Farmers Weekly NZ April 17 2023

Viral

Rural health at point of collapse

“In some areas it is impossible for people to register with the general practice when they move to a rural area,” Bolden said.

RURAL health services are collapsing, the body representing the sector warns.

“It is not too dramatic to say we are seeing a collapse of health services in rural areas,” Fiona Bolden, Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network chair and a general practitioner at Whangamatā said.

Bolden said the rural services are struggling with a shortage of health professionals, an ageing workforce and a lack of access to diagnostic services.

In addition, rural health providers are struggling to provide emergency and afterhours care, the management of complex health conditions, rural hospitals are under pressure and access to diagnostic services is limited.

She said recent workforce surveys by the Royal College of GPs confirm the network’s concerns.

They reveal that the median age of all GPs is 52 with 14% over 65, of whom a disproportionate number work in rural practices.

Overall, a third of GPs intend to retire within five years and 50% within 10 years, but that metric is more stark in rural areas, where 46% of Northland GPs and 57% in South Canterbury intend retiring within five years.

Ripcord

Insecticide

Four in five rural doctors say they have suffered burnout to some degree.

The rural sector relies heavily on foreign-trained GPs, with 83% gaining their first medical degree overseas compared to 35% of those working in urban practices.

The lack of GP cover is leading to afterhours care being unavailable in some rural areas, requiring patients to travel to a hospital.

Bolden said few young people are training to be GPs with even fewer intending to move to rural practices.

Overseas evidence is that those raised in rural areas and exposed to rural health services while training are more likely to return there to work.

“It’s about the whole pipeline and it goes back to school and exposing rural pupils to science and encouraging them to pursue careers in health.”

Solutions are complex and not solely the domain of the government.

The network visits rural schools to promote health sector careers but Bolden said those efforts would benefit from support such as scholarships and placements in rural practices and hospitals.

Continued page 3

Steppe up for Mongolian shepherds

Budee, Baaska and Ama, pictured at a recent Surfing for Farmers event in Raglan, will soon head home to Mongolia after spending three months working with New Zealand shearing gangs.

PEOPLE 4

Pasture management made smarter with AI

Manawatū farmer Shane True, right, pictured here with Jeremy Bryant from Aimer, says technology is a vital means to attracting and keeping young staff in a tight labour market.

TECHNOLOGY 19

Don’t let flies take away all your hard work

Capacity and labour issues mean dairy farmers should expect delays in bobby calf collections come spring.

NEWS 7

Rip into nuisance flies, lice and ticks with the proven power of Ripcord®. Just one easy application provides long lasting protection from nasties around the herd and in the milking shed. And because Ripcord is MPI approved for use in dairy sheds, there is no milk withholding period. Ripcord is the perfect product to use.

Don’t settle for fly-by-night treatments. Insist on Ripcord. Visit pest-control.basf.co.nz for more details or visit your local distributor.

Horticultural czar Lain Jager says global megatrends currently present a huge opportunity for avocados.

MARKETS 13

Farmers worrying about ‘carbon leakage’ could benefit from playing a long game, say Lincoln researchers.

OPINION 17

video still a tough watch

Neal Wallace NEWS Health

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The sharpest tool in your shed

News in brief

New NZMB chair

Mid Canterbury farmer Kate Acland has been appointed chair of the New Zealand Meat Board, the first woman to hold the position.

Acland, who joined the NZMB Board in 2021, takes over from Andrew Morrison, whose term concluded after serving on the board since 2014. Last month Acland, who farms Mt Somer Station with husband David, was elected chair of Beef + Lamb NZ.

Taratahi interest

The sale of failed Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre campus and farm is under negotiation and it could remain an educational centre.

Five years after the centre collapsed, liquidators Grant Thornton have issued a sale and purchase agreement to an unnamed party for the purchase of the Wairarapa campus and Home Dairy Farm. To date the liquidators have received 247 unsecured creditors’ claims totalling $15.2 million.

Piper appointed Confidence low

Plant & Food Research – Rangahau

Ahumāra Kai has appointed Mark Piper chief executive. He will take up the role on May 1, when David Hughes, who has been CEO since 2018, retires. Piper has extensive global experience in the food and primary sectors. During his 30 years with Fonterra, Piper has held roles in NZ, Japan and the United States.

Just one in 20 farmers is optimistic about prospects for the sector in the coming year, according to a Rabobank survey.

The survey of 450 farmers shows a slight improvement on the same survey last quarter, but the bank still describes sentiment as “deep in negative territory” at minus 58% compared to minus 71% previously. Dairy farmer confidence in their business performance has fallen to the lowest level since 2006.

Three Waters gets new shape and a new name

AMAJOR change to the government’s contentious Three Waters policy has been confirmed, with 10 regional water infrastructure entities to be formed instead of the originally proposed four.

The change will reduce some of the economies of scale for borrowing that the four so-called “mega-entities” would have had, but the change is intended to deal with opposition from many local councils fearing that local priorities would be lost in a fourentity structure.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty announced the amendments, along with an attempted rebranding of the policy as “affordable water”.

The policy reset was announced at a water treatment plant in Greytown in McAnulty’s Wairarapa electorate.

Continued from p1

“That is crucial.”

Effort is also needed to improve working conditions and payrates.

Rural patients tend to be older with multiple complex health problems but Bolden said the capitation payment does not fund the length of consultation required.

A resolution to afterhours care is also needed.

The network is working with groups to find solutions but said Health NZ (Te Whatu Ora) reforms are diverting the attention of officials, and staff churn means they are constantly having to brief new staff on issues.

Solving this issue is crucial for

It appears not to have made any material changes to the other two areas of political opposition to the policy: Māori co-governance at a strategic level in equal representation with local councils, or the requirement for councils to divest water infrastructure assets into the 10 new entities in a “balance sheet separation” process essential to increasing the new entities’ borrowing capacity.

The huge projected cost of water infrastructure upgrades – claimed at between $120 billion and $185bn over the next 30 years – will require not only greater borrowing than is

permitted by many councils’ borrowing limits but will also need capital injections from central government.

The water entities will, in principle, be unable to dodge investment upgrades, as they have in the past, because of new regulatory structures that will decide both the required quality of services and the price at which they can be offered.

However, early indications are that the rejigged proposals will not satisfy the most vocal and well-organised lobby against the reforms, Communities for Local Democracy (C4LD).

It sees balance sheet separation as a form of asset theft – a claim it failed to win in a High Court action late last year, despite the judge ruling that councils’ rights as shareholders were materially weakened by the proposed reforms.

Thursday’s announcement is effectively the last major element of Hipkins’ desire to “reset” the Labour government’s agenda following the resignation of

Jacinda Ardern in late January.

Key to the 10 proposed new entities is that their boundaries will be based on existing regional areas.

Each entity would be “run by a professional board, with members appointed on competency and skill”, while strategic oversight and direction would be provided “by local representative groups with every local council in the country, as well as mana whenua, getting a seat at the table”.

The document does not detail whether the council/iwi split on the Regional Representation Groups (RRGs) will remain 50:50, as originally proposed, but are

now positioned as sitting “below the governance board, in which each member will be appointed on merit and qualification”.

“By increasing the number of entities, we will be able to ensure the needs of every community, especially small rural towns, are heard and met,” ministers said in a statement.

“These reforms are absolutely essential. Leaving things as they are will mean unaffordable rate bills,” McAnulty said in a statement.

The water services entities would start delivering water services from July 1 2026, at the latest –and could start earlier if ready.

the New Zealand economy.

“Rural healthcare is fundamental for rural NZ and if it is lost, then we will not have people living in rural communities or working in rural industry.”

Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said finding solutions to the challenges facing rural health providers is a priority within the interim NZ Health Plan.

“Initiatives are underway, including rural-specific funding for GPs, recruitment support, rural sustainability funding, and other wider workforce support options,” she said.

These include a Rural Health strategy to address failings within the medical education system resulting in workforce shortages

in rural areas, a voluntary bonding scheme and financial incentives for GP trainees who take up rural training placements.

Verrall said in a statement that she is aware of burnout issues.

“Workforce is a one of my top three focuses, along with winter and reducing waitlists.”

That includes attracting foreign GPs, increasing to 300 a year the number of GPs trained by 2026, increasing salaries for GP Registrars and a financial incentive for general practices that offer community-based attachments for post-graduate year 1 and 2 doctors from 2023.

MORE: P9

COSTED: Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty announced the amendments and an attempted rebranding of the policy as “affordable water”.

These reforms are absolutely essential. Leaving things as they are will mean unaffordable rate bills.

Kieran McAnulty Local Government Minister

NO CARE: Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network chair Fiona Bolden says in some cases it is impossible for people to register with the general practice when they move to a rural area.

Staffing still a struggle

PRIMARY industries are still struggling to find enough staff, with dairy estimating it needs 4000 workers – and others learning to make do.

Ironically, lower kiwifruit volumes combined with the arrival of more overseas backpackers has eased the seasonal worker shortage for this year’s horticulture harvest, which in past years meant fruit was left on trees or vines.

More than 52,000 working holiday visas have been approved in recent months, with nearly 36,500 backpackers entering New Zealand since the borders re-opened.

The cap on Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) worker numbers was also lifted last spring, from 16,000 to 19,000, the largest change in a decade.

Earlier this year the meat

industry estimated it needed 2000 workers and warned that staff shortages may mean a loss of $600 million in value to the sector.

Companies have been allowed to source more than 1000 staff through the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) programme, and Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva describes the employment situation as a mixed bag.

“Some companies are facing labour shortages across unskilled and various skill levels, while others have fully staffed their workforce,” she said.

Karapeeva said some companies have found dealing with Immigration NZ relatively easy, but others have found processing times for visas problematic.

Processors and exporters are also continuing to run extensive recruitment campaigns in their local communities to attract and retain talent and supporting training and development opportunities.

The dairy industry needs around 4000 more staff, at a time when competition for labour both globally and locally has never been tighter.

Federated Farmers board member Richard McIntyre said while farmworkers can be sourced through the AEWV scheme, it requires employers to pay the median wage, currently $29.66/hr.

“Farmers are happy to pay $29.66/hr to people with appropriate skills, this is not about employers not wanting to pay higher wages, but this requires us to pay that wage to entry-level staff,” he said.

McIntyre is concerned the narrowing gap between the milk price and break-even point could lead to farmers employing fewer staff and doing more work themselves, potentially creating physical and mental stress.

Federated Farmers is surveying

members to get a clearer picture of the impact of immigration and employment.

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said it has never been harder to find labour, and it is not just dairy experiencing this.

“Other sectors are doing anything they can do to attract labour, and these long-term issues have been around for decades. It’s on us to consider how we can step up and support the people that are working in your teams and businesses,” he said at DairyNZ’s People Expo in Matamata in March.

Rural Contractors NZ chief executive Andrew Olsen said he has not had murmurings from members about labour shortages this year due to successful campaigns enticing returning employees and securing visa for overseas workers.

Olsen said the visa process needs some work.

The government-set pay rates for migrant workers are a looming issue that could create internal tensions in workplaces if those rates exceed the amount paid to existing local workers.

Earlier this month Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced about 7500 people in NZ on working holiday visas will have their visas extended by six months and will have open work rights.

This means they can work for the same employer for longer than three months, where maximum work durations currently apply.

The extension means those on working holiday visas can extend their stay and continue to work in their current casual jobs, or travel and find other work in NZ.

Wood also announced that an increase in the number of Spanish Working Holiday Scheme places will increase from 200 to 2000, following a reciprocal agreement with the government of Spain.

Steppe up for Mongolian shepherds on NZ trip

reporter PEOPLE Skills

AFTER three months working in shearing gangs across New Zealand, four Mongolian shepherds will soon return home with knowledge and skills that have the potential to change their lives and reshape the shearing scene in their country.

The four herders – known by their given names in the Mongolian convention as Budee, Baaska, Ama and Khanda – arrived in New Zealand in early January having done all their previous shearing using scissors, a time-consuming practice that limits the number of sheep that can be shorn in a day to about 30.

With their trip wrapping up shortly, each of the herders is now shearing using an electronic handpiece and all four have achieved shearing personal bests of more than 250 sheep in a day – a feat which has previously only been achieved by one other person from their country.

The visit to New Zealand was undertaken as part of the Share Mongolia programme – an initiative to introduce modern shearing techniques and equipment into Mongolia that took flight following a chance encounter between Rabobank agribusiness manager Paul Brough and farmers in Mongolia in 2019.

“While I was trekking through Mongolia in 2019, I came across a group of farmers who were shearing a herd of about 900 using scissors and they told me it would take them about a month to complete the job,” Brough said.

“This really blew my mind given how much quicker this can be done with electronic equipment, and I thought to myself, there must be something I can do to help. So once I got back to New Zealand, I had a few discussions with some work colleagues and clients, and we looked into running some training that would help develop Mongolian shearers skills with modern equipment.”

Staff

SHARING: Mongolian herders Ama, Budee, Khanda and Baaska with Share Mongolia representative Mark Barrowcliffe, centre back row, and Paul Brough, second from right.

FAIR WAGE: Rural Contractors NZ chief executive Andrew Olsen says there may be workplace tensions over the governmentmandated pay rate for overseas workers if it exceeds that paid to local staff.

Social goals vs own goals in trade talks

MEAT exporters are shaking their heads in disbelief after the government refused to push for the removal of costly non-tariff barriers in Middle Eastern trade talks and targeted what they say are unrealistic environmental and social goals instead.

Trade Minister Damien

O’Connor last year attempted to revive New Zealand’s agreement with the six oil-rich members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to scrap tariffs costing exporters $60 million annually.

The deal had been largely finished under the last Nationalled government but never formally signed off.

O’Connor told the GCC he would only sign the deal if its members agreed to new environmental and labour standards demands.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website, NZ negotiators are now pushing the GCC for commitments

on climate change and workers’ rights, including “to adopt and maintain laws which govern acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work and health and safety”.

The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, and Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter – a country that was the scene of hundreds of deaths of immigrant labourers working on new stadiums for last year’s football World Cup.

Since O’Connor’s ultimatum the GCC has pulled its previous offer to slash agricultural tariffs, and negotiations have stalled.

Now Farmers Weekly can reveal that the government also turned its back on the meat industry’s pleas to tackle a range of nontariff barriers to trade with the GCC when it re-opened the negotiations.

“We said if we are having the conversation and re-opening things, could we re-open those?” one meat industry source said.

“That was a pretty quick no from officials.

“When we found that out, our

interest [in the negotiations] dropped dramatically.”

