaceans, birds, mammals, amphibians, plants, fungi, bacteria and other organisms.

In the report, Opuha Water Ltd

(OWL) freshwater specialist Jared Panther said finding kōura eDNA is significant as local anecdotal reports had suggested the threatened species was no longer present in the Kakahu.

“But it was found upstream and downstream of the OWL discharge point into the Kakahu River, including upstream and downstream of the gorge.

“Kōura are more active at night and usually seek shelter from predators during the day, which is one reason why they are not easily observed in waterways during daylight hours.”

Panther said the eDNA for freshwater mussels, longfin eel, shortfin eel, upland bully, common bully, Canterbury galaxias, torrent fish and brown trout was also detected upstream and downstream of the discharge point.

OWL publishes its quarterly water quality reports for Lake Opuha and the wider scheme catchment to share with the community the results of the company’s extensive water quality monitoring programme.

Key findings of the Kakahu River studies included from the eDNA monitoring that Kōura, freshwater mussels, longfin eel, shortfin eel, upland bully, common bully,

Canterbury galaxias, torrent fish and brown trout were all detected in the Kakahu River with the ecological health of the river rated as either average or poor using the eDNA method.

From the biomonitoring the macroinvertebrate community index (MCI) scores in the Kakahu River were similar to the eDNA findings, with waterway ratings of good and fair.

The quantitative macroinvertebrate community index (QMCI) scores in the river were higher upstream of the discharge point compared with downstream.

Longfin eel, shortfin eel, upland

NZAAA suggests members switch from AIRCARE

Neal Wallace TECHNOLOGY Environment

THE New Zealand Agricultural Aviation Association has stopped using the AIRCARE environmental management programme and is endorsing members’ use of two other, independent schemes.

NZAAA chair Bruce Peterson said the AIRCARE programme, previously run by the Aviation Industry Association (formerly Aviation NZ), no longer meets the needs of agricultural aircraft operators, their clients or stakeholders. Instead it is endorsing use of the Spreadmark Certification programme, managed by the Fertiliser Quality Council (FQC), and the Growsafe Accreditation (Aerial) programme managed by the NZ Agricultural Education Trust (NZAET).

Peterson said the independence of the FQC and NZAET provides the industry and stakeholders with assurance the programmes are robust.

The NZAAA will have oversight of the programmes to ensure the processes are relevant to the agricultural aviation industry and provide a single point of contact for operators seeking certification and accreditation.

Chief executive Tony Michelle said a survey of agriculture aviation operators two years ago found 70%

no longer supported AIRCARE but supported following environmental best practice.

Instead of developing a new scheme, the NZAAA has decided to adopt these two existing programmes.

“Why reinvent the wheel when we have two fit for purpose environmental programmes?”

Michelle said applicators see value in adopting the two programmes while the move also recognises growing awareness that consumers require proof that food production meets environmental standards.

“It is our expectation that FQC and the Growsafe Accreditation will in time will be a condition of supply for processors,” he said.

bully, common bully and trout were caught in the river with these fish identified upstream and downstream of the discharge point.

SLR Consulting concluded that the collective biomonitoring results from the survey and previous surveys do not indicate any consistent patterns or significant adverse effects of the consented discharge on the freshwater communities of the Kakahu River.

“The levels of periphyton [material that grows on the surface of rocks on the bottom of a stream or river] cover in the Kakahu River remained below guidelines set by

the Ministry for the Environment and Environment Canterbury for thick mats and long filamentous algae.

“There was an increase in periphyton cover at the sampling site immediately downstream of the discharge point, relative to other sites, which could be due to a localised effect of the discharge but could also be due to other factors such as river works undertaken at the start of the irrigation season.

“However, there were no patterns evident in periphyton cover at the other downstream sites, which indicates there are no wider impacts of the discharge on the periphyton community.”

There were no significant statistical differences in the MCI scores between the site immediately upstream of the Opuha discharge and all downstream sites in the river.

“Comparing the 2024 survey with the previous two surveys, there are no consistent patterns in macroinvertebrate community diversity, abundance or quality that would indicate any significant adverse effects of the discharge.

“Attributing a discharge effect is difficult, as different habitats in the Kakahu will naturally give rise to different macroinvertebrate scores.

“High abundance and diversity of fish at sites downstream of the discharge indicate that the discharge is not adversely affecting the fish community,” Panther said.

Climate extremes increase risk of cryptosporidium

heavy rain in Kaikoura in March 1999 and 22 cases following a countrywide weather bomb in October 2000.

MORE cryptosporidiosis

outbreaks could be on the cards for New Zealand as extreme rainfall events become more frequent, causing higher levels of the diarrhoeacausing parasite to be washed into waterways, public health researchers warn.

The researchers studied clusters of cryptosporidium outbreaks around the country between 1997 and 2015 and found 13 coincided with severe weather events. Their research is published in the international journal Epidemiology & Infection. It is the first study to compare clusters of outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis to severe weather events in NZ.

One of the researchers, Professor Simon Hales from the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, said the study found 38 “statistically significant” clusters, unlikely to have occurred by chance. The 13 that coincided with severe weather events included 55 cases that occurred after

Hales said runoff from livestock is likely to be heightening the risk of disease outbreaks.

Nearly half of the 13 clusters that aligned with severe weather events occurred in the spring, suggesting a link to calving and lambing times, with newborn livestock a known source of the parasite.

Cryptosporidium is one of the most common causes of waterborne gastrointestinal illness, with almost 16,000 cases of cryptosporidiosis notified in NZ between 1997 and 2015. Most people are infected either by drinking contaminated water or from swimming.

Hales said cryptosporidium is resistant to conventional water treatment techniques and higher levels of the pathogens in heavy rain can overwhelm drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, causing disease outbreaks.

“Cases and outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis, as well as other infectious intestinal diseases, are often caused by contamination of water supplies.”

The 2023 Queenstown cryptosporidiosis outbreak when more than 72 people got sick was likely caused by human faecal contamination of water supplies. The 2016 Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak, in which 7500 people got sick and four died, was the result of water bores being contaminated with sheep faeces.

“These outbreaks highlight the need to strengthen source protection for water supplies, and for a strong regulatory framework to prevent water being polluted by runoff from livestock farms.

“Our findings show how important it is to protect our drinking water supply, and the places people swim, from contamination from agricultural runoff and sewage leaks from broken pipes.”

Hales said there is a pressing need for more research to be done on the links between waterborne diseases and extreme weather events as severe rainfall events become more frequent with climate change.

CATCH: Longfin eels were among the fish found in the Kakahu River.

