Farmers Weekly NZ July 22 2024

Asure exit leaves hole in Tb testing

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Disease

AFARMER and community leader who lost three-quarters of his herd to Tb a decade ago is aghast at the decision made by AsureQuality to drop its Tb testing contract with national livestock tracing body OSPRI.

AsureQuality has announced that after a strategic review of its services, it has informed OSPRI it will not be applying for the contract at the end of February 2025.

There is no indication of a replacement company to take over national herd testing obligations at this stage.

What this is saying to me is that this is bureaucracy gone mad.

For its part, OSPRI has cited the Tb control programme’s success in significantly reducing Tb cases in NZ , and the implementation of a risk-based testing regime meant the volume of required testing has decreased.

It said it is exploring options to maintain uninterrupted Tb testing services after the conclusion of AsureQuality’s contract.

But Waikato farmer and former Waikato Regional Council councillor Stu Husband was gobsmacked at the news, not only at the uncertainty for farmers and livestock owners after next February but also at AsureQuality’s move out of the role altogether.

“What this is saying to me is that this is bureaucracy gone mad. Tb is still out there and if we do not maintain vigilance and testing, we will be back to the same position as in the 1970s and ’80s.

“It is imperative to continue TBFree work.

“There is a huge amount of public good in this work that a government-owned company simply cannot just decide it will step aside from on grounds of a ‘strategic review’.”

It is possible a privately owned company may step into the breach, as VeritAg did for the M bovis programme.

“But a private company will have its own shareholders to account to. It’s easy for AsureQuality to focus on reducing costs, but this is one of those cogs in the system we need. The cost of it failing is simply so much more.”

Experience with Tb is a bitter one for Husband, who had to see 300 of his cows and young stock slaughtered in 2013 after an outbreak.

He maintains the risks are higher now than ever for an increase in Tb outbreaks.

Continued page 3

Frozen in thought

Maggie the dog pauses to take in her picturesque surroundings during a walk in a hoar frost in Galloway, near Alexandra in Central Otago, last week. Parts of the central South Island spent much of the week in freezing temperatures, creating some wellphotographed scenery.

SECTORFOCUS

International trade ‘jungle’ starting to encroach on NZ’s markets.

NEWS 3

Moving countries to milk opportunities

Christopher Gerard Vila made a spontaneous decision nearly 17 years ago to move to New Zealand from the Philippines, and he hasn’t looked back.

DAIRY 16-25

Govt is urged to fix country roads before tackling speed limits.

NEWS 7

Refusing to compromise or even engage is no way to run politics.

OPINION 13

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Photo: Beth Hamilton

Stu Husband Farmer

EDITORIAL

Bryan Gibson | 06 323 1519

Managing Editor bryan.gibson@agrihq.co.nz

Craig Page | 03 470 2469

Deputy Editor craig.page@agrihq.co.nz

Claire Robertson

Sub-Editor claire.robertson@agrihq.co.nz

Neal Wallace | 03 474 9240

Journalist neal.wallace@agrihq.co.nz

Gerald Piddock | 027 486 8346

Journalist gerald.piddock@agrihq.co.nz

Annette Scott | 021 908 400 Journalist annette.scott@agrihq.co.nz

Hugh Stringleman | 09 432 8594

Journalist hugh.stringleman@agrihq.co.nz

Richard Rennie | 027 475 4256

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

New Zealand actually happens to be the second largest importer of Brazilian DDG Unbeknown to me, second after Vietnam, we imported about 120 ,000 tonnes of it last year”

Richard Rennie, senior reporter

News in brief

Orchard sales

Scales Corporation is selling two Hawke’s Bay apple orchards to a Craigmore Sustainables fund of overseas investors for $34 million, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval.

The Te Papa and Blyth orchards total 186 hectares of planted area. Applicable fruit, thought to be Fuji and Royal Gala, will be supplied for packing and marketing to the Scales subsidiary Mr Apple, one of the largest orchard businesses in New Zealand.

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PATHWAY: Fonterra’s managing director of co-operative affairs, Mike Cronin, is overseeing the possible divestment of the co-operative’s consumer businesses.

The rollout of new speed camera warning signs for fixed speed cameras is underway. The initiative is aimed at encouraging drivers to check their speeds, improving road safety and avoiding costly speeding tickets, Transport Minister Simeon Brown said. The signs will be installed near static cameras. There will be no warning signs for mobile speed cameras.

Lepto awareness

Rural Women New Zealand has joined forces with Massey University to help raise awareness and funds to combat leptospirosis.

“Leptospirosis is a nasty flu-like illness which is unfortunately on the rise again in flood-affected regions as it can be spread through contaminated water,” RWNZ National President Gill Naylor said. Funds raised will help further research with the aim of better understanding leptospirosis in humans, animals and the environment to reduce the burden of the disease.

Scion appointment

Richard Westlake has been appointed chair of the Scion board.

He succeeds Dr Helen Anderson, whose two terms on the board ended in June. Westlake, who will join existing board members for their first official meeting together in Rotorua on July 25, has more than three decades of leadership and governance experience across a variety of sectors.

Journey through Brazil’s agricultural state

Bryan catches up with senior reporter Richard Rennie who has just returned from a trip through Brazil, taking in its arable and beef farming systems. He visited the Mato Grosso state, which is Brazil’s third largest and most productive agricultural state, claiming the bulk of the country’s cattle, corn, cotton and soybean production

Trade ‘jungle’ encroaches on NZ’s markets

THE unruly jungle that was international trade until two decades ago appears to be growing back.

Having been partially cleared by 20 years of widely respected rulesbased global trade and free trade agreements, the jungle appears to be regrowing given the rhetoric of tariffs and trade protection coming from the two candidates in the US presidential elections, trade specialist Stephen Jacobi said.

Jacobi, a member of the Business Advisory Council for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, said presidential candidate Donald Trump and US President Joe Biden are talking of imposing tariffs on all imports, especially from China, and greater support for domestic manufacturers.

Jacobi said Trump is talking of imposing a 10% tariff on all imports.

As a rule, any tariff above 5% is considered problematic, he said. It creates additional costs, risks and uncertainty.

Continued from page 1

“The late Hugh Vercoe and I voted to keep TBFree funding in the Waikato.

“But the council in its wisdom voted to get rid of it.

“Now we have possums in huge numbers, Tb is starting to resurge. It would be devastating for any young farmer to have to go through what we went through.”

Staff at AsureQuality told Farmers Weekly they have been aware of the intention to drop the contract for several weeks, with no indication about who the replacement service provider will be.

One longtime staff member claimed that testing in surveillance areas and five-year test areas would be stopping effective immediately, leaving only pre-

Jacobi said his comments are made under the assumption that the elected president carries out these policies – but, he said, “risks abound”.

The US was the NZ primary sector’s second largest market for the year to June 2024, and our fastest growing.

For that year it took $2.2 billion in meat, $1.2bn in dairy and nearly $1bn in wine.

NZ has a 213,000 tonne beef quota negotiated through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), for which exporters pay a US4.4c/ kg tariff. Any additional volume above that quota incurs a 26.4% tariff.

Dairy incurs a 1-2% tariff for products supplied within a quota but anything above that can be as high as 30%.

These quotas have not been filled in recent years.

Lamb incurs a US0.7c/kg tariff and mutton US2.8c/kg.

Jacobi said the imposition of further protectionist policies will further erode the already weakened role of the WTO as an arbiter of trade disputes.

By targeting tariffs on Chinese imports, the US will likely provoke a reaction that could create global trade uncertainty.

movement tests and tests in controlled areas.

In a written response to Farmers Weekly questions, OSPRI said it is still considering its options about how it will transition services without impacting the performance of the TBFree programme.

Federated Farmers dairy head Richard McIntyre said farmers would be demanding OSPRI maintain the testing services, but most would be indifferent to the company providing it as long as the job was at least as good as what AsureQuality has done. He likened it to dairy shed inspections, which had changed from AsureQuality to QCONZ in recent years, but with the same procedures applied.

High value genetics and semen exporters are also hoping the

STRIKE FLIES

Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said the US is an important market for NZ meat exporters and the imposition of a 10% tariff would have a commercial impact.

Broader repercussions from countries retaliating to the imposition of tariffs is another risk for exporting countries such as NZ, but her members are limited

end of the contract does not influence AsureQuality’s work on testing bulls whose semen is exported.

CRV Ambreed managing director James Smallwood said all semen importing markets have OMARS (overseas market access requirements) set with the Ministry for Primary Industries. These include ensuring bulls supplying semen have been tested for Tb.

“What we will want is assurances those OMARs will still be compliant. The countries with the most stringent of these are the European Union and United Kingdom markets.”

OSPRI has referenced only onfarm bull testing in its statement, saying bull sales within the TBFree programme will be “considered” by OSPRI as it replaces Asure’s testing services.

in how they can relate other than through commercial decisions.

“It requires a NZ Inc approach.”

Justine Arroll, Fonterra’s manager of trade strategy and stakeholder affairs, said Fonterra monitors geopolitical developments across the markets it operates in.

Arroll said an international rules-based trading system

An MPI spokesperson confirmed it is aware of AsureQuality’s move out of Tb testing and has been assured OSPRI and AsureQuality are working closely together to ensure a smooth transition to a new provider.

“MPI will monitor to ensure there are no impacts on exports.”

Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety Andrew Hoggard said he is seeking assurances from OSPRI the system will still be doing what it needs to, to monitor Tb.

“Our family suffered the effects of Tb in the ’70s and ’80s farming next to the ranges. It remains vitally important we keep our foot on Tb’s throat.”

He said there was talk of looking into the manner Tb testing is being done, including a possible bulk milk test programme.

We are following the public comments from both parties ... and we will be talking to exporters over the period ahead.

Spokesperson

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

that ensures countries abide by their international obligations remains critically important to NZ exporters.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the US is a close and long-standing partner and NZ will continue to work with US administrations.

The spokesperson said MFAT routinely assesses the potential foreign and trade policy impacts of major overseas elections and provides advice to ministers.

“This will be the case too for the US election later this year.

“We are following the public comments from both parties on tariffs and other measures and we will be talking to exporters over the period ahead.”

MORE: See page 9

says AsureQuality’s Tb testing work had a high level of public good attached that mandated that, as a government-owned company, it continue with the testing work.

Neal Wallace MARKETS Trade

TARIFFS: Donald Trump is talking of imposing a 10% tariff on all imports if he is elected United States president.

MADNESS: Waikato farmer and former councillor Stu Husband

Visa scheme tweaked ahead of calving

Neal Wallace NEWS Employment

THE government has launched a review of the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme to ensure compliant dairy farmer employers are not being disadvantaged.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said she has made temporary adjustments ahead of calving to the job-check criteria required to employ dairy farm workers who meet the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) Level 5 standard, while Immigration NZ is prioritising the processing of applications for dairy workers.

Stanford said the coalition government had to act swiftly to adjust settings for the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) when it was faced with soaring net migration, lower demand for low-skilled workers and increased migrant exploitation.

Dairy farm employers have complained that the new settings are so strict they cannot recruit

CHECK: Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says she has made temporary adjustments ahead of calving to the job-check criteria required to employ dairy farm workers.

or renew visas for existing staff, something the minister accepts.

“However, I acknowledge that the urgency in which we had to make changes meant that regional

variations were not able to be reflected,” she said in written responses to questions.

The review will ensure the AEWV is balanced so compliant

employers can hire migrant workers when there is a genuine shortage.

“This review will include removing the median wage threshold, considering what assessments can reasonably be streamlined and whether there would be value in different settings for different regions and sectors.”

Stanford said she has agreed to temporarily adjust the job-check advertising requirements for Level 5 dairy cattle farm positions, which should accelerate the processing of applications.

“Employers for dairy cattle farm roles only need to advertise roles for 14 days, rather than the usual 21-day requirement for roles at that level.”

This applies to applications submitted before July 14 while Immigration NZ is prioritising the allocation of job check and AEWV applications for dairy cattle farm workers until August 1.

“These changes are designed to shorten the recruitment process, ensuring that employers can hire and train workers for the calving season.”

Officials are also working with

Federated Farmers to produce a step-by-step AEWV guide for primary sector employers.

I acknowledge that the urgency in which we had to make changes meant that regional variations were not able to be reflected.

Erica Stanford Immigration Minister

Stanford said regulations for retaining migrant workers need to balance employment demand and workers gaining required skills with not allowing people to become too settled if they do not have a pathway to residence.

“People on temporary work visas have more limited access to things like education, health and welfare support and it is not fair to allow them and their families to remain in NZ for an extended period of time if they do not have a realistic pathway to residency.”

Stanford said she and officials are meeting with primary sector stakeholders to discuss the AEWV.

Spring Sheep China access is a gamechanger

Gerald Piddock MARKETS Dairy

SPRING Sheep Milk Co has been granted access to sell its Chinese label infant formula product range in retail outlets across China. The company received approval from China’s market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on July 1, enabling it to distribute its sheep infant formula, follow-on formula, and toddler milk drink (Stages 1-3).

Spring Sheep chief executive Nick Hammond said it is a gamechanger for the company and

the sheep milking industry. Hammond was in China, where he was launching Spring Sheep Milk’s infant formula product at a stand at the country’s largest mother and baby show, the Children, Baby and Maternity Expo.

Prior to the approval, Spring Sheep was selling its infant

There’s also healthy growth in the premium space of infant formula.

Nick Hammond Spring Sheep

formula range through online stores. This had helped build the brand to the extent that it is now the second highest performing brand in that channel behind the largest goat-milk company in the world.

The vast majority of infant formula is sold in retail stores and the registration means Spring Sheep can now do that, Hammond said.

Spring Sheep’s distribution partner in China is Neptunus Foods, which is part of one of the largest pharmaceutical groups in China. Through it, the infant formula will be sold in high-end specialist baby product stores.

Hammond said these stores will be an important touch-point for Spring Sheep with consumers.

Alongside these stores, they will continue to maintain their online presence.

“Where we are seeing growth is in the sheep and goat infant formula category, there’s healthy growth. There’s also healthy growth in the premium space of infant formula.