The industry’s pleas included aligning Halal protocols for slaughtering livestock in NZ processing plants with GCC standards, discarding timeconsuming consular approval of export certificates and extending shelf-life limits for chilled meat shipments to the region.

Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said prioritising other objectives was unfair on the industry and likely to be unproductive from a negotiating point of view in any case.

“I do not think it is an issue that the government is willing to put on the front foot, given that they are also trying to negotiate environmental and sustainability provisions which are frankly quite a big ask for the GCC.”

Silver Fern Farms general manager of sales Peter Robinson said non-tariff measures are hurting exports to the Middle East. Shelf-life limits are particularly a problem in the wake of shipping delays caused by the pandemic, and remain so.

“There are some markets where we have withdrawn our chilled products because the transit times are such that we cannot get it there with enough shelf life to take the risk.

“As a result you will see markets such as Jordan where NZ does not send chilled products anymore.

“We are selling that product as frozen at a loss of premium.

“In some cases it is not a significant amount but we are losing our position on shelves, which is disappointing,” Robinson said.

Karapeeva said the government is in danger of losing sight of the real purpose of trade agreements, which is to free up trade.

“I do not think consularisation

of documents is as sexy as saying we have a got a sustainability commitment with the GCC.

“But those are the things that are really hurting our exporters.”

O’Connor was approached for comment but was unavailable. The government’s Trade for All agenda lists climate change, labour standards, gender equality, and the rights of indigenous people, among other issues, as priorities for NZ trade negotiators.

It has previously claimed past National-led governments undermined public support for free trade agreements by keeping such issues out of negotiations. By including them the government would ensure the public continued to support trade deals, it held.

National dairy cow tally continues to tumble

Gerald Piddock NEWS Livestock

DAIRY cow numbers continue their downward trend in New Zealand, falling 1.26% to 4.84 million, according to the annual New Zealand Dairy Statistics report for the 2021-22 season.

The report, compiled by DairyNZ and LIC, shows that herd numbers have also dropped – down by 238

to 10,796. The average size of herds lifted by five cows to 449.

Dairy companies processed 20.78 billion litres of milk containing 1.87 billion kilograms of milk solids in the 2021-22 season. This is a 4.3% decrease in litres and a 4.1% decrease in kilograms of milk solids processed compared to the previous season, putting production back in line with 20192020 levels.

The average milk production per cow was 386kg MS, a 2.9% decrease

from 397kg MS last season and back to similar levels as 2019-2020 season.

The average milksolids per effective hectare (1098kg) was also back to 2019-2020 levels.

In terms of farm structures, owner-operators number 6046 and account for 56% of all herds, reflecting a move away from sharemilking, particularly variable order, to contract milking with greater certainty of milk income.

Of the balance, 29% (3089) of

herds operate under a sharemilking agreement, a decrease of 56 herds from the previous season, and 58.8% of all sharemilkers are 50/50 sharemilkers. Contract milkers account for 14.5% of herds.

Industry leaders cited the impacts of covid-19, inflationary pressures and supply chain issues as the reasons for the fall in cow numbers.

The season saw an increased uptake of herd improvement services, with record herd

testing levels of 3.79 million cows. Artificial insemination remained steady at 3.94 million cows.

LIC chief executive David Chin said NZ farmers responded well to the challenges of the 2021/22 season.

The average dairy co-operative payout from Fonterra and Tatua was $9.52/kg MS, a record average payout for farmers, and dairy exports reached a record $22 billion in 2021/22.

Nigel Stirling MARKETS Red meat

TRADE FOR ALL: New Zealand negotiators are pushing the GCC for commitments on climate change and workers’ rights.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Plan for delays in spring calf collection

Gerald Piddock NEWS Livestock

DAIRY farmers should expect delays in bobby calf collections this spring as the meat industry continues to be challenged by capacity and labour issues as it grapples with processing an extra 150,000-300,000 calves next season.

The extra stock is the result of the government’s decision to end live cattle exports in April and Fonterra’s new policy of having all non-replacement calves enter a value stream from June this year.

Both Federated Farmers and the Meat Industry Association (MIA) said farmers must plan for this delay by ensuring the calves have adequate feed and shelter, and keep communicating with their processor to co-ordinate pick-ups.

Fonterra announced the rule change in February last year, effectively banning onfarm euthanasia of calves without humane reasons, to make sure every calf born is accounted for.

We were exporting over 100,000 yearling animals annually and without that market and no corresponding domestic market, those animals will end up as bobbies.

Richard McColl

The value streams include dairy-beef finishing and bobby calf collection for veal production and the petfood industry.

The new obligations for the 2023-24 season are foreshadowed in this year’s Terms of Supply notice issued to all suppliers.

While the processors and farms are less disrupted by covid-19 this season, labour shortages continue to be an issue, Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre said.

“Farmers are going to have to be prepared to hold these calves for longer from a pen space, an equipment and a labour point of view.”

With calving still three to four months away, now is the time to plan for this disruption, he said.

If the farmers’ preferred processor is having issues, they should also be prepared to look to others.

“We encourage farmers to shop around to find a processor whose system best suits them.”

He sympathised with farmers having to add another job to their workload during one of the busiest times of the year.

“None of this is news that they want, but it’s better that they know now so they can plan accordingly.”

MIA manager of industrial operations and innovation Richard McColl said its modelling suggested there could be as many 150,000-300,000 extra calves to process this season.

McColl said the MIA has been in close communications with Fonterra over the past few months to plan for the industry’s ability to process these calves during its peak JulyAugust peak period.

“The shoulders are okay, because we do have capacity, but at peak we’re clearly going to struggle for capacity.

“We still have labour constraints and capacity issues. Although this has eased somewhat it is still not back to where it was.”

Communication between the processor

and farmers will be critical during the peak, particularly for those in remote areas where collection options are limited, he said.

“We are conscious that delays aren’t ideal and we will be doing our best to ensure we can expedite processing, but the best laid plans of mice and men mean there will be delays through that peak period.”

Exacerbating the pressure for processors will be the end of live cattle exports on April 30.

“We were exporting over 100,000 yearling animals annually and without that market and no corresponding domestic market, those animals will end up as bobbies. That potentially compounds the situation as well.”

McIntyre said he hopes the processing bottleneck is a shorter term problem with capacity to increase over time as potentially more migrant labour is allowed back into New Zealand.

Pan-industry work is also well underway to find longer term solutions for this issue.

One such option is creating a veal market, which would mean calves were held on farm for longer. But it also causes potential challenges around processing space.

“The reason the bobby calf processing works well now is that it’s during a quiet period for processing so the processor can divert staff.

“If we were to hold them for longer, for potentially 100 or even 200 days, they would be going into normal peak processing times for other classes of stock,” he said.

McColl said while veal has potential, it is a challenging market for NZ because of its geographical remoteness. Veal consumption is also dropping overseas.

Sexed semen use has vastly increased over the past few seasons as more farmers use this option for their replacement calves.

But it still leaves a portion of the herd to be mated with other genetics.

McIntyre said breeding a calf that is more highly valued by beef farmers is another long-term project.

“What we have got to do is get beef farmers to see the value in that and be prepared to pay enough for it to be financially viable.”

The outstanding prices seen at recent calf sales are due in part to fewer calves being reared last year because it was not financially viable for rearers.

As a result, calves that would have been reared last year for these sales were bobbied, leading to demand well exceeding supply.

Dairy farmers are also not being rewarded if they go to the trouble of purchasing a bull or bull semen with superior genetics for their non-replacement calves, he said.

“There’s very little premium available at the moment for far better-bred dairy beef animals.”

McIntyre said Fonterra has “been very clear that this is a direction of travel they are going in, but are prepared to work with farmers that are going to be affected by it and have limited options”.

In a statement, Fonterra group director for farm source Anne Douglas said the cooperative has been working closely with meat processors, transporters, petfood processors and other industry groups for

many months to plan and prepare for any impacts it will have.

“The majority of Fonterra farmers won’t need to alter their current practices to meet the new requirement relating to nonreplacement calves. However we understand the change may be a challenge for a small number of farmers so we are working to provide support and options to make the transition easier.

“We are also investing in R&D and exploring long-term solutions such as sexed-semen and dairy-beef partnerships.”

DISRUPTIONS: Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre says farmers should prepare now for potential disruptions in non-replacement calf collection this spring as the meat industry contends with an extra 150,000-300,000 calves.

SHELTER: Farmers will need to ensure they provide adequate feed and shelter for their bobby calves if they do experience pick-up delays from their processor.

MIA

Bleak picture of NZ freshwater emerges

Gerald Piddock NEWS Water

THE latest national report on the state of New Zealand’s freshwater delivers a sobering assessment on the worsening quality of the natural resource.

The report, Our Freshwater, by the Ministry of the Environment and Statistics New Zealand, shows that while some of our freshwater bodies are in a reasonably healthy state, many have been degraded by the effects of excess nutrients, pathogens and other contaminants from land.

Between 2011 and 2020, 45% of lake monitoring sites worsened, while 36% improved. It is estimated 45% of NZ’s total river length is not suitable for activities

On-farm mitigations like fertiliser management and protecting waterways from livestock reduced the amount of phosphorus and sediment ... but not nitrogen.

Our Freshwater report

like swimming, according to models of campylobacter infection risk between 2016 and 2020.

For all lakes larger than 1 hectare, 46% had poor or very poor health between 2016-2020 and only 2% were rated as good or very good.

NZ Freshwater Sciences Society and director of Our Land and Water National Science Challenge/ Toitū te Whenua, Toiora te Wai Professor Jenny Webster-Brown said the report has little good news.

“One of the new statistics is that nearly 70% of our indigenous freshwater birds are now threatened with extinction or at risk of becoming so threatened,” she said.

“As with other ecosystem indicators of environmental health and taonga, this signals that we are still failing to reduce the key pressures on these species; poor water quality, reduced habitat and introduced predators and competitors.”

Victoria University of Wellington Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka senior researcher Mike Joy said the report “unflinchingly identifies” the appalling state of lowland freshwaters of NZ, and Dr Tim Chambers of the University of Otago’s Department of Public

Health called it a “sobering snapshot” of the state of the country’s freshwater.

“The report outlines the core pressures that have led to substantial degradation of our freshwater, which have serious economic, socio-cultural and health implications,” Chambers said.

“The report also highlights what we do not know and where research investment is required. These areas include better investment in national

monitoring and reporting, research into the health impacts of key contaminants and mātauranga Māori.”

The report says that modelling shows that efforts by farmers to reduce fertiliser use and keep stock out of waterways helped to reduce the amount of phosphorus and sediment reaching rivers between 1995 and 2015.

However, because the number of farms grew, it is estimated the total amount of nitrogen reaching rivers increased.

“Models estimate that onfarm mitigations like fertiliser management and protecting waterways from livestock reduced the amount of phosphorus and sediment that reached our rivers between 1995 and 2015, but not nitrogen.

“While the mitigations were estimated to reduce nitrogen losses from individual farms, this was not enough to offset the effects of the expansion of dairy and intensification of pastoral agriculture, which resulted in an increase in the nitrogen that reached our rivers during this period,” it says.

NZ has experienced one of the highest rates in the world of agricultural land intensification over recent decades.

The intensity of agriculture and number of dairy cattle has increased since the 1980s as more sheep and beef farms switched to dairying.

The amount of irrigated land almost doubled between 2002 and 2019, from 384,000ha to 735,000ha – a 91% increase.

Over the same period 73% of increases in irrigated land area were related to farms with dairy farming as their dominant farm type; 18% to grain, fruit and berry and vegetable growing; and 9% to sheep and beef.

WE ROLLED UP OUR SLEEVES AND PICKED UP THIS AWARD

We’ve been named as Canstar Bank of the Year for Agribusiness 2022 for providing an outstanding combination of products and excellent service to our agribusiness customers. Looks like hard work does pay off. If you’re in the agri sector, come to the bank that’ll do the tough mahi with you.

POOR: It is estimated that 45% of New Zealand’s total river length is not suitable for swimming.

Doctors take strain amid health shortages

Neal Wallace NEWS Health

APERILOUS shortage of doctors in rural hospitals has been highlighted in a new report, which warns that four-fifths of doctors say they are burnt out and a third intend retiring within the next five years.

The 2022 workforce survey for rural hospital medicine, conducted by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, found greater levels of burnout among rural hospital doctors than a year earlier.

Four in five doctors (80%) said they suffered from some degree of burnout; of these, 49% said they were burnt out, more than twice the proportion (21%) of a year earlier.

Only one in five of the respondents (20%) reported not being burnt out.

Despite this, almost three-quarters of rural hospital doctors (72%) said they are likely to recommend a career in rural hospital medicine, with just 7% unlikely to do so.

The government is considering a proposal in terms of which medical schools and health training providers have a specific focus on exposing staff to rural health careers.

It would require all health providers from the medical schools, universities and other providers to work with rural practices to provide training with a rural context.

Jeremy Webber, the clinical director of Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network, said rural health practices continue to be short of clinicians.

“Staffing levels continue to be dire and general practices and nurses continue be to under strain to cover basic staffing losses and provide basic health services to rural communities.”

The Ministry of Health is still considering the proposal, which Webber said should encourage more trained professionals to pursue careers in rural practices.

A new challenge is the still unresolved issue of pay parity, which it is feared could prompt rural health staff to move from private practices to hospitals.

Quoting the General Practice Association, 1News recently reported a 27% discrepancy between the salaries of hospital and community nurses and nurses in GP clinics, a figure the government has yet to acknowledge.

Webber said rural health practices are topping up staff wages, but there is a risk of inequality of care between rural and urban communities.

“We need people across the profession,” he said.

The 2022 workforce survey on rural hospital medicine warns of an impending rural hospital doctor shortage with almost a third intending to retire within the next five years and half intending to retire within the next 10 years.

Over a quarter of these respondents (28%) are aged 55 years or older. Four percent of the respondents are aged 24 to 29. The mean age is 45.8.

The sector relies heavily on foreign trained staff with close to half of respondents gaining their first medical degree overseas, with the most common source being the United Kingdom (53%). Almost a fifth (17%) of respondents

intend to leave NZ to live and work elsewhere within the next five years with a further quarter (23%) uncertain about their intentions.

Two-thirds of respondents (64%) work part-time in rural health medicine up to 35 hours a week. The other third (33%) work full-time, 36 hours a week or more.

SHORTAGE: Rural health practices continue to be short of doctors and nurses.

