36 minute read
Group to set beef’s priorities
ASPIRATIONS: Roundtable for Sustainable Beef inaugural chairman Grant Bunting says it has some lofty goals but those who know him will know that if he is involved there needs to be practical, achievable actions.
Grant Bunting never thought he would become so passionate about sustainability but says the sustainability challenge cannot be ignored if New Zealand producers want to improve their standing on the world stage. He talked to Annette Scott.
GRANT Bunting The roundtable was launched many industry stakeholders as all-inclusive practice happening based proteins and afforestation. has long had a in November on the back of the possible represented. globally. The founding members are genuine interest in growing importance the world “A united industry is a stronger “We need producers to be part Anzco, Beef + Lamb, Greenlea farming systems and puts on being able to spell out industry, which, in turn, benefits of the solution so the focus now is Premier Meats, Fonterra, practices but new sustainability credentials across those involved today and in the to get producers engaging. McDonalds, Silver Fern Farms, and evolving industry challenges the supply chain. future.” “We have positive support to World Wildlife Fund for Nature have somewhat changed his It is about beef industry Roundtables have been date and a membership drive and farmers. AgResearch joined outlook. stakeholders working together to functional in several countries is due to kick off to promote earlier this year.
The inaugural chairman of the position NZ as a leading producer for some time and Bunting membership and demonstrate the “The NZRSB, which is aligned recently formed New Zealand of beef that is safe and produced has experienced it in action in benefit of leveraging partnerships. to the Global Roundtable for Roundtable for Sustainable Beef in a way that is environmentally Canada. “It’s not about us taking a Sustainable Beef, differs from said the growing importance sound, socially responsible and “Canada has been held up as position. other organisations active in the world puts on sustainability economically viable. an example of just how successful “It’s about us learning what this space because its members credentials across the supply “Countries around the world it can be and that success comes people want to understand in span the supply chain so we can chain has changed many a view. want their beef to be recognised from being producer-led, as it is relation to their farming systems, take a more holistic approach to
“I have to admit I am quite as the best. in Canada. such as the Emissions Trading implementing the standards that traditional in my views but these “While it’s early days for NZ Scheme, what it is it they want to will help us achieve the vision of sustainability challenges can’t be we do have a handful of good understand about ETS? NZ beef being recognised as the ignored. “To fight against them will We need to ensure producers in discussions with us and it is the plan for the NZRSB to “It’s then about providing good, factual, accurate information.” world’s most sustainable beef,” Bunting said. achieve nothing. we not only keep up be producer-led. From the NZ perspective there Anyone from the supply chain “I am more passionate now about sustainability than I would ever have thought I would be and with other countries but we want to be world “It has been industry-supported to get it off the ground but to be successful we need producers on is a handful of priority issues to address. They include climate change can join. the fact remains it’s consumerleaders. board and leading it.” and freshwater policies, the ETS, MORE: driven and we have to play in the Bunting is confident that will regenerative agriculture, plantwww.nzsustainablebeef.co.nz game.” happen as membership is rolled
A collaborative approach is Grant Bunting out to producers in coming needed to move the beef industry from a compliance mindset. For NZ beef to maintain or improve its standing on the world Roundteable for Sustainable Beef months. Bunting, who is also Anzco Foods systems and supply general manager, expects his The NZRSB so far A STEERING group has been working to establish the with customers globally and, importantly, with the stage sustainability will need tenure as chairman will be only NZRSB since 2017. Government, academia and to evolve from compliance and regulation to a more equitable discussion where all parties involved can contribute without the need to take sides or defend a position. “The recent approach where political point-scoring results in alienating stakeholders is not conducive to a successful “We need to ensure we not only keep up with other countries but we want to be world leaders,” Bunting said. As part of that process the roundtable has defined the standards for a NZ setting and identified metrics to achieve those standards so they can be put into practice. till the incorporated society has its inaugural annual meeting in March. “Then we are hoping for it to be producer-led. That’s the ultimate objective and globally that’s the way it’s been exceptionally effective. “The perception of the roundtable, being round, Most recently it has done an independent sustainability materiality process in conjunction with the Red Meat Profit Partnership. The research was done independently in 2019 under Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to determine civil society. The work will shape how the NZ Roundtable prioritises its efforts. While the breadth of issues is significant given the scale of the beef value chain the five highest rating material sustainability issues identified by stakeholders are animal welfare and ethics, on-farm outcome,” Bunting said. “We have some lofty goals but therefore, means encompassing. sustainability issues and criteria environmental management,