TESTING: SLR Consulting ecologist Zoe Psarouthakis takes water samples from Kakahu River.

Staff reporter NEWS Disease

MOVING ON: New Zealand Agricultural Aviation Association chair Bruce Peterson says AIRCARE no longer meets the needs of agricultural aircraft operators.

Where native mushrooms are champignon

THERE’S a bit of a twist in Southland mushroom grower Janine Donaldson’s story. She doesn’t really like to eat mushrooms.

This fact elicits a chuckle from her, especially when she says a few top chefs have tried to convince her to change her mind, while using the native Pleurotus pulmonarius (oyster) mushrooms she grows commercially as the main fare in dishes they prepare for her.

“It’s the texture, I can’t get over it. No one in the family eats mushrooms,” Donaldson said. Luckily for her clients, she “fell in love with the process of growing mushrooms” after ordering a home growing kit online.

Donaldson wasn’t always a grower.

She spent two years in the air force and retired after she hurt her back.

She then spent time as a selftaught genealogist, and has not only written three books on local history, but is also a gun for hire and has solved three adoption cases, using genealogy and DNA supplied by her clients.

When she, husband Robert and son Jack moved back to Southland 12 years ago she wanted to do something to earn extra money.

The trio live on two hectares next to her brother, Craig Collins, an arable farmer in Balfour. With such a small parcel of land, animal husbandry was out of the question, so she began

investigating snails, saffron, worms – any niche product she could grow without having to have a large tract of land.

Five years ago Donaldson set up a small shed and used it to incubate and to fruit mushrooms, and so began Maharakeke Mushrooms.

She has since expanded and now uses the initial shed only for spawn incubation and has built a larger shed for fruiting.

Donaldson said when she began growing she didn’t know New Zealand had edible native mushrooms, and only learnt about them on a Facebook group.

She decided that selling native mushrooms, especially to customers in tourism, would be a point of difference.

“You want to sell great food, but also great New Zealand food.

“Another reason I went native is because native mushrooms can grow at 12degC, where other strains need warmer temperatures.”

Donaldson said because she is an avid tennis player and wanted free time over weekends, she was never interested in selling at farmers markets, like many mushroom growers do, but decided restaurant clients were the route to take.

To build client relationships

Donaldson said she took mushroom samples and simply “rolled on up” to a restaurant or phoned ahead to potential clients and said she was coming.

She delivers to a number of restaurants across Southland and Otago, with Real NZ her biggest buyer.

Real NZ serves native mushrooms on three boats on

don’t travel well”, so she has to move them to a client quickly after harvest.

“I grow low-tech, with few inputs and as cheap as possible, but using straw I have to have bigger sheds and can’t grow as much; there are pros and cons.”

She aims for a yield of 1kg per bag, and recently increased her bag size so she can attain that target. Currently she grows about 800g per bag.

Donaldson is about to take her first winter off in three years.

Her reason for taking a break is three-fold.

All her clients are in the tourism industry and orders slow right down during winter, only picking up again in September.

The cost of heating over winter is significant, she said.

STUDY: Janine Donaldson with son Jack. He is not talking succession yet, but recently wrote software to log all growing, selling, and transport data. He will be analysing it through winter.

You want to sell great food, but also great New Zealand food [and] native mushrooms can grow at 12degC, where other strains need warmer temperatures.

Janine Donaldson Maharakeke Mushrooms

Milford and Doubtful Sound as part of their menu, and at a cafe in Manapouri.

Complete Wellness in Windsor, Invercargill, is the only direct to public sales.

Invercargill chef Ethan Flack, who sources most of his produce locally and is known for having trained under Michelin-star chefs, also uses her products.

To be able to service this market Donaldson had to be verified under National Programme 1, a set of rules that medium and lower risk food businesses need to follow to comply with the Food Act 2014.

She also asked permission of local iwi to grow the native mushrooms, a practice that is accepted internationally, and is there to assure no one exploits native people.

Donaldson buys her spawn from mycologist Barton Acres, who owns Mycologic in Dunedin.

Barton has the spawn DNA verified, so clients are sure they are eating only native mushrooms. Donaldson has to grow spawn in straw, and uses straw baled next door on her brother’s farm.

He grows wheat, barley and other arable crops.

She prefers wheat straw as it has enough nutrients to feed the mushrooms.

The majority of commercial growers use hardwood sawdust and not straw, she said.

She cuts straw from bales, loads it into wool fadges, and moves it into a shed.

The straw is then moved into a mechanically moveable basket that her father, Gary Collins, custom made.

Donaldson said his Kiwi ingenuity means she has not needed to import most of her equipment.

He also helped build her sheds.

The basket is big enough to fit two conventional square bales.

This is then dunked into cold hydrated lime and water for pasteurisation.

Cold pasteurisation kills much of the bacteria, but not all of it.

This gives the mycelium spore enough time to spawn without having to fight off any baddies.

She stirs the lime with an outboard motor for two hours.

The straw is left submerged overnight.

The next day after a couple of hours’ drying she bags the straw and inoculates it with mycelium spawn.

The bags are then incubated for three weeks at about 22degC.

When the bag is all white with mycelium it is moved to a growing room.

They fruit within a week and are then harvested.

She can harvest twice from each bag.

Mushrooms are “delicate and

And for the first time since she began production, she had contamination that she couldn’t get on top of for a few months, and feels she needs a break.

After she upgraded her facility so she can produce more and increase efficiency, she began seeing fungal contamination.

Contaminated bags have to be discarded.

She had just changed her growing methods so she could increase production and began troubleshooting by reverse engineering her processes.

“It takes two weeks to see if something is contaminated, there’s a delay to see if the steps you try and eliminate were the right one to change, but you’re still bagging mushrooms to grow for clients, only to then find the step you eliminated wasn’t the one causing contamination.”

Donaldson eventually found that a new way of baling straw was the cause of the contamination, but it took months to reach this point.

Donaldson said she doesn’t know what she would have done without family, neighbours and clients supporting her during months of

Continued next page

Gerhard Uys ON FARM Food and fibre

GROWING: When the bag is all white with mycelium they are moved from incubation to a growing room. Donaldson recently increased her bag size as she aims to grow 1kg of mushrooms per bag.

VERSATILE: These native Pleurotus pulmonarius (oyster) mushrooms are versatile and can be used on something as easy as toast or in a risotto.

Photos: Gerhard Uys

Fruit and veg growers, make your vote count

HortNZ has been travelling the country to hear how levy payers want their dollars put to work for the good of the sector.