Hype throws shade on vertical farming

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Horticulture

CONTROLLED environment agriculture, which includes indoor vertical farming, offers some opportunities but needs to drop the hype before success in the sector will be fully recognised in coming years.

So says international controlled environment agriculture, or CEA, consultant Henry GordonSmith. He offered some insights, and some realism, to the much-hyped sector at a recent seminar sponsored by Plant & Food Research and Callaghan Innovation.

Gordon-Smith has consulted to 200 companies investing in CEA across 40 countries, assisting with business cases, sizing and exploring market opportunities. He was named a top 20 global food and agriculture influencer by Rabobank in 2019.

The CEA sector was valued at $US2.13 billion ($3.38bn) in 2018, and expected to grow to US$12.04bn by 2026.

However, high energy costs are the continuing bugbear for the sector in the northern hemisphere, said Gordon-Smith.

He said many companies are also repeating the same mistakes others have made in not researching markets, starting

off too large, and not costing operations properly before kicking off.

The northern hemisphere market has experienced a shakeup recently in the CEA landscape, with four companies going bust since 2019, four restructuring and another three in the process of “restrategising” their operations.

The collapses, coming after some high-profile fundraising, contain echoes of the alt-protein market that, like CEA, has attracted vast sums of Silicon Valley funding in recent years.

“People get hyped up, raise a

HYPED: ‘Controlled environment agriculture’ growing systems have had too much hype, which will take some years to work through, says Agritecture’s Henry Gordon-Smith.

bunch of money and risk failure,” he said.

Gordon-Henry did not sugar-coat the sector’s immediate prospects. He said it is coming out of its initial peak of “inflated expectations”, and is moving towards what he termed a “trough of disillusionment” before reaching the more mature phase of stable investment.

In the two-year window ahead, he anticipates the world will see strong growth in the Middle East and Africa, where continuing population growth, water scarcity and being at the sharpest end of

climate change are all affecting food security.

Issues around covid and the Ukraine war’s impact on supply chains mean issues of food security remain top of mind there.

Gordon-Smith said “hybridisation” of the sector is happening, where different growing technologies merge, and even where CEA-raised crops are transplanted into outdoor operations.

New Zealand cannabinoid company Eqalis has already started such an operation, moving plants raised vertically in its Katikati operation out to Matakana Island near Tauranga to fortify the stock (see “High tech backs cannabis crop opportunity”, March 27).

Beyond two years, GordonSmith was confident the barrier of high energy footprints for CEA will be dealt with through more sustainable, lower cost energy inputs.

He expected to see global crop losses from climate change really ramp up from 2027, providing a further catalyst for sector expansion.

Come 2033 onwards he expects “low-tech” CEA could become mainstream to provide local communities with supplies, with “out of the box” CEA systems being purchased and installed in assorted configurations.

Already there are positive stories about low-tech CEA helping

refugee groups and communities in places such as Cairo.

Given NZ’s small size, GordonSmith said the question “Why bother?” could be asked about CEA here.

“But in NZ, there is not really that much flat land as in other countries, and around Auckland the urban growth impacts upon the ability to grow crops like leafy greens in the future.”

People get hyped up, raise a bunch of money and risk failure.

Henry Gordon-Smith Agritecture

He also highlighted NZ’s proven track record in agri-tech, with the growth in demand for water tech, sensors and energy systems all offering opportunities for that sector.

To get through the “trough of disillusionment” to a more mature market may even require the collapse of some larger companies to prompt more reasoned investment response, he said.

“And we are starting to see that happen. As farms fail a new era begins where we have honest discussions.”

He sees two solid years of bad vertical farming news before the trough comes to an end.

How indoor farmers can avoid growing pains

A WORLD-leading authority on vertical indoor farming is urging companies to avoid re-inventing the wheel when they start, and share more information among themselves on how to build successful, long-term business models.

Professor Paul Gauthier of the University of Queensland provided some candid insights to sector interests at a Plant & FoodCallaghan-sponsored seminar on controlled environment agriculture (CEA) this month.

It is estimated that the global vertical farming sector will be worth US$12 billion a year by 2026, well up on the US$2.13bn of 2018.

Gauthier said he sees the sector moving into a new phase, amid a number of company collapses and significant staff layoffs in the past two years.

One of the highest profile failures has been the bankruptcy of Swedish urban agriculture company Plantagon in 2019 after cash flow problems overwhelmed the business, which was trying to integrate food production into an urban environment.

But Gauthier said the losses and changes represent a sector moving to a new phase, where much of the early research work has been done. “Some companies will collapse,

some will lay people off, it is just a way of saying we need one sort of person at that stage, and now we need this sort of person at this stage. When you start you are a pioneer.”

He pointed to more than 40 CEA companies around the world that are proving successful.

One of the big winners in the past year has been United Statesbased Plenty, also an early starter that has been restructured and has landed a US$1bn (about $1.58bn) deal for vertical farm development.

“China will be the single biggest importer of food by 2050 and compete for food imports. It will hoover up all countries’ supplies, making food security for things like meat, fish and vegetables important.”

That comes at the same time as climate change threatens the world’s ability to increase food production by 77% by 2050, as needed.

Even Australia, a country where most take food security and capacity for granted, is at risk.

“Imports to Australia are higher than most expect,” Gauthier said.

Even fertile Queensland imports AU$134m ($142m) of fruit and vegetables a year.

CEA provides a means of localising food production, and removing the increasing risk of climatic and weather impact that is starting to play on the minds of growers who may have already been wiped out by events.

up collectively and learn from greenhouse growers in the Netherlands who have an open, collegial environment for sharing knowledge.

“Share information, because if you do not you will all collapse at the same time.”

Sharing knowledge can help prevent having the same mistakes made again, and the wheel reinvented – something he said he has seen plenty of.

He also urged more targeted R&D and enhanced public-private partnerships.

In late March the New Zealand government announced the investment of $3.53m into a four year programme partnership with Hamilton-based vertical farming company Greengrower. The investment is to explore crop options and processes in the CEA sector.

A focus on up-skilling staff is also a priority, he said.

The company burnt through $200 million in its first year on R&D, but now it is in 100% control of all of its own technology, growing IP and farm design.

The latest deal means expensive growing facilities have funding security, leaving the company to focus on its growing capability.

He pointed to the continuing surge in food demand out of Asia as a factor that will almost guarantee CEA will become increasingly viable in a more mature, informed market.

“The Australian wine industry is struggling. A grape represents eight years of growing and the sector has had two years of flooding.

“Growers are asking ‘Is it worth replanting to have this happen again within eight years?’”

Gauthier said the decision to possibly invest in a $25-$30m CEA farm may offer greater security of return despite the high capital cost, given the removal of weather risk factors.

He urged the industry to step

Skill shortages plague the sector, and are proving the greatest issue in the US, where one company has a new farm constructed but lacks the staff to operate it.

Gauthier is overseeing the formation of an indoor farming research centre at the University of Queensland. He is also urging growers throughout Australasia to form a united body to promote better knowledge sharing.

“We have one shot to do it right, compared to what the United States has done.”

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Horticulture

SHARED: Professor Paul Gauthier is urging the CEA sector in Australasia to kick off with a more collegial, open environment than that witnessed in the United States.

Share information, because if you do not you will all collapse at the same time.

Professor Paul Gauthier University of Queensland

LISTEN WE DID TO THE Farmers

Agricademy puts drive into dairy training

farmers and farm managers who are busy and pushed for time.”

to access training that is actually useful and practical.”

AGRICADEMY is continuing to expand its pool of licensees, signing Ag Drive to deliver on-farm training in its Relief Milking and Dairy Assistant courses.

Ag Drive has a team of four trainers with experience in the dairy industry and will be delivering Agricademy courses on location for farms in and around the Waikato.

It also offers a mobile training service with the team being able to travel to different regions, on demand.

Agricademy’s managing director Alister Shennan said the partnership with Ag Drive will improve training outcomes for the dairy industry.

“These key partnerships add to our services and create a bigger, seamless customer offer. Being able to provide training on location, on farm frees up

Agricademy offers online courses, backed up by its training courses on farm, which target new entrants and those wanting to upskill in dairy.

Andre Syben, the director of Ag Drive –Waikato’s largest agricultural vehicle training provider – said it is a natural progression to offer training in dairy as their team has considerable experience in farming.

Head trainer Les Waghorn worked as a dairy farmer for 30 years and will be providing his expertise along with a team keen to make a difference.

Trainer Steven Hinsely said, “Teaching someone from scratch and watching them walk away with confidence at the end of the course is why I do this.”

The trainers are also focused on improving awareness to reduce costly mistakes, and, as Kerrie Sheehan said, “teaching people how to be safe operators is vital in the farming industry”.

Grant Wilson will use his experience to upskill staff. “I really enjoy getting to meet new people, engaging with them, and teaching them new skills,” he said.

Ag Drive courses now also on offer.

Andre Syben said Agricademy’s innovative approach works.

the same ideals, we have the same thoughts about training – it’s got to be practical.”

“The Agricademy training is designed and tailored to what farmers want and need,” he said.

“We can make it easy for people

Ag Drive has also joined Agricademy’s online marketplace. Agricademy provides online training courses for the dairy industry through its Get Milking Relief Milker and Dairy Assistant courses, and for shearing and wool handling through WOMOlife, with

“Its online training model is absolutely fantastic. We are embracing that with our own training business with our health and safety courses going online on the Agricademy marketplace,” he said.

“We share common synergies and the same beliefs. We share

Alister Shennan said the expanded online offering will deliver benefits to the agricultural sector.

“Together we’re going to have some fantastic outcomes for customers around training both for employers and people that are starting in industry.”

Huge opportunity for ‘on trend’ avocados: Jager

Hugh Stringleman MARKETS Horticulture

ALMOST never used 20 years ago, the word “sustainability” was hammered in Auckland’s Aotea Centre for the 10th World Avocado Congress hosted by NZ Avocado. More than 1200 delegates, 750 of them from overseas with a sizeable minority of Spanish speakers, heard address after address about avocado’s water and carbon footprints, life-cycle analysis and customer expectations of verified sustainability.

New Zealand’s agricultural and horticultural czar, Lain Jager, said world megatrends currently present a huge opportunity for

avocados, headed by the changes in age distribution in Western populations.

Today’s consumers will change their diets for greater sustainability in their food choices.

“Avocados are right on trend in health and wellness, natural foods, climate concerns, ethical products and longevity seekers,” he said.

“These are market segments that are yours to own but you must develop demand ahead of supply.”

Jager said if avocados get into market oversupply, prices will fall 30-50% – that always happens in fruit markets.

Or the industry can invest 5% of its earnings annually to grow consumption, the potential of which is often underestimated.

FIELD DAY SPECIALS

The Hass Avocado Board in the United States has demonstrated that ability to grow demand, he said.

“Show me a 4kg per capita consumption and I see a 10kg opportunity.

“Avocados have a huge opportunity based on an almost unparalleled proposition and you have to seize the strength of your product and drive demand,” he said.

NZ Trade & Enterprise sustainability lead Florence van Dyke said two-thirds of consumers now rank sustainability in their top five value drivers.

From her own commercial experience as co-founder of the Chia Sisters drink company in

Nelson, Van Dyke said all the relevant data must be collected and shared with honesty and transparency.

Good and bad data must be shared.

“A values-led approach to doing business will outlast any individual environmental challenge and be truly transformational for your industry,” she said.

Hass Avocado Board director of industry affairs, John McGuigan, said the industry needs to take back its narrative, get the right information and have it substantiated by researchers.

“Yes, avocados are high users of water, energy and chemicals, but they also have a high rate of return on these inputs.”

Avocados have a huge opportunity based on an almost unparalleled proposition and you have to seize the strength of your product and drive demand.

Lain Jager Te Puna Whakaaronui

Major NZ exporter John Carroll, Avoco and Primor, said growers are already immersed in the maze of compliance through NZGAP (good agricultural practice), and that demands for sustainability verification should not mean more work.

DEVELOPMENT: Ag Drive director Andre Syben with trainers Kerrie Sheehan, Steven Hinsely, Grant Wilson and Les Waghorn.

Photo: Ag Drive

Teaching someone from scratch and watching them walk away with confidence at the end of the course is why I do this.

Steven Hinsely Ag Drive

Letters of the week

Real-world questions

Jamie McFadden Groundswell NZ

YOUR editorial, “We have to meet the moment” (April 10), requires some clarification.

When you say the “real world”, what do you mean, because you imply that the real world is outside the farm gate and maybe outside of New Zealand? We all live in the real world, are a part of it, and it is all interconnected.

Even NZ farmers are real-world international consumers in the eyes of all other countries. Are NZ consumers demanding emissions pricing on overseas food producers? Judging by the amount of cheaper, lower standard imported pork coming into the country, it would seem not.

Equally confusing is your claim that we must accept emissions pricing – a demand we repeatedly hear from the government, not something we expect from a major farming paper. It seems you have confused emissions pricing with emissions reductions – mutually exclusive concepts where the former does not necessarily achieve the latter.

From the Editor

This gives people a sense that they’re being governed at, not governed with.

The Ministry for the Environment did a review into its own processes, and found the freshwater legislation process was not up to scratch.

It found staff were overworked and junior staff were doing roles in which they lacked experience without oversight.

Managing

OUR democracy gives everyone the chance to have their say about how their lives are organised and restricted. It’s how we come up with the guidelines that show us how to navigate life without doing harm to others, the environment or the economy.

But lately, many in farming circles are sensing that their voices aren’t being heard by those we’ve given the privilege of leading us.

When new laws and regulations are proposed, we’re supposed to be given time to read them and report back on how we feel about them.

Farmers refer to policies like the Essential Freshwater regulations, which had aspects that simply didn’t work in real life.

There was inadequate information for consultation, no stress-testing of regulations, and differing interpretations of agreed policy decisions.

For industry groups, which speak on behalf of large groups of stakeholders, the task of preparing submissions is becoming more difficult, particularly as the time given is often short and conflicts with important dates on the farming calendar.

This puts industry groups in a terrible position.

They have to go through the information line by line, communicate it to their levypayers and members, take feedback on board and formulate a response.

Then there’s the time spent around the negotiating table in Wellington, arguing farming’s case – all of it in too short a time.

What we’ve experienced over the past couple of years has led us to a place of distrust, anger and misinformation – and a

lot of it is due to deficiencies in the process of lawmaking.

It’s been difficult to communicate effectively and that’s something the government, the industry and its leaders, and those with powerful voices will have to address.

What we’re left with now are warring factions that are unable or unwilling to engage respectfully.