“We’re perfectly set up to target those exact areas. We’ll be targeting a premium proposition for premium consumers and as a result we’ll be targeting regions where there are more of those consumers.”

The infant formula market has stabilised following a period where birth rates fell from 15 million babies born a year to 9 million. The Chinese market has proven to be lucrative for other infant formula companies, such as A2 Milk Company (A2MC), which has seen substantial growth and market penetration following its brand approval.

For Spring Sheep, this milestone signifies entry into a market with immense potential, allowing the company to expand its footprint and cater to the growing demand for premium and differentiated infant nutrition products in China.

Fonterra’s sale plans go through the wringer

Hugh Stringleman NEWS Fonterra

TWO months after Fonterra dropped the bombshell about its intended divestment of consumer plants and brands and all-country businesses in Australia and Sri Lanka, professional advisers are close to being hired. Investment banks, legal advisers and accountancy firms have made proposals and appointments will be announced soon.

After the advisory appointments it will take three or four months to report back on what is credible in terms of countries, locations, assets, potential buyers and types of divestment options.

When it was announced in midMay, what Fonterra calls its stepchange in strategic direction was expected to take 12 to 18 months to work through.

Fonterra’s managing director of co-operative affairs, Mike Cronin, was asked why the process takes so long.

The first step has been to bring an internal team together from

mergers and acquisitions and legal departments, overseen by Cronin.

Phase 1 is a scoping study to work out what can be done and what can’t in the divestment structure.

Getting the design of the platform right will help a great deal in Phase 2.

Phase 2 will commence with a go-ahead from the board on the way forward, he said.

We need a due diligence on ourselves, including employment contracts, commercial contracts and relationships, intellectual property and trademarks.

Mike Cronin Fonterra

Meantime, Fonterra is doing an in-house stock-take of the possible divestment businesses and their degrees of intertwining with what will remain.

“We need a due diligence on ourselves, including employment

contracts, commercial contracts and relationships, intellectual property and trademarks,” he said.

Phase 2 will proceed with information memoranda on what is for sale, seeking expressions of interest from what Cronin expects will be long lists of inquiries.

“We then match with our intentions, go to a short list and work on conditional sale and purchase negotiations.

“There may be regulatory requirements, Commerce Commission approvals and almost certainly voting for approval by shareholders will be required.”

The assets and brands for possible divestment sit on Fonterra’s books at certain values, but those are only a starting point for negotiations on sale prices, Cronin said.

Fonterra will keep farmers informed when it has something to say.

“We don’t want to waste their time if we haven’t got much to say.

“For a while a lot goes on but there is nothing to talk about.

“A recommended transaction, in terms of purchaser and price, will require a shareholder vote.”

Meanwhile, the “intensified” strategy to 2030 will be updated before the end of the year, as Fonterra highlights the 90% of the co-operative that will remain, assuming the divestment process concludes.

Cronin said that Fonterra’s growth in future will come from improved milk production on farms and innovation within the refocused and very efficient business-to-business strategy.

“We will focus on what we are really good at and do it better.”

The divestment intentions in both Australia and Sri Lanka are “end-to-end” from farmercontracted milk supply through collection, processing and sale of consumer products.

Australian authorities and their

PATHWAY: Fonterra’s managing director of cooperative affairs Mike Cronin, is overseeing the possible divestment of consumer businesses.

dairy industry bodies will pay close attention and the Sri Lankan government will be involved.

The special position of the Fonterra Research and Development Centre in Palmerston North is intertwined with ingredients, foodservice and consumer foods and will require some unravelling.

Active living businesses and their innovation partnerships will remain part of Fonterra’s advanced ingredients division, being neither foodservice nor consumer foods.

“We believe we can grow further value by focusing on being a B2B dairy nutrition provider, working closely with customers through our high-performing ingredients and foodservice channels.”

Prime stock squeeze pushes prices sharply higher

Neal Wallace MARKETS

Livestock

THE ongoing shortage of prime stock this winter is being felt on the North Island local trade and export market, where prices have risen sharply in recent weeks.

The AgriHQ indicator price for North Island cattle has in the past three weeks risen between 25c to 45c/kg as processors compete for stock.

South Island prices have lifted by 15c/kg to 35c/kg.

AgriHQ senior analyst Mel Croad said the key driver of these higher prices has been the sharp fall in the availability and number of stock killed this winter.

“This has led to the return of the once-typical winter pricing rally as local trade retailers still need to meet their requirements,” she said.

“The fact the bull price is suddenly trailing prime and local trade by 15 to 20c/kg across the country despite stronger export conditions, demonstrates the rapid upside is predominantly being driven by local trade.

“A lot of that is because kill rates have fallen off the cliff in the North Island,” she said.

Earlier forecasts that prime cattle prices in the North Island could be mid-$6/kg in SeptemberOctober have already been surpassed and Croad forecasts they could peak around $7/kg or more.

Prime and local trade beef prices have risen the most and while prime lamb prices have also improved, the increase has not been to the same extent.

The North Island AgriHQ

BIGGER CALF GAINS

indicator for bull this week is $6.50/kg, up 25c/kg on three weeks ago, and steer and local trade prime cattle were both $6.65/kg, 35c/kg higher.

Lamb was $6.70/kg, 20c/kg higher.

The South Island indicator for bull was $5.75/kg, 15c/kg higher, steer and local trade prime cattle were both $5.95/kg, up 25c/kg, while lamb was $6.65/kg, 15c/kg higher.

Croad said the North Island cattle kill for the past four weeks was 38,000 head less than last year

and 27,000 below the five-year average.

The South Island cattle kill has been larger over the past four weeks when compared to the low volumes available for slaughter last year.

Compared with the five-year average, current South Island slaughter rates are back by about 8000 head.

The export market for bull beef has maintained its upside in recent weeks and Croad said this will continue to underpin bull slaughter prices well in to spring.

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Fix roads before speed limits: RWNZ

Gerald Piddock NEWS Transport

URAL Women New

RZealand has urged the government to factor in the quality of country roads before making any decisions on amending speed limits for vehicles.

In its submission to Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport (MOT) on the Setting of Speed Limits 2024, RWNZ said any cost benefit analysis must determine if roads have been maintained to a standard that will accommodate changes to speeds safely.

“Alongside the quality of rural roads, gradients, road widths and curves also need to be considered when setting appropriate speed limits,” the submission says.

“Logically it would follow that the roading network needs to be repaired significantly before increasing speed limits safely. We would advocate that speeds should

be reduced for roads in poor condition.”

The analysis “should also factor in robust ongoing maintenance to support any additional anticipated maintenance as a result of increased speed”.

In December, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced that speed limit rules will be amended and the Minister of Transport released the draft Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 (the draft Speed Rule) for public consultation with submissions closed on July 11.

RWNZ said it is important to keep in mind many rural roads do not have footpaths, berms or verges and often lack cycleways, lighting or signage.

It also questioned the irregular maintenance of rural roads in addition to their inconsistent quality.

“When combined with inappropriate speeds, unsafe driving behaviours, poor signage and a diverse range of road users,

these issues can lead to serious injuries and fatalities in rural regions.”

RWNZ said it would also like to see the government run a campaign to ensure New Zealanders are aware of the speed limits in rural school areas and when passing buses, due to concern that many people do not know the speed limit is 20km/h.

“RWNZ has been requesting signs on school buses warning passing drivers to travel at 20km/h if the bus is stationary. We have also been asking for all school buses in rural areas to have flashing lights activated by the driver when the bus is slowing to drop off or pick up children.”

This has been trialled, yet national usage has not been made mandatory, it said.

Federated Farmers highlighted speed limits in its submission to the Ministry of Transport in September last year.

Move to keep councils out of emissions regulations

Staff reporter POLITICS Climate change

A NEW Member’s Bill to prevent regional and district councils from using climate change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is being lodged by ACT MP Mark Cameron.

The Resource Management (National and Regional Emissions) Amendment Bill aims to reintroduce provisions to the Resource Management Act, which would stop regional councils from using climate change as way to reduce emissions in their planning.

“Currently, councils can use the Resource Management Act to impose a patchwork of restrictions on the way Kiwis use their land, all in the name of reducing emissions,” said Cameron.

“This was the result of amendments to the RMA progressed under the previous

DUPLICATION: Mark Cameron says it is not feasible to have regional councils ‘trying to save the world’s climate’ because emissions are already managed nationally under the Emissions Trading Scheme.

government. Property rights were sacrificed to the climate gods, in a way that wouldn’t even reduce net emissions.”

While it acknowledged the challenge to bring down the road toll and did not disagree with the objective of attempting to ensure safer use of the roading network, it disagreed with moves by Waka Kotahi and local

Cameron said it is not feasible to have regional councils “trying to save the world’s climate” because emissions are already managed nationally under the Emissions Trading Scheme.

“If one council cracks down on emissions, it just pushes carbon-intensive activity someplace else. And councils aren’t equipped to consider carbon offsets that businesses might have in other parts of the country.”

Cameron said the Bill is about getting local government back to basics and stopping councils feeling like they need to suppress local productive activity like farming for the sake of the planet.

Federated Farmers has welcomed the move. Feds RMA reform spokesperson Mark Hooper said greenhouse gas emissions are a global rather than local challenge and it never made sense for local councils to individually regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

“On top of this, New Zealand has a number of national policies regulating greenhouse gas emissions, meaning any local policy duplicates what central government is already doing.”

Hooper said Cameron’s Amendment Bill will largely reinstate changes made in 2004 that were then repealed in 2020 by the previous government.

“Having regional councils regulate greenhouse gas emissions has the potential to create huge headaches for farmers,” Hooper said.

“Greater Wellington Regional Council [GWRC] has proposed a target of a 50% reduction in all greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, including biogenic methane. This diverges from the central government targets that treat short-lived biogenic methane differently to long-lived carbon dioxide.

“For Wairarapa farmers, who sit inside the GWRC’s boundaries, this means a resource consent application could set conditions that require farmers to reduce emissions in line with the 50% target.”

authorities to both reduce speed limits and install “impractical” safety measures that reduce the functionality of parts of the roading network.

“We are aware of instances where median barriers are proposed along stretches of state highway that significantly extend travel times and make it near impossible for necessary farm vehicles to travel along them safely.

“This demonstrates an implied

preference by road controlling authorities to take the easy or cheaper route of affecting how road users use the roading network, rather than instead ensuring the roading network is fit for purpose for road users,” the submission said.

“It remains our preference that roading infrastructure be improved before considering further road safety measures that reduce the functionality of rural roads and bridges.”

LACKING: Rural Women NZ says it is important to keep in mind many rural roads do not have footpaths, berms or verges and often lack cycleways, lighting and signage.

Tech seen as ag’s prime mover on GHG

Gerald Piddock TECHNOLOGY Climate change

THE primary sector will have to rely on new tools and technologies to lower its emissions if it is to hit its targets outlined in the government’s newly released draft emissions reduction plan.

The second emissions reduction plan for 2026-2030 discussion document has been released for consultation. It outlines actions intended by the government to meet the second emissions budget (2026–30) and put the country on a pathway to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at least cost.

For agriculture, these actions amount to creating and enabling an environment where farmers and growers have the right tools and technologies to costeffectively reduce their emissions without having to reduce production.

The document reaffirms the government’s commitment to price emissions in the agriculture sector from 2030.

Proposals outside of farming include targeting 10,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2030, investigating carbon capture and storage, faster and cheaper consents for renewable electricity generation, better public transport, improving organic waste and landfill gas capture, and more investment in resource recovery systems and infrastructure that processes organic waste.

New Zealand is on target to meet its first and second emissions budgets covering 2022-2025 and 2026-2030 respectively.

The third emissions budget, for 2031-2035, has a maximum all gas discharge of 240 Mt CO2-e. Its current “central” estimates have New Zealand emitting 257.4 Mt CO2-e, 17 million tonnes over the budget.

While the document emphasises the uncertainty of long-term predictions, its central estimate falls 3 Mt CO2-e short of the 2050 target.

The document says the

government is committed to ensuring producers have the tools and technologies to reduce emissions while maintaining productivity and profitability.

“This technology-led approach is critical to supporting fair and sustainable pricing of agricultural emissions no later than 2030.”

Some of these tools are yet to be commercialised, including low-methane sheep genetics and EcoPond, a treatment to significantly reduce methane emissions from dairy effluent ponds.

“We expect these new tools will be commercially available to New Zealand’s pasture-based farmers from 2027-2028.”

Tools for reducing nitrous oxide emissions are already in use, including that 60% of urea fertiliser sold in 2023 was coated with a urease inhibitor, which reduces nitrogen loss. Officials expect that this will increase to 80% in 2030, assuming voluntary uptake.

“The most impactful solutions, such as methane inhibitors and vaccines, are several years away from use or are still at an early stage of research.”

Also included in the document are plans to standardise the tools used to calculate on-farm emissions.

“We are developing a standardised calculation methodology for greater consistency, and to support on-farm emissions measurement by 2025.

“Standardised methods are not expected to lead to direct reductions in the second and third emissions budgets but could be important in Scope 3 reporting to our key markets and customers.”

The document reinforces the government’s commitment to follow a “least cost” policy when it comes to emissions reductions.

It sees the Emissions Trading Scheme as the best tool the government has to reduce net emissions at least cost.

Its modelling assumes a price path where prices continue to rise to $75 per tonne in 2028 but then fall to a long-run price of $50 per tonne (in 2023 dollar values) from 2035.

Afforestation is also major tool to reduce carbon for future budgets. The document says the government is exploring opportunities to partner with the private sector to plant trees.

“This includes native afforestation on Crown land (other than national parks) that is unsuitable for farming and has low conservation value.

“Planting offers potential for economic return and for greater carbon sequestration to meet New Zealand’s emissions budgets and targets. Native forests can provide a long-term carbon sink and cobenefits, including biodiversity and adaptation value,” it says.

Native forests are better suited to steep and erosion-prone land as they are more able to withstand extreme weather. However, the current costs of native afforestation makes it uneconomic compared with exotic planting so the government is interested in exploring partnerships to improve the incentives for native planting.

