World

FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – January 16, 2023

World Outlook for era of ‘unprecedented change’

LONG VIEW: The coming years will see a change in the landscape for many farmers.

FARMERS are living through a time of unprecedented agricultural change and the next decade could see a structural shift in the industry, Andersons consultants say.

Speaking at an Andersons breakfast event at the Oxford Farming Conference in early January, company partners John Pelham and Richard King reflected on what had been a tumultuous 2022, and looked to the future.

“It is 50 years this month since we joined the European Economic Community,” Pelham said.

“However, none of those years would rank alongside last year in terms of the scale of change in terms of the structure of the industry.

“If you look at the gap between the best and worst performing businesses, it is bigger than it has ever been.”

He said pigs and poultry businesses are being rocked by huge rises in input costs, and horticulture is being hammered by a lack of labour.

However, he said, for some dairy and arable businesses it is a time of unrivalled profits and performance.

That, he suggested, raises questions about future farm legislation as, currently, “all these [farms] are embraced by one policy” and that may not necessarily provide equitable support.

King said while UK Farming Minister Mark Spencer provided more details on Environmental Land Management at the conference, the government needs to be aware that the wider economic climate needs factoring into the application of support.

“If inflation is running at 10% then that is a 10% cut in farm support year on year in real terms,” he said.

Pelham warned that reducing direct support will start to change the structure of the industry over the next decade; change that had been stalled because of Common Agricultural Policy support.

If you look at the gap between the best and worst performing businesses, it is bigger than it has ever been.

John Pelham Andersons

“The next five to 10 years could see latent change come through in a rush as it was held up by direct payments.”

Farmers Guardian

Grassroots must be driver of farm reform

FARMERS wanting change and a move to agroecology cannot wait around for the political elite, because real change is achievable only from the grassroots level.

That was the message from speakers at the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) who called for collaboration as grassroots movements continue to grow in the United Kingdom.

Shumacher College founder and Indian-British activist Satish Kumar warned attendees not to wait for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to change the world.

“To be an activist you have to be an optimist. I am 86 years old and I am an optimist,” he said.

“Do not expect real change to come from 10 Downing Street or the White House. Real change comes from the grassroots level.”

He gave the example of leaders such as Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela who came from the grassroots level and made real change in their communities.

“As our future depends on the land, our future also depends on you, the real farmers.”

ORFC co-founder Ruth West said the movement is growing.

“There is a growing feeling worldwide that we need that change to real farming,” she said.

To succeed, she said farmers need non-farmers to support them by paying a “proper price” for food grown, buying directly from farmers and putting pressure on supermarkets to make changes to the way they operate.

Oli Rodker, land-use and forestry campaigns co-ordinator at the Landworkers Alliance, urged people to put aside their differences and work together, encouraging those in the mainstream to reach out.

“Do not let small differences prevent us from working together,” he said.

“Reach out to people you might not normally talk to.”

Rebecca Mayhew, Pasture for Life regional facilitator and a Norfolk farmer, said her farm is proof that change is possible.

Mayhew has a background as a land agent, while her husband had been a conventional arable and “industrial pig farmer”.

They had been looking for a way for Mayhew to return to the farm to work.

“We looked at selling pork direct, but despite producing so much food, we did not have anything to sell to the individual,” she said.

“When you start talking about it nobody wanted to buy what we had to sell.”

But she said they would now “spend the rest of their lives working to improve the quality of the soil, the ecosystem and the lives of their animals”.

Farmers Guardian

GROUNDED: Activist Satish Kumar says farmers should not expect ‘real change to come from 10 Downing Street or the White House. Real change comes from the grassroots level.’

Westland sued for trademark breach by butter brand

BusinessDesk MARKETS

IRELAND’s Ornua Co-operative and its subsidiary, Ornua Foods North America, are suing Westland Dairy Company for “willful trademark infringement”, according to legal documents filed in the US district court in northern California.

A spokesperson from Westland said it “can confirm that we have received legal notice that our fellow butter brand, Kerrygold, is seeking to prevent Westgold butter from using our packaging in the US market”.

The lawsuit is aimed at stopping Westland from advertising, marketing, distributing or selling butter products using a trademark and trade dress “that are confusingly similar to Ornua’s federally registered Kerrygold trademarks and trade dress”, the preliminary statement said.

Trade dress is the commercial look and feel of a product that identifies and distinguishes its source, according to US trademark law.

Ornua sells Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, while Westland is selling Westgold Butter.

Both packages are similar in colour, both have a black and white cow on them, and both have a “grass-fed” seal.

According to Westland, however, its “distinctive packaging is linked to our rich heritage on the West Coast of New Zealand and the taste of our traditionally churned, grass-fed butter is rapidly gaining recognition around the world”.

Ornua said when it learned Westland intended to start selling in the US with a name and packaging “confusingly similar” to Kerrygold, it sent the company a cease-and-desist letter.

It said Westland responded to Ornua’s letter on August 27 2022, and since then Ornua has tried to reach an agreement with Westland to protect the Kerrygold trade dress.

Those efforts, however, recently reached an impasse, Ornua said.

Last November, Westland issued a press release announcing its salted and unsalted 8-ounce (about 230g) butter products are now available at 570 Walmart stores, including in California.

Ornua said: “Westland could have chosen any name and packaging for its entry into the US market. Instead, it intentionally chose to enter the US market with a name and packaging confusingly similar to Kerrygold to take advantage of the exceptionally strong reputation and goodwill associated with Ornua’s brand.”

It argued that the harm is “incalculable”, and sales will inflict “immeasurable destruction to the goodwill and reputation associated with the Kerrygold Marks, developed at great effort and expense over decades”.

As well as seeking monetary damages, it wants a preliminary injunction until Ornua gets permanent injunctive relief through trial.

According to Ornua, the Kerrygold brand includes the word mark, plain and stylised, and its distinctive trade dress for butter and other dairy products. It owns several federal trademark registrations for Kerrygold.

Ornua said it has spent more than US$287 million ($450m) since 2015 developing its Kerrygold brand in North America. It added that Kerrygold is the number two selling butter brand and the number 2 selling imported butter brand in the US.

It claims to have six causes for action and, among other things, wants an accounting for Westland’s profits arising from the alleged unfair competition and trademark infringement, an awarding of those profits to Ornua and an award for damages sustained by Ornua.

Ornua is also calling for a jury trial.

Westland had not yet formally responded to the filing made on December 29. Its response is due on January 19.

“While we would prefer that consumer taste be the ultimate judge, we will vigorously defend the claims made,” the Westland spokesperson said.

Our distinctive packaging is linked to our rich heritage on the West Coast of New Zealand and the taste of our traditionally churned, grass-fed butter is rapidly gaining recognition around the world.