If you insist on emissions pricing and other costs of nature, like biodiversity, as outlined by Rabobank’s Berry Marttins’ “real world”, then we no longer have a viable sheep and beef hill and high-country farming sector in NZ. What then happens to all our hill and high country, with no farmers to spend millions of dollars on weed and pest control and care for the 2.4 million hectares of biodiversity – plant it in pines because a grossly underfunded Department of Conservation taking it over is certainly not an option? What happens to rural communities and where do the St John and rural fire volunteers come from? What happens to the economy and where does all the food come from if 20, 30 or 40% of our food producers are gone?

The key question is, does this real world you refer to want a tax that reduces production of the world’s most emissions-efficient produced food, increases global emissions, and delivers multiple worse outcomes for the environment? These are all real-world questions and I invite you to come out into our real world in search of some answers.

Last week’s special report on the consultative process, which you can read in full online at farmersweekly.co.nz, highlights these issues and points to some solutions.

Not every law or regulation will find universal support and some will be despised by sectors of society even after they’ve been heard.

But living with them is much easier if the structure the law stands upon is sound.

Best letter WINS a quality hiking knife

Send your letter to the Editor at Farmers Weekly P.0. Box 529, Feilding or email us at farmers.weekly@agrihq.co.nz

Bryan Gibson

In my view

...

Stuart Chambers

Hauraki writer and former sheep farmer

NEW Zealand agriculture has no place in an emissions pricing scheme.

To even suggest it is an insult to all farmers, past and present, who have built the nation to the place where it is today.

To further argue for it indicates ignorance, and just how far our population, and particularly politicians, have removed themselves from the rural scene.

It also shows how bad their local history is.

Yet the politicians hope to have farmers in the scheme as soon as possible with a tax for the methane their occupation engenders, and many suggestions that farming is a national problem.

This is an ungrateful stance. Anyone looking at agriculture and its place in the nation quickly realises that farmers should be roundly applauded and positively rewarded rather than being branded as irresponsible desecrators of the environment and worthy of a penalty tax for their transgressions.

When I look back to my young days after the war I realise that the thinking then was quite different. In particular the group of politicians of all persuasions were a different breed from those of today.

There was no way they would have entertained a rural penalty. The difference lay in the fact that they understood that there was a need for the three essentials in life: food on the table, a roof over your head and clothes on your back.

Food, in particular, they recognised, was a commodity that should be easily available and should be cheap. It was a basic human right.

As much of these essentials came from farmers and their land and labour – including timber for housing and wool for clothes –they held farmers in high esteem. Further, the commodities that didn’t come from their land came via the overseas funds which the sale of their farm products produced.

Because they realised the importance of the three essentials, and the role farmers played in this, politicians set up ways to help this happen.

They saw a need for agricultural research and established centres for this and for some years they guaranteed the price of butterfat and later of wool.

They also set up the State Advances Corporation, which lent money to farmers at very cheap rates of interest. For everyone there was a family benefit payable to wives to help feed and clothe the children with what the farmers produced.

For urban dwellers there were also cheap State Advances loans for their home loans as the early politicians also appreciated that well-housed people everywhere meant a contented nation. There were other minor incentives from this concerned group of politicians, too. These encouraged healthy diets for children, with school milk being the major one, but also free apples and other fruits from time to time. Schools were encouraged to promote vegetable growing, often distributing seeds to children for home gardens and there was a rat week when free rat poison was distributed. Arbor Day, which encouraged tree growing, was an annual part of life.

This attitude is an insult to farming, completely ignoring NZ’s history and how the nation was built to what it is today.

All this showed that the welfare of the family was important to those who governed and farm production was a big part of it. Such welfare recognised the need for a healthy rural sector and that agriculture was the basis of New Zealand life.

It also understood that without it many of the things that agriculture earnings provided, such as cars and the fuel they ran on, would be unavailable to most without farmers. Agriculture, they knew, was the key source of money and the way ahead.

But now this is forgotten. Instead, the hand that feeds us is constantly being accused of desecration and said to be in need of reining in. It is being asked to produce less, as well as being hit with copious unnecessary criticisms and inhibitions.

Instead of being encouraged it is suppressed and challenged with a tax, which suggests the nation can live without food and without the many things overseas funds buy.

In the eyes of current politicians, and many people, food comes from supermarkets and overseas exchange comes by way of loans from the larger wealthy nations, the debt from which is simply considered a burden of future generations.

Politicians have changed and this has become reflected in the thinking of their voters, resulting in a false awareness that the contribution of agriculture has gone. Gratitude as of old for hard work and long hours is not part of current thinking.

Cattle, and dairy cows in particular, have become almost an enemy of society. We read complaints that they pug the land in winter, ruin the rivers by drinking from them, possess uncontrolled excretions and breathe out methane and carbon dioxide, which are bad for the atmosphere.

Farming livestock, it is suggested, needs to be stopped. Animals of all persuasion have to be removed from the NZ environment. They no longer have a place here.

This attitude is an insult to farming, completely ignoring NZ’s history and how the nation was

built to what it is today. This new thinking is where the emissions tax on the hand that feeds it comes from.

This new thinking asks farmers to reduce methane. It wants farms to be individually assessed and a penalty tax worked out to take into account stock numbers. Some compensation will be offered if trees are growing on the land and this will be individually assessed for their methane sequestering qualities and be of some financial assistance as it will mostly subtract from the amount of tax payable. A bureaucracy will be established to assess each farm.

But while all this is being calculated, farmers will look over the fence to the crowded motorways, choked with the cars their created funds have provided, and ask why there is no penalty tax out there and why there is no challenge there to plant more home garden trees or slow down the use of fuel. Instead, people and political thinking ignore this and invite the hand that feeds the nation to make the sacrifices.

This is partly because throughout NZ’s history, farmers, because of their landowning need, have been viewed as wealthy and elite. Add livestock to the mix, and cattle in particular, and the terms “beef baron” and “wool lord” arise. It is these remnants of the past that make rural people targets for envy and encourage penalty.

Scientists do know of the problem with methane. They know the need for restraint, and rural people understand it too, but is a negative penalty tax the way to fix it? Most farmers would say it isn’t. They would prefer a positive way,

as has been known in the past when Catchment Boards and farm plans, with monetary assistance and QE II National Trust help, brought about a big improvement to the countryside with positive methane-reducing results. This assistance did much to encourage correct stocking management and greatly improved waterways. A similar positive step earlier was the promotion of the dairy farm effluent pond system in the 1970s and its associated planting of waterways, both thinking of the properties downstream.

An emissions tax on the hand that feeds it

One-forest-fitsall approach just won’t work

Cyclone Bola in the late 1980s, combined with a one-size-fitsall National Policy Statement on forestry.

After Bola the decision was made to plant trees to prevent erosion. At the time land had been developed that shouldn’t have been, encouraged by the subsidies of the Muldoon era.

That land eroded and the government decided trees were the answer. By 2020 there were 150,000ha of Pinus radiata on the east coast.

The problem was exacerbated by then-conservation minister Nick Smith, who decided to have a central policy on forestry.

ITOTALLY agree with Federated Farmers over their call for a reset of the ministerial inquiry into land use on the east coast.

The forestry minister at the time, Stuart Nash, didn’t want it but Prime Minister Chris Hipkins did. The inquiry team was limited in numbers and expertise, the terms of reference too narrow and the time frame ridiculously short.

As far as the inquiry team was concerned, it was led by exNational cabinet minister Hekia Parata with former regional council chief executive Bill Bayfield and forestry engineer Matthew McCloy also taking part. Bayfield has since resigned, to be replaced by Dave Brash, a “consultant who provides advice to central and local government”. No one, to my knowledge, has an agricultural or science background.

Having two or three people considering an extremely narrow geographic area in a ridiculous time frame won’t provide any real answers or solve anything.

The terms of reference included the storm damage and its causes, current practices and regulatory and policy settings and was restricted to the Gisborne Wairoa areas even though Hawke’s Bay and parts of Wairarapa were hugely affected.

The panel started in February with its recommendations due in April. The government obviously wanted a quick, dirty, once-overlightly report.

We were told that feedback from communities and the wider public would be sought. They’d have to be lightning fast, considering the time frame.

The problems were caused by wrong decisions made after

Soils, climate and contour vary hugely around New Zealand and one size doesn’t fit all. We obviously haven’t learnt any lessons as we’re still pursuing that one-size-fits-all philosophy with a degree of alacrity. It didn’t work then and won’t work now.

As we know, national standards override district and regional council plans. The standards, ridiculously in my view, apply to any forest over one hectare anywhere in the country.

So, my position is that there are major decisions required that are well researched by qualified people. They will have ramifications over the entire country and we need to do it once and get it right.

Having two or three people considering an extremely narrow geographic area in a ridiculous time frame won’t provide any real answers or solve anything.

The current problem with an extreme weather event involves the North Island east coast, but those extreme events are going to get more common and geographically spread.

We need a national strategy that gives local councils flexibility.

Further, while the majority of trees on the east coast were planted for timber, there’s the additional burden of trees planted just for carbon.

For example, Dryland Carbon, owned by CO2 emitters Air NZ, Contact Energy, Genesis Energy and Z Energy, have “10,000ha of steeper and marginal farmland for forestry”. Could that steeper land be just as erosion prone as land on the east coast?

NZ Carbon has 100,000ha of forest land owned or leased with “60,000ha managed for permanent forest”. Carbon Crop has 10,000ha.

So instead of slash on beaches could we end up with whole trees?

We need answers.

There are other options with forests and slash, with the main two being burning and biofuels.

Scion tells us that turning slash into biofuel is a viable option that is available now.

Canterbury Health tells me that burning slash has cut its reliance on coal.

ANZ Bank agricultural economist Susan Kilsby tells me that businesses are currently encouraged to offset emissions by planting trees rather than by reducing their emissions.

She told RNZ that “it’s been identified that at the moment it’s cheaper and easier for companies to invest in forestry rather than

investing in solutions that would reduce their own emissions”.

That has meant a loss of around 2000 farms, which is extremely serious for our economy in the long term.

It is also a short-term and unsustainable option.

These are huge issues that NZ has to come to grips with and soon. It won’t be achieved by a quick glimpse at the Gisborne Wairoa flooding all done at a

frenetic pace and with limited expertise.

The opinion expressed in Stuff by Marcus Musson of Forest360 had me intrigued. The headline read “Slash blame a witch hunt”. He said that “the current witch hunt on the forest industry is textbook Salem in the late 1600s and boffinism is fuelling the fire”.

I’d humbly suggest he stays in the shallow end.

A box-ticking exercise we can all get behind

From the ridge

might be ambition, ego and perhaps some like the pay cheque.

We have a lot of politics ahead of us as we head towards a general election in October this year. Just six months away.

Provincial New Zealand is certain that there will be a change of government, but current polling indicates that, under the mixedmember proportional (MMP) voting system, an election now would be close and could go either way.

chain issues are certainly slowing the economy. You don’t have to be an economist to know this, you can just feel it.

The final quarter of last year saw the economy shrink by a modest 0.6% and in a couple of months we will find out how much the first quarter of this year has shrunk and then it will be official that, with two quarters in a row in decline, we are in recession.

GREEK philosopher Plato lived 2400 years ago, and his thoughts have influenced Western philosophy since that time.

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors,” is one of his famous quotes.

However, it’s never stopped the vast majority of us who don’t go into politics moaning about those who do.

Most of the people who enter politics do it for good reasons in the beginning: altruism, to drive a positive difference, to make the world a better place and improve the lot of their fellow citizens.

I’m sure for others the drivers

The last election was an aberration driven by a good covid-19 response up to that point by the government and an opposition in shambles. It’s unlikely we will ever see another majority government under MMP again.

Previous MMP elections have been relatively close between the centre left and the centre right.

Forming a government has required horse trading with the likes of NZ First, the Greens, ACT, the Māori Party, and various independents, and that will continue depending on how the cards fall.

However, the Reserve Bank is hellbent on forcing a recession to get on top of inflation and has now got the Official Cash Rate up to 5.25% in quick measure. It was 2008 when we last saw it there, and the increased interest rates and the excessive cost of living driven by inflation and supply

The current problem for the Reserve Bank is that unemployment remains stubbornly at near record lows so until that rises the real impacts of a recession are unlikely to be felt until later in the year and probably into 2024.

It is troubling for many of us that our system is requiring people to lose their jobs and then possibly houses and security so that inflation can be brought under control to benefit the majority.

Remember that, before complaining about the increasing numbers on the unemployment benefit. It will not be a choice for most of them.

It will be how impacted the economy is, come the election, that will likely determine the outcome.

Will this turn into a deeper affair, or will there be the hopedfor soft landing?

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

Steve Wyn-Harris Central Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer: swyn@xtra.co.nz

FLEXIBILITY: With extreme weather events becoming more common, we need a national strategy that gives local councils flexibility, Alan Emerson says.

Looking beyond ‘carbon leakage’ alarm

Guest column

Anita Wreford Professor Applied Economics, Lincoln University John Tobias Saunders Research Officer, Lincoln University Meike Guenther Research Officer, Lincoln University

THE recent report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change underscores the urgency of emissions reductions. For Aotearoa New Zealand, where 50% of emissions come from agriculture in the form of methane and nitrous oxide, this means the primary sector must be part of the response.

New Zealand is indeed the first country to investigate introducing a price on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

The most recent pricing proposals would require farmers to pay a levy on their agricultural emissions. To begin with, only 5% of emissions would be priced, with proposals to reduce the 95% free allocation gradually over time.

Much of the existing modelling shows emissions could be cut by up to 10% by reducing the intensity of production, often through lowering animal numbers and fertiliser use. This doesn’t necessarily mean lower profitability. With good pasture management, farmers may be able to reduce stocking rates and increase profits.

But Aotearoa is already one of the most efficient producers of meat and dairy products globally. If we reduce emissions here, will that not simply lead to other, less efficient countries picking up the lost production, while our farmers pay the price?

This idea is known as “carbon leakage” and is often used as an argument against any domestic policy that could result in reduced

Continued previous page

James Carville was Bill Clinton’s strategist in his run for the White House in 1992. The United States was experiencing a recession and President George HW Bush was seen as being out of touch with ordinary Americans.

Carville coined the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid,” and Clinton and his campaign hammered away at this so that it became a mantra. It helped them win that election. National here will be pursuing the same line.

It will be secretly wanting this current recession to really bite deep later in the year and Labour will be doing everything it can to make sure it doesn’t.

Meanwhile the independent Reserve Bank will have a sharp eye on the inflation figures and will be doing its own thing to force it down.