The Ministry for Primay Industries, Land Information New Zealand and the Department of Conservation will assess the amount of land likely to be available for planting.

Decisions on which species will be planted, and where, will be based on the suitability of the land and the opportunities for planting partnerships.

Concern at emissions pricing proposal

Gerald Piddock NEWS Emissions

BEEF + Lamb New Zealand and DairyNZ are still working through the details of the government’s second draft emissions reduction plan.

Chair Kate Acland said while they are still digesting the details, her initial reaction is that it contains both positive and concerning elements.

The primary concern is that there are a number of mentions of a definite price on agricultural emissions by 2030.

“There has been a significant reduction in sheep and beef emissions in the last couple of years as a result of afforestation,” Acland said.

“From a sheep and beef sector perspective there is no need for a price if reductions are already happening.

“The consultation documents do focus on mitigation technologies, and seem to support the need for greater recognition of on-farm sequestration – however there remains a lot of detail to work through with our farmers.”

Recent emissions reductions have been driven by afforestation and Acland sees it as a positive that the document hints at limits on whole-farm conversions to forestry.

“There is absolutely a place for forestry; our concern has always been about the scale and pace of whole sheep and beef farms being sold to convert into

forestry for carbon credits.

“We need to see the detail, but are encouraged by the government’s signal in the consultation document that they intend to put limits on whole farm conversions being entered into the ETS [Emissions Trading Scheme].

“We are also hugely supportive of the integration of trees within farms, which could go a long way towards meeting New Zealand’s climate objectives.”

Meanwhile DairyNZ said: “DairyNZ is working through the details and intends to make a submission. It welcomes the emphasis on technology given the important role it will play in supporting farmers to reduce emissions while maintaining profitability.”

OPPORTUNITIES: Afforestation is a major tool to reduce carbon for future budgets and the emissions reduction document says the government is exploring opportunities to partner with the private sector to plant trees.

Ill wind for free trade from White House

Neal Wallace POLITICS Trade

DECADES of progress

freeing up global trade look like ending as both candidates in the looming United States presidential elections have policies imposing tariffs on imported products that could provoke global retaliation. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have policies to impose import tariffs – and, while China is their primary target, all imports into the US could be impacted, leading to fears of global trade disruption.

Donald Trump, the Republicans’ presidential candidate, is threatening to impose a 60% tariff on all imports from China and to add a 10% tariff on imports from the rest of the world.

US President Joe Biden had already moved on Chinese imports.

In mid-May the White House slapped tariffs ranging from 25% on items such as steel, aluminium and lithium batteries to 50% on semiconductors, solar cells, syringes and needles and 100% on electric vehicles.

“Their actions and reactions will shape the rules of the 21st century,” said Gary Hufbauer, a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics in an analysis for the East Asia Forum of the two presidential candidates.

Hufbauer said if Trump is elected, US industry will have greater protection from Chinese products and if Biden is re-elected, he will face political pressure to ban imports of manufactured products that contain significant Chinese components.

China will retaliate but, he said, neither candidate appears worried about that prospect or how it might damage to the fabric of global economic rules.

Hufbauer said tariffs could be

extended to imports covered by 14 free trade agreements with 20 partners.

On the back of Biden’s tariff hike on electric vehicles, Trump has raised the ante with a promise to increase the tariff to 200%.

This is despite findings by the US International Trade Commission, a number of economists, as well as Biden’s 2019 criticism of Trump’s earlier tariff policies, that the higher costs will be paid by American consumers, not China.

Hufbauer said the era of global trade co-operation is over.

“Whether the fabric of global economic rules that has delivered astounding prosperity to the world will survive through the 21st century, remains to be seen.

“Much will depend on the decisions of other large economic powers, not only China but also the European Union and Japan, as well as middle powers, such as Australia, Brazil, Chile, ASEAN and South Korea.

“If others follow the US the world will become less prosperous and vastly more unpredictable.

“If they resist, the US risks being diminished and more isolated.

“Whatever emerges, history

will see the Trump-Biden era as a turning point in world economic affairs,” he said.

William Reinsch, the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Democratic Administration trade policy has become very political. This follows the intraparty battle that followed the proposed TransPacific Partnership debate in 2015-16.

It proposed a 12-country free trade agreement based on Pacific rim countries but despite support from President Barack Obama, there was resistance from within his party, which caused some infighting. Trump later withdrew the US from the agreement.

Reinsch said should Biden be re-elected, the US’s trade policy is unlikely to change.

“The reality is that, while the public continues to broadly support trade, the politics within the Democratic Party have not changed much.

“The two branches are still there and are still at odds. That means the administration’s trade policy, if it is returned to office, is likely to remain the same.”

More funding needed for HB hort recovery Staff

THE Hawke’s Bay horticulture sector needs at least $410 million in additional funding to recover to its pre-cyclone state by 2030, a report says.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report says the short-term, critical response to the cyclone was a success, but at least $345m more is needed for replanting and reinstatement and $65m more for orchard clean-up.

BCG New Zealand managing director and partner Phillip Benedetti said Hawke’s Bay growers are still facing extremely tough economic conditions a year on from Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The new report has shown growers are facing tightening margins with increasing production costs and challenges that have

been exacerbated by Cyclone Gabrielle’s impact on harvests and infrastructure. SMEs in particular have struggled to bounce back postcyclone,” he said.

“The horticulture sector is struggling to attract and retain talent, with young people leaving the sector and the region. Limited funding for horticulture education further adds to this challenge, and with the cyclone worsening business prospects in Hawke’s Bay horticulture, the sector could lose even more talent.”

Apples and Pears New Zealand chief executive Karen Morrish said BCG’s report confirms what the industry body is hearing.

“The cyclone hit at a time when the industry was already facing pressure on profitability due to inflation, and replanting orchard blocks requires significant time and money.

“Replanting also requires water

and right now, many of our growers are facing significantly reduced water allocations from the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. Also, we have other growers who have the funds to invest and develop new blocks but can’t find land with the appropriate water consents.”

Growers are critical to the Hawke’s Bay community and are deeply enmeshed, with their lives and families in the region, she said.

“They don’t want to take unnecessarily from the environment. However, for them to re-establish what was lost, they must be provided the right environment to work within, and currently this is not the case.”

Benedetti said that initial assessments by BCG estimated the sector would face $3.5 billion in cumulative losses from 2024 to 2030, with over $920m needed for critical response and replanting efforts.

Celebrating New Zealand farmers’ leadership in sustainable irrigation, waterway protection, and environmental stewardship.

Over $24,000 worth of prizes up for grabs including international irrigation study tour travel vouchers

STANCE: US President Joe Biden had already moved on Chinese imports, slapping tariffs ranging from 25% on items such as steel, aluminium and lithium batteries to 50% on semiconductors, solar cells, syringes and needles and 100% on electric vehicles.

From the Editor

TNeal Wallace Senior reporter

HE United States is about to sneeze and the rest of the world will catch a cold as a golden era of free trade comes to an end.

Trade is one of the few areas of common ground in the United States presidential race, and it does not bode well for New Zealand.

Both incumbent President Joe Biden and his challenger Donald Trump have policies to introduce tariffs and support domestic industry, and while their primary target is the perceived unfair competition from state-supported manufacturers in China, Trump is talking of a 10% tariff on all imports.

As we report this week, the direct impost of a 10% increase in the price of our exported goods is significant, but equally so will be fallout from the inevitable geopolitical tension and tit-fortat retaliatory behaviour.

Also of significance is the further dismantling of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its efforts to create a rules-

based global trading environment.

It has been limping along since the US refused to ratify new appellant judges, meaning the body lost its ability to hear allegations of breaches of trade agreements.

Inevitable rising geopolitical tensions will also mean strained or less intergovernment communication on areas such as trade.

Respected trade official Vangelis Vitalis has been warning for several years that this was coming.

We now have 76% of our trade covered by FTAs.

But the world has become much more complicated since the covid pandemic, with growing nationalism, concerns about the environment and labour standards and the Ukraine-Russia war and conflict in the Red Sea.

The notion of free trade has fallen out of favour and increasingly non-tariff barriers have been imposed, which cost NZ exporters alone an estimated $20 billion.

A clutch of small lightly populated islands at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, NZ relies more than most on exporting to survive.

We also rely more than most on using our natural environment to change the format of protein which is then put in shipping containers and exported around the world.

Letters of the week

A moral and political failure

Casey Cravens Federation of Freshwater Anglers

SUSTAINABILITY consultant Gord Stewart’s article “We have to get serious about nitrates” (July 8) addresses one of this country’s biggest problems.

Our unwillingness to enforce rational nitrate limits is a moral and political failure. For too long New Zealand has been complacent about one of its biggest threats to public and ecological health.

Nitrates are toxic to freshwater ecosystems. And numerous international, peer-reviewed studies link them cancer, premature or underweight babies, as well as blue-baby syndrome.

Current legislation to weaken environmental standards also threatens our international brand. Remember the BBC HARDtalk interview in 2011, where Stephen Sackur took then prime minister John Key to task for the untruth in New Zealand’s “100% pure” claim? Since then, news organisations ranging from the Guardian to the BBC, Al Jazeera and the New York Times have all covered our freshwater crisis.

As a primary producing country, New Zealand must meet international contracts as well as client countries’ and consumers’ expectations. Discerning export markets in the United Kingdom, the European Union and North America don’t want unsustainable products. We must also meet the expectations of New Zealand local society, both environmentally and in terms of public health.

His message has been that after two decades of expansion and countries adhering to the same rule book, global trade is becoming shrouded in uncertainty.

Vitalis, the deputy secretary for trade and economic with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade, says NZ has benefited hugely from this era of rulesbased global trade through the growth of free trade agreements and the lowering of quotas and protectionism.

NZ has successfully taken 11 disputes alleging unfair or illegal trade behaviour to the WTO, winning them all.

Being part of a multi-country FTA can ease tension during negotiations over what products are included and what are excluded, as countries make trade-offs to get the best deal.

It is likely future FTAs will not be as comprehensive as we have had in the past, as countries are more strongly positioned to trade off what products are in and what are out.

The world is a very different place and for the sake of our economy we hope our trade negotiators can traverse this more nationalistic, unsettled political and economic environment.

Blaming the current government or even the previous Labour-led administration is in order, for they’ve allowed the rot to continue. While the Ardern regime promised to clean up the deteriorating state of rivers and streams, once elected, they produced little more than rhetoric. Opinion polls showed the vast majority of the public rated the issue as a major one. However the catastrophe’s origins go back much further. The John Key-led National government contributed much to the current situation. The “Key years” were among the most antidemocratic, anti-environmental periods in New Zealand history. Key, along with his environment minister Nick Smith, sacked the democratically elected government of Environment Canterbury, in order to rubber-stamp unsustainable and polluting irrigation schemes and industrial corporate dairy’s explosive expansion.

Gord Stewart says “livestock farmers need to think long term”. Not only farmers but the people and in particular public service bureaucrats should think long term. The Department of Conservation, the Ministries for Primary Industries and the Ministry of Health, and politicians at local and national levels, need to think long term and show tangible, genuine care about the health of both people and the environment.

In my view ...

Little nourishment from these food trends

Puneet Vatsa and Alan Renwick

Vatsa is a senior lecturer in Economics at Lincoln University. Renwick is professor of Agricultural Economics at Lincoln University.

THE rising price of food has been making headlines for the past decade. But prices have not been rising consistently across all food groups – and this has major health implications for New Zealanders.

Recently Stats NZ released food price data showing the biggest drop in prices in six years. The second quarter consumer price index will give a broader overview of the inflationary pressures facing New Zealanders, including the cost of eating.

Despite the recent price drops, concerns over food security, food affordability and the nutritional quality of local diets have remained.

Although food price increases have been noticeable over the long term, the change in relative prices — the cost of one food category compared to another — often goes unnoticed. Nevertheless, these relative price changes are crucial as they influence consumer choices, often subconsciously.

Our new research examines Stats NZ data between 2014 and 2023 on the price of 85 food items collected from 560 retail outlets – supermarkets, greengrocers, fish shops, butchers, convenience stores, restaurants, and outlets

Letters of the week

Steep and unstable soils

I HAVE read in various farming newspapers and other media about the awful and repeated flooding in Wairoa. The mayor, Craig Little, and others, blame the river mouth bar for causing the problem and I’m sure that was a factor but it’s not that simple.

The Wairoa river catchment and the Waipaoa near Gisborne are predominantly farmed, having been deforested by the early European settlers. That is the “elephant in the room”, which Little, other farmers and Federated Farmers are unwilling to address.

The sheer volume of water from the farms simply overwhelms the

selling breakfast, lunch and takeaway foods – in 12 urban areas.

Between July 2014 and March 2023, prices of some sweetened, processed foods and drinks such as boxed chocolate, ice cream, soft drinks and sports energy drinks rose by around 14%. At the same time, price of some fruits and vegetables rose by around 45%.

When sweetened processed foods are cheaper relative to fruits and vegetables, people tend to buy more of the former. This can lead to poor dietary habits, increasing the prevalence of obesity and related health issues.

While food prices have increased globally since 2020, most notably due to the covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, many countries have seen subsequent food price inflation decreases. As the recent data from Stats NZ show, this is also starting to happen in New Zealand.

However, New Zealand’s price inflation was greater and has remained more persistent than in many other developed countries, suggesting unique factors may be at play.

The structure of the retail food sector, dominated by Foodstuffs and Woolworths, has come into sharper focus as food prices have risen. A lack of competition tends to lead to higher prices.

However, considering how long the duopoly has dominated the supermarket sector, this alone does not necessarily explain the changes in absolute and relative prices revealed in our research.

rivers, lowland crops, plantation forests, bridges and the towns when it rains a lot. It’s the same scenario in the Esk valley and further South. Little is a farmer himself and presumably just avoids discussing the unsuitability of farming on those steep and unstable sedimentary soils of the east coast. I’ve only been a (small scale) farmer for 25 years but had earlier worked on east coast high-country vegetation and erosion surveys of state forest and conservation land. The little book Footprints on the Land by Richard Wolfe (2022) explains that more thoroughly and all the other negative impacts since our forefathers began their forest-felling and burning all those years ago.

