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Opinion
FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – June 20, 2022
EDITORIAL
All eyes trained on Taratahi plan
F
INDING a workable resolution to the liquidation of the Taratahi Agricultural Centre looks complicated. As we report this week, the High Court has ruled that the liquidators can sell the former training centre’s 294ha farm to release funds and repay creditors. Such a move requires ministerial approval, but the court decision has opened a pandora’s box. Like much of New Zealand’s infrastructure, Taratahi was built on the goodwill and sacrifice of the community, in this case the people of Wairarapa, who 100 years ago gifted land and raised money to establish a farm training centre. A fall in enrolments in 2016, 2017 and 2018 prompted the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) to demand a refund when enrolment targets weren’t met. This pushed Taratahi, which had borrowed to invest in infrastructure to remain current as a farm entity and a farm training centre, into liquidation. That move has raised questions about the actions of the TEC given Taratahi was not the only vocational training provider struggling for enrolments and financial viability. Certainly, creditors deserve to be paid, but the potential sale of the land has raised concerns from the descendants of those who gifted the land about the violation of property rights and from the Wairarapa and farming communities who want and need a vocational training centre. A potential solution could lie in the Telford farm training campus in South Otago. The Balclutha centre had only become part of Taratahi shortly before it went into liquidation, after which Telford became part of the Southland Institute of Technology. Comments from the Beehive are so far reassuring. Agriculture Minister Damian O’Connor says Taratahi is an important part of New Zealand’s agricultural education history and he is committed to securing sustainable agricultural education at the centre. What that looks like is so far unknown. But those in Wairarapa and descendants of the families who gifted the land will be hoping the Government will be more understanding than the Ministry of Education. It took, without consultation or compensation, a 13ha farm gifted 30 years ago by the community to the Taihape Area School, which is now in the Treaty of Waitangi settlement landbank.
Neal Wallace
LETTERS
Right motives, wrong plan on emissions IT IS with great concern that our primary producing representatives have sold out the nation’s future by cuddling up to the Ardernled Government with the He Waka Eke Noa proposal. Where is their collective intestinal fortitude and backbone to stand up and say no to this ridiculous concept of taxing food production and a large proportion of our foreign exchange earning ability? All New Zealanders will feel the pain and heartache from this short-sightedness going forward into the future. Ultimately it looks like they wanted the desire to be used like “useful idiots” by James Shaw and the current Ardern regime. They are not meant to be Government lap dogs, they
are meant to be standing up and fighting for their respective industry and for their levy payers or members that fund their (primary producers) organisations and pay their salaries. When the pushback comes from the everyday primary producers to this madness the Government will throw it back at them that their industry representatives agreed to this illogical and obtuse proposal for proposed legislation. But this madness will result in poorer outcomes for the environment as New Zealand farmers and growers reduce production, for it will only end up with less efficient countries filling the void, with the absent of New Zealand’s efficient management and farming systems.
Now I totally agree that we as primary producers need to continue to strive to be the best and most efficient food producers in the world, while always wanting to maintain and improve the environment in which we operate and work with. However, the net effect of this self-designed emissions tax (poorly disguised as an opportunity) will be an increase in global emissions, a mass acceleration of land use change to pine trees, further intensification and heightened increases in the price of pasture-raised food. Scott Adams Marlborough
Easy pickings after dark I AM fascinated by the
article about the wallabies at Rotorua. More than 20 years ago I had a job that took me to the TV transmitter site for Rotorua. Access was by a track that went through a Soil Conservation Society Reserve or something like that. It was after dark when I finished. I was astonished by the many wallabies the headlights lit up in this area. I could not understand why control measures were not being taken because hunting would have been easy. Are the wallabies coming home to roost because too little has been done for too long? Leyland Benson Canterbury
Letterof theWeek EDITOR Bryan Gibson 06 323 1519 bryan.gibson@globalhq.co.nz EDITORIAL Carmelita Mentor-Fredericks editorial@globalhq.co.nz Neal Wallace 03 474 9240 neal.wallace@globalhq.co.nz Annette Scott 021 908 400 annette.scott@globalhq.co.nz Hugh Stringleman 09 432 8594 hugh.stringleman@globalhq.co.nz Gerald Piddock 027 486 8346 gerald.piddock@globalhq.co.nz Richard Rennie 07 552 6176 richard.rennie@globalhq.co.nz Nigel Stirling 021 136 5570 nigel.g.stirling@gmail.com
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