Stalin said, “It is enough that the

agricultural production. The issue is important as NZ depends heavily on agricultural exports. In 2022, of all merchandise trade, 65% were agricultural commodities.

Understanding whether carbon leakage will occur or not is a complex task. Here, we look at what evidence we have and insights from agricultural trade modelling.

It’s difficult to know exactly what might happen in agriculture, as emissions pricing on agricultural products has not yet been used elsewhere. There is no historical evidence to draw on.

International modelling studies present a mixed picture of the likelihood of leakage: an OECD study estimated 34% of agricultural emissions would be leaked, mostly to developing countries.

Recent modelling for NZ examines a series of scenarios of domestic pricing on its own as well as international pricing.

people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

Sadly, that remains the case for much of the world.

The results show that for the current proposal where only 5% of emissions are priced to begin with, with a 1% increase each year, NZ’s production of meat and dairy products could decline by 2050. The effect on dairy producers would be a loss of returns of under 1%, while meat producers would face a 6% decline. Some of the production would be taken up by other countries, but the overall volume would be lower than in the baseline situation, where no emissions pricing existed. This shows leakage may occur, with reductions in production of NZ dairy products. But global meat and dairy production by 2050 would be considerably lower than without the policy, which would have a positive overall impact on the climate.

As the proportion of emissions that are priced increases, we expect the quantity of meat and dairy produced in NZ to decrease. This in turn could increase the

despite the domestic pricing policy.

volume of leakage. It is important to remember that although there is a reduction in meat and dairy production, there is likely to be an increase in the production of other types of food, which doesn’t contribute so much to climate change.

A recent study shows how food consumption alone could contribute an additional degree of warming above pre-industrial temperatures by 2100. This demonstrates the importance of food choices in addressing climate change.

Many of NZ’s trading partners are exploring and beginning to implement their own agricultural emissions-reduction goals and targets. Internationally, there is an increasing focus on the role international trade rules can play in addressing climate change, including border carbon adjustment mechanisms and environmental standards for imports.

In a similar scenario as described above, but where NZ’s main competitors also take action, NZ may actually see a small increase in production by 2050, despite the domestic pricing policy.

The extent of leakage therefore really depends on how other countries tackle their own emissions. Economy-wide net zero emissions targets are in place for Australia, Chile, European Union countries, the United States and the United Kingdom by 2050, and for China by 2060.

The opportunity for leakage would be significantly reduced through multilateral agreements or through regional or bilateral commitments within trade agreements.

NZ could decide to be a leader and demonstrate to the rest of the world a commitment to reducing emissions from our highest emitting sector. This may result in some leakage initially, but this would likely decline as other countries take similar action.

Or we can wait until other countries begin to take more serious action on agricultural emissions. But in the meantime, emissions reductions will increasingly be driven through finance and private-sector initiatives, for example through access to processing companies, which are progressively requiring emissions reductions throughout their value chains and through lending and finance, where banks are beginning to offer reduced interest rates for sustainable practices.

First published in The Conversation.

There are only 24 full democracies, covering 8% of the planet’s population.

We have the great fortune of being one of those countries. For the rest of us who don’t aspire to be politicians, we get to vote and should exercise that privilege.

FIELD STUDY: NZ farmers worry about ‘carbon leakage’ if they have to pay for emissions, but they could benefit from playing the long game, say Lincoln researchers.

In a scenario ... where NZ’s main competitors also take action, NZ may actually see a small increase in production by 2050,

It is troubling for many of us that our system is requiring people to lose their jobs so that inflation can be brought under control to benefit the majority.

RARE HONOUR: There are only 24 full democracies covering 8% of the planet’s population and we have the great fortune of being one of those countries, says Steve Wyn-Harris.

‘C’mon girls!’ swimming video still tough for ‘Mum’ to watch

At the height of the Cyclone Gabrielle flooding a short video caught the imagination of people all over the world: a farmer on high ground frantically calling to her cows on the flooded flats below. Waipawa’s Kylie McIntyre talks to Craig Page about that day.

KYLIE McIntyre still struggles to watch the video of her cows swimming to safety.

The short clip, which went viral on social media, shows McIntyre calling her cows as they desperately try to escape flooded Waipawa paddocks during Cyclone Gabrielle in February.

The incident captured the public’s attention, prompting donations and messages of support.

But it is still a bit too raw for McIntyre.

“I don’t like going back and watching it. It’s not a nice thing to go through.”

McIntyre, who crop farms with partner Max Buckeridge, has no idea how many views the video has had – “I don’t really follow that sort of stuff” – but it made headlines around the world, with articles appearing as far away as the United Kingdom and United States.

Buckeridge shot the video and the couple were encouraged by friend and veterinarian Anne Rupuha-Gelling to post it on social media.

“They thought it would be really neat to share it with people and give everyone a bit of a positive lift.

“I don’t think anyone expected it to be that popular.”

Prior to the cyclone, McIntyre’s herd of 23 mix-bred heifers and steers – affectionately know as “the Motley Crew” – had been grazing on a leased river flat.

Concerned about potential flooding from the storm, she and Buckeridge moved them to a neighbour’s elevated paddock, but were shocked the next morning to find the cattle standing in water up to their bellies.

There were two swift waterways running through the paddock, which made getting down to them too dangerous.

Within 15 minutes the water had risen dramatically and the cattle started jumping on each other trying to get to higher ground.

“That’s when it broke me. You could see them panicking, and I started to panic,” McIntyre says.

One of the animals began to swim, and the others followed suit, but in the wrong direction and towards the raging river.

“Just out of panic I just started calling them, I just called and called and called.

“It wasn’t caught on video, but at the time it was like watching synchronized swimmers. They just

It wasn’t caught on video, but at the time it was like watching synchronized swimmers. They just all turned at once. They thought ‘there’s Mum’s voice’ and turned around and just started to swim to me.

Kylie McIntyre Waipawa

all turned at once.

“They thought ‘there’s Mum’s voice’ and turned around and just started to swim to me.”

Several times the cattle were pushed sideways as they negotiated raging water, raising fears they would get caught in a submerged deer fence. They eventually made it to where McIntyre was standing, a swim of about 500m, but then had to

negotiate a steep bank before getting to safety.

“That was the worst part. There was a downed willow tree with some blackberry and they were getting caught in it. They were starting to go underneath the water.

“That noise they made. It was just awful.”

They eventually scrambled up the bank. All but one of the animals survived. When the floodwaters receded the body of a heifer was found trapped under a fallen willow tree.

The cattle, aged between 18 and 30 months, are “ridiculously quiet” and well used to McIntyre’s presence, which is why they responded so well to her calls.

“They hear you coming on a motorbike and they’re just so excited and want to come and chase you.”

Most of the surviving cattle required antibiotics and antiinflammatories, after taking on contaminated floodwater, but

all have recovered well. The video prompted donations to Vet Services in Hawke’s Bay to help cover McIntyre’s vet bills. Vet Services also helped out with payment.

“I wasn’t expecting anything like that and it’s really appreciated,” she says.

“It’s not something you want to accept, either, because you don’t want to be profiting off a crap situation.”

While the cattle’s survival was a positive, the couple’s extensive crops did not fare so well. McIntyre estimates they have lost 1200t of potatoes, 1500t of beetroot and 200t of onions, and the jury is still out on how the maize crop will survive.

“What can you do? We’re lucky because the floodwater never went through our house.

“We’re just grateful for the support from friends and neighbours and everyone else. That’s the sort of stuff that means a lot.”

Golden Bay raises $50k for flood regions – challenge out

THE organisers of a community effort in Golden Bay that raised nearly $50,000 to assist those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle are encouraging other rural communities to adopt their model.

Rural contractors Stacey Strange and her husband Tristan brought The Farmers Bull fundraising event together in three weeks with a local farming friend, Phil Smith, after a camping holiday. Smith does a lot of work on mental health issues and had been talking to some Hawke’s Bay/Tairāwhiti farmers.

“It was horrendous hearing some of the stresses emerging,” Stacey Strange said. “We’ve had our own flooding issues here and we felt we had to do something to help.”

The trio’s event, held in late March in Takaka, had the aim of raising about $5,000.

The community pitched in with donated auction goods including firewood, digger hours, outdoor clothing, scenic flights, outdoor furniture and a gold nugget that

a local gold miner had found 30 years ago and chose to give to the cause. The final item was a vasectomy, which reportedly went for a snip.

PGG Wrightson helped gather the donations and ran the auction attended by nearly 100 people, raising just short of $50,000.

“It really blew our initial goal out of the water,” Strange said.

The funds are still rolling in. Her daughter’s pre-school is about to run a gold coin donation dress-up day.

Strange said they’re now being contacted by other rural communities to learn about how the event was organised. “Someone’s been in touch from

It’s about the whole community getting involved. New Zealand is a small nation and everything is just up the road.

Rail Valley and they’re going to do similar.” She’s encouraging other communities to follow suit to support the affected regions.

“It’s about the whole community getting involved. New Zealand is a small nation and everything is just up the road.”

She said the Takaka event was so appreciated by those who attended that they are going to make it an annual event. “Sometimes you only see people at things like funerals so it’s great to be at a positive event that can also raise funds. There’s always something in the community that needs money.”

She said in future that might be Golden Bay causes or supporting other NZ communities.

The Stranges are members of Rural Contractors NZ and are talking to CEO Andrew Olsen about the best way to get the money raised to those most in need in cyclone-affected areas.

Contact: Stacey Strange, Strange Contracting, 027 393 2778.

MOTLEY CREW: Kylie McIntyre, with stepchildren Austin, Jett and Taylor Buckeridge, with some of the cattle that had to swim for their lives during Cyclone Gabrielle.

Staff reporter PEOPLE Weather

STEPPING UP: Stacey Strange and Phil Smith at the Farmers Bull fundraiser they organised with Tristan Strange.

Stacey Strange Golden Bay

Pasture management made smarter with AI

Kairanga farmer Shane True is not shy when it comes to picking up on new tech for his Manawatū dairy unit, but he says it’s not the “big stuff” in tech that can bring the real gains – it’s accessible, affordable, easy-to-use technology he welcomes. Richard Rennie reports.

SHANE True has been one of the early triallists for Aimer software, an AIdriven digital assistant and operating system developed by agritech start-up Aimer Farming, led by Hamilton agri data whiz Jeremy Bryant.

The firm recently received a welcome investment boost from the agri-food tech investment company Sprout.

The relationship promises to enable the two-year-old company to reach its full potential by establishing a governance board and connecting Bryant more quickly with other potential partners.

As for True, he already has a raft of technology on the farm, including variable irrigation, wearable cow technology and an automated EID weighing system, all generating multiple data points off his 650-cow herd.

Having learnt about Aimer through a Facebook group appeal seeking early stage triallists, True says his eye was caught by the software’s “pasture focused” approach, backed by AI learning systems.

“The ability of the AI to ‘learn’ your farm’s pasture growth patterns, and its ability to give you feedback and some management input on what you could do to address a situation, that had a lot of appeal to me,” True says.

For example, he says, the system will calculate – based on cow numbers, pasture cover and growth rates – whether the farm is moving into a surplus or deficit, and suggest what paddocks to drop out of rotation, or how much additional supplement may be required.

“All the time the AI is learning and building on the data to help with predictions in coming years. I felt this was a good idea.”

In recent years True has measured the pasture dry matter on hand using a calibrated measuring trailer towed behind a farm quad bike.

“But you still have that challenge with a junior staff member, once they have gathered all that information, what can they do with it, how do they process it into something useful? With Aimer, that staff member has the AI alongside them, helping out with advice.”

True says he also appreciates the app’s ability to monitor accumulated growth rates for individual paddocks over the course of the farming season, giving granular detail on each paddock’s growing ability.

“You could assign each paddock a different species, say an annual versus a perennial ryegrass, and you could track the amount they each grow. It is a good tool for tracking which paddocks should be re-grassed each year, and it often confirms what you may have already thought.”

He appreciates the one-on-one interaction with Bryant.

“There are a lot of people trying to build solutions in agritech, but at times I feel like they build their product, and only then take it to the farmer, missing out on their input at that early stage.”

True is no stranger to the farm software apps that Sprout has been involved with before.

He uses the Knowby app, which enables him to upload images and video for standard operating practices on the farm. It can

missing out on their input at that early stage.

generate a QR code that can be placed in the relevant procedure spot for staff to scan, and confirm how to operate equipment safely and proficiently.

True says he is excited by the potential union of smartphone camera optics and an AI system like Aimer as Aimer Farming is also working on a technology to

scan paddocks and get an immediate assessment of dry matter level.

He sees that this will significantly save time and be far more convenient for farmers. It could provide real-time feed status levels, with powerful predictive estimates updated every time a paddock is visually assessed.

For True, Aimer is also a vital means to attracting and keeping young staff in a tight labour market.

“If you can teach someone who is green, straight out of town, I look at how long would it take them to be better than me at pasture management.”

Bryant says the decision by Sprout to invest in Aimer came after the firm participated in Sprout’s Accelerator programme. This included having a mentor appointed, in the form of Dean

Tilyard, a venture partner in Finistere Ventures, specialists in seed-stage agritech funding.

“Dean challenged our assumptions and pushed us to think bigger and gave me confidence we had something we could offer investors.”

As someone whose focus was more on data and analysis, Bryant also learnt the value of developing a good pitch to take to potential investors.

“Sprout’s involvement has also meant I could go full time and appoint the people with the skills in development we needed,” he says.

The full commercial launch of Aimer is booked for this year’s Mystery Creek Fieldays.

MORE: Watch the On Farm Story: www.youtube.com/@OnFarm

METER: Kairanga farmer Shane True with a pasture meter, used to take measurements of pasture condition that go into the Aimer tool. Photos: Gerry le Roux/Sciencelens

TRIED AND TRUE: Shane True runs the data back in the office.

FIELD: Jeremy Bryant and Shane True check Aimer’s software in the field.

There are a lot of people trying to build solutions in agritech, but at times I feel like they build their product, and only then take it to the farmer,

Shane True Kairanga

Exporters keep wary eye on UK in Japan

Nigel Stirling MARKETS Red meat

MEAT exporters are bracing for the impact on their lucrative beef trade with Japan from the United Kingdom joining the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership.

The UK was provisionally welcomed into the Pacific Rim trade deal after substantially completing negotiations with the 11 other member countries last month.

The reduction in tariffs on beef exports to Japan from 38.5% to 9% by 2033, was the biggest prize for New Zealand exporters from the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership’ (CPTPP) predecessor agreement, the TransPacific Partnership.