Sector perspective

GROWERS have just under two weeks left to vote in the Horticulture New Zealand levy referendum, so I encourage anyone who hasn’t had their say to do so before voting closes at midday on June 14.

Leading up to the referendum, we travelled around the country to consult directly with growers. We asked for their views on how we are utilising levy funds and what they would like to see in the future.

It was incredibly valuable to receive feedback from those working at the heart of the industry, and I deeply appreciate

Continued from previous page

the time growers took out of their busy season to share insights about their businesses and how HortNZ can best work for their interests.

It was encouraging to hear that growers feel our efforts align well with their needs, particularly our focus on essential aspects like water policy, climate change adaptation, food security, and labour and capability development.

The value of the horticulture industry has grown to nearly $7 billion and clearly everyone in the sector is committed to achieving the goal of doubling the farmgate value by 2035 in ways that enhance prosperity and protect our environment.

Many growers were eager to discuss the regulation of genetic engineering and modification, upcoming reforms, and the ongoing challenges of pest and disease management.

Our team will closely monitor potential changes to New Zealand’s GMO regulations, as indicated by the government.

A major focus for us is to react swiftly to new proposals, keeping growers informed and advocating on their behalf. We will provide updates, discuss proposed changes, and continue to advocate for regulations that enable growers to compete domestically and internationally while maintaining NZ’s strong reputation.

A strong message we received

of troubleshooting. Arable farmers and neighbours Jody and Blair Drysdale came to the rescue with free barley straw, which Donaldson used as substrate when she found out hers was the cause of contamination.

She kept her clients informed and they stuck with her – “I think it’s a Southland thing”, she said.

After she found out where the problem lies, the baling method for straw was changed and she is now using homegrown straw again. She said this rough period

was the importance of avoiding duplication across different product groups and the value growers place on a united voice for all of horticulture.

We are committed to working collaboratively in many areas and exploring new ways to ensure growers get the best return on their levy investments.

Access to water, the ability to store it, and appropriate policy settings are also important to growers.

In the face of climate variability and extreme weather events, water storage is essential for

taught her a lot and she is now more confident and adaptable than ever.

“I will hit the ground running in September when my clients start up again.”

In future she hopes to establish her own lab and do her own spawning.

Her son Jack is not talking succession yet, but recently wrote software to log all growing, selling and transport data.

He will be analysing it through winter. He recently finished school and is now helping on her brother’s farm.

In five years she hopes to be a lot bigger, but will need a number of good years to be able to build more sheds.

mitigating risks and enhancing resilience for horticultural producers. However, several barriers currently hinder progress in this area.

HortNZ is advocating strongly for new approaches and policy settings that allow growers, farmers, and communities to share water and the costs of water storage more efficiently.

These measures will ensure the sector’s stability, enhance

Many growers were eager to discuss the regulation of genetic engineering and modification, upcoming reforms, and the ongoing challenges of pest and disease management.

market competitiveness, enable growers to manage seasonal water fluctuations, and meet market demand year-round.

HortNZ must be ready to respond quickly to weather or other natural disasters, as supporting growers is central to our role. The HortNZ team is dedicated to working for growers, using their levy funds to achieve the best outcome.

A “yes” vote in the levy referendum will give HortNZ the mandate to continue this important work. Without industry endorsement, HortNZ will be wound up. Casting a vote is critical and I urge every grower to take the opportunity to ensure their view is heard.

As well as voting for HortNZ, fresh vegetables, process vegetables, onions and/or tomato growers are also being asked to vote for the levies that support these product groups.

BASKET: Donaldson’s father, Gary Collins, built a mechanically shiftable basket to move straw in and out of a pasteurisation bath.

POLICY: HortNZ is advocating strongly for new approaches and policy settings that allow growers, farmers and communities to share water and the costs of water storage more efficiently, says Nadine Tunley.

Nadine Tunley Tunley is chief executive of Horticulture New Zealand

Machines pack on success for disruptor

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Production

LATE in the evening of March 18 2020, Mpac managing director Brendon Lee was wide awake, trying to second guess the mindset of Wellington officials in whose laps the fate of his newly built packhouse business rested.

As New Zealand entered covid lockdown, those officials were tasked with determining what industries would be deemed “essential” and therefore able to continue operating throughout.

“I was asking myself whether kiwifruit really would be seen as ‘essential’ or just a ‘nice to have’, compared to, say, vegetables, meat and potatoes.”

Fortunately, fate and bureaucracy smiled on the industry, which along with viticulture was able to proceed with the season’s harvest and processing, earning billions in valuable export dollars and saving Mpac’s newly minted packhouse operation in the process.

The young entrepreneur had, along with business partner Jan Benes, just overseen the completion of their Mpac (mount pack and cool) facility.

The intensively automated operation sits in a relatively unconventional location at Tauriko, a Tauranga industrial site.

That year, with its social distancing restrictions on shifts and staff, was a tough baptism for the plant.

But since that rocky start Mpac has moved quickly to stake a claim as a major sector player from

processing about six million trays a year in 2018 to 22 million this year, claiming 12% of the postharvest tray market.

“So, we have experienced about 400% growth since commissioning and can claim to be the most highly automated kiwifruit processing plant in the world.”

The plant’s IP is a closely guarded secret, with video and photos tightly controlled.

Lee said there are multiple features developed after he and Benes took a look at what was available globally, then came home to seek more bespoke solutions.

And we now have a long-term sustainable model when it comes to labour. The reality is people do not really want to work in packhouses doing manual jobs.

Brendon Lee Mpac

“We were relatively underwhelmed by what we saw in Europe and Asia, and it really spurred us to design our own, working with some large players in the automation sector including MAF, Compac and JMP.”

They also managed to get the competing companies working together with them on the project.

With automation eye-wateringly expensive, Lee said the temptation is to look at the capital outlay and try to trim it, but that is usually the worst mistake to make.

“You have to allow for redundancy in technology, for

breakdowns and maintenance, and that requires back-up plant capable of being switched in quickly.”

In the competitive post-harvest business, loss of processing consistency and breakdowns will see growers quickly move to another operator who can instead pick and process their crop.

While the initial capital cost is high, the automation move has meant Mpac has sliced its labour well back below industry averages.

The savings have equated to a competitive edge of about 50c per tray processed, compared to the industry average cost of about $4.00 per tray.

“For any grower that is a material amount.

“And we now have a long-term sustainable model when it comes to labour. The reality is people do not really want to work in packhouses doing manual jobs, and you don’t want to be holding your breath every season to see how many staff you will be able to get.”

He has also witnessed a shift in staff profile as they have taken on board higher skilled, permanent staff skilled in areas of automation, programming and maintenance.