“The underlying principle of those who know me will know “We want all voices around material in the NZ context. water quality and use, the roundtable philosophy is to that if I’m involved there needs to the table to get a wider collective The research canvassed transparency, measurement stimulate discussion and identify be practical, achievable actions. understanding and there’s the views of stakeholders and verification, and industry solutions that naturally fit with all “The first step is to grow the nothing novel about that. It’s across the supply chain, leadership and vision. stakeholders’ objectives.” membership so that we have as putting into practice in NZ what is
Reading the digital tea leaves
Psa, Mycoplasma bovis, covid-19 and the global financial crisis are all tumultuous events that threw industries and countries into chaos. But two AgResearch scientists are working on an artificial intelligence system that might be the fortune teller helping protect New Zealand from such disruptive events in future. They spoke to Richard Rennie.
AGRESEARCH data scientist Munir Shah and supply chain researcher Mark Wever are intent on identifying the warning signals of threats to agriculture and trade as early as possible.
They are analysing the world’s data flows using an early warning system powered by artificial intelligence in collaboration with researcher Niall O’Leary from Cork Institute of Technology in Ireland.
“If you can identify threats earlier and asses their impact both quicker and much more comprehensively you have more time to react.
“For covid-19, that would have meant, for example, that users of our system would have been able to anticipate shortages of items like face masks and disruptions in supply chains earlier. We could have taken timelier mitigative actions,” Wever said.
The work comes as the primary sector checks its footing postcovid, following on from an assortment of threats it has been forced to deal with over the past decade including Psa and Mycoplasma bovis.
The proposed early warning system could help regulators and the industry by continuously and more comprehensively scanning for risk.
They are essentially looking to read the globe’s digital tea leaves, sifting through gigabytes of data surging through global information outlets, identifying links and relationships often too subtle to be detected through simple human observation.
Wever has a background in finance, an industry that has spent years trying to home in on market behaviour and build predictive capacity.
“But this is something of a first for the agri-sector.
“It involves breaking things down into micro, meso and macro areas and using AI to identify nonobvious patterns and relationships in data sets using machinelearning algorithms.”
At a macro level that might be scanning how regulatory institutions are doing their job, even what legislation and rules are coming into play in a certain sector.
Meantime, at a meso level it could be identifying clusters of behaviour in the supply chain, such as particularly large volumes of purchases of certain products like personal protective equipment in one part of the world.
The AI technology includes tools like natural languageprocessing algorithms capable of scanning written media like newspapers and social media posts combined with video and image processing and speech to text algorithms to efficiently dissect vast and varied data sets.
“So, you may have a system that is agri- focused but it needs to be able to look wider at financial, economic factors like all imports and exports,” Wever said.
In the case of M bovis AI scanning might have detected unusual patterns of live animal transfers or imports of farm machinery as potential risk factors early on.
Similarly, Psa infestation might have been flagged sooner by the unusually higher levels of pollen and budwood importations that ultimately were linked to the disease’s outbreak.
The work will help speed up the process by which new risk forecasting models can be developed, tested and adjusted, making them less reactive.
FORTUNE TELLER: The AI work by Mark Wever, right, and Munir Shah might help make New Zealand better able to predict and manage future diseases and incursions.
In the context of a disease outbreak that could help authorities quickly test the accuracy of existing epidemiological models in real time against latest disease spread data.