Focus N concerns on the facts

Neil Walker Hāwera

I NOTE the recent article “We have to get serious about nitrates”

Due to increased regional specialisation, New Zealand’s supply chain for fresh fruits and vegetables is particularly susceptible to disruptions caused by extreme weather events.

Although specialisation improves production efficiency, it increases vulnerability to localised shocks, such as Cyclone Gabrielle. This is exacerbated by a sparse transport network.

International trade also influences the relative prices of different food types. The composition of New Zealand’s production and exports is significantly different from its imports.

The growing affordability gap between processed foods and healthy produce is not just an access issue. It has a significant impact on health.

New Zealand does not produce sugar beet or cane, making it entirely dependent on sugar imports, for example. Conversely, most fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in New Zealand are grown domestically.

These factors can influence the production and cost of different foods, leading to diverging prices. Access to different sources of imported foods can reduce price volatility, whereas a regionally concentrated domestic supply can cause sharp fluctuations in the prices of foods.

The growing affordability gap

(July 8) and yes, of course we do, but it is not really helpful to quote as facts that which has long been discredited.

Of course very high levels of nitrates in food or drink do create problems but Gord is probably not wanting the public to stop eating sausages and spinach or drinking an occasional glass of scotch whisky.

The whole colorectal cancer story was given a strong dose of reality when Frank Frizelle, Professor of Colorectal Surgery at Otago and leading cancer authority, pointed out that nitrates taken in by the human body don’t go anywhere near the colon.

As for Blue Baby syndrome, this has many causes affecting babies often with heart or lung conditions in their first six months. The baby would have to drink a lot of high level polluted untreated well water for the nitrate levels to be the primary cause.

However, the issue of nitrate levels are still of concern, putting aside conspiracy thinking. Excess nitrate in slow moving water bodies does create algae and periphyton pollution, which must be addressed

SUSCEPTIBLE: Due to increased regional specialisation, New Zealand’s supply chain for fresh fruits and vegetables is particularly susceptible to disruptions caused by extreme weather events.

between processed foods and healthy produce is not just an access issue. It has a significant impact on health.

One in three adults in New Zealand was obese in 2020–2021, with childhood obesity also on the rise. The incidence of diabetes increased from 35.7 per 1000 people in 2012 to 41.5 per 1000 people in 2021.

What is more, the number of diabetics is expected to increase by 70-90% over the next 20 years, and the annual cost of diabetes may rise from $2.1 billion to $3.5bn over the same period.

Of even more concern is that these burdens do not fall evenly across New Zealand’s population.

Poor diets disproportionately affect Indigenous people and those in the lower economic strata. Pacific peoples and Māori have lower average incomes and higher obesity rates than New Zealanders of European descent.

Low-income families have long found it challenging to afford and

as we seek to improve the quality of our fresh water.

However, farmers, as implied, are not ignorant or indifferent to the fact that excess fertilizer use is likely to not only increase runoff but is economically foolish.

As such almost everyone is happy to supply information to their Regional Council (as they are legally required to do) of their urea usage and in most cases they are shown to be using very much less than the legal limit of 190kg/ hectare per year.

The truth is we all are moving in the direction of the addition of additional nitrates but it is unhelpful to retell old stories just to make a case.

La la land for all

Julian Price Oamaru

DANIELLÉ du Plooy from Otago University School of Geography, in “Enacting the values we hold and share” (July 15), did a brilliant job

adhere to healthy diets due to the rising relative prices of fruits and vegetables.

The rising relative affordability of sweetened foods poses a significant threat to the health of New Zealanders. Without intervention, the country may face increasing rates of dietrelated chronic diseases, straining an already burdened healthcare system.

A comprehensive approach involving economic, educational and regulatory measures is necessary to reverse these trends and promote better nutrition and health for all New Zealanders. There needs to be a multipronged strategy to tackle the complex challenges facing our food system. This needs to include taxes on sugary foods as well as subsidies on fresh produce, a ban on junk food marketing targeted at children, dealing with food insecurity and investment in free school lunches.

• This article was first published in The Conversation.

of saying “you people are doing everything wrong” without at any point saying “you people are doing everything wrong”.

Apparently we enact this wrongness because we have never bothered with a deep Freudian analysis of our “world view”.

Transformation of our agri-food system is a recurring theme in missives from the University of Otago School of Geography, and the transformation they seek will actually be quite easy for anyone with a debt-free property and an off-farm income.

Most farmers will, however, in order to purchase a property, have paid a bit more than anyone else was prepared to pay (it’s that or forget their dream of ever owning land). Thus they are obliged to do what makes money to pay down debt, because economic reality trumps nice-to-have.

In the recent South African election the Economic Freedom Fighters party promised land for all and jobs for all, via the simple expedient of turfing out the current owners of said land. Maybe that is where Otago’s School of Geography gets its ideas.

Steering rural NZ towards dire straits

Alternative view

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

THE news that the government didn’t warn the South Koreans that we were about to cancel the Cook Strait Ferry contract didn’t surprise me as I’d already given Nicola Willis an A for arrogance over the deal.

The finance minister’s statement that she was cancelling the contract because of a cost overrun of $1.47 billion came out of the blue. What destroyed the credibility of the announcement was that it was made at a similar time to her giving tax breaks to landlords of $3bn.

The Cook Strait ferries carry livestock and produce vital for rural NZ. They also carry supplies, people and vehicles between the North and South Island. They are, in my view, a vital part of New Zealand’s infrastructure.

MFaT advised the government that cavalier cancellation of the ferries involved ‘a risk to NZ’s reputation in Korea’.

We now have a “Ministerial Advisory Group” created by Minister Willis to advise of future options.

Other than the more hui than do-ey that National accused the previous government of, I’ve found that ministers create such groups to give them the answers they want.

At this point those answers appear to be privatising the ferries and not having a rail capability, which in my view is crazy.

While I admit that KiwiRail is a disaster, I don’t want it privatised yet again. What I do want is an efficient and focused organisation, which doesn’t currently exist.

Considerable cost had already been committed, $424 million with the ferry orders’ cancellation estimated to cost at least another $300m. That’s $724m of taxpayer dollars wasted.

The issue wasn’t just the ships but the onshore infrastructure, including $250m for “seismic costs”, which was a government requirement for a one-in-500-year event.

The Picton wharf has a maximum life of three years with the

Wellington facility in a similar state.

They’re still going to have to be upgraded, new ferries or not.

Rail was a large factor with the cost increase and I support the Cook Strait ferries being rail capable. Internationally there has been a “renaissance with rail”.

Considering the original contract, we had two ferries purpose-built for Cook Strait. They had powerful electric motors, which has become the industry standard for new ships.

Hyundai was contracted to build them. It has been described as “the best ship builder in the world”. The ferries had a reduced wash, which was important to those living in the Sounds.

I would have described the original ferry proposal as an investment in long-term infrastructure, vital for New Zealand. They transport $14bn in freight and carry 850,000 passengers annually. KiwiRail was awarded a $350m green loan that has since been revoked because of the cancellation.

Where has that left us? Our old ferries are a shower and subject to breakdown. The Kaitaki lost power in Cook Strait in January 2023 with 800 people on board. It was fortunate no one was killed. More recently Aratere ran aground in Picton as a result of steering failure.

The government is suggesting smaller ferries as a replacement. There are just 22 such boats in the world today, with none for sale. Getting a boat will take at least four years, The new ferries could have been here by the end of 2026.

There is considerable discussion that the cost will be little different from the purpose-designed ferries, which becomes farcical.

The Ministry of Transport warned the government that the current ferries had a two-year life. The problem is we are now at the back of the queue for new boats.

We read that supply chains need “a reliable, safe, efficient, cost-effective transport system”. We don’t have that with the old ferries.

Ian Braid, the managing director of Mainfreight, told NBR that

“Cook Strait was not just a piece of water but an extension of State Highway 1 connecting both islands”. He added that he was “worried about the government’s naivety in making decisions about the route without consultation with key customers of that supply chain”. His points are valid. My frustration is with one government committing to a commercial deal, with a new government cancelling the deal

for what in my view were spurious reasons.

The reality is that the new ferries would have cost as much as the four new surveillance planes for the NZ Defence Force.

If the prime minister wants a new 757 plane, they will cost over US$100m each with annual running costs estimated at US$7m. Replacements for the ferries could cost as much as the disbanded project.

As for cost increases, Transmis-

sion Gully was a National Government initiative that went on forever and came in at 40% over budget.

The loser in the current shambles is the taxpayer and the farmer. Korea is our sixth largest trading partner, valued at $8.92bn.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade did advise the government that cavalier cancellation of the ferries involved “a risk to NZ’s reputation in Korea”.

We don’t need that.

Why we’re not seeing real economic stress in NZ

Straight talking

Cameron Bagrie Managing director of Bagrie Economics and a shareholder and director of Chaperon

WHY are we not seeing real stress across the economy? We hear about lots of stress, and it is apparent in areas.

But is it really that bad? Those with very long memories likely say no. Based on some of the economic data, we should be seeing a lot of stress.

The economy has contracted in four out of the past six quarters, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has fallen 2.4% in the past year, equivalent to the global financial crisis and other shocks such as experienced in the 1970s. Food banks and social agencies

are reporting pain. So too are many rural communities.

Yet bank non-performing loans (NPLs) are 0.7 percent of total loans. That compares to more than 2% in 2011.

NPLs are less than half what they were during the global financial crisis of 2009.

NPLs across the agriculture sector currently stand at 1.8% of total loans. We’ve seen that hit 4.5%.

There are are a few possible reasons. The economy is actually not that bad on many levels. The unemployment rate is still 4.3%, though predicted to rise to more than 5%. That peak is not high either.

Households have saved more than $20 billion since before covid-19 hit, boosted by a government wage subsidy transfer. That savings buffer is not yet being eaten into in aggregate, though we know cost of living pressures are huge in parts of society.

Term deposits at banks have risen more than $50bn in the past two years with 6% rates on offer. Baby-boomers are spending. During the period of low interest rates, many kept their payments unchanged, paying more in principal and getting ahead of debt repayment requirements.

The full impact of refixing at higher interest rates has yet to hit.

Dairy farmers have been amortising debt.

The economy has stalled, under the weight of higher interest rates, but a fair chunk of the pullback has been moderation from extreme highs in areas such as construction.

It has only been in 2024 where work is running out.

A lower NZD/USD has been somewhat of a saviour for the primary sector and looks set to remain so.

The economy has stalled, but a fair chunk of the pullback has been moderation from extreme highs in areas such as construction.

While GDP per capita is down, GDP is basically flat on a year ago, helped by a large surge in migration.

Debt burdens are lower in certain sectors such business and agriculture.

Agriculture debt has risen a slow 5% between the end of 2016 and 2024. Dairy debt, which accounts for a huge share of agriculture debt, has fallen 10%. This has somewhat mitigated the impact of higher interest rates. Regulatory restrictions such as loan-to-

Continued next page

VITAL: The Cook Strait ferries carry livestock and produce vital for rural NZ. They also carry supplies, people and vehicles between the North and South Island and are, in Alan Emerson’s view, a vital part of New Zealand’s infrastructure.

The tragedy of the filibuster

Eating the elephant

Phil Weir

Phil Weir is a Waikato sheep and beef farmer and AgFirst agribusiness consultant. eating.the.elephant.nz@gmail.com

In this series, the team find a lesson in history for NZ Ag.

IN HIGH school I was advised by a careers counsellor that going to university and studying engineering was the best thing I could do. Engineers are smart, get paid well and are respected. Being the first in my family to contemplate tertiary study, it sounded a lot better than cupping Dad’s cows.

Three weeks into thermodynamics and Newton’s laws I realised that, despite my having done well at Bursary (showing my age), engineering was not for me. However, to delay cupping cows, I pivoted to afternoon history classes for a semester. The history of choice was American.

Given how polarised American society is at present, it was not a massive surprise to see the United States’ political division manifest itself in another assassination attempt, this time with former

value ratios have reduced credit excesses.

Banks now always take security on lending because of their credit risk models. Security provides a second way out and ensures a lower loss given default and commonly no loss or a writeback of a provision. That is taking less risk.

It might just be question of timing. The real economic stress lags economic outcomes as we saw after the global financial crisis. Asset values are taking time to realign to the impact of higher interest rates and profitability. There is a standoff between buyers and sellers.

An improved economic outlook, which is projected for 2025, could take time to get growth back to levels needed to sustain many business operations. The same with some commodity prices (income) relative to cost structures.

How quickly will demand recover for red meat in China is a key

president Donald Trump as the target.

Abraham Lincoln, James A Garfield, William McKinley and John F Kennedy were all victims of more accurate marksmen, while former president Trump joins Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan in being injured during a gun-related assassination attempt. By my calculus, 15% of US presidents have had a gun fired at them in an attempt to end their life.

The happenings of the past week remind us of one of history’s greatest lessons – a lack of common ground pushes people to the edges. For a New Zealand ag sector that has successfully held its own ground in multiple issues – emissions pricing the most recent – it’s interesting to consider the consequences and missed opportunities that come with failing to find consensus.

Boiling points occur when decades of filibustering build up. The filibuster is a political procedure where a politician prolongs debate to delay or entirely prevent a decision.

The approach is to simply talk something to death. It was famously used in the US Senate during the passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, when Southern senators engaged in a 60-working day, multiple-politician filibuster to secure concessions to the civils rights legislation.

More recently in the US the art of the filibuster has meant that hard stuff doesn’t get done, like climate legislation or gun control.

We may not lack common ground to the same degree as those in the US, but we have a way to go.

If we were to learn from history, it would be for our political class to find common ground.

question. The extent of the rise in farm cost structures in recent years will remain a problem for

of government) has resulted in remarkable stability.

By my calculus, 15% of US presidents have had a gun fired at them in an attempt to end their life.

Throughout my 20-year voting career the partisan politics of the art of the filibuster both nationally (paid parental leave) and within agriculture (arguably the drawnout nature of the He Waka Eke Noa process waiting for a change

2025 at least. Cost curves tend to flatten, not decline, and there are costs that are still rising

sector of running the filibuster since Shane Ardern’s days on issues of methane emissions and water quality. We have certainly debated the issues, but have we been genuinely prepared to compromise?