“Growing aggressively as we have does require people of a mindset who do want to move with the changes.”

Lee is conscious Mpac has proven to be a disruptor in the post-harvest industry. In coming years, he can see further consolidation among the main players as companies scramble to chase Mpac’s automation advantages.

Mpac’s centralised hyper site in itself slices off costs against competitors who often have multiple facilities scattered throughout the region. Future tech developments for his company have him now looking hard at what AI can deliver.

Given the high volume, repetitive nature of single fruit processing, the technology’s ability to scan, assess and grade fruit is obvious. It is tech he can see being applied from first orchard assessment prior to picking, right through to

REDUNDANT: Brendon Lee, managing director of Mpac, says it is critical to have redundancy built into any intensively automated system to avoid down time and loss of grower clients.

determining what fruit to release to Zespri at different times of the year to meet overseas market needs.

Kiwifruit has had a tumultuous ride throughout its history, with recent years no exception, but Lee is optimistic about its prospects.

He sees plenty of upside in SunGold’s growth in particular through a marketing system that, while not perfect, continues to deliver positive returns to growers in a huge global fruit market.

Borrowing from carapace to shield plants

Annette Scott TECHOLOGY Pests

KIWI-born farmer Ian Rew has launched a groundbreaking product that blocks pathogenic microorganisms and bolsters roots.

The BioGro-certified organic chitin-based product for growers in New Zealand has been proven to increase plant root mass and shoot growth by 26%, said Rew.

Backed by 30 years of research, development, testing and realworld use from his previous business in the United States, Rew has redeveloped his original formulation for NZ conditions.

The base product, chitin, a natural chain of glucose molecules that are structurally related to cellulose, is normally found in the shells of crabs, lobsters, shrimp and insects.

Rew said in the vineyard regions of California the climate is a lot drier, which is why a liquid formula applied through the irrigation systems made sense.

“Here in NZ, where we have much more rainfall, a dry product works better. In fact, this new dry product improves on the previous

formulation and has a significantly higher chitin content than the previous product I developed in the US,” Rew said.

The product’s name, Flamingro, is inspired by the fact that a diet rich in chitin is what gives the flamingo bird its beautiful pink colour.

The “gro” part refers to the increased plant shoot and root growth Flamingro promotes.

The new formulation is comprised of not less than

21% chitin (poly N acetyl D glucosamine) humic and fulvic acids.

During development, Rew’s new formulation went testing at AgResearch in Hamilton and Plant and Food Research at Lincoln. It was in the 2017 AgResearch trials, during a nine-week glasshouse pot experiment of white clover seedlings, that Flamingro was found to increase clover root mass and shoot growth by 26%.

Flamingro induces and enhances the natural defence mechanisms in plants by increasing local endophyte numbers in the soil through entering the root system and creating a barrier effect, where they prevent pathogenic microorganisms from attacking the roots and spreading disease.

This gives “the plant’s roots a chance to thrive and grow a much bigger root mass, creating larger, healthier plants”.

It was in 1992, while living in the US, that Rew discovered the benefits of chitin after noticing the improvement of his plant health in soil that he had treated with the substance.

Learning that this compound was playing a role as a plant growth regulator by bolstering plant defences against disease, he developed a commercial liquid product from the chitin, which was perfect for the conditions that grape growers face in the sunny climes of California.

He shared the product with a few of his contacts, who also experienced notable improvements in their plant health and growth, and it didn’t take long for word to get around about the product.

His business, he said, became a huge success.

After 30 years in the US the pull to return home became strong and Rew and his wife Val sold their original chitin product business and returned to NZ, settling in the Bay of Plenty.

As a farmer myself, I understand the skepticism; if someone’s selling me a product, I need to see it deliver results.

Ian Rew Flamingro

They purchased a farm and the idea to bring a chitin-based product to NZ was born. Already he has five growers carrying out free trials, ranging from vineyards in the Marlborough region through to kiwifruit growers and dairy farmers in the Bay of Plenty.

Although trials are primarily run on established trees and vines over one to two years, Flamingro would also work well for farmers who are looking to improve the quality of their pasture, Rew said.

TRIALS: Flamingro founder Ian Rew is offering free trials on his new groundbreaking product.

ENTRIES AND NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

These awards proudly acknowledge the world-class leadership by New Zealand farmers in regards to irrigation management. They offer a chance to celebrate sustainable irrigation management, waterway protection and environmental stewardship.

Awesome prize packs up for grabs for all category winners and an international irrigation study tour travel voucher for the Supreme Award Winner

Consider entering or nominating someone who embodies sustainable irrigation today.

FEDERATED FARMERS

Federated Farmers put banks on notice

Farmers’ satisfaction with their banks has gone from bad to worse, adding further weight to calls for an independent inquiry into rural banking.

Federated Farmers’ latest Banking Survey paints a damning picture of the state of rural lending, the organisation’s commerce and competition spokesperson Richard McIntyre says.

“Rural banking issues are nearing crisis point and farmers are quickly losing confidence.

“We thought the results were bad in our last survey, six months ago, but this latest survey shows farmers are feeling even more miserable about the state of rural lending.

“Consecutive surveys are showing all the key metrics we track are heading in the wrong direction,” McIntyre says.

The Federated Farmers Banking

We thought the results were bad in our last survey, six months ago, but this latest survey shows farmers are feeling even more miserable about the state of rural lending.

Richard McIntyre

Federated Farmers commerce and competition spokesperson

Survey was conducted from May 3-15, 2024, and had 642 responses from across New Zealand.

The survey shows banks’ record profits in the last few years aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, McIntyre says.

Farmers’ satisfaction with their banks has dropped five points to its lowest levels since our six-monthly survey began in May 2015.

“Six years ago, around 80% of farmers were satisfied with their bank, but that number has since plummeted to just 51%,” McIntyre says.

A quarter of farmers held a neutral view, while those saying they were ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ increased to 23.6% – a new record high.

“Alarmingly, we also have one in four farmers – also a record high –reporting they have come under undue pressure from their bank,” McIntyre says.

“These aren’t just statistics.

“These numbers represent real Kiwi farming families who are clearly hurting and coming under huge pressure from high interest rates, rampant inflation and reduced incomes.”

Given the increased scrutiny of rural lending in recent times, Federated Farmers added a new question to their recent survey: ‘Do you think New Zealand banks are presently demonstrating a positive

commitment to support farming through difficult periods of high interest rates?’

McIntyre says it’s incredibly disappointing that only one in five farmers responded with a ‘yes’ to that question.