Since Japan’s ratification of the TPP, NZ’s beef exports to the country have jumped from $166

million in 2018 to $349m last year.

Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said of all the CPTPP markets where increased competition from the UK could arise as a result of its accession to the agreement, the Japanese beef market is the most important to NZ exporters.

If everyone is coming in then you negotiate better access with some of the countries that it was hard to get better access out of in the first place.

Todd McClay National Party

The best outcome for NZ would be a new quota for British exporters to access the Japanese market.

Less desirable would be for NZ exporters to have their existing

quota entitlements trimmed and redistributed to UK rivals.

“For us that would be the most interesting aspect – how has the quota been dealt with,” Karapeeva said.

Officials are yet to share that level of detail with exporters.

“There may have been some tweaks made to accommodate that and to mitigate some of the pressure. But until we see the details and are briefed on the outcomes I cannot say whether we are concerned or not.”

Aside from the potential for increased competition, Karapeeva believed the expansion of CPTPP to include the UK was a positive development for NZ exporters.

“It is a good indication that there are still countries out there that value the rules around international trade.”

The National Party’s trade spokesperson, Todd McClay, agreed that the expansion of the CPTPP should be welcomed. But he said preserving gains

for exporters from the original agreement should be a negotiating priority for the NZ government as more countries are added.

“If everyone is coming in then you negotiate better access with some of the countries that it was hard to get better access out of in the first place.

“Japan is an example and so is Canada.

“Yes, we want them to come in but Canada and Japan have got to liberalise more otherwise we

will keep talking for a while.” China, Taiwan, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Uruguay all have applications to join CPTPP pending.

Members currently are Japan, Australia, NZ, Peru, Malaysia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore and Mexico.

The parliaments of the existing members must pass legislation before the UK can formally enter the agreement and tariffs are reduced.

Millennials will soon be moving markets

MILLENNIALS and Generation

Z consumers will soon be the dominant purchasers of primary sector products, farmers and growers were reminded recently.

Queensland cotton producer Danielle Statham, from the Sundown Pastoral Company, reminded the 1600 delegates to the Rabobank Farm2Fork conference in Sydney that, as a demographic group, they have different values and expectations than current consumers.

“Their requirements, their change in mindset in the way they perceive their food and fibre, is different.”

Her husband David agreed,

saying surveys show consumers will pay more for garments that meet sustainability and social compliance standards and have information about production. He said the cotton component

of jeans, which cost $US18 to produce, is $2, so there is room for a premium.

The Stathams have developed FibreTrace, a pigment added to their cotton which enables

consumers to verify the provenance of the eventual product.

Former Unilever chief executive Paul Polman said climate change requires a change to the way food and fibre is produced, but he said consumers need to be prepared to pay more.

Polman praised the role of farmers in clothing and feeding the world but said a warming climate will reduce yields and to fund required production changes, prices need to reflect a product’s true value and the higher cost of production.

In addition to addressing climate change, consumers are also seeking nature-based solutions in the food and fibre products they buy.

“Nature is one of the highest

Their requirements, their change in mindset in the way they perceive their food and fibre, is different.

providers of value,” he said. Farmers and growers also need the support of processors, the supply chain, finance providers and governments to confront these challenges, which are happening at a pace never seen before.

Polman said change must begin with personal responsibility.

“Outsourcing emissions from the value chain is not working anymore.”

WAIT AND SEE: Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva says the most interesting aspect of the UK joining the CPTTP is how the Japanese quota has been dealt with.

Peony Pink Blue Sky

Undyed Natural

Chocolate Kisses

Neal Wallace MARKETS Trends

PROVENANCE: Surveys show consumers will pay more for garments that meet sustainability and social compliance standards and have information about production.

Danielle Statham Sundown Pastoral Company

Ohauiti 470 Rowe Road

Tender

As unique as it gets

Rewarewa Ridge is a remarkable property that has been transformed from unspoilt countryside into a productive grazing operation. Located just a short distance from Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, the property offers a breathtaking north facing views of the Bay of Plenty, including the ports of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, as well as the coastal playground stretching from Mayor Island to the Alderman Islands, Slipper Island and further. The property features a geo tech approved building platform, which provides an opportunity to build your dream residence now or in the future. The farm is fenced into 42 paddocks with reticulated trough water to all paddocks. Good all weather internal access roads make for easy stock management. The property supports approximately 240 dairy grazers and produces around 250-300 bales of wrapped silage. In terms of buildings, the property includes a four bay lock up half round shed, cattle yards, and a loadout area.

Matiere 718 Opotiki Road

Auction

Mt Pleasant

Welcome to 718 Opotiki Road, the vendors need a sale as circumstances have changed for our vendor and this property must be sold. Situated only 7 km off State Highway 4 just north of Taumarunui which is a hunting and fishing playground, this amazing 158.75 ha property offers breathtaking views of Mt Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro. The large four bedroom home sits high up on the property to accentuate the views of the native bush and the farm below. This property also has a special addition nestled away at the base of the farm with a carefully built cabin offering stretching views across the valley where you can hunt, tramp, or watch the wildlife grazing.

Auction 1.00pm, Thu 4th May, 2023, 27 Hakiaha Street, Taumarunui

View By appointment Web pb.co.nz/TUR109643

Katie

Tender closes 1.00pm, Thu 27th Apr, 2023 (unless sold prior),

Property Brokers, 63 Jellicoe Street, Te Puke

View By appointment

Web pb.co.nz/TZR117179

Brett Ashworth

M 021 0261 7488 E bretta@pb.co.nz

Ian Morgan

M 027 492 5878 E ian.morgan@pb.co.nz

Waiau 236 Sherwood Road

Deadline Sale

Blairlogie

This very productive 296 ha farm, with a good balance of soil types, enables stock to be moved to the lighter soil when it is very wet. Considered "summer safe", the property has an average rainfall of 1,000mm. The property has very good infrastructure, with good cattle yards, sheep yards and covered yards / woolshed complex, as well as other buildings. The home is a 180 m2, four bedroom, two living area dwelling, in good condition, with a separate garage. Subdivided into 44 main paddocks, pastures are very good with many new tetraploid pastures. Excellent trimmed shelter belts and some native plantings are a feature of this property.

4 1 2

Deadline Sale closes Wednesday 10th May, 2023 at 4.00pm, (unless sold prior)

View By appointment Web pb.co.nz/RR117495

Maurice Newell M 027 240 1718

Hamish Anderson M 027 678 8888

Ashburton Forks 2058 Ashburton Staveley Road

Ashburton 192 Griffiths Road

152.4 ha - Dairy support or beef finishing

Irrigated dairy support / finishing property with a BCI Authorised Land Use of 2,500 R1's and R2's and wintering 700 dairy cows annually - this farm is ready to go for the coming winter.

Total available RSU's 5,804. This farm also features a modern four bedroom home with views to Mt Hutt and surrounding mountains. A good set of cattle yards completes the picture.

Ready to takeover and winter your stock.

Ashburton 32 Ashton Road

Deadline Sale

15.88 ha - Something to sink your teeth into!

This unique apple orchard sits on 15.88 ha of fertile soils, close to Ashburton and presents a rare opportunity for the Mid Canterbury plains with 13.2 ha steady state orchard planted in 2014. The orchard produces 'Honeycrisp' apples for the North American market under a BioGro (organic) certificate.

The orchard has a Manager's dwelling on-site and plenty of staff accommodation. The apple orchard is ready to carry on the good work already completed and watch the apples head out the gate.

Ashburton 361 Poplar Road

221.68 ha - Productive, reliable, attractive

'Rosedale' is a productive irrigated unit that has benefitted from consistent inputs and management over many years. It produces reliable yields of high quality crops that include brassica seeds, vegetable seeds, cereals, grass seed, fescue seed and clovers alongside lamb finishing and dairy grazing opportunities. The variety of crops grown reflecting the versatility of the farm alongside the management practices enjoying the trust of mercantile firms to reproduce high value seeds such as evening primrose, parsnips, carrots, red beet and mustard. The farm boasts an immaculately presented four bedroom homestead in a broad garden setting with hard tennis court and inground swimming pool.

4 2 2

Deadline Sale closes Monday 15th May, 2023 at 12.00pm, (unless sold prior), Property Brokers Ashburton

View By appointment Web pb.co.nz/AR118385

408.19 ha - Large scale dairy with options

We bring to the market this 408.19 ha dairy farm, supplying Synlait under an A2 contract. With a modern 80 bail rotary, fully automated shed and adjoining feed pad. This allows the current vendors to supply a winter milk contract as well as seasonal supply. Current Vendors run a flexible system depending on potential payout. Lower payout years may see a lower stocking rate and cows wintered on farm whilst higher payout levels see stocking rate lifted and cows wintered off. Genuine vendors looking for offers over $19,900,000 plus GST.

Paul Cunneen M 027 432 3382

For Sale By Negotiation + GST (if any) View By appointment Web pb.co.nz/AR117101 Jason Rickard M 027 245 8495

Real Estate

Rangitikei 369 Makopua Road, Taihape

'Makopua' - Mānuka honey and carbon investment

An indigenous carbon forest being re-established back to its original state, provides an exceptional ESG investment opportunity, producing environmentally friendly NZU's and high end Mānuka honey. Just 15 kilometres off State Highway 1 and accessed by a network of metalled tracks off the central Makopua Road. Meticulously planned with approximately four million Mānuka plants chosen for the production of high grade UMF Mānuka honey, this is one of New Zealand's largest Mānuka specific blocks. The superbly established Mānuka forest has been designed to support future production to exceed 60,000kg of high value Mānuka honey. Full crop production is expected in the next three years, and the ETS carbon registered plantation is forecast to generate indigenous NZU's, making this is a quality long-term sustainable ESG based investment. bayleys.co.nz/1695740

1,657ha

Tender (unless sold prior)

Closing 4pm, Fri 26 May 2023

Bayleys House, 30 Gaunt Street, Auckland

Duncan Ross 021 663 567 duncan.ross@bayleys.co.nz

Pete Stratton 027 484 7078 peter.stratton@bayleys.co.nz

Farm

‘Dunard’ High Performance Hill Country - 247.2 hectares

EXCLUSIVE

Open Farm

ASHBURTON

Very Affordable Dairy Farm Ready to Go!

1618 Waituna Tapuae Road, Feilding

• 2,600 - 2,700 stock units

High quality Kiwitea series soils on the hills and silt loam flats, with good fertilizer history

Fenced into 22 main paddocks

• Well tracked and double fenced central laneway

• Airstrip, metal quarry and 7Ha mature pine plantation

• Good water supply reticulated to troughs

• 4 stand woolshed and yards

• 5 bedroom home with stunning views in need of renovating

For Sale By Tender

Tenders Close: 4.00pm 11th May 2023 at 56 Stafford St, Feilding.

View: Wednesday 19th & 26th April 1.30 - 3.30pm

Call for more information or to arrange a time to view.

Richard Anderson 027 543 1610 richard@rals.co.nz

Robert Dabb 027 255 3992 robert@rals.co.nz

• 188.36ha spray irrigated dairy farm with Authorised Land Use allowing for 750 cows Four dwellings including 4 bedroom homestead 54 bail rotary shed, ACR's, Protrack, PK system

• Sheds, grain & PKE silo's, cattle yards, workshop

• Tidy herd available, young stock, winter grazing options 1965 MHV shares to be purchased with farm over/above purchase price by neg plus GST Aggressive pricing $44,850/ha for a prompt

pggwre.co.nz/ASH37617

FARM MANAGER

Tapuaetahi Incorporation seeks a full-time working Farm Manager to lead its two Angus and Angus Wagyu cross breeding and finishing Farms. Predominately closed herd, spring calving, breeding and finishing for Firstlight Foods, 170 Angus cows plus replacements on 316 effective ha. Intensive capital development and production improvement completed along with Environmental Farm plans. Easy and simple operation. The challenge for the leader we are seeking is raising the IMF in the Dam genetics to achieve high marbling beef. We offer good pay for the role with bonuses and a choice of two renovated dwellings – a 2-bedroom cottage or 4-bedroom family house.

Easy and flexible hours (47.5hrs) this is a lifestyle job set in the beautiful Bay of Islands with great schools, 20 minutes away from Kerikeri or Pahia.

For more information and application details, see our listing in Trade me https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/jobs/agriculture-fishing-forestry/farming/ northland/far-north/full-time/listing/4071227073

Or request an application pack from mariao@tapuaetahi.com

Applications close on Sunday 23 April 2023

Assistant Herd Manager – NSW, Australia

A BIT ABOUT PARBERY PASTORAL – Parbery Pastoral is a progressive and well-resourced fourth generation family-owned dairy farm, located in Candelo, in the stunning Bega Valley, NSW. The business is founded on strong family values and has a culture of retaining some longterm employees and ensuring cows are maintained in good condition year-round. The owners recognise that times are changing, and they are evolving and modernising the way they operate their 2000acre/1097ha, 750-900 cow dairy farm business. Equipped with the latest, cuttingedge technology, including a state of the art 60-unit rotolactor with automatic cup removers and individual feeds. Parbery Pastoral are committed to producing high-quality dairy products, whilst upholding the highest standards of herd care.

THE OPPORTUNITY – This is your opportunity to demonstrate your leadership skills in a staff management role, where at times, you will be leading and delegating tasks daily to the team. As the Assistant Herd Manager, you will work closely with the wider team and the farm owners to support the Herd Manager, who is your direct report, in all aspects of the farming operation. Every 4 weeks there is an on-farm meeting, and a nutritionist is involved with the cow feeding regime, providing for great professional development. You will assist with milking and bringing in the cows as well as helping with the AI and pregnancy testing and will be required to assist with calving, administering lame cow remedies and mastitis detection and treatment. This role is varied and requires you to have a good understanding of the workings of the dairy shed and the ability to help with the maintenance and general infrastructure of the dairy platform.

A BIT ABOUT YOU – We seek to appoint an Assistant Herd Manager who can demonstrate a love for animals and the dairy industry along with the below:

• Strong animal health and husbandry skills

• AI ticket or experience

• Being a strong team player with good leadership skills

• Having strong verbal and written communication abilities

• Honesty, punctuality, and good time management

• Diligent in upholding workplace health and safety procedures

• Maintaining cleanliness and food safety standards

• Some experience in a rotary shed would be beneficial and is ideally preferred

ON OFFER – Along with an excellent remuneration package this position comes with a very tidy, modern 3-bedroom brick home with a wood fire, air conditioning unit, and a lockable garage. Parbery Pastoral have a great reputation for retaining staff and thinking of their employee’s wellbeing which is reflected in their 10 - 4 roster system giving you every second weekend off –who wouldn’t want a four-day weekend! The nearest town of Bega (25 minutes NE) has access to schools, healthcare facilities and excellent shopping centres. The location offers popular coastal beaches within 25-minutes.