Have we stayed at the table long enough to nut something out that is in the long-term best interest, or is it a filibuster as governments flip back and forth on issues of national significance?

Common ground is required on several big issues not limited to agriculture, climate and water quality.

Common ground needs to be reached around infrastructure –forget ideologies of road or rail, the biggest pothole we have is now the Cook Strait.

With 70% of our population and energy needs growth in the golden triangle (Auckland-HamiltonTauranga), we need to give serious attention to Mike Casey and his plans to Rewire Aotearoa with a different electric-based energy model.

Federated Farmers’ work last week to bring together opposition MPs with agriculture’s leaders should be commended.

Like Dan, I am looking forward to AGMARDT’s industry report, in which suggestions for achieving common ground by creating greater trust across the sector are put forward.

But with this stability I question if we have made the progress needed. After all, our youth are flocking to Australia not only for sunshine but for better economic prospects, our relative performance as a nation slides and now, we find our global food and fibre customers pushing for emissions reductions despite the political filibustering of the last few years.

Some might accuse our pastoral

rapidly from areas such as local authorities.

This business cycle is more than a downturn. It is a realignment with huge structural changes interplaying with near-term drivers such as inflation and interest rates.

The government has altered the environmental landscape in the near-term. This has bought farmers time; it has not altered the long-term challenge.

A lot of investment and change is required to transition to a lower emission environment. Trade connectivity and deals are being aligned to achieving environmental and sustainability standards.

How much risk have banks been carrying with their lending? They price for risk through their interest margins. However, as banks’ appetites for writing home loans over agriculture and business loans in recent years has increased, so too has the strength in their lending portfolios.

If you zoom out enough, what we saw this weekend could be the inevitable result of decades of filibustering instead of compromising to solve problems. At one point, every aspect that led to this horrible incident would have been on the political floor –civilian access to high-powered firearms, funding for mental health, violence against political figures, job security and pathways for young people.

As history shows us, there are always consequences when we choose to filibuster against compromise and retreat from the common ground to the darker edges.

That can be a good thing in times of difficulty but at what cost for growth and productivity?

The pricing and taking of risk is one element of a well-functioning economy and that requires strong credit intermediation and risk appetites. Are the current low levels of NPLs symptomatic of less tolerance for risk in recent years and the preference for home lending? If so, has less tolerance for risk be matched by narrower lending margins?

We also have less visibility on financial pressure beyond the banking sector, especially in areas such as consumer finance.

The bottom line is that there is stress across the economy but not of the intensity we have seen in previous cycles. That might just be a function of timing, more conservative lending, the fact this downturn has yet to reach the nadir, the extent of economic risk in bank lending portfolios, or that we have yet to see the full impact of level shifts in things such as costs, structural shifts around the globe such as Chinese demand, and downwards pressure on asset prices.

UNCHANGED: During the period of low interest rates, many homeowners kept their payments unchanged, paying more in principal and getting ahead of debt repayment requirements, says Cameron Bagrie.

DELAY: United States Senator Warren R Austin speaking during an allnight filibuster in 1939. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

George Dodson wins Young Farmer of the Year title

Hours of practice with ‘quizmaster’ dad pay off for Tasman champ.

Gerald Piddock PEOPLE Skills

THIS year’s Young Farmer of the Year, George Dodson, says he is still coming to terms with winning the coveted prize.

Speaking from Tonga on a precalving holiday with his partner, Dodson said it had been incredible seeing his name up there.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind – there was the surprise win and trying to take it all in.”

Dodson beat six other finalists representing regions across the country in the three-day Grand Final in Hamilton.

Dodson is no stranger to the contest, though 2024 was his first attempt at a final.

He secured the title of New Zealand’s top young farmer following three days of gruelling challenges against six other grand finalists.

With challenges that included an exam, an interview, heavy machinery, livestock, quizzes, and public speaking, all seven grand finalists were neck and neck

as they attempted to gain the advantage over their competition.

Immediately after being announced the winner, Dodson said: “Words can’t even describe how I’m feeling, the excitement is nothing I’ve ever felt before. It hasn’t sunk in yet, it’s just incredible.”

Dodson said he was concerned he might have left too many points out on the technical and practical days prior to the quiz finale but managed to make up the ground during that final stage.

“I didn’t have too many expectations and I thought I might have done enough to get around mid-table.”

But the hours of preparation he put in paid off. He practised with friends and family on his general knowledge using a training buzzer similar to the one used in the final quiz.

He dug deep and drew on the strong set of skills he learnt at home and through farm management. It was his performance in the final buzzer quiz that secured him the win.

“Every Sunday night my old man would be the quiz master and

Every Sunday night my old man would be the quiz master and the room always had people that were pretty switched on that would test me as well.

George Dodson 2024 FMG Young Farmer of the Year

we would do that for two hours and the room always had people that were pretty switched on that would test me as well. That all ended up paying off big time.

“My dad put hours and hours and hours into helping me prepare. I also had some of the boys coming out once a week from an hour’s drive away to test me on the buzzer, and I think that showed.”

Looking back, it was a four-anda-half month slog of preparation since he won the Tasman regional contest to qualify for the final.

“There’s been a lot of time put into it and a lot of time been put into helping me.”

He prepared for the practical day on Friday by learning or brushing up on skills including fencing, engineering, shearing, welding and mechanical.

He also had a good support crew

to help including wider family, friends and people from the Darfield Young Farmers Club.

Dodson is a 2IC on a 430-cow dairy farm between Darfield and Dunsandel and previously worked as a dairy farm manager in Southland.

Looking ahead, he wants to go sharemilking and hopes winning the Young Farmer of the Year will open doors to enable that opportunity.

“A sharemilking job would be awesome, and I started the Canterbury Young Dairy Farmers Leaders Network so hopefully getting a bit more support behind that.

“They are quite hard to come by in Canterbury so hopefully this will give me a lot of leverage in that. “

Further out, he hopes to be involved in either an equity partnership or farm ownership. He said he hopes to leave New Zealand’s farmland in a better place for the next generation.

“I want to bust the myth that farmers don’t care about the environment because that’s simply not true. We love our cows, and we want to look after our land and our property because that’s our livelihood.”

He was also hugely grateful to the competition organisers, the army of volunteers who organised the contest and the sponsors for the prize pool.

As well as the title, Dodson also claimed the Agri-Knowledge award and over $90,000 in prizes thanks to the contest’s sponsor family. The final points were: George Dodson 435.45, Caleb Eady 432.42, Gareth McKerchar 418.77, Zayn Jones 416.6, Archie Woodhouse 395.43, Dennis Main 368.17 and Zac Thomas 368.13.

Coming up fast: youngsters clinch national titles

“We’re really excited,” said Hayden. “We put a lot of work into this.”

A DUO from Otago Boys’ High School in Dunedin have secured the title of 2024 FMG Junior Young Farmers of the Year in Hamilton.

The quick thinking, practical know-how and farming skills of Shamus Young, 18, and Hayden Drummond, 17, earned praise from judges as they successfully navigated the high-pressure challenges thrown their way.

The competition was fierce, with 13 other teams from schools across Aotearoa rolling up their sleeves in

The competition is so broad, so you’ve got to do well at everything.

a bid to secure the coveted title.

The competition, now in its 56th year, is held up as one of the country’s most prestigious rural contest series, dedicated to showcasing the very best talent New Zealand’s food and fibre sector has on offer.

Shamus and Hayden won both the farmlet and face-off challenges and dominated the quickfire quiz rounds and practical farming race with their agricultural knowledge. Both have a background in fourthgeneration farming.

Shamus said he’s pleased the hard work has finally paid off.

“The competition is so broad, so you’ve got to do well at everything,” he said.

“It’s always a good feeling to represent your region and school, and do them both proud,” said Hayden.

Mt Hutt College students James Clark and Jack Foster were the runners-up, and Kaela Brans and Liana Redpath from Napier Girls’ High School finished up in third place.

The next generation of young farmers, the AgriKidsNZ competitors, also tackled a range of challenges during the event, including modules, quizzes, and an AgriKids race off as part of the Grand Final weekend.

In the end, a trio from Te Waotu School took out the title of AgriKidsNZ Grand Champions, winning three out of four sections of the competition overall.

Jackie Sneddon, 12, Ben Barbour, 12, and Joshua Barbour, 11, had grins that stretched from ear to ear as they made their way to the top of the podium.

“I’m stunned and in shock,” Jackie said.

“This is our second year together. We went to Timaru last year for the Grand Finals and came fifth ...

we work really well together as a team,” Ben said.

“And we definitely studied way more this year!” Joshua said.

A trio from Longbeach Primary School made up of Henry Pottinger, Edward White, and George Lash were the AgriKidsNZ runners-up, and Pippa Muir from Seddon School won Contestant of the Year.

Greer Neal, Olivia Strachen, and Leah Wilson (the Milking Manics) from Duntroon Primary School came in third place.

WINNER: George Dodson holds the trophy aloft after winning the 2024 Young Farmer of the Year.

KNOWLEDGE: Hayden Drummond and Shamus Young won both the farmlet and face-off challenges and dominated the quickfire quiz rounds and practical farming race with their agricultural knowledge.

CHAMPIONS: Jackie Sneddon, Ben Barbour and Joshua Barbour won three out of four sections to be crowned AgriKidsNZ Grand Champions.

Shamus Young 2024 FMG Junior Young Farmer of the Year

Technology

Estate brews bio defence against pests

A vast Brazilian estate develops its own bio-pesticides in its onfarm bio-reactor. Richard Rennie reports from Mato Grosso state.

ABRAZILIAN “biological farm” is brewing up some hard-hitting bio-pesticides to deal to troublesome pests across its vast cropping estate.

The Maro Julio farm in the northwestern Mato Grosso state is a vast estate cropping 9300 hectares in cotton, 20,000ha in soybeans and 16,000ha in corn. It employs as many as 600 staff at the peak of harvest season in its family agribusiness operation.

The property adopts some standard environmental practices, such as fencing off all waterways, fully reticulated cattle water, and a reforestation policy on poorer quality land.

But it also includes cutting-edge tech in its sustainable practices, which the property’s sheer scale gives economic weight to.

The Maro Julio cropping operation is using 30% less synthetic crop treatments than several years ago since it installed a bioreactor facility in the farm laboratory. The bio-reactor is

responsible for brewing batches of biological crop treatments, applied as liquids by the estate’s fleet of crop-dusting planes.

The bio-reactor’s pesticide brew is aimed at a wide range of common pests that afflict the crops, including spittle bug, stink bug, white fly and leaf hoppers.

The batch reactor is primed using commercially purchased inoculums and fungal spores, and the possibility exists at a later date of the property claiming IP rights to some batch brews.

Estate agronomist Osvaldo Arujo said the estate intends to increase the spectrum of pests and diseases the treatments can address, and ultimately push towards 100% biotreatment use.

He said the region’s tropical climate with its reliable dry period over May to September with only 80mm of rainfall provides a stable period for the slower acting biotreatments to work, without risk of being washed off before activating.

“There is no premium for products treated this way at

present, but we believe over time, this will be the case,” Arukjo said.

The bio-treatments are cheaper than synthetics, and last longer in the right conditions.

“For example, if it costs 80 real [$26] a litre for a synthetic, we can make an equivalent treatment in the bioreactor for 5 real [$1.66] a litre.

“But we are still some way before we can achieve 100% use, as synthetics tend to work quicker.”

The bio-reactor produces a fungi that infects the relevant pest and effectively feeds on it.

The use of bioinsecticides and treatments on Brazilian farms has grown in the past decade, largely driven by the growth in large scale family-owned operations that are now double-cropping with soybeans and corn over the growing season, putting greater demand on soil fertility and insect pest loads.

EPA approves Chilean needle grass biocontrol

Staff reporter TECHNOLOGY Pests

THE Environmental Protection Authority has approved the release of a rust fungus to control the spread of Chilean needle grass, an invasive weed that not only harms animals, but has the potential to cost farmers millions of dollars in lost production.

Marlborough District Council applied to use a strain of rust fungus, Uromyces pencanus, as a biocontrol agent against Chilean needle grass (Nassella neesiana) in New Zealand.

“We hope the introduction of this rust fungus will help slow the spread of this aggressive weed and reduce harm to livestock and other farm animals,” general manager, hazardous substances and new organisms Dr Chris Hill said.

SHARP: The seeds of Chilean needle grass have sharp tips that can bore into the eyelids and pelts of animals, resulting in severe animal welfare issues, including blindness.

“Testing shows this rust fungus can successfully slow infestations, killing the foliage of the Chilean needle grass as well as reducing its growth and seed production.

“This rust fungus is highly host-specific, meaning it only lives on Chilean needle grass.

“The testing results provided to us showed it is highly unlikely to harm native plants or animals. There is also no risk to people.”

Chilean needle grass is a perennial grass from South America and was first identified in New Zealand in the 1920s.

The seeds have sharp tips that can bore into the eyelids and pelts of animals, resulting in severe animal welfare issues, including blindness.

Plants form dense clumps, which exclude pasture species and are less palatable to stock, reducing farm productivity.

Methods for managing Chilean needle grass infestations on farms, such as destocking for the three-month period when seeds are present, or by applying herbicide, can be both difficult and expensive.

One study estimates that across the sector, the potential cost of lost production could reach as much as $1.16 billion if the weed is left unchecked.

Chilean needle grass is well established in some regions, particularly Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Auckland and Canterbury

“Our panel of independent experts approved this release following a rigorous, evidence-based investigative process which included the consideration of public submissions, international best practice and engagement with mana whenua,” Hill said.

If it costs 80 real ($26) a litre for a synthetic, we can make an equivalent treatment in the bioreactor for 5 real ($1.66) a litre.

The global bio-pesticide market is estimated to be worth US$5.2 billion ($8.5bn) in 2020, and accounts for only 8% of the total global crop treatment market.