“At a time when farmers are really struggling, I’d have hoped to see our banks stepping up to help, but instead they seem to be tightening the screws.

“These figures are of real concern and add considerable weight to Federated Farmers’ calls for an independent inquiry into rural banking.

“There are clearly some widespread issues in our rural banking system that need to be closely looked at and addressed – urgently.”

Federated Farmers presented to Parliament’s Primary Production Committee on the need for an independent inquiry into rural banking on May 23.

“In our submission, we strongly laid out the case for an independent inquiry,” McIntyre says.

“It’s been clear for some time now that all is not well in the world of rural lending, and we’ve made it clear that our expectation is for the committee to launch a formal inquiry.”

McIntyre says it’s been concerning to hear that some parties in the banking sector have been lobbying

the Government hard to stop an inquiry going ahead.

“They’re saying, ‘move on – there’s nothing to see here’. We just hope the Government have enough backbone to stand up to them and make the inquiry happen.”

New Zealand’s banking regulations are now some of the harshest and most stringent in the world, and that’s adding huge costs for rural borrowers, McIntyre says.

“To put this in perspective, new capital holding rules are now costing farmers more each year than He Waka Eke Noa was ever going to.

“It’s estimated these rules add

between 0.5% and 1.2% to rural interest rates and cost farmers an eye-watering $310-$740 million every year.

“For comparison, He Waka Eke Noa was forecast to levy farmers around $255m each year.”

The capital holding rules are meant to protect our banking system against a one-in-200-year shock, but McIntyre says the question needs to be asked: is the medicine worse than the disease?

“Farmers can trust that we have their backs when it comes to banking issues, and we’ll keep fighting hard for this inquiry.”

AN AUDIENCE: Federated Farmers national board member Richard McIntyre (middle) with general manager policy and advocacy Paul Melville (left) and senior policy advisor Oliver Ibbetson ready to state the case for an independent inquiry into rural banking at Parliament on May 23.

KiwiSaver rule changes long overdue

Young farmers trying to get their foot in the door of farm ownership should be able to access their KiwiSaver, Federated Farmers say.

Richard McIntyre, the organisation’s dairy chair, says the time is right for the Government to change the rules so young farmers can buy their first farm, herd or flock.

“Our next generation of farmers are really struggling with high interest rates and a lack of support from the banks. They need access to their KiwiSaver now more than ever,” he says.

“What we’re seeing is that many young farmers have saved a pretty good deposit but just aren’t quite

able to get the bank’s backing to invest in their first herd or property.”

Farm staff, along with rural teachers, rural police and military, are being denied the same opportunity to get on the property ladder as their urban counterparts, all because they live remotely and in employer-provided accommodation.

Richard McIntyre Federated Farmers dairy chair

Allowing those farmers to use their KiwiSaver would be a massive help in pulling together a deposit, especially in the tough economic times we’re going through, McIntyre says.

“It would put them in a stronger financial position with their initial equity, but they’d also have less debt – which means they’d be paying less interest too.

“These changes are desperately needed. They’re long overdue.”

McIntyre says Federated Farmers also want the rules changed so farm staff in service tenancies (living on farm) can use KiwiSaver to purchase a house.

“At the moment, you can only use

Community support lifts spirits in darkest time

For Lil Poulton, the way her community rallied around after Cyclone Gabrielle smashed the family farm was a ray of light during an extremely dark time.

To now be given the tractor that has worked on Hawke’s Bay farms for the last 11 months under ‘Commence the Re-Fence’ is a “delightful surprise” and another boost, she says.

Cyclone Gabrielle’s wild weather and slips took out around five kilometres of fencing on the Poulton farm at Patoka.

“Tracks were damaged too, and both our bridges were swept away. We lost access to two thirds of our farm,” Lil says.

Much, much worse was to come a short time later. Lil’s husband Rob died.

“He was the happiest, most dedicated, honourable man. We miss him so much.”

With fences down all around the Patoka and Rissington districts, there were stock everywhere,” Lil says.

“We were one big paddock for a while.”

Floodwaters and debris also took out the main bridge to the area and rural families were cut off for nearly eight weeks.

A boat was used to ferry vital supplies until a causeway, and eventually a Bailey bridge, plugged the gap.

“My three children were amazing and, with all the farming families hurting, it was great to see the whole community pitch in,” Lil says.

“We had a well-organised hub. Rob was the chief of the Rural Fire Force and I’m a nurse and we were well involved with it.

“Everyone pulled together.”

The Rural Support Trust helped with the farm business aspects and Lil and Rob’s son Henry stepped up to help run farm operations.

Lil is full of praise for the Farmy Army and Commence the Re-Fence.

Using the tractor and rammer donated by Case IH and New Holland (CNH) dealer Stevenson & Taylor,

Lil Poulton Gisborne farmer

the JK Fencing team and volunteers spent a week on the Poulton farm. They patched fences there as part of 90km of fencing restored on 170 farms in the province under Commence the Re-Fence since June 2023.

It was always the intention to give away the $125,000 tractor when the campaign finished.

Farmy Army co-ordinator Ben Moore says even among the many heart-wrenching nominations, the Poulton family stood out as deserving recipients.

At a handover ceremony on May 21, $10,000 vouchers went to four other nominees: Mare Kupa, David and Binks McCurdy, Mark Mitchell, and Simon and Sarah Spice.

your KiwiSaver to purchase a house you’ll live in.

“This is unfair because farm staff, along with rural teachers, rural police and military, are being denied the same opportunity to get on the property ladder as their urban counterparts, all because they live remotely and in employer-provided accommodation.

“Too often farm staff end up retiring and renting.”

Federated Farmers have been calling for a change to KiwiSaver rules to support younger farmers and it was one of their 12 key policy priorities for the incoming Government.

McIntyre says this led to the

National Party committing to support this policy on the eve of the 2023 election – and he hopes they’ll follow through and deliver.

“Since the election, the Government have been focused on some pretty immediate challenges with inflation high, debt out of control and the economy moving into recession.

“However, now that we’re almost six months into the term of Government, it’s time to start to put some focus on this policy idea.

“Federated Farmers will be working with politicians over the coming months to remind them of their commitment to this policy.”

WINNERS: A soggy day in Hawke’s Bay but it was smiles all around as the tractor was presented to Lil Poulton. From left is Stevenson & Taylor GM Robby Smith, Murray Grant of CNH, Lil Poulton, Federated Farmers CEO Terry Copeland, John Kilmister of JK Fencing, and Feds Hawke’s Bay President Jim Galloway.

We were one big paddock for a while.