“We can identify warning signals much earlier and provide more-up-to-date measures of the system’s fragility against these risks.”
The work has been done through AgResearch in recognition NZ’s largely biologically driven export sector needs greater resilience in the face of ever-widening biosecurity and economic threats globally.
“In general people tend to deal with systemic risk in a reactive manner when that risk has already transpired,” Shah said.
It is also human nature for people to forget relatively quickly after an event what needed to be learned from it and applied to avoid having to react to the next one rather than be equipped to deal with it.
The men predict the assorted crises already experienced are likely to become more frequent as countries become ever more connected and dependent on each other for trade.
Supply chain disruptions are more likely to have cross-border impacts that ripple all the way back to this part of the world.
“We can see such a system being a collaborative effort across industry with all parties contributing and benefitting from it.”
They are already in the early stages of having discussions with interested parties about how to take the work live. They believe it will put NZ at the global cutting edge of predictive AI capacity.
But both men are emphatic their system is not a big-brother means of controlling individual
Mark Wever AgResearch
behaviour. Rather, it is a system for preventing industry-level threats by collecting and analysing anonymised data through AI.
“Farmers, in particular, already have to submit a lot of data. We just want to use that data more efficiently to develop a more sophisticated early warning system for the benefit of them and NZ.”
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EDITORIAL Hey, let’s call it the Wool Board
IT WASN’T that long ago farmers voted against paying a wool levy. One wonders if, given the opportunity again, wool growers would do the same. Prices paid for strong wool have been on a steady descent for some years and for many sheep and beef farmers the shearing bill can be bigger than the wool cheque. This is a strange situation, given we live in a world that is increasingly aware of the detrimental environmental affects of plastics.
Just over a week ago the Government released the longawaited Wool Industry Project Action Group report. Its Vision and Action for New Zealand’s Wool Sector made three recommendations to kickstart the fibre. As well as creating a marketing investment strategy the report called for a governance and co-ordination group to implement the strategy. Sounds a bit like the Wool Board.
Various groups have been working on their own innovations and partnerships to reclaim strong wool’s rightful value and some have been very successful. In this issue you can read about Woolchemy, a New Zealand company looking to make personal protective wear and disposable nappies out of strong wool fibre. Other companies are partnering with niche clothing and footwear brands. These individual successes haven’t filtered through to wool prices across the board, however. The fact is that wool’s value has dropped in line with its unsustainable nemesis, polyester.
The tide has been turning for a while, though. People are sick of seeing plastic waste wherever they go. Drinking straws and single use plastic bags are history and that’s probably just the start. Wool’s time has been now for a few years now, the industry as a whole just hasn’t siezed it. Could a unified, strategic and bold strategy and vision finally return the fibre to value? For the sake of our farmers and the planet, let’s hope so.
Bryan Gibson
LETTERS Farming does affect ecology
AS A farmer with experience in forest ecology and management and a keen interest in the truth of New Zealand’s history I was staggered David Skiffington (June 22) should call the forest industry a leech on the public purse.
He is presumably unaware of the history of forest clearances in NZ by Maori settlers and our British farming forefathers.
In 1861 the total area of established grassland was about 70,000 hectares but by 1901 it had reached 4.5 million hectares.
Forests once covered 80% of the country. Now it’s about 23%. There is no question pastoral farming has been the principal component of our economy, despite being subsidised until the 1980s.
However, farming has had a profound impact on our ecology and in some places, land stability. The highly erodible North Island east coast, Rangitikei and other North Island catchments and the South Island high country have been flooded and eroded, stripped of the natural forest.
The poor quality of freshwater resources through nonchalant farming and fashionable nitrogen use is the latest attack on our land and water.
There have been some localised and dramatic occasions of poor forest harvesting but nothing that compares with our imperfect farming history.
If Skiffington is really interested in the truth of land use in NZ he should read Whose High Country? A history of the South Island high country of NZ by Roberta McIntyre.
Many home truths are revealed there and the real leeches become apparent.