To request a Job Information Form and/or APPLY please email the Rural Directions Team at recruitment@ruraldirections.co.nz (Ref# 1058360). Applications close Sunday 30th April 2023 –Only job seekers who are entitled to Australian working rights will be eligible for this role.

MOWER MASTER TOWABLE MOWERS

Livestock & Cropping Manager

Rakaia Island Limited is a large-scale family owned dairy and dry stock operation that is dedicated to farming for the future, being at the forefront of innovation and efficiency and promoting a culture of continuous learning.

Rakaia Island milks 4700 cows across four dairy units, with 427 hectares of dry stock land fully supporting the dairy business.

The Livestock and Cropping Manager role is a newly created position taking overall accountability of ensuring the health, well-being and productivity of all livestock – including drystock and calves. The Livestock and Cropping Manager will proactively plan and manage pasture, cropping, dry feed and other nutrition requirements, and together with the Calf Rearing Specialist and their team will lead the raising of all calves during the season.

The Livestock and Cropping Manager is responsible for leading a small team and ensuring collaboration and best use of resources to enhance performance and productivity. In addition to ensuring the delivery of the annual operational plan and the achievement of key performance indicators, this challenging role focuses on coaching direct reports and developing the capability and sustainability of the team.

The Livestock and Cropping Manager is supported by the Operations Manager and an administration team who share Rakaia Island’s strong and supportive family values. Rakaia Island’s culture of continuous improvement and collaboration means there is also good support across the wider business.

To succeed in this role you will:

• Be an experienced farmer with the dairy dry stock experience and the technical skill to deliver excellent results and best practice management

• Have the management and leadership skill to develop people to successfully reach their potential

• Be involved in monitoring livestock performance, using results and data to inform decision making

• Be an excellent communicator who can set expectations, share a vision, get people excited about what is on the horizon and hold them accountable for their actions

• Have experience working in a large scale dairy operation with culturally diverse teams

• Take pride in the farm presentation and the assets used as part of the role

• Be a team player, able to collaborate, build successful relationships, share knowledge and information and contribute positively to the wider business

• Have a commitment to high standards of health and safety, animal welfare, and environmental management

We offer a competitive remuneration package which includes health insurance, an Employee Assistance Programme, weekday lunches, wellness assessments and flu jabs, discounted purchases from rural supplies stores. A tidy three-bedroom home is available for the Livestock and Cropping Manager and their family with school bus not far from the gate.

A full position description for this role can be viewed on our website www.rakaiaisland.co.nz/careers

If you possess the passion, drive and competency required for this role and are drawn by the opportunity to make a difference to this successful family-owned New Zealand business, submit your resume and cover letter by email careers@rakaiaisland.co.nz.

Applications close Wednesday 26th April.

SHARE FARMING or LEASE OPTION

For up to 82 mixed age Angus breeding cows

18x R2 heifers, 22x R3 cows, 42x R6 cows

Mid September calving.

Due to sale of farm I present a very quiet natured, well established mob of foothill country Angus Cows. Sire bulls are Kakahu and Te Mania breeding. Relocation of cattle needs to be around 1st June 2023.

I’m also looking for an experienced senior stock position and have a competent team of working dogs in tow.

Currently based mid-South Island but open to opportunities through all South Island and lower half of North Island.

Email di.tim@farmside.co.nz

Phone

HIGH COUNTRY JOURNEYS

Drive from station to station and experience the majestic South Island High Country

SURI ALPACA HERD FOR SALE

2 BED HOUSE TO GO

Diversify into alpacas

After many years of breeding, this high quality herd is regretfully on the market. 55 breeding females, 4 stud males & young stock.

All animals IAR registered.

Phone Paul 027 320 0373 or Jan 027 417 3162

Ph

ANIMAL HANDLING

FLY OR LICE problem? Electrodip – the magic eye sheepjetter since 1989 with unique self adjusting sides. Incredible chemical and time savings with proven e ectiveness. Phone 07 573 8512 www.electrodip.com

FARM FOR SALE

WAIRARAPA SHEEP AND beef farm for private sale. 25 mins east of Masterton. 445ha approx. Two woolsheds with covered yards and a ve-bedroom home. Contact Richard Johns 027 307 8182.

FARM MAPPING

ACCURATE AND PRACTICAL farm maps showing area sizes of paddocks and vegetation. Visit farmmapping.co.nz or phone 0800 433 855 for a free quote.

FARM WANTED TO BUY

SHEEP AND BEEF farm wanted to buy. 200-500 ha, Manawatu/Wanganui, Tararua or Wairarapa areas. Our rst farm purchase. Call for a no obligation con dential chat. Brent Cuttance. 021 108 5445.

GIBB-GRO

GROWTH PROMOTANT

PROMOTES QUICK

PASTURE growth. Only $6.50+gst per hectare delivered. 0508-GIBBGRO [0508 442 247] www. gibbgro.co.nz. “The Proven One.”

The West Coast Wanderer. This new 7-day tour explores all the hidden secrets of the wild west coast. (Limited spaces still available for April/May 2023 season)

South Island High Country Grand Slam. Self drive your own 4WD from Blenheim to Cardona in Central Otago through a network of high country tracks including Molesworth on this 7 day 8 night tour. (Now taking bookings for 2024 season)

Both these tours are; Fully guided with radio contact; Fully catered and stay in very comfortable lodge and farmstays; Made up of smaller tour groups (7-9 vehicles) and travel at a quieter pace.

NOW TAKING BOOKINGS FOR 2024 SEASON

Contact John Mullholland Phone 027 228 8152 • RANFURLY info@highcountryjourneys.co.nz www.highcountryjourneys.co.nz

SCOTTY’S CONTRACTORS

We dig out and remetal cattle yards & calf sheds. Also specialising in silt removal

ANIMAL AND HUMAN healer, also manipulation on horses and dogs. Kaikōura/ Blenheim, 17th-19th April. Nelson/Murchison, 20th -21st April. Westport / Greymouth / Culverden, 22nd-23rd April. Phone Ron Wilson 027 435 3089.

CRAIGCO SHEEP JETTERS. Sensor Jet. Deal to y and Lice now. Guaranteed performance. Unbeatable pricing. Phone 06 835 6863. www.craigcojetters.com

ATTENTION DAIRY FARMERS

COWSHED PAINTER AVAILABLE. Experienced. Old and new sheds. Herringbone and Rotary. Southland / Otago. In Waimate district mid to late April. Phone 027 517 9908 or email: raymond.d@ slingshot.co.nz

BIRDS/POULTRY

PULLETS HY-LINE brown, great layers. 07 824 1762. Website: eurekapoultryfarm. weebly.com – Have fresh eggs each day!!!

DOGS FOR SALE

4-YEAR-OLD SMITHFIELD Huntaway X. $1500 or near o er. Phone 027 788 8115. BOP. BUYING / SELLING. Huntaways. Heading dogs. Deliver NZ wide. https:// www.youtube.com/@ mikehughesworkingdog 07 315 5553. TOP BLOODLINES. Heading pups guaranteed. Phone Dave Andrews 027 450 6095. WELL BRED young Heading and Huntaway pups and young dogs ready to start work. Phone 027 243 8541.

MONK BRED HUNTAWAY pups. Impressive bloodlines, Manawatu area. Phone 027 446 2159.

LEASE LAND WANTED

DAIRY OR GRAZING. Rangitīkei / Manawatū through to HB. Regenerative farming practiced. Open to developing land in partnership. Phone Michael 027 223 6156.

RAMS FOR SALE

WILTSHIRES-ARVIDSON. Self shearing sheep. No1 for Facial Eczema. David 027 2771 556.

RURAL MASSAGE

RELAXING FULL BODY massage in rural Ohaupo. Unwind. De-stress. www. ruralmassage.co.nz or call 027 529 5540.

SHEEP SCANNING AVAILABLE

SERVICING SOUTH WAIKATO, King Country, Ruapehu, Taihape areas. Eleven years experience, NZ & UK. Fully Pneumatic, 3 Way drafting, EID available. No mob too big or small. Wet/dry to Triplet and foetal ageing. Phone for prices and availability 027 479 4918.

GOATS WANTED

GOATS WANTED. All weights. All breeds. Prompt service. Payment on pick up. My on farm prices will not be beaten. Phone David Hutchings 07 895 8845 or 0274 519 249. Feral goats mustered on a 50/50 share basis.

HORTICULTURE

NZ KELP. FRESH, wild ocean harvested giant kelp. The world’s richest source of natural iodine. Dried and milled for use in agriculture and horticulture. Growth promotant / stock health food. As seen on Country Calendar. Orders to: 03 322 6115 or info@nzkelp.co.nz

BOOK AN AD. For only $2.30 + gst per word you can book a word only ad in Farmers Weekly Classi eds section. Phone Debbie on 0800 85 25 80 to book in or email wordads@agrihq. co.nz

SAWN SHED TIMBER including Black Maire. Matai, Totara and Rimu etc. Also buying salvaged native logs. Phone Richard Uren. NZ Native Timber Supplies. Phone 027 688 2954.

WHAT’S SITTING IN your barn? Don’t leave it to rust away! We pay cash for tractors, excavators, small crawler tractors and surplus farm machinery. Ford –Ferguson – Hitachi – Komatsu – John Deere and more. Tell us what you have no matter where it is in NZ. You never know.. what’s resting in your barn could be fattening up your wallet! Email admin@ loaderparts.co.nz or phone Colin on 0274 426 936 (No texts please)

Follow us

folks (wheelchair friendly) or really spoil your workers.

WAITARA STATION

ON-FARM LAMB SALE

Lloyd & Sonia Holloway & Family, 348 Brooks Road, Te Pohue

Thursday 20th April 2023

11am viewing 12pm start

Approximate tallies:

• 2500 Perendale Wether lambs

• 2500 Perendale Capital Stock Ewe lambs

Auctioneers note:

Quality line of late September born hill country lambs. Waitara Station have decided to sell ALL their ewe lambs this season due to recent weather events. Brickell’s bred (Otio) selected for growth, structural soundness and survival. All lambs are undrafted, with excellent stock health. Renowned for their shifting ability.

Farmed on property rising up to 4200 feet above sea level.

Antibiotic free.

HINEURU PROPERTY LTD

C/- Anaru & Winnie Harmer

• 1500 MS Romdale Texel x Store lambs

Auctioneers note:

Quality late October born East Coast high country lambs with excellent health. Lambs renowned for shifting and eligible for Anti-biotic free progams.

FAP property.

Contact: Sam Wright Duke Loe 027 247 9035 021 363 755

PGG Wrightson Hazlett Ltd

Thursday 18th May 2023

Upcoming Auctions

FIND A BULL SALE NEAR YOU

network, our team of Genetics Specialists have more contacts, more reach and more market influence.

OUTSTANDING HERD & IN CALF HEIFER AUCTION NORTHLAND

A/C Footehills Farms (Peter & Trixie Foote)

Due to the sale of their dairy platform, our vendors Peter & Trixie Foote have entrusted Link Livestock with the dispersal auction of their outstanding 360 cow herd & CRL of 130 I/C Heifers.

Herd Auction Friday 21st April 2023

947 Kokopu Road, Kokopu, Whangarei Dairy # 13038

On Farm & Online with Starting 10.30am

In-Calf Heifer/Carryover Auction Friday 12th May 2023

70 Worsnop Road, Ruatangata West, Whangarei

On Farm & Online with Starting 11.30 am

DETAILS:

HERD 360 XBred mixed age cows, including 21x High BW Empties and 7 x contract mated cows

BW 279, PW 351 with 100% reliability

All cows G3 profiled & A2/A2 tested, (60% confirmed A2/A2), R/A 100% Calving from 8th July 2023

Production 21/22 1330ms/Ha, 420ms/cow, System 3 SCC 125,000

I/C HEIFERS CRL of 130 in-calf heifers, BW 362, PW 361 (includes 8 contract mated heifers)

All heifers G3 parentage verified & A2/A2 tested, (75% confirmed A2/A2)

Calving to AB, tailed with Jersey bull from 29th June 2023

10 x owner bred carryover cows, BW 308, PW 394, Calving to AB from 1st July 2023

8 x R3 owner bred carryover heifers, BW 259, PW 280, Calving from 6th July 2023 to Hereford Bulls

OPEN DAY FOR VIEWING

Heifers: Monday, 1st May 10am – 12pm

DELIVERY: Herd to be auctioned in-milk, immed delivery. Purchased cows can be left on farm by arrangement & at purchasers risk for purchasers without access to farms until 1st June 2023. Heifers immed delivery or later by arrangement & at purchasers risk for purchasers without access to farms until a later date.

PAYMENT TERMS: Deferred until 1 June 2023, payment to Link Livestock

AUCTIONEERS NOTE: An outstanding opportunity to purchase from one of the Norths best herds. Peter & Trixie have devoted their farming career to breeding cows with type, production, fertility & work ethic, & this herd, their end result is a huge credit to their efforts.