Ruapehu farmers loop in more of wool’s value

It’s been said ‘where there’s a wool there’s a way’ and that certainly applies to Robert and Gail Gray.

The couple and their sons Brandon and Zaine have taught themselves to use an array of second-hand wool processing equipment and now make a range of niche products.

“We’re building up to our dream of running an on-farm natural products store,” say Robert, who’s Federated Farmers president for Ruapehu, and Gail, who’s the dairy chair and secretary/treasurer.

They run mostly dairy on their property near National Park but also have sheep and beef on that farm and another nearby property.

Robert has been farming all his life and, when younger, worked for a time in Canada on a farm that processed its own wool.

That experience was in his mind eight years ago when the dairy

payout was little more than $3 and the family was considering other income streams.

With Brandon and Zaine earning good money, they co-invested in a second-hand carding machine from a woollen mill that was closing down.

Robert, who enjoys perusing TradeMe, soon invested in a spinning frame and a gill, which removes the natural hooks in wool and aligns the fibres ready for spinning.

When they heard that another woollen mill in Milton was closing, they headed south to dismantle and load onto a truck two more spinning frames and various winding, twisting and dyeing equipment.

Of course, then they had to build a new shed to accommodate the growing machinery menagerie.

Through trial and error, the Grays have taught themselves to use the gear.

“It has to be that way; it’s a very closed shop,” Gail says.

“There are no manuals to go with the machinery. It’s just try it out and see how you go.

“Robert and Zaine do most of the mechanical stuff because they’re into that sort of thing.”

Farming so close to the Tongariro Crossing and other tracks, they make and sell walkers’ wool to insert into boots to guard against blisters. It’s only 20 grams to a packet but it fetches a good price and sells well.

Another product is wild bird nesting wool that people can leave in their gardens for birds to grab and use for their nest building.

They also make and sell woollen dryer balls – six to a pack. The balls help keep clothes in a dryer apart, allowing the warm air to circulate better, cutting drying time and reducing static.

“The idea is to put three in at a time, and leave the other three to dry on the windowsill,” Gail says.

Robert says their latest project is to convert a mattress-topping machine, purchased in Kaio, to produce duvet inners, pet beds and continental

blankets, using strong wool.

It means they now use all of the wool from their farm in their own products.

Living so near to the masterpiece of railway engineering, the Raurimu Spiral, they’re now branding their products under a ‘Spiral Farms’ label.

There are no manuals to go with the machinery. It’s just try it out and see how you go.

Gail Gray Federated Farmers Ruapehu

dairy

chair

Their daughter Jessica, who lives in Taupō, helps on the marketing side.

“Ultimately, we want to set up an on-farm shop to service passing travellers and tourists and others interested in natural products,” Gail says.

“We have our own meat brand, we do free-range eggs, we have the wool products, and we’re keen to sell our own raw milk.”

Ever the entrepreneurs, the Grays are also making fire starters from pine and beeswax.

“The feedback we’ve had from barbecue enthusiasts and people with woodburners is that they’re very effective,” Robert says.

Like many other farmers, the family is frustrated with wool returns.

“We have a value chain where everyone else clips the ticket but we’re the price taker, when we have most of the costs and deal with all the things that can go wrong,” Robert says.

When they bought that first carding machine from Carrington’s, a manager there told them once they’d washed the wool bought from the farmer, it doubled in value.

“Once they’d carded it, it doubled in value again. Once it had been gilled and combed, the value doubled again, and so on,” Gail says.

“We want that value, and I guess by creating these products and having conversations with people buying them, we’re also sharing with others a bit of the amazing rural lifestyle we take for granted.”

RECYCLED: The Grays – from left: Gail, Zaine, Robert and Brandon – have taught themselves to use secondhand equipment to extract more value from their sheeps’ wool.

LANDMARK: The nearby Raurimu Spiral inspired the Grays’ brand –Spiral Farms. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Farmers vs politicians clash raises $300k

It turns out Todd McClay’s not just fast at cutting red tape – he’s also pretty quick on the rugby field.

Federated Farmers and Parliament went head-to-head in a sports tournament on May 25 to raise funds for East Coast farmers recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Playing on the right wing, Minister of Agriculture Todd McClay showed a surprising turn of pace as Parliament claimed honours in the rugby game, toppling the farmers 20-12.

“You’ve got to give it to the politicians,” says one of the event’s organisers, Federated Farmers meat & wool chair Toby Williams.

“Minister McClay is a pretty handy player, pulling off a man of the match performance with some hard and fast running down the sideline.

“Labour MP Peeni Henare was like a rampaging bull every time he got his hands on the ball, and former Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor was a menace at the breakdown.”

What we saw on Saturday was the very best of rural New Zealand.

Toby Williams Federated Farmers meat and wool chair

The rugby and netball matches were played at the famous Ngatapa Sports Club, Gisborne, in memory of the late Parekura Horomia, drawing a 500-strong crowd and raising a significant sum of money for charity.

“What we saw on Saturday was the very best of rural New Zealand,” Williams says.

“The sun was shining, the whole community turned up and helped out, and we raised almost $300,000 in cash donations for a great cause.”

All funds are going directly to local farmers still refencing their properties and recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle, which battered the region last February.

“When you combine that amount

with the value of the tractor we gave away and vouchers for the runnersup, there’s half a million dollars going into the local farming community,” Williams says.

He says it was an incredibly competitive and physical game, and the Parliament side were well organised.

“This wasn’t just a bunch of old boys and politicians running around the park,” Williams says.

“There were definitely a few ringins on the Parliamentary side, with bodyguards, security officers and former professional players all lining up and running the ball hard into contact.”

Federated Farmers found more favour on the netball court, with a surprise 33-16 win over the visiting Parliamentary side.

“It was a great game to watch and there were a lot of laughs,” says the event’s other organiser, Federated Farmers board member Sandra Faulkner.

“I think we were all pretty inspired at seeing Meka Whaitiri come out of retirement to keep Parliament on the scoreboard as their goal shooter.

“Both Catherine Wedd and Katie Nimon (National MPs) made the trek up the badly damaged SH2 to show some real style on the netball court too.

“While Mark Mitchell (National MP) was sporting a slightly spurious injury that kept him off the rugby field, he made for an entertaining coach of the Parliamentary netball side.”

Faulkner says the day was just what the local community needed to bring everyone together.

“Some of our farming families are still really hurting after the cyclone. Across the district, farmers have hundreds of kilometres of fencing left to do,” Faulkner says.

“For a community who have really been through the wringer, it was overwhelming to see so much support, with over a quarter of Parliament flocking to Gisborne for the event.