David Field
Rotorua
Not a saviour
I AGREE with Rob Hewett (Farmers Weekly, July 13). Under the headline, Don’t be cynical, regen can sell, he sets out the reasons why New Zealand agriculture should embrace regenerative agriculture as a brand to sell our products.
But let us not confuse marketing principles with scientific principles.
NZ farmers are, in many important ways, already practicing regenerative agriculture and to use it as our marketing message has some integrity.
If that is the message that is going to get our products over the line then so be it. Good marketing.
However, if we adopt regenerative agriculture believing we will save the world we are deluding ourselves.
To claim regenerative agriculture will reduce or even eliminate the need for fertiliser contradicts science and reason.
Similarly, the claim it can mitigate climate change by increasing soil carbon stocks is implausible in our clover-based, pastoral climate system. Good science.
Dr D C Edmeades
agKnowledge
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Regen ag can’t wait for science
Janette Perrett
EACH time the Farmers Weekly arrives in the letterbox I search for articles that refer to New Zealand’s future in agriculture.
I enjoy reading Jacqueline Rowarth’s opinion page but of late I have felt a little annoyed by the stance she portrays.
Lately there was another stab at the country’s race towards regenerative farming. While the name might be new and fresh it has been in the organic sector for decades thanks to the Rodale Institute so it’s not really a new fad.
According to Rowarth NZ agriculture has always been regenerative, strip grazing the pasture, returning carbon and nutrients to the soil. The author holds all the relevant qualifications to support her article and it is obvious no one will change that.
I have been dairy farming for 45 years and have had the privilege of working on properties in Taranaki, King Country, Waikato, South Auckland and Northland. Every farm was different and had to be treated as such.
I have witnessed NZ’s conventional, industrial methods, both good and bad, mostly the latter.
I have seen the girls suffer diarrhoea while I couldn’t wait to feed them meal to bung them up. I have had to send beautiful animals to the freezing works because antibiotics weren’t going to kill the mastitis. I would shut the cows into a paddock of ryegrass up to their knees and all they wanted was out of there. Then there were the paddocks that looked like the harrows had been
LETTERS
Vote for tahr
I HAVE had much first-hand experience of tahr during years of employment with the Forest Service.
The Himalayan tahr is native to the Himalayas in southern Tibet, northern India and Nepal but is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Yet in New Zealand tahr are treated as pests – vermin to be exterminated.
While the Tahr Foundation and Deerstalkers’ Association are seeking High Court injunctions
The Pulpit
through after grazing because the herd pulled every plant out of the ground when the roots were too shallow.
I found my way out of all that in 2006 and not a minute too soon.
My health and that of my family was suffering and milking the cows had become a chore and
a bore. The fun had gone, it was getting harder and harder to get out of bed each morning.
In November 2006 I ditched all the mechanical toys, all the meal bags, truckloads of carrots, all the urea, synthetic fertilisers and chemical inputs to begin a completely new and exciting journey.
it’s worth noting Forest and Bird is too but for opposite reasons.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has been a prominent member of Forest and Bird, whose deranged, zealot-based ideology is extermination of introduced wild animals. Are not humans an introduced species too? Such is hypocrisy.
Whereas tahr, deer, wapiti, chamois and other game animals are managed population-wise overseas, NZ has crazed polices based openly or covertly, depending on species, of extermination.
DECIDED: The treatment of tahr has determined how many hunters will vote at the election.
I have never looked back but I now look over the boundary fence and see other farmers suffering like I was.
Regenerative agriculture has been taken up by a young, very passionate group of farmers who want to enjoy their land, their animals and have time for their families.
They are out there looking for the solutions themselves, alternatives to the chemical regime our peers have instilled in us.
They also know there are already farmers worldwide who have discovered those alternatives and are very successful at using them. They are starting at the same place I did but they have been able to give it a name.
It has been nearly 15 years since I turned the corner. I don’t need a degree to share my new-found discoveries.