However, a compound growth of 13% a year is expected between now and 2030 as pressure mounts for alternative treatments, and the cost of developing new synthetics continues to rise.

Brazil’s portion of the world’s bio-pesticide market is small at only 5% but it has stood out

for its rapid gain in the past few years, estimated at 42% between 2017 and 2020. The bulk of the treatments are applied to soybeans, sugar cane and corn.

Uptake of on-farm biopesticides is expected to continue, but the rate of adoption will depend on factors such as the selection of safe, virulent microbial strains and implementation of sound quality control measures.

The Brazilian Congress has recognised the popularity of the crop treatments, and legislation is in play to simplify the registration process and create a framework that fits for “on farm” bio-reactor use, compared to large scale commercial production plants.

• Rennie visited Brazil as part of an international delegation of agricultural journalists hosted by the Brazilian Association of Corn Ethanol Producers.

BREWING: Maro Julio agronomist Osvaldo Aurjo, left, with agronomy engineer Alfonso Silva and tech assistant Ricardo Oliveira in front of the estate’s bioreactor.

Osvaldo Arujo Maro Julio Farm

Focus

Moving countries to milk opportunities

WITH no responsibilities tying him down, Christopher Gerard Vila made a spontaneous decision nearly 17 years ago to move to New Zealand.

Visiting his sister and brotherin-law, who had relocated from the Philippines to Reporoa to work on a dairy farm, Vila loved the place so much, he decided to make the move himself.

“The visa process wasn’t easy but I persevered and worked my way from 12-month working visas to residency and finally to citizenship,” Vila said.

“I do appreciate the struggle migrants go through to get a visa, I was very lucky.”

Back home he had worked for an international swine and poultry feed company after finishing university. He had studied a Bachelor of Animal Husbandry as well as a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine but the temptation

to move to New Zealand to give farming a go was too great.

An agency helped get him started, finding a farm assistant role in Mamaku near Rotorua.

After calving he moved to Maxwell Farms in Reporoa where his sister and brother-in-law were.

After two seasons he moved to a 2IC role in Atiamuri between Taupō and Tokoroa.

“I love learning as much as I can, I truly believe farming is more about attitude than skill.

“You’ve got to have patience, and willingness to learn and be willing to do a lot of hard work, it’s not easy but it is rewarding.”

His veterinary knowledge has come in handy dealing with animals, but in order to have his qualification recognised here he would have to go through a tedious and expensive registration process.

He had minimal experience with agriculture before coming to NZ, although back home his family raised pigs.

“We had about nine sows we would breed from, and then raise the piglets to fatten. It is a lot

different to dairy farming,” Vila said.

The first time he went home after moving to NZ, he met his wife, Jonah, through a family friend. She initially came to NZ on a visitor visa to see if it could work and once she got things in order she moved over permanently 13 years ago.

They got married in Rotorua and now have two children, a daughter Lily, who is six, and a baby boy, Leonzo.

“Jonah complements my farming skills with her knowledge of financials and business stuff,” Vila said.

“We make a great team.”

The couple have been on a farm in Ōhaupō, between Te Awamutu and Hamilton, for 11 years now. It is owned by the JB and BE Turnwald Family Trust and Vila started as a manager for the sharemilker, Mark Turnwald.

Recently, he and Jonah have bought 30% of the sharemilking business with a long-term plan to take over more.

“Mark mainly looks after the tractor work, the dry cows and heifers, and I run the day to day.

“He has been getting me more involved in the business side and I am fortunate to have such great support.”

The farm is 102 hectares, milking 350-360 cows. They also have a lease block nearby where the heifers are run. They operate a System 3 to 4, depending on the season, using in-shed feeding throughout milking, and maize and grass silage in the fringes.

This year they have built a composting barn, which is proving to be a bit of trial and error while determining the best system for the farm.

“We looked at a lot of composting barns before committing to building one, and there was mixed feedback but a lot of people loved them.

“Our farm soil type is peat so it gets really wet and the farm didn’t

Management through Primary ITO, which he is excited about.

Jonah complements my farming skills with her knowledge of financials and business stuff. We make a great team.

Christopher Gerard Vila Ōhaupō

have a stand-off pad, so rather than sacrificing a paddock we built the barn.

“It’s for animal wellbeing and the long term sustainability of the farm”

Vila plans to use it on hot days and cold winter days to shelter the herd and he is hoping he will get more out of them.

The shed is a 28-a-side herringbone with automatic cup removers and there are two team members alongside Vila working on the farm.

He has just completed his Level 5 Diploma in AgriBusiness

“The study was great, it taught me a lot about the business side of farming.”

And in 2021 he entered the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, winning both the Waikato regional and National title for the Manager category. He said it was an overwhelming experience. He had no idea how well he would do and now he looks forward to entering the share farmer category in the future.

Off farm, he plays basketball at the Waikato Filipino Association and he is an active member of the Freemasons NZ under Waipa Lodge 119 in Te Awamutu. They do a lot of charity work, much like Lions clubs.

“I am very thankful I was able to move to New Zealand, we have set up a great life here and we are loving it.

“I enjoy farming, it’s a great life for me and my family, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

Work with Samen NZ to drive better Sexed Se conception rates, push your herd's genetic ga and optimise each pregnancy with some of ou world-leading Dairy Beef Solutions. Download Our Better Together Guide

Samantha Tennent PEOPLE Skills

LIFESTYLE: Christopher Gerard Vila, with wife Jonah and children Lily and Leonzo, says they have established a great life in New Zealand and are loving it.

PROCESS: Christopher Gerard Vila says his veterinary knowledge has come in handy dealing with animals, but to have his qualification recognised here he would have to go through a tedious and expensive registration process.

Fonterra’s net zero farm tuned up and humming

FONTERRA’S zero carbon farm is up and running for its first season of production.

The 271 hectare (210ha effective) is part of the Dairy Trust Taranaki farm group and was an existing research farm.

As a result of the FonterraNestlé partnership it has taken on the challenge of trying to reach zero carbon, Fonterra’s director of sustainability Charlotte Rutherford said.

Moving from being a research farm to being a pilot farm has seen changes in terms of stocking rates and calving dates, with it shifting to spring calving from an autumn calving.

It has also returned to twicea-day milking, having previously operated as a “10 in 7” farm.

“We have had 18 months of that being in place and a lot of that 18 months has been setting up the farm system and driving efficiencies within that new farm system that we see and build off into the future.

“There’s been those shifts, which are quite fundamental in a farm system but arguably a more common farm system that we see.”

Rutherford said there has been a reduction in the farm’s intensity and a lot of that was due to pasture management where matching feed to cow requirements has been critical.

The farm has also reduced brought-in feed and will attempt to better utilise the home-grown maize silage as well.

“That also means optimising nitrogen use and applications as well. There’s been a real shift to improved pasture management and matching that to cow requirement to be able to reduce that emissions intensity.”

This is an area of focus because it is seen as something other farmers could incorporate on their own farms to reduce their emissions, she said.

The farm uses FarmIQ as the primary management and monitoring tool as well as Hawkeye for fertiliser use and Halter for grazing management and heat detection, and the farm is also a calibration farm for LIC’s SPACE pasture monitoring programme.

SmaXtec Boluses were installed for this season for heat and health alerts, with Halter still in use for the virtual fencing.

Data is supplied to AgResearch, which runs the inputs through its Ag: LCA – a lifecycle assessment model of GHG emissions. This considers all the inputs required to produce a kilogram of milk solids.

The farm will also use electric farm bikes, and an electric ute is in use. Solar panels are being installed later this year.

The farm’s initial target is for a 30% reduction by 2027.

There is also consideration for what technological mitigation options may or may not be available in the future once all of

focus is based on using the resources within the farm system.

representatives from Nestlé and Fonterra.

Farmers have to see it as something they can implement and do themselves and it’s not an R&D farm.

the known on-farm options have been used to reach that net-zero target.

Offsetting is not being considered because the farm’s

Rutherford said the farm sits somewhere between being a research farm and a commercial farm.

“Farmers have to see it as something they can implement and do themselves and it’s not an R&D farm.”

The farm runs 525 cows and is managed by Tracey Mills, who is supported by a herd manager and two farm assistants.

Above that sits a management group and above the management group is a governance group with

Improved breeding and reproduction has also been a focus, with the farm working with ex-LIC general manager for NZ markets, Malcolm Ellis. The herd was inseminated earlier this year for spring calving starting on July 2.

Sexed semen is used for the first three weeks of mating to the top 50% of BW/PW cows in the herd. Beef semen is used for the remainder of cows.

It runs on a System 2 low intensive system. Over winter, all cows are kept on and fed supplementary silage, hay and maize.

Both chemical fertiliser and nitrogen are used. Effluent is spread to land either using the effluent drill system that can apply effluent across the entire milking platform, or it can be applied using the existing effluent irrigation system across 55ha on the platform.

The drill was applied twice during the season in good conditions to increase pond storage levels.

Staff are also testing whether an Ecopond, an effluent treatment created by Ravensdown, could be used for its effluent system to further reduce emissions.

FIRST SEASON: Fonterra’s 271ha farm, which strives to be net zero, has started its first season of production.

OPTIONS: Charlotte Rutherford says the zero carbon farm sits somewhere between being a research farm and a commercial farm.

Charlotte Rutherford Fonterra

Gerald Piddock TECHNOLOGY On farm

ng scientist supports healthy water ways Award-winni farmers and

The New Zealand dair y sector is benefiting from award-winning scientist Dr Lee Burber y ’s knowledge and experience.

The Dair yNZ water qualit y scientist spends his workdays relating water qualit y data to dair ying land-use activities and designing and studying edge-of-field nutrient mitigation

practices The evidence base Lee compiles from these activities helps Dair yNZ suppor t farmers to evaluate their environmental footprint, identif y viable ways to reduce nitrogen loss to water ways and advocate for pragmatic water qualit y management

It ’ s impor tant work and it ’ s been recognised at the highest level

Earlier this month, Lee’s work led to Dair yNZ and the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) winning the research and science categor y at the 2024 Primar y Industries NZ Summit Awards The win recognises the work Lee and the Dair yNZ team have done in par tnership with ESR over the past 10 years to research and develop woodchip denitrif ying bioreactors as an edge-of-field practice for mitigating nitrogen loads to New Zealand water ways

Bioreactors are pits filled with woodchip that act as a water filter and suppor t denitrification – where bacteria conver t reactive nitrate nitrogen to innocuous nitrogen gas as par t of their respiration process

“A woodchip bioreactor’s role is primarily to treat nitrate, yet our

research has shown they can also filter for contaminants such as phosphorus and E coli , ” Lee says “So there are secondar y benefits This aligns with Dair yNZ’s holistic approach to farm systems

management and water way health ”

By fostering a more holistic view of water way health, Dair yNZ’s Healthy Water ways programme aims to empower farming communities to drive improvements in water qualit y and ecosystem health at scale

A holistic approach means considering the health of streams and rivers, the fish and macroinver tebrates (insects/ animals that can be seen by the naked eye) that live in them – and working collaboratively with dair y farmers, research par tners and communit y organisations and catchment groups to sustain and improve these environments

Lee – who has a PhD from the school of environmental science at Lancaster Universit y in the UK and an impressive collection of published research ar ticles – has spent most of his 25-year science career working on New Zealand groundwater resource management issues He came to New Zealand from England in 2005 as a postdoctoral fellow at Lincoln Universit y, to research and develop a practical way to measure nitrate reaction rates in groundwater

Progress on water qualit y

He star ted at Dair yNZ in August 2021 Before that he spent nine years as a senior groundwater research scientist at ESR, where he initiated the research that was recently awarded As well as conducting research, at ESR Lee provided technical advice to the Ministr y of Health on groundwater qualit y topics His career has also included working at Environment Canterbur y, where he worked at the coalface of groundwater resource management in the region

As well as authoring scientific papers, Lee, who sits on the New Zealand Hydrological Societ y executive, has presented at conferences on water qualit y topics, in par ticular, groundwater

Check out our recent episode of Talking Dair y, where we dive into the topic of ongoing water qualit y improvement efforts made by the dair y sector. Hear from Aslan Wright-Stow, Senior Manager Science at Dair yNZ on the sector’s commitments, the progress made, and the scientific advancements that are improving water qualit y management and decision making

He’s enjoying learning about the sector in his Dair yNZ role

“I’m blown away by the scale of NZ farms, at least compared to those in the UK Also, by the sophistication of the irrigation practised in NZ, par ticularly in Canterbur y where a lot of it relies on groundwater abstraction I’m striving to learn more about farm systems and integrate that more effectively into water qualit y science ”

“I’m the kind of person who lives for work, and I cer tainly take it home with me I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to Canterbur y groundwater ”

Award-winning scientist Dr Lee Burbery has been recognised for his work to research and develop woodchip denitrifying bioreactors.

From netball court to the boardroom

Samantha Tennent PEOPLE Community

RUNNING around an indoor netball court in the depths of a Southland winter, Sarah Hopkins can’t imagine going back to playing outdoors. It is one of the many perks she has found moving to the region from Manawatū eight years ago.

She has embraced the opportunities available, including her role as an associate trustee with the Dairy Women’s Network (DWN).

“When I moved to Invercargill I planned to see heaps of Southland and I said yes to a lot of opportunities at the start,” Hopkins said.

“It’s amazing what opportunities open if you say yes.”

Saying yes is why she moved in the first place, when her current accountancy firm was looking for someone with a rural focus to lead a newly acquired rural division.

She grew up in Feilding, where her parents own a motel and restaurant business. She lived at the motel and did plenty of work around the complex.

“It’s similar to farming, in the aspect that my parents were always working and the work never stops.”

Although she went to Feilding High School, she did not have any experience with agriculture till she graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Accountancy.

“I sort of fell into rural accounting. I secured a scholarship in Year 13 through an agriculturally focused accounting firm that helped towards my study and provided a job after I finished,” Hopkins explains.

“I learnt a lot about farm accounting and worked on various farming clients.”

And that was what made her attractive to her current accounting firm as she was able to bring that knowledge to Southland.