“They packed their boots, left the politics in Wellington, and really showed up for our community when we needed them.”

Faulkner says the event was about much more than just sport.

“It was an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate how much our local farming families have achieved over the last 18 months.

“Federated Farmers are still here, working hard with them.”

The event was also about getting Members of Parliament on the ground in the region to truly understand the community’s needs, Faulkner says.

“We wanted the politicians to hear people’s stories, drive our roads, see the damage with their own eyes.”

Federated Farmers are grateful for the financial support from Woolworths New Zealand, CNH Industrial, Stevenson & Taylor, and FMG Insurance.

“Without them, this event wouldn’t have been possible,” Faulkner says.

BELTWAY BRILLIANCE: More than 500 people turned out to see the Parliament side come out on top in the fundraiser rugby game and Feds take honours on the netball court.

SQUARE THE LEDGER: Parliament won the rugby but Federated Farmers took honours in the netball game, winning 33-16.

You decide my future

Our vendor has instructed they want their farm sold this season with settlement early July 2024

• 76 ha (more or less) in one title of all-flat contour with the option to 'lease to buy' approx 12 ha (STS)

• Cows are available to be purchased with the farm

• Farm is located minutes to Paeroa township

• Farm improvements include 24 ASHB dairy shed with in-shed meal feeders, 16T silo, five bay implement shed with concrete floor, two calf sheds

• Large four bedroom weatherboard dwelling

Tender closes 2.00pm, Thu 6th Jun, 2024, Property Brokers, 78 Studholme Street, Morrinsville View By appointment Web pb.co.nz/MAR182144

Ian Morgan M 027 492 5878 E ian.morgan@pb.co.nz

Chelly Aitchison M 022 697 8779 E chelly@pb.co.nz

Paeroa 244 Rotokohu Road

GRAMPIANS BULL SALE

BULL SALE

RED OAK BULL SALE

ANGUS BULL SALES JUNE

2024

> Monday 10th June

MARTIN FARMING, Wakefield - 1pm

30 Angus Bulls

CLEARDALE, Rakaia Gorge - 11am

30 Angus Bulls

MT POSSESSION, Ashburton Gorge - 2 30pm

20 Angus Bulls

> Tuesday 11th June

FOSSIL CREEK Five Forks - 2pm

83 Angus Bulls

> Wednesday 12th June

GLEN R Darfield - 11am

30 Angus Bulls

MEADOWSLEA Fairlie - 3pm

75 Angus Bulls

> Thursday 13th June

SUDELEY Irwell - 12pm

57 Angus Bulls

> Friday 14th June

KAIWARA, Culverden - 10.30am

30 Angus Bulls

GRAMPIANS, Culverden - 1pm

70 Angus Bulls

RED OAK, Weka Pass - 4pm

50 Angus Bulls

Further Enquiries: Callum Dunnett (Hazlett) 027 462 0126 Anthony Cox (RLL) 027 208 3071 Simon Eddington (PGGW) 027 590 8612

Middle Creek Speckle Parks

Offered at the conclusion of the

Sudeley Angus Bull Sale 546 Selwyn Lake Road, Irwell 13th June 2024

Purebred Speckle Park 18mth Bulls

Top genetics / Semen tested

The breed offers:

• Great temperament

• Calving ease

• High growth rates & yield

• High meat marbling

• Suitable for any Beef or Dairy operation.

Enquiries welcome: Tom & Kath Power: 022 079 1802 Banks Peninsula Middle Creek Speckle Parks on Facebook

Genuine Autumn Calved Cows

SOLD OVER 2 DAYS

MONDAY 10TH AND TUESDAY 11TH JUNE MORRINSVILLE SALEYARDS

A/c Cabolina Farm

Comprising: 500 CRV Fr / Fr Cross and approx 20 Jersey cows

Computer split 250 each day

BW 177 PW 218 92% R/A

Production 3yr Avg 470 M/S 1000 M/S per hec.

Herd test figures will be available.

Our vendors have sold their farm

Farm was converted 15yrs ago and have been Autumn calving since inception

A beautiful strong bodied herd with strong dairy traits.

Top udders 80% Friesian 20% Crossbred and Jersey.

The cows will be livestreamed on our MyLiveStock online platform See full details on mylivestock co.nz and our Facebook page

Phone Jason Roberts 027 7071271

Bryce Young Livestock or Shaun Bicknell 027 2211977

NZ Farmers Livestock

Thank you to everybody who came to our sale

Special thanks to Steven Dance of Springfall Limousins for the purchase of the top priced R2 bull Mangatara 2039T.

We wish you the best.

Thanks also to all bidders, under bidders and those involved.

SALE TALK

Two men are lost in the desert, they’re dying of thirst, and have been wandering for days. Finally, off in the far distance, they see a camp of beautiful tents. Hoping that it is not a mirage, they crawl desperately towards it.

On arriving, they find that it’s a market. They stagger up to the first tent they see, and say to the shopkeeper “Water, please! Water, we’re dying of thirst!”

The shopkeeper says to them “I am sorry, my friends I have no water. All I have is this bowl, full of jelly, sponge and custard, topped with cream and shaved chocolate.”

Perplexed, but undeterred, the men stagger to the next stand, only to be met with the same answer. At all of the dozens of stands in this market, all they are offered are these bowls, not a drop of water to be had.

As they leave the market, one guy says to the other “Well, that was very strange”.

The second guy replies: “Yes, it was a trifle bazaar”.

FOR SALE

550 R

Proudly sponsored by

Riding the store lamb rollercoaster

FFiona Quarrie MARKETS Livestock

INANCIAL and climatic influences have always played a major role in the store lamb market and this year has been no different.

The weather for Hawke’s Bay has been a rollercoaster since last summer. Warnings of a potential dry caused by El Niño instigated the offloading of store lambs early in the piece for some. The rain kept coming, though, and for a time the tide of lambs seemed to turn as unit-loads headed back east.

figures are averages, and there is a broad range being paid depending on the quality and potential of the lambs in the pen.

The lower-Manawatū was also parched, and this slowed demand from a key finishing region. Fortunately, periodic rain in the hills to the north of Feilding coincided with decisions to hold lambs back in the breeding country for as long as possible.

PGG Wrightson agent Phil Transom agrees that “breeders have pushed harder to grow as many lambs as possible out to a light kill weight rather than selling store”. Anything to help the balance sheet.

Saleyard stats tell a tale of quick thinking guiding the balance sheet through a host of weather and financial challenges. The lower-Manawatū was also parched, and this slowed demand from a key finishing region.