I haven’t used antibiotics for 15 years and don’t need them. Regenerative farming doesn’t mean fewer animals. They are our composters so we need more not fewer.
I whip cream off the milk billy at any stage during the season, not just after Christmas. The dogs love eating the cowpats.
Weeds are succession plants and nature has asked them to grow for a reason so I don’t kill the messenger. The paddocks are covered with cowpats in perfect pavlova shapes all year round. Dung beetles have arrived in their thousands so we must be doing something right.
We shouldn’t be discouraging regenerative farmers, we should be learning from them and sharing knowledge.
We don’t have time to wait for scientific proof on a lot farm issues. For example, it will take
The tahr is an asset that browses snow grass and other alpine plants. It’s no different, generally, than moa, the various species of which for millions of years browsed the shrublands, forests and alpine herbfields of prehistoric NZ. Then, in a matter of centuries, they were wiped out. So browsing game animals have generally replaced the browsing component of the million-yearold ecosystem.
Shot tahr are left to rot, in itself a shocking waste of valuable protein.
The cruelty of crazed culling is to leave young kids motherless and facing a slow death by starvation.
A major criticism is the extermination ideology is the lack of justification, a waste of taxpayer money, ironical in view of the Government’s covid-19 massive borrowing.
For myself and many of the hunting public this will dictate how I vote in the coming election.
BIG CHANGE: Janette Perrett, a dairy farmer of 45 years, says she has never looked back since finding her way out of traditional ways of farming in 2006.
400 years to fully investigate the periodic table to see whether we need some of the elements in our fertiliser.
We have to discover the alternatives ourselves. The biocides farmers add to the environment every year are unsustainable. Consumers demand better and so should we.
The world needs younger workers in the agricultural sector. Regenerative agriculture just might be the way to get them
Who am I?
Janette Perrett is an organic dairy farmer north of Whangarei and author of You Have Been Given a Gift. She manages land and animals as a whole and by farming with nature has made some amazing discoveries.
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there.
Who to blame?
WITH all the recent talk, again, of revival of the strong wool industry I am compelled to air my annoyance at the way wool carpet has been shafted by the dominance of Kevin Milne promoting solution-dyed nylon.
He has singlehandedly convinced the New Zealand public nylon carpet is the only way to go and through Carpet Mill with its Consumer endorsement.
His familiarity from the Fair Go television programme, which is undoubtedly considered the honest show on television, has been very carefully manipulated into the advertisements he fronts.
When Jeanette Maxwell was the chairwoman of Federated Farmers meat and fibre section I raised it with her but failed to get any traction from her.
Until a counter advertisement is aired there will be little to stop the established traction Milne has achieved.
Such is the demise of woollen carpets that when one is looking to buy, the choice is very limited, when you get to deciding between loop or cut pile, and then there is a very small colour range.
And yes, I did put my money where my mouth is, buying 68 broadloom metres for recarpeting our house.
Julian Hughes
Rotorua
Take your carp
Dear Department of Conservation and Waikato Regional Council.
Could you please assist the farmers of the Whangamarino catchment by removing your koi carp from our waterways. We cannot do our part successfully without your co-operation.
Stu Jefferis
Waerenga
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Great reports get scant attention
Alternative View
Alan Emerson
YOU have to wonder what Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor needs to do to get some reasonable coverage in the mainstream media.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern released his report on the farming sector’s future, which I thought was a well-researched document. The coverage he received in the non-farming media was scant.
For the record, I totally agree with the thrust of the document.
For it to be successful, however, we need to remove the central and local government blockages.
I thought the document on the future of wool was excellent though it achieved little media coverage outside the specialist agricultural media.
I suppose if O’Connor wants media exposure he could grab a piece of alcathene pipe and touch a cow with it. That would get him on the front page of every newspaper in the country and be the lead item on television and radio news.
It is a sad indictment.
I’ve covered the wool industry on and off since 1972 and it never ceases to amaze me.