Her accounting career has advanced significantly, through managing a rural client base as

an associate. And she is excited to become a director and shareholder when she buys into the business next year.

She works with a range of clients at all stages of their farming careers, from just starting to exiting through various forms of succession. The knowledge and skills she has developed as a rural accountant will benefit the role with DWN too.

Great things do happen when you break out of your comfort zone.

Sarah Hopkins DWN

“As trusted advisers to farmers we hear a lot and now I can bring that knowledge to help DWN at a national level.”

She was appointed to the 20-month position in February. It was created to support women with a desire to develop their governance experience and provides a framework and mentoring to develop skills and experience by actively participating in governance with the organisation.

She has been enjoying working with the dairy sector in a different way.

“I’m not there as Sarah the accountant, I am Sarah with an accounting background, and I’m enjoying cementing my thoughts and ideas about the sector and getting a deeper understanding.

“Everyone is facing similar challenges.”

She believes being an accountant is about more than simply crunching numbers.

“It’s about providing comprehensive support to my clients, helping them to achieve their business goals, and offering a listening ear when they need it.

“I look forward to taking these skills into governance with DWN.”

Originally she became involved with DWN through attending their social and educational events, including delivering workshops.

When the associate role came

up she thought it looked good and chucked her name in the ring.

The DWN Trust board HR committee recognised Hopkins has strong regional networks and customer focus. And her leadership and team mentoring capabilities were welcome skills to the role.

When she was appointed the committee chair, Lucy Johnson, emphasised Hopkins’ strong set of values.

“I’m excited by this position and know that I will gain experience, grow my skills, and build confidence.

“I hope that I can give back as much as I receive. I see a future in governance and appreciate the opportunity I’ve been given by DWN,” said Hopkins.

She has played netball since she was young and is involved with the local St Marys Netball Club.

She is also an avid traveller and she and partner Cam like to explore different places each year – though it was a shock landing back in Invercargill after a recent trip around Asia, leaving Singapore at 32degC.

She is looking forward to saying yes to more opportunities and always pushes others to give things a go.

“Great things do happen when you break out of your comfort zone.”

VARIETY: Sarah Hopkins works with a range of clients at all stages of their farming careers, from just starting to exiting through various forms of succession.

EXPERIENCE: Although Sarah Hopkins went to Feilding High School, she did not have any experience with agriculture till she graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Accountancy.

Pasture systems throw up variable results

Hugh Stringleman TECHNOLOGY Research

FUTURE Farming Systems trial work by Northland Dairy Development Trust at the 100-year-old Northland Agricultural Research Farm has thrown up many questions in Year 3 of a five-year term.

Three completed seasons of the study have shown quite different results, the annual Northland Dairy Development Trust (NDDT) field day was told in late June. The report was presented by the science manager for the trial, Chris Boom, and NDDT trustee Kim Robinson, both also farm consultants with AgFirst Northland.

The Future Farming Systems trial is investigating pasture systems in a warming climate and when conforming to the government’s greenhouse gas emissions targets.

The Northland Agricultural Research Farm (NARF) is a highproducing dairy farm by Northland standards and has historical average pasture growth of 15.4 tonnes dry matter per hectare per year on kikuyu-dominant pastures. Ryegrass persistence is poor, rust and pest damage are increasing and regression to

kikuyu often occurs within three years of sowing new pastures. This study compares a typical Northland dairy farm system (Baseline Farm – kikuyu/ryegrass pastures, 3.1 cows/ha, up to 190 kg N/ha applied) with a farm that has over 70% of land in tall fescue/ cocksfoot/clover/chicory pastures (Alternative Pastures Farm – 3.1 cows/ha, up to 190 kg N/ha), and a farm designed to have significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions (Low Emissions Farm – kikuyu/ ryegrass pastures, 2.2 cows/ha, no N applied).

Pasture and milk production, milk composition, profit and people (labour input and management difficulty) are all measured. Milk production was highest on the Baseline Farm in the first season (2021-22), which featured a particularly dry summer.

In the second and third seasons production was highest on the Alternative Pastures Farm.

Milk production/ha on the lower stocked Low Emissions Farm has ranged between 25% and 39% lower than the Baseline Farm.

The variation in milk production on the Low Emissions Farm appears to be related to clover presence, which has been significantly higher with the removal of N fertiliser from the system.

Financial analysis of each farm

Variation in performance of this farm indicates how dependent no-nitrogen systems are on clover presence.

(using actual milk price) shows the Alternative Pastures Farm has been the most profitable in two of the three seasons.

Profit on the Low Emissions Farm has been lowest except for the 2022-23 season, when better production and significant

inflation in input costs combined to boost profit above that of the Baseline Farm. Averaged over the three years, however, profit was 31% lower than the Baseline Farm.

Averaged across the three seasons to date, the Low Emissions Farm has shown GHG reductions closer to targets compared to the Baseline Farm.

The methane reductions have been more variable, partly due to fluctuating milk production per cow.

Emissions intensity (GHG/kg MS) has improved, primarily through a reduction in the embedded

emissions in imported feed and nitrogen fertiliser.

This project expected to reduce methane emissions by 25% and nitrous oxide emissions by 50% on the Low Emissions Farm compared to the Baseline Farm.

The actual (modelled) reduction so far has averaged 28% and 48% respectively, which is somewhat in line with the reduction in stocking rate and milk production.

The study has provided results under contrasting climatic conditions.

So far, extended dry summers appear to favour kikuyu/Italian

INFORMATIVE: Farmers attend the Northland Agricultural Research Farm annual field day in the 100th year of its operation.

ACCOUNTING:

Fonterra picks up the NARF property as three herds, to facilitate the trial work and its tests on milk composition.

ryegrass-based pastures, whereas the Alternative Pastures Farm performed well in the normal to wetter summer rainfall seasons.

Removing nitrogen fertiliser on the Low Emissions Farm quickly resulted in a significant increase

in clover presence, particularly in the 2022-23 season until flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle eliminated clover from much of the farm.

Clover content in pastures over the three years has averaged 8% on the Baseline Farm (with N) and

Research farm still going strong at 100

Hugh Stringleman TECHNOLOGY Research

NORTHLAND Agricultural

Research Farm has occupied the same site 5km north of Dargaville for the past 100 years, doing trial work of great benefit to Northland farmers.

NARF began as the Northern Wairoa Experimental and Demonstration Farm in 1924, gifted to all Northland farmers for research of benefit the region and the agricultural industries.

The farm has paid its own way through floods, droughts and the ups and downs of milk payouts.

In recent years it has received funding to pay for additional science costs such as extra staff to enable trial work to be carried out.

The farm has the unique ability to run systems trials on three equalised farmlets of up to 90 cows each on 27 hectares.

This gives enough scale for robust comparisons and there is great interest in the work the farm does from the length of the country.

It has a dairy herd with high genetic merit that has been professionally managed with supervision by a farmer committee.

Farmers and industry members are encouraged to attend the fortnightly farm meetings and join the discussion and debate on the current and future management of the farm.

More than 400 farmers and rural professionals receive the emailed fortnightly farm notes.

Since 2006 NARF has had a very close working relationship with the Northland Dairy Development Trust (NDDT), with trustees

22% on the Low Emissions Farm (no N).

Variation in performance of this farm indicates how dependent no-nitrogen systems are on clover presence.

This project will continue for two more seasons allowing testing of these regimes over further variable climatic conditions and display any compounding treatment effects over time.

The Alternative Pastures Farm was set up by sowing 74% of the farm area during 2020 and 2021 with tall fescue, cocksfoot, white and red clovers and chicory.

Plantain and Persian clover were added in some paddocks.

Between 15-20% of these alternative pastures have been resown each autumn, apart from autumn 2023 when 60% of these pastures were resown after damage from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Costs of the pasture introduction have been similar across each year, averaging $1,138/ha sown, including tractor time, man hours and contractor costs for drilling.

The other two farms (Baseline Farm and Low Emissions Farm), and the 26% portion of the

Alternative Pastures Farm that was not sown in new species, have older pastures with approximately 70% kikuyu presence.

All kikuyu-based paddocks on all three farms are mulched every autumn and under-sown with Italian ryegrass.

Kikuyu pastures have proven

to be highly resilient, with little plant death and a rapid recovery following Cyclone Gabrielle flooding in early 2023.

Most other pasture species, including ryegrass, tall fescue, cocksfoot, chicory and clovers, died as a result of the flooding and had to be resown.

appointed by NARF and Fonterra.

In the past 25 years trial work has been done on split calving, endophytes, mastitis, nitrogen fertiliser, kikuyu management, and the economics of cropping and supplement use.

Trust coordinator and farm consultant Kim Robinson said the current Future Farming Systems trial looks forward 20 or even 30 years, whereas previous trials have addressed current concerns for Northland farmers.

The alternative pastures are of great interest to Waikato and Bay of Plenty as climate change kicks in.

Kim Robinson Northland Dairy Development Trust

“The alternative pastures are of great interest to Waikato and Bay of Plenty as climate change kicks in, and the future low-emissions work is running concurrently with research farms in Taranaki and Southland.”

Long-time Kaipara farmer on the NARF committee, Peter Flood, said the breadth of trial work in his time has been of great benefit to all pastoral farmers in the north.

Before NDDT was formed in 2006 the workload on volunteer NARF committee members was considerable, scoping research work, finding sponsorship, running the trials and reporting back.

After attending his first NARF event in 1980, Flood has been on the committee since 1998 and he looked after the finances from 2010 to 2022.

STREAMLINED: The most-recent capital expenditure on the 100-year-old NARF is a three-part feed pad.

Constraints, demand will deliver balance

Globally, milk production faces constraints – in Uruguay, for example, May production dropped -11.9% YoY.

Sector perspective

Cristina Alvarado Alvarado is commercial manager, data and insight at NZX

AS JUNE arrived, New Zealand’s new dairy season commenced. In this edition, we’ll delve into the key aspects of the month and provide a comprehensive overview of the 2023-2024 season, comparing it to the prior season. Agriculture is the backbone of New Zealand’s economy, with dairy being a significant contributor. According to the Ministry for Primary Industries’ 2024 Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries (SOPI), dairy exports accounted for over 44% of the country’s primary industry exports in the past 12 months, with an estimated export revenue of $24.16 billion for the year ending 30 June 2024.

New Zealand’s milk production in May closed the season with 917,117 tonnes (96,364,000 kgMS) of milk collected, totalling 21.31 million tonnes and 1.88 billion kgMS for the full season. This represents a -0.7% decrease in

tonnes but a 0.5% increase on a milksolids basis compared to the previous season (2022-2023).

The SGX-NZX Milk Price Futures and Options (MKP) traded a total of 54,334 lots (1 lot = 6000kgMS). Therefore over 17% of New Zealand milk was managed through futures or options throughout the 2023-2024 season.

SGX-NZX dairy derivatives is a tool to manage price risk. When looking at milk price tools for farmers, the NZX Dairy Derivatives team is happy to support farmers wanting to understand these tools.

Globally, milk production faces constraints in regions like the United States, Argentina, and Uruguay, with year-on-year (YoY) declines in May production. The US reported a -1.0% decline, Argentina a -10.8% drop, and Uruguay a -11.9% decrease YoY in May. However, Europe and Australia reported growth, with Europe’s April production increasing by 1.5% and Australia’s May production rising by 3.5%.

Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auctions in June had mixed results, with a 1.7% increase in event 357 and a -0.5% drop in event 358. In July’s first event (359), the GDT price index declined by -6.9%, in line with the expected seasonality and the increased volumes offered in the event; setting the average price at $3,782.

New Zealand’s dairy exports increased by 4% in volume, with 2.86 million tonnes of dairy products exported between June 2023 and May 2024. Whole milk powder (WMP) accounted for 50.7% of exports (1.45 million tonnes), followed by skim milk powder (SMP) with 15.8% (453.79 thousand tonnes), cheese 13.0% (372.74 thousand tonnes), butter 9.3% (266.78 thousand tonnes), anhydrous milk fat (AMF) 7.5% (214.41 thousand tonnes), and whey 3.7% (105.14 thousand tonnes). There was a shift in the product mix exported compared to the previous season, with increases

in WMP, SMP, AMF, and whey of 5.4%, 6.3%, 2.2%, and 25.1%, respectively, but decreases in butter (-4.5%) and cheese (-1.4%).

Over 17% of New Zealand milk was managed through futures or options throughout the 2023-2024 season.

Trade in other key regions was mixed. The US reported a -4.1% YoY decrease in May exports, Australia a 22.3% YoY increase in May, Europe a 2.0% YoY increase in April exports, and Argentina a -0.5% YoY decrease in May.

China’s total dairy import volumes decreased by -20.1% YoY in May.

The 2023-2024 season saw more growth in GDT prices than it did on the 2022-2023 dairy season. We also had steady milk production in New Zealand and

primary industry exports in the past 12 months.

witnessed constrained supply from other regions due to global events, especially with shipping constraints through the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal. If global milk production and

trade remain constrained, and demand continues to grow in emerging regions like southeast Asia and the Middle East, we can expect a balanced 2024-2025 season in New Zealand.

All the winners in black and white

Staff reporter NEWS Awards

THE best of the Holstein Friesian breed was recognised at the 2024 Holstein Friesian NZ Awards as part of the 2024 HFNZ AGM & Conference.

More than 100 Holstein Friesian breeders, sponsors and supporters gathered in Hamilton to see awards presented to breeders whose animals excelled in the production, performance, progeny, components, youth, showing and photography categories.

The 2024 Valden Cow of the Year was awarded to Royson Oman Cybil EX2 11* ET, bred by Eddie and Kath Lambert of Whakatane.

Chosen from six finalists, 2008-born Cybil was deemed to be the cow that had contributed the most to the Holstein Friesian

breed on a continual basis.

“We’re not only tremendously proud, but exceptionally humbled to be in the company of such successful breeders, particularly in the Valden Cow of the Year,” Eddie Lambert said.

We’re not only tremendously proud, but exceptionally humbled to be in the company of such successful breeders.

Eddie Lambert

Valden Cow of the Year owner

The Lamberts were also the recipients of the 2024 Mahoe Trophy for Royson MG Currency S3F, with 517 points.