These are must attend auctions for anyone requiring cows or heifers that tick all the boxes

CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Link Livestock Agents

Vendor Agent Grant Aiken Ph 027 245 8821 • Northland Agent Cory Bellamy Ph 021 113 1968

pggwrightson/bull-sales

fb.com/pgwlivestock

Head Agent Stewart Cruickshank Ph 027 270 5288 www.linklivestock.co.nz

Livestock

STOCK FOR SALE

1600 MA ROMNEY FE Tol EWES

1800 2nd CUT ROMNEY EWES

BOTH LINES NO RAM

Property going to pines, isolated due to Gabrielle Priced to sell

STOCK REQUIRED

MALE ENTIRE LAMBS 33-38kg

EWE LAMBS 32-36kg

18MTH BEEF BRED HEIFERS 350-440kg

FRIESIAN & FRIESIAN CROSS INMILK COWS SELECTED ON EYE, GREAT CONDITION, LOW SCC

A/c Waikato Dairy Ltd

Date: Thursday 27th April

Address: 850 Whatawhata Road, Hamilton

D/N 73081

COMPLETE DISPERSAL LIVESTOCK & MACHINERY DEFERRED PAYMENTS 01/07/2023

A/c Thompson Company Farms (2008) Ltd

Wednesday 26th April

75 Barclay Road, RD 21, Stratford

Machinery 10.30am, Cows 11.00am will be available for online bidding

COMPRISING:

165 x I/M Crossbred M/A I/C Dairy Cows

DETAILS:

35 YEARS OF BREEDING & TOP PRODUCTION COWS & FARM MACHINERY AUCTION

A/c Wells Partnership S & A Wells

Date: Thursday 20th April

Location: 349 Rotokare Road, RD 18 Eltham D/N 40512

Start: Farm Machinery 10am, Livestock 10.45am, BBQ Lunch Provided

DETAILS:

www.dyerlivestock.co.nz

Ross Dyer 0274 333 381

A Financing Solution For Your Farm

R3YR ANGUS & A X STEERS 500-600kg E info@rdlfinance.co.nz

SALE TALK

A police officer got tired of being a cop and decided to become a lumberjack. But before he could pursue his new career, he had to pass a woodcutting exam. The master lumberjack gave him the task of cutting down 40 trees with a chainsaw in one month. The police officer looked at the chainsaw for a while and then started cutting down the first tree. After 30 days, the master lumberjack came back to check on his progress. The police officer replied that he had been working from sunrise to sunset every day, but had only managed to cut down 16 trees. The master was surprised considering that he could cut down 40 trees in a day, so he decided to demonstrate the proper technique for cutting down trees. When they arrived at a tree, the master started the chainsaw, and the police officer sighed. ‘Oh, you’re supposed to turn it on!’

Here at Farmers Weekly we get some pretty funny contributions to our Sale Talk joke from you avid readers, and we’re keen to hear more!

If you’ve got a joke you want to share with the farming community (it must be something you’d share with your grandmother...) then email us at: saletalk@agrihq.co.nz with Sale Talk in the subject line and we’ll print it and credit it to you.

Conditions apply

Purebred registered Speckle Park females

Start Time: 11.30am will be available for online bidding

COMPRISING:

230 x Friesian & Friesian Cross Mixed Age In-Milk Cows

DETAILS:

• BW137 PW168 RA80%

• DTC 15/07/23, 6 weeks AB LIC, Frsn to Frsn, Jersey to Xbred – 5 days Hereford, then tailed with Jersey Bulls removed 30/12/22. One herd test 06/03/23, 340 M/S, SCC 77,000

• Herringbone Cow Shed, BVD Bulk Milk tested, Lepto Vaccinated July 23, TB C10

AUCTIONEERS NOTE:

230 Cows selected on eye from 370 cow herd. Herd OAD from calving for 8 weeks, then twice a day until 20/12, then OAD again. Vetted to dates.

DELIVERY/PAYMENT TERMS:

14 days from sale unless prior arrangements were made.

Immediate delivery, or for those without farm access the cows can stay on farm and will be dried off.

CARRFIELDS LIVESTOCK AGENT:

Matt Hancock 027 601 3787 matthew.hancock@carrfields.co.nz

On A/c J & S Webster (Waiau Trust)

Ohanga Road, Onaero

Friday 5th May 11:30am

Comprising 73 High Index Incalf Dairy Cattle Ave BW276 PW360

27 x Frsn & F/x Incalf Heifers

D.T.C from 23rd July having 4 weeks AI nominated XBD & Jsy sires, tailed with Jsy Bull.

Heifers BWs up to 446

40 x Frsn & F/x Incalf Cows

D.T.C from 24/7 having 7 weeks AI to nominated Frsn & XBD sires, tailed with the Jsy Bull. Cows BWs up to 451 PWs up to 786

On A/c D Croot & S Cookson (Clovalley Farms)

6 x Frsn & F/x Heifers Ave BW201

D.T.C from 15th July to AI XBD nominated bulls. Offering includes 17 LIC & CRV contract matings.

All cattle have C10 status and lepto vaccinated. Payment 22nd May 2023 or finance available on prior arrangement.

Grazing available till 1st June 2023

•

•

This sale will be livestreamed through Bidr. For catalogues contact: tania.johns@nzfll.co.nz simon.payne@nzfll.co.nz

Vendor Jim Webster 027 414 0563

BW 177 PW 216. Producing 420M/S on feed system 3, 4 x HT programme, SCC avg 136,000. TB C10 Lepto Vacc & BM BVD tested.

MACHINERY LIST: Case tractor 1070U Mini Loader & bucket, Soft arm grabs, Giltrap trailer 5 tonne, 1992 Hilux Ute (warranted), Burkhart bale feeder, 2 x PKE troughs, Walco spreader, McKee calf milk vat, 2700 s/s milk vat, 6mt boom sprayer & tank, Plate meter EC09, Bike TRX500, Calferteria Stallion 40 teat, 2 x Wastenot feeders, Welder, Electric Fence reels & standards in top condition and other farm sundries.

AUCTIONEERS NOTE: New to market, giving purchases the opportunity to buy cows that will move. A free milking crossbred herd farmed in challenging climatic conditions at altitude 1600ft, rainfall 4.0+ meters. Due to farm sale this herd comes to auction. Note special terms.

SPECIAL TERMS: Sold for immediate delivery however grazing available by prior arrangement with vendors or vendors agent until 31/05/23 for purchases that don’t have access to property. Grazed cows will be dried off within a few days of sale and at the option/cost of the purchasers dry cow will be administered by Stratford Vets.

DELIVERY: Delivery

250 x high production (480+ m/s) in-milk Fr/ FrX M/A dairy cows with a BW191 and PW224. Vetted to date calving from 1st August, 4 weeks AB using LIC Friesian A2 team then tailed with PB Angus removed 31/12/22. Herringbone Cowshed, 3 herd tests, TB C10, BVD tested and Leptod.

AUCTIONEERS NOTE:

A privilege to bring to auction this outstanding Dairy Herd that has never been offered to market. Steve & Astrid have put 35yrs worth of time/breeding into establishing this exceptional herd full of production. Cows you can purchase with confidence that perform.

MACHINERY LIST:

John Deere 6430 with Stoll front end loader, bucket & forks 3220hrs, Lely centre pivot 2.8m mower, Fell 5204 tedder, Suzuki 750 quad, Suzuki DR200, Topper mower, Grantway 9m3 feedout wagon, Burkhart bale buggy 3ptl, Vogal 3ptl top dresser, Farm tip trailer, Hustler soft arms, PZ haybob, Midi scoop, Cambridge roller, Car trailer 1200x2400, Colostrum drums 1000L & 1500L, 2 x PKE trailers, 2 x Calf trailers, 2 x 32 Teat cafeterias, AB Bank & equipment, and Farm Sundries.

DELIVERY/PAYMENT TERMS:

Deferred payment to 1st June 2023

Sold for immediate delivery however grazing is available by prior arrangement with the vendors or agent till 1st June for those that do not have access to property.

COMPLETE FARM CLEARING SALE

LIC Cows, Incalf Heifers, Weaners & Machinery

On A/c Mabin Family Trust

Thursday 27th April 2023 D/N 43452

Machinery 10am Sharp

Livestock 11:30am

Comprising 215 Dairy Cattle

135 x F/x Cows BW190 PW226

39 x In calf F/x Heifers BW247 PW276

41 Weaner F/x Heifers BW255 PW287

Due to calve from 23rd July 2023, C10 status, Lepto vaccinated, BVD vat tested clear, SCC average 101,000 Rec Anc Rel 92%

Machinery Comprising Iseki Tractor, MF 135 Tractor, MF245 Tractor, John Deere 507SE, Pearson Forks, Front End Loader - Iseki Tractor and many other farm sundries.

Auctioneers Note

NZFLL are honoured to offer at auction the complete dispersal of machinery & livestock that has never been offered to the open market. This LIC XBD herd has been together on the family farm for over 70+years. These cows are run on a basic grass system with maize fed in Autumn. Cows will come forward in excellent condition and will still be in milk on OAD, trucking from the 28th of April or for new farm owners and shifting sharemilkers cows can stay on till 31 May 2023.

If you’re after genuine great shifting XBD cows this is an auction not to be missed. It will be streaming on MyLiveStock.co.nz so register today. Luncheon will be available on the day.

Free Credit until 22 May 2023 with finance available by prior arrangement. Catalogue’s available on MyLiveStock.co.nz or Tania 06 765 6179 or tania.johns@nzfll.co.nz

Agent Simon Payne 027 241 4585 simon.payne@nzfll.co.nz

Dairy Co-Ordinator Steve Quinnell 027 552 3514

NZ braced for knock-on from Aussie cattle kill

After two years in which New Zealand was, for a change, a bigger supplier than Australia of beef to the United States, the kill across the Tasman has been steadily climbing, ramping up anxieties about sharper competition for NZ beef in several markets.

Beef and sheep

AS EXPECTED, Australia’s weekly cattle kill has been ramping up this year. Having generally showed weekto-week gains since the beginning of 2023, the eastern states’ kill reached 113,900 head during the first week of April. This is the highest since December 2020.

Year to date, a total of 1.28 million cattle have been slaughtered in the eastern states, 247,000 more than in the same period last year.

The higher kill pushed Australia’s March beef export volume to 99,000t, 33% higher than a year earlier, and the highest monthly export volume in more than three years.

China, the United States and

South Korea each took an extra 6000-7000t of Aussie beef, compared to March 2022 – although March 2022 was a particularly low month for beef production in Australia, as processors were battling covid and staff shortages, and were in the midst of herd rebuilding.

It’s too early to tell if Australian beef exports will meet Meat and Livestock Australia’s projected 1.014 million tonnes this year. If they can continue at March’s pace it is achievable, but April is expected to be a low production month due to the number of public holidays.

If Australia’s beef exports can lift back up to 2018-2019 levels of over 1 million tonnes, this means more competition for New Zealand beef in both the US and Asian markets.

This year Japan has been the largest export market for

Australian beef, taking 22% of exports, followed by China and South Korea, which have each taken 20%. The US is in fourth place with a 17% market share. Historically, the US has been a larger market for Australia. However, for the past two years, with Australia being in a rebuild phase and the US in a liquidation phase, Australia’s beef exports to the US declined.

That meant NZ became the larger beef supplier to the US of the two countries, whereas as it was only in that 2019 Australia’s sales into the US were more than double what NZ supplied.

As the Australian cow kill is expected to start rebounding this year, the US will more than likely become a bigger market for Australia again, which will lead to NZ beef facing more competition, likely limiting the prices we are able to receive to an extent.

Some of this will be contingent on how much extra beef China is willing to take from Australia. Earlier this year the relationship between Australia and China was beginning to thaw after a spat between the two countries led to some beef plants being delisted from accessing the Chinese market

Last year, Australia and the US combined provided almost 80% of Japan’s 560,000t beef imports, both supplying around the same amount.

If weather conditions allow, the US is expected to move into a herd rebuilding phase within the next 18 months. This is expected to limit US beef production and beef exports, and Australia will be in the position to fill the gap into Japan. Japan is a smaller market for NZ; it has taken just 6% of NZ beef exports so far this season. While Australia’s successful

The relationship between Australia and China is beginning to thaw after a spat between the two countries led to some beef plants being de-listed from accessing the Chinese market.

herd rebuild has provided a boost to exports, the lift in bookings at the processors has put downward pressure on slaughter prices. The lower slaughter prices, along with an increase in younger cattle at the saleyards, have impacted store cattle prices as well. This week the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator was sitting at AU$6.84/ kgCW, down AU$2.17/kg, or 24%, on where it was at the start of 2023.

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JAPAN: This year Japan has been the largest export market for Australian beef, taking 22% of exports. Japan is a smaller market for NZ, having taken just 6% of NZ beef exports so far this season.

Hayley O’Driscoll MARKETS

Weekly saleyards

Weaner fairs and calf sales continue to be the focus at many saleyards. Temuka’s Mackenzie section offers up the biggest volume of calves per yarding across all the Temuka calf sales, and this year 2225-head were penned, up from just over 2000 last year. Repeat buyers, mainly from Canterbury, supported the market, while a smaller portion of the calves headed to northern South Island regions and to the North Island.

Cattle Sheep Deer

Fertiliser

NOTE: Slaughter values are weighted average gross operating prices including premiums but excluding breed premiums for cattle.

Forestry

Dairy

Grain

Close of market

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Balmy sub-tropical air and a spot of chaos

Philip Duncan NEWS Weather

OUR forecast for April’s weather pattern was one of “chaos” and that sure seems to be the case with thunderstorms, downpours, damaging squalls and even a tornado or two.

On top of that, much of New Zealand has had a lot of exceptionally mild airflows, especially over the North Island. Temperatures have been well above normal and this week is no different as high pressure parks itself out to our east and encourages airflow from the subtropics to spread down.

Overnight lows in some parts of the South Island this week will be in the double digits. For example in Alexandra, Central Otago, normally the middle

Highlights this week:

• Warmer than average this week across most, if not all, of New Zealand

• A storm in the tropics is possible. At the time of writing it posed no threat to NZ

• A change this weekend to westerlies

• Next week looks colder and windier across NZ due to Southern Ocean lows and snow on the ranges

of April would be seeing regular frosts showing up – but the overnight lows there this week will be between 10degC and 13degC and daytime highs in the low 20s.

Other parts of NZ may well have highs in the mid 20s due to the mild airflow.

Southerners haven’t had as much warm weather as Northerners have had lately, but this week will put almost every region on the same page up until about Friday, when the next colder Southern Ocean change starts to arrive.

While this week feels like La Niña, we’re not in a La Niña anymore. With this month being one of chaos, as much as this week is a warmer-than-average sub-tropical week, next week is shaping up to be the opposite. Northerly to northeasterly airflows will shift west to southwesterly and by the middle of next week much of NZ will be under a classic windier sou’wester, which looks to go nationwide.

This set-up will encourage rain to lean in to places where you’d expect – Fiordland, south Westland and the western side of the North Island. Those in the east are likely to have drier conditions and lower rainfall totals.

The chaos goes well beyond NZ’s weather. To give you an example of the Jekyll and Hyde hot tap/cold tap set-up we have in April, just look to NZ’s north

and south. This week the tropics to our north are the most active they’ve been since February when Cyclone Gabrielle formed. Modelling indicates a tropical storm or cyclone is possible this week – but one update shows Queensland being hit, the next update more the Cook Islands (that’s a big difference!). Either way it shows tropical life to the north of NZ this week is worth monitoring. Next week, we may well have two storms in the Southern Ocean that brush over NZ bringing colder, windier, weather more typical with mid-autumn as we slide towards winter.