I remember the great acquisition debate well and how
From the Ridge Steve Wyn-Harris
FROM the Ridge: Thanks Judith for agreeing to have a chat with us. Congratulations on finally securing the top job as leader of the National Party. I had a brief fancy that an unnamed homeless guy who tagged along at the back of caucus ended up being elected.
Judith Collins: There’s one more job I’m after and that is not too far away. More than happy to talk to you, surprised you were interested.
FTR: I did think about that. I’ve never been tempted into having one of these illusory interviews with Jacinda, Simon or Todd but you are hard to resist. When you just told me about the other job you are after, I’m interested in how you can raise your eyebrow and smile at the same time and make farmers shot themselves in the foot over it.
The late Wilson Whineray outlined a strategy for the wool industry, which I thought was a great way forward. It was roundly rejected by farmers who demanded to be able to sell their wool at auction.
A new farmer organisation, the Sheep and Cattlemen’s Association, which Donald Trump would have been proud to lead, was formed.
Iniquitously, the anti-campaign was funded by the carpet companies. They obviously figured that if Whineray was successful they’d have to pay more for wool, meaning farmers would earn more.
Farmers accepted the carpet companies’ cash and the Whineray initiative was dead.
Subsequent to that I remember covering an Electoral College meeting when one of the candidates came up with the astounding statement that if a farmer couldn’t afford to hold his wool for three to five years till prices came right he shouldn’t be farming.
He was voted onto the Wool Board. yourself appear sinister, deadly serious and dangerous in the same moment. I’ve been trying to do it myself in the mirror but I just look goofy.
JC: Keep practising.
FTR: Great initials by the way. Reminds me of that anecdote when some wag handed David Lange a glass of water and challenged him to turn it into wine. He said he’d do one better and poured it onto the floor and walked on it.
JC: No, I hadn’t heard that one but I will be saving it up for the right moment.
FTR: Don’t worry about appropriating good jokes. One that is attributed to a past predecessor of yours is Muldoon’s line, “Every New Zealander who leaves this country to live in Australia raises the IQ of both countries”. We were all rather amused and impressed with Muldoon’s wit and it was years later that I discovered the joke was originally used by Will Rogers talking about the Okies moving to California. Muldoon might have pinched it but is still credited with it. You are National’s fifth leader in
The board achieved nothing other than developing a culture of extravagance into an art form.
More recently I went to a meeting at the Tinui pub where Wools of New Zealand provided a jump-for-joy presentation.
At the time I wrote it wasn’t a thing I’d invest in, which annoyed some. Realistically, my decision was the right one.
Their vision to be the leading innovative sales and marketing company for NZ strong wool is just that in my view, a vision removed from reality.
Over the years I found the demise of the strong wool sector disappointing because it has so much going for it.
In an era when micro-plastics pollute the oceans we have little commentary on the value of the natural fibre that is wool.
When we are subsidising some home insulation we are ignoring wool in that role. As well as being a good insulation it is also a fire retardant.
Local and central government happily put synthetic carpets in their buildings, ignoring the natural wool fibre.
SAFE’s honey, the late Anna Nicole Smith, was the star of their advertising campaign, I’d rather go naked than wear wool. Really? Honey it’s cold outside.
So now we have a new report called Vision and Action for the NZ Wool Sector.
I thought it was excellent.
Those on the pilot committee were well chosen, covering all aspects of the industry. I did approve that a large number four years. That’s a faster turnover than Aussie prime ministers. It does look like you have been elected leader by your caucus to save the furniture as Mike Moore put it when he got the job as PM when Labour was in similar disarray in 1990. You’d have to think that if you are defeated in September that number will be six.
JC: I doubt that is a scenario that will play out. I plan on winning this election. That is why my colleagues have elected me their leader.
FTR: I admire your positive attitude, which of course you must portray. Losing both Kaye and Adams last week after a couple the week before makes your job tougher. It’s a long time since our last single-term government. It was Labour’s 1972-75 which was deeply wounded by the death of Norman Kirk in 1974 at just 51 years of age. Rowling was no match for the ferocious Muldoon. In a way you remind me a little of Rob.