The ’coaster then made another turn and the big tap in the sky turned off. The impact of this was seen through March when Stortford Lodge sale averages for male lambs ranged from $2.41/kg to $2.50/kg and $2.31-$2.43/kg for ewe lambs.

While male lambs managed to mostly hold this level through April and May, the increasing supply of ewe lambs put pressure on demand. On April 17, ewe lambs accounted for 58% of the yarding and averaged $2.23/kg. It is worth mentioning that these

Of course, some lambs had to be moved for cashflow reasons and this was seen as a slow trickle into the yards. Through March and April, only 58,060 lambs passed through the Feilding saleyards on Fridays and tallies were consistently below last year and the average for respective sales.

Last year, autumn (March-May) produced 154,000 lambs so there was a lot of catching up to do.

Once the rain finally arrived in the finishing country and new grasses came into play, there were some more positive results

at Feilding – $2.94/kg on average on April 26. At this point, agents’ phones were ringing hot as store lamb entries filed in for the following sale.

Advertised numbers for May 3 hit 20,000, though the actual count was just shy of, and the big question was whether demand could hold up. It did well, considering, and the overall average per kilogram return was $2.75/kg, $2.88/kg for males and $2.57/kg for ewe lambs.

Successive sales also produced big tallies and the market had to give. The average for male lambs came back to $2.59/kg and ewe

lambs $2.25/kg on May 17. Again, a large range was at play based on quality.

All this being said, numbers are still back on last year, and well back on years previous. Other than breeders finishing more themselves, Transom put this down to a few more on-farm and private sales as well as the impact of trees and increasing cattle numbers on the size of the ewe flock.

Adding salt to the wound, lambs just haven’t done this year and it is not a problem isolated to particular regions. Transom highlighted that “lambs are not doing across all regions, both breeding and finishing areas”.

The average weight of store lambs at the yards have been consistently below the averages for the same sales last year.

Through May in 2023, Feilding lambs had an average weight

around 35kg, and Stortford Lodge pushed towards 36kg. This year the averages have hovered nearer 31-32kg and spiked at 33kg at Stortford Lodge.

This has also put pressure on the demand for store lambs as the finishing of those on hand drags out. Adding to the demand woes, Feilding would often see buyers from Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa but the dry conditions have limited or completely wiped these players out of the market.

It is one thing to have a dry summer, but “meat companies have been consistently saying that the outlook isn’t great”, Transom said, “and the uncertainty associated with this is one of the biggest concerns for the market”.

Looking forward, Transom expects further large yardings at Feilding and hopes that the introduction of the delayed new grass will continue a slow lift.

PACKED TO THE RAFTERS: As lambs flocked from the hills at the end of autumn, Feilding saleyards posted some large tallies in May. On this day, Friday, May 10 there were 19,534-head yarded on the back of

head the previous week.

Weekly saleyards

It’s amazing what a bit of grass can do. Matawhero posted a stronger result for store lambs on Friday, May 24, down to a good week of growth. The average per head price lifted $8 despite a larger tally for buyers to pick from. After weeks of sub-2000-head yardings, there were 3067-head of store lambs in the pens. Heavy males earned up to $108 and good types managed $90-$102. The first samples of scanned in-lamb ewes, run with the ram early in March, were sold at Feilding and Matawhero the same day. Those in good condition earned $90$96.50.

Aut-born weaner Hereford-Friesian heifers, 106-156kg

Friesian cows, 480-564kg

Aut-born yearling Hereford-Friesian steers, 343-346kg

Aut-born yearling Hereford-Friesian, beef-cross heifers, 278-306kg

Aut-born yearling Angus-Friesian, Friesian bulls,

Friesian, Friesian-cross

Stortford

R2 Charolais-Friesian steers, 289-356kg

R1 Angus heifers, 207-315kg

| May 23 | 704 sheep

AgriHQ market trends

Cattle Sheep

NZX market trends

Waikato

Variety for June but still dry patches

Philip Duncan NEWS Weather

IGH pressure still dominates a big chunk of the weather across New Zealand and Australia as we go into June, but low pressure zones are increasingly in the mix.

The neutral weather pattern allows for more chaos and over the past couple of weeks NZ has had a more chaotic pattern with wind flows from all directions and a combination of rain, snow and heavy downpours affecting many.

From a soil moisture point of view the driest parts of the country lie in central NZ – from southern coastal Taranaki and Whanganui through to Nelson and Marlborough and Canterbury. Most of these regions have variety within them. Some have had rain and others not enough. The soil moisture anomaly maps we have at RuralWeather.

co.nz paint a picture of wetter weather around the country, but still some pockets of dry.

RAIN SHADOW: Possible rainfall in the next two weeks. Why only ‘possible’? Because low pressure in the Tasman Sea looks messy. But it’s worth noting the rain shadow effect in the east, due to likely more westerly flows into NZ, says Phil Duncan.

As NZ gets some rain relief our Aussie neighbours do too – with the first significant rain event and cold front so far this year for some in the southern half of the continent.

May can be defined as the month of mountainous high pressure parked around Tasmania; this

month we still see more highs in that part of the world but they are moving along faster and in between them there is a windy, westerly, flow (far more normal) kicking back in.

These westerlies can sometimes reach NZ, bringing western rain. Considering a large chunk of our

There may be at least three or four large highs around southern Australia, the Tasman Sea and NZ area over the next couple of weeks.

weather comes from the west, it’s worth noting what is happening in places like Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart to see if there are changes to the pattern so far this year – and there are.

Southern Western Australia and the southeastern corner of Aussie both look to get a couple of rain events in very early June.

This bodes well for NZ getting some of the leftovers in the weeks ahead.

But high pressure is still in the mix – there may be at least three or four large highs around southern Australia, the Tasman Sea and NZ area over the next couple of weeks.

These highs will bring a variety of wind flows, often moving in with cooler southerlies and then

departing with milder nor’westers. The shape of these highs matters most.

Shaped like a rugby ball standing up about to be kicked makes them often colder and frostier (more southerlies) than the highs shaped like a rugby ball lying on its side (which brings more sideways weather – or westerlies and easterlies).

Rainfall-wise, for the first half of June we are expecting rain to be near normal or a little lower than normal except for the West Coast and maybe Northland. We’re seeing a classic westerly flow, which keeps places like Canterbury the driest.

Highlights this week

• Monday kicks off with high pressure encouraging a cooler but fairly dry sou’west flow across the country

• High pressure covers NZ on Tuesday (frosts possible)

• A large but weak low in the Tasman Sea may produce some cloud and showers in the west by mid to late week