JC: Well it’s time we had another single-term government then isn’t it? Arr, Arr, Arr.
STRENGTH: Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman William Beetham says wool sector governance oversight should be professional and based on their skills and insights with the ability to deliver strong governance systems.
enjoyed a Lincoln education.
The document itself is practical and focused where previous strategies have missed on both counts.
The report does suggest our wool sector has a long proud history, which, for the reasons outlined, I disagree with.
It goes on to say natural fibres are on the cusp of a renaissance, which I totally support.
There are three recommendations for action. They are to develop a market-focused investment case and strategic roadmap for the strong wool sector, to establish the capability necessary to get the sector match fit and ready for the opportunities ahead and to establish a governance and coordination capability.
That governance and coordination capability is what will make the initiative sink or swim.
FTR: You are channelling him. That’s just how he used to laugh. That brings us to talk about your style because that will be a big focus of the upcoming election. Like it or not, democratic elections have turned into a presidential type of contest. Muller started off saying he wasn’t going to oppose for opposition’s sake then immediately did just that. When in opposition it’s exceedingly difficult to do anything else if you want airtime. At your first press conference just after being elected leader you talked about crushing the Government and repeatedly talked about fighting. It doesn’t seem that your Crusher Collins image is going to be put to bed in favour of a more constructive and considered manner.
JC: I’m not going to be something I’m not. People will decide if they want to have the nice but not fit for rebuilding this country person leading them or me, I suppose.
FTR: Well, you won your own colleagues over on your third leadership attempt even though it’s well known many have never been fans. They’ve always claimed
Feds Meat and wool chairman William Beetham said the governance oversight should be professional and based on their skills and insights with the ability to deliver strong governance systems. I agree.
The strong wool sector has sunk in the past as a result of all the experts offering opinions and advice, informed or otherwise.
The steering committee selectors ignored that and came up with a diverse, well-qualified crew with several new faces.
That same focus needs to be a priority.
So, I’m feeling better about the report than I have over many years of wool industry initiatives.
Your View
Alan Emerson is a semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath.emerson@gmail.com
Is Collins a reincarnation of Rob Muldoon?
We need to get behind it. you are not a team player but now it’s your team. Its amazing what people will do when their own head is on the block. Core National Party folk will be delighted with you as leader but it remains to be seen how the floating voters of middle New Zealand react. I think you have a long shot at being our next PM with ACT’s help but that would require both NZ First and the Greens not making it over the 5% threshold and that could mean the redistributed votes could nudge Labour near the unattainable 50%. What do you think?
JC: I think you don’t know what you are talking about.
FTR: That’s fair enough. Whatever happens, it will be a fascinating election with two women with completely different styles head-to-head as we saw 20 years ago with Shipley and Clark. Good luck.
JC: Thank you.
The future takes a step forward
The Braided Trail
Keith Woodford
ON JULY 7 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern released the Government’s document Fit for a Better World - Accelerating our Economic Potential.
The press release from the Beehive says it provides a 10-year roadmap for the food and fibre industries.
At the same function where this report was released Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor released a companion document from his Primary Sector Council of chosen industry leaders. That document is also titled Fit for a Better World but lacks the title extension about accelerating our economic potential.
That second document is indeed a different document, singing from the same song-sheet but with considerably different material. Very confusing indeed.
My focus here is on the Government’s version of the report because that is the one signed off by Cabinet. Also there were Fisheries and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash and Forestry and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones.
I downloaded the document and worked my way through the first 24 pages but my computer refused to proceed any further. My initial thought and frustration, now that I had worked my way through all the introductory fluff together with six historical case studies, was that I was ready to get into the core of the supposed roadmap.
Then it dawned on me that I had indeed read the full document. That was it.
Before I take up some resultant criticisms I first need to state there is good news in the document for all of those who believe in the importance of the food and fibre industries.
The Government is indeed acknowledging the food and fibre sector is vital to New Zealand’s economic recovery.
Ardern also stated the primary sector is a huge part of our economy and our brand.
O’Connor said he would also soon release another new report setting the path for future growth of the strong-wool sector and it will also be a key part of delivering the roadmap.
Really?
The wool report was indeed released three days later and it was the same aspirational highlevel fluff. If strong wool does have a future it will be as building insulation but I saw no specific mention of that. Mainstream adoption requires technology yet to be developed.
Getting back to the Fit for a Better World report, Nash said sustainable aquaculture presents massive growth potential and the sector will grow fivefold to $3 billion by 2035. Jones added forestry has opportunities to develop domestic and export markets for more sustainable products.
In terms of the overall theme of the song-sheet it was all good news.
There were lots of words about sustainability but there was no mention of any specific, new environmental regulations. The soundbites indicate the assembled industry leaders were supportive even if not necessarily enthused.
The stated intent is that export earnings will increase by a cumulative $44 billion by 2030.
What was less clear in media reports is that this is the aggregate extra income over the decade with the extra annual income having grown by $10 billion by 2030. That represents an annual growth rate of just over 2% though the communication spin doctors did not actually say that.
I reckon growth of around 2% a year might well prove to be realistic.
But if we want to grow at that rate in real terms after allowing for inflation then some hard work is going to be needed.
On a per-capita basis that will still be close to a gain of zero if NZ goes back to pre-covid population growth rates.
In another five years when we look back and can see the first two decades of this 21st century in better perspective we are likely to recognise the extent to which the food and fibre industries have underpinned the economy for the last 20 years.
During this period there was a strong upward trend in global prices for most of the products NZ produces.
Much of the urban community does not understand the reasons living standards increased, at least as experienced by middle and upper-income demographic groups.
Rising export prices plus increasing volumes led to much stronger foreign exchange rates than in the prior two decades. All consumers benefitted from this one way or another.
In 2015 I wrote a series of articles exploring where NZ’s future food and fibre income might come from.
My thinking was that some of the big gains we had made in dairy, wine, kiwifruit and seafood, much of it stimulated by growing trade with China, would be challenging to replicate.
I have been positive about kiwifruit for many years and I remain positive. Kiwifruit has to be one of the greatest NZ success
NO SUBSTANCE: The reports released by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash were full of fluff.
stories, built on breeding and consequent ownership of new varieties. There might well be bumps along the way but the future continues to look bright.
I have also been intrigued for a long time by the prospects for mussels and other shellfish. It is clear further development depends on the success of offshore fisheries. The environmental limits have largely been reached in relation to enclosed waters.
I also remain positive about the future for dairy but considerable transformation of that industry will be needed. I am sure the industry of the future is going to look very different to the current industry and I remain of the perspective that major parts of the industry are locked in the past. I will have more to say about that in future.
I am cautious about forestry.
The Government policy allowing foreign investment for forestry is distortionary. It results in NZ earning up-front income from the sale of the land but the subsequent income flows from sale of carbon credits will flow straight back to the foreign owners.
It really is a case of selling out the future.
As for new uses of timber in building and consumer products, that could be exciting. However, NZ cost structures are such the value-adding will be done overseas except for any products used in NZ. Once China’s big infrastructure projects eventually slow down the need for NZ logs to be used in formwork over there will reduce. How will NZ’s timber be used?
What I had hoped for in the documents proclaiming a roadmap towards industries fit for a better world was genuine, strategic leadership. Instead, the documents are full of aspirational fluff. It’s largely spin-doctor stuff. The hard work of finding the new technologies and associated pathways is all for the future.
However, it is always nice to leave with a positive message and so I will do that. The good news is that with tourism in big trouble and the aluminium smelter apparently heading for closure there does seem to be increasing recognition from the Government about the role the food and fibre industries must continue to play as the backbone of the NZ economy. That seems to be a step forward.