Henley Farming Company (Nathan and Amanda Bayne,

Oamaru) was again the winner of the Holstein Friesian NZ Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Senior and Junior Progeny Competitions with San Ray FM Beamer-ET S2F and Lightburn Blade Gusto teams respectively. These awards are presented to the junior and senior Progeny teams with the highest points for classification based on the 2023-2024 seasons inspections, scores for udder overall and final score, production worth and protein BV.

Lakeside Dairies was the overall winner of the 2024 Nutritech Performance Awards with $6,317.41.

This prize is awarded to the herd owner with the highest dollar earning herd average for their region based on the Fonterra A+B-C payment system for the 2022-2023 season.

VALUE: According to the MPI’s 2024 Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries, dairy exports accounted for over 44% of the country’s

Eczema solution in researcher’s sights

Richard Rennie TECHNOLOGY Animal welfare

ONE of AgResearch’s top young scientists has pitched her presentation to potential investors whose commitment will launch a treatment for dealing with facial eczema.

Dr Tanushree Barua Gupta was the only New Zealander to claim an award in the Australasia-based AgriFutures growAG 2024 catalyst program, being recognised in the new research and product development section.

The award process has secured her a place in front of potential investors for the antifungal product she has been working to develop. It is capable of targeting facial eczema-causing fungal spores.

As a disease, facial eczema

(FE) continues to blight many farms in the upper North Island. It is spreading thanks to climate change, and inflicts $330 million of damage a year on the animal production sector.

The disease is moving south through New Zealand as moisture and humidity levels rise, with some detections even occurring in the South Island. Australian researchers are also increasingly detecting it.

As a disease in livestock, it is a

There are chemical antifungal spray treatments available, but they are highly toxic, and inflict wider damage on the soil environment.

Dr Tanushree Barua Gupta

AgResearch

difficult one to manage, with its presence highly dependent on the right climatic conditions to generate elevated spore counts.

Even then spore counting is not always a reliable indicator of its presence, with the toxin sporidesmin not always present in all the spores detected. This makes it an easy disease to either over or underestimate in terms of its prevalence at a certain time.

“And the spores have proven to be quite capable of evolving, responding to climate change and building resistance to treatments,” Gupta said.

Gupta’s work has involved identifying and isolating a naturally occurring, non-toxic and sustainable solution to a disease whose current treatments are anything but.

“There are chemical antifungal spray treatments available, but they are highly toxic, and inflict wider damage on the soil environment.”

The other option is to help build livestock’s ability to withstand FE’s toxic spores by dosing with zinc, itself a toxin that requires careful measurement and is difficult to administer in many situations.

Gupta is understandably coy on the source of her anti-FE fungal treatment, confirming it is from a previously unstudied, but naturally available source.

“It is recognised as already being safe and part of the natural ecosystem.”

Ultimately, in a commercial form she can see it being developed as a product that can be sprayed directly onto paddocks or even applied via irrigation.

“My main goal is to move right away from having to treat the animal in response to the fungi’s presence.”

Her discovery has come in part from “just being curious” about

other sources of possible solutions in the everyday environment, linked to her background in dairy hygiene and microbiology.

“We spend a lot of time understanding the ‘bad’ things in the environment, they show up quickly, but there are compounds that could be easily available in nature , but because they don’t cause problems, we don’t always know much about them.”

Her microbiology work has included advanced diagnostics work using CRISPR based diagnostics to detect bacteria on farm and food matrices, understanding a plethora of different dairy related bacteria. Making the step from deep within the microbiology lab

to a full-on commercial pitch for investment is a big one for a scientist. Gupta admits she has some sense of trepidation accompanying the exciting prospect.

She is also buoyed by the prospect of helping farmers with a commercial, viable solution to a debilitating disease that for NZ’s entire livestock history has proven hard to deal with.

“The opportunity to really make a difference is what has always driven me and to be this close is exciting.”

Meantime Gupta is mixing stand-up pitch practices and presentation dry runs into her working day, in preparation for appealing to the right investor.

NATURAL: Dr Tanushree Barua Gupta says the opportunity to help farmers and livestock by delivering a solution to facial eczema that is sustainable, non-toxic and practical is a key motivator for her.

Photo: Alanah Brown

SUPPORT: Dr Tanushree Barua Gupta says she is buoyed by the prospect of helping farmers with a commercial, viable solution to a debilitating disease that for NZ’s entire livestock history has proven hard to deal with.

Bright Dairy sees beyond Synlait gloom

Hugh Stringleman NEWS Dairy

SYNLAIT shareholders big and small face a turbulent two months as a huge capital rescue package is devised, proposed, voted on and executed.

The listed dairy processor needs to raise at least $180 million to repay retail bonds in December, and likely much more than that to retire further debt and secure a long-term

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future. On January 31, its half-year results included disclosure of $590 million of total borrowings, including $130m that had to be repaid by July 15 and the $180m due in December.

Synlait chair George Adams has said the need is to raise hundreds of millions of dollars, without being more exact.

He would not underestimate what he called the complexity of attempting to raise many times the current market capitalisation of $70m, although Synlait does have net tangible assets of around $580m.

He has laid out a timetable for the recapitalisation proposal in early August followed by another special meeting of shareholders to approve the process.

Clearly the keys to any degree of new capital are with major shareholder Bright Dairy of China on 39% of existing shares, and major infant formula base customer a2 Milk Company, with 20%.

Both appear likely to significantly increase their shareholding percentages through the recapitalisation.

Bright has already lent Synlait $130m, approved by 99.6% of shares that voted in the special meeting on July 11.

It took the opportunity of repeating its 15-year commitment to Synlait, saying that short-term challenges will be overcome.

Newly appointed Synlait director Julia Zhu said Bright is deeply committed for the long term to its investments in NZ food companies.

Bright Food Group, listed in Shanghai and wholly owned by subsidiaries of the Shanghai Municipal Government, also owns 50% of New Zealand’s largest meat company, Silver Fern Farms, through a subsidiary called Shanghai Maling, purchased in 2015 for $260m.

Zhu said Synlait has a highly valuable portfolio of assets, including the best NZ dairy farms with a first-class reputation across Asia.

Adams said the areas of focus for the board included the North Island strategic review, retaining farmers-suppliers and sustainable earnings growth in FY25 and beyond.

A2 Milk said it is in ongoing discussions with Synlait on the broader recapitalisation plans.

Meanwhile, the bottom feeders in the share market have been active.

Synlait shares have been heavily traded every day since the Bright loan proposal was first announced.

The large daily trading volumes for a listed company with 218.5 million shares issued, suggests that the stock is being played by short-term speculators.

While speculators see opportunities in price movements of a few cents, longer-term investors have ridden Synlait shares all the way down from $10 in 2019 and $3 only two years back.

The 250 farmer-suppliers are unlikely to be among the longer-term share owners, as Synlait was set up without the need for farmers to buy supply shares, unlike Fonterra, and this was a big part of their decisions to supply.

They are, however, vital to recovery and must be convinced to stay as suppliers, especially the third of them who produce A2 milk.

COMMITMENT: Synlait director Julia Zhu with Bright Dairy & Food chair Huang Liming, on a tour of Dunsandel to meet Synlait executives and farmers and assure them of Bright’s longterm support.

Reminder of new Southland wintering rules

Gerhard Uys NEWS Wintering

FARMERS in Southland and Otago are transitioning to grass baleage on pasture as a wintering option.

Senior environment specialist at DairyNZ Justin Kitto said they have been surveying farmers annually for the past four years, starting with just Southland and Otago farmers for two years, before moving to surveying nationwide in 2022.

“Our recent wintering surveys have indicated an increase in the number of farmers using grass/ baleage wintering systems in the past few years, shifting away from solely crop systems.

“Year on year our survey also showed an increase in farmers indicating they are using grass/ baleage for the first time, including farmers who are using a crop and grass/baleage hybrid approach.”

These shifts and trends are being seen most strongly in the Southland/South Otago region.

Environment Southland general manager policy and government Lucy Hicks said in recent years they have observed an increase in wintering cattle on pasture in Southland, rather than the

Year on year our survey also showed an increase in farmers indicating they are using grass/baleage for the first time.

Justin

traditional forage crops like swedes or kale.

“Since it was notified there have been rules for intensive winter grazing in the Southland Water and Land Plan. Through the appeal process an additional rule was created for pasture-based wintering of cattle. Both these

rules were developed specifically for Southland conditions. These rules are now operative and, at this stage, will not be subject to further changes.”

At a recent Southern Dairy Hub field day there was some confusion among farmers about when a resource consent is needed for pasture-based wintering, with Environment Southland fielding questions on the ins-and-outs.

Hicks said the new rule for pasture-based wintering of cattle sets out specific conditions that need to be met, including maintaining adequate buffers, managing critical source areas and setting out a winter grazing plan that covers your Plan B for when adverse weather conditions arise.

CONFUSION: At a recent Southern Dairy Hub event there was some confusion as to when a consent is needed for grass/baleage wintering systems. Environment Southland general manager policy and government Lucy Hicks says the pasturebased wintering rule is triggered if the amount of supplementary feed offered is over 10,000kg of dry matter per hectare.

The pasture-based wintering rule is triggered if the amount of supplementary feed, whether that’s hay, haylage, baleage or palm kernel, offered is over 10,000kg of dry matter per hectare.

“If the supplementary feed is greater than 10,000kg of dry matter per hectare (for example, a 600kg bale with 40% dry matter has 240kgDM. If 45 bales are placed per hectare, total supplementary feed would be 10,800 kgDM/ha) then the following permitted activity criteria must be met,” she said: Farmers can continue pasturebased grazing without resource consent if it occurs below 800m above sea level and meets the following conditions:

• Stock must be separated by a vegetated buffer

• 10m from a water body or wetland on slopes between 0 -10 degrees

• 20m from a water body or wetland on slopes steeper than 10 degrees

• 20m from a regionally significant wetland, sensitive water body, statutory acknowledgment areas, estuary or coastal marine area.

• Re-sowing pasture as soon as practicable

• A farm management plan with specific winter grazing actions that includes:

• Downslope grazing or a 20m “last bite” strip at the base of the slope

• Back fencing to prevent stock entering previously grazed areas

• Critical source areas identified and excluded from grazing If farmers cannot meet one or more of these conditions, they will need to apply for a resource consent, Hicks said. Environment Southland Compliance manager Donna Ferguson said in its first aerial inspection focusing on Western and Central Southland in July the team was impressed with the buffers in place and the critical source areas left uncultivated and ungrazed.

E C TA M A

Kitto DairyNZ

FEDERATED FARMERS

Fed Farmers get politicians out of Wgtn and onto the farm

Most farmers will agree the last few years under a Labour Government were incredibly challenging for rural communities, Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says.

“There was a lot of regulatory change being pushed down on farmers at a rapid pace and it didn’t always feel like it was particularly fair, practical or affordable.

“Public sentiment turned, we could feel the pressure building, and farmer confidence plummeted to record lows that we’re only just starting to recover from now.”

Langford has spent a lot of time reflecting on how farmers came to find themselves in that position when Labour swept to power in 2017, after nine years of National-led government.

More importantly, he’s also spent a lot of time reflecting on what Federated Farmers could do now to ensure farmers never find themselves in that position again.

“There’s no denying part of the problem was we hadn’t invested

much time building strong relationships with the Labour Party while they were in Opposition,” Langford says.

“The day after the election, an email went around asking our team who had any relationships in the new Labour caucus. Just one reply came back saying, ‘I kind of know

Damien O’Connor’.”

It was this experience that drove Federated Farmers to pull together a two-day meeting with the Labour Party in Hamilton earlier this month – including some hands-on farm visits.

The meeting included representatives from Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb NZ, Groundswell, Rural Women, Young Farmers, Rural Support Trust, and other farming groups.

The Labour Party attendees included leader Chris Hipkins, agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton, environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking, and a large group of senior MPs and staff.

“For Federated Farmers, this was really about making sure we’re walking the walk and building on

Part of the problem was we hadn’t invested much time building strong relationships with the Labour Party while they were in Opposition.

Wayne Langford Federated Farmers president

that concept of ‘Team Ag’, bringing all the different voices together,” Langford says.

“It was also about clearly demonstrating we are an apolitical organisation that will work constructively with any political party if it means achieving better outcomes for farmers.

“Did we agree on every issue? Definitely not. But was the time spent together worthwhile? Absolutely.

“We were never going to resolve all our issues overnight, but it feels like we made some really good progress and our relationship is in a much more positive space.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins was positive about the meeting and farm tours, saying it was a great opportunity for his party to “reconnect” with farmers and rural communities.

“Farming is so incredibly important to New Zealand’s economy,” Hipkins says.

“The reality is that the relationship between farmers and the last Labour Government was not where we needed it to be – and I think it’s really important we do something about that.”

Hipkins has said Labour would use this year to think carefully about policy and be an effective Opposition.

“When you lose an election, you

need to get out and talk to people, and to really understand the mood of the nation.

“We’ve done a lot of visits and, in particular, we’re looking at the areas we didn’t have the support we needed.

“People have their own views about how many farmers would be Labour supporters, but we’ve got to have a good constructive working relationship with the farming community.”

Hipkins says one of the things he’s focused on during the visits is identifying areas where Labour can make progress and provide more certainty regardless of where the political cycle is at.

“Gaining an understanding of those things that cause unnecessary irritation and uncertainty for farmers is important.”

Continued next page

GUMBOOTS ON:

Federated Farmers hosted the Labour Party in Hamilton, including some time in the field.

Risk of farm trusts being over-taxed

New Zealand’s recent increase in the trust tax rate is likely to result in many farming trusts being overtaxed, Perpetual Guardian’s David Boyce says.

On April 1, the tax rate payable by trustees on income earned was lifted from 33% to 39% under new legislation.

Boyce says the impact of the legislation – which he describes as “rushed through” – is that all trustee income earned over $10,000 will be taxed at 39%, whereas individuals pay tax at 10.5% on their first $14,500, with brackets in place

Continued from previous page

Asked if greater cross-party consensus could be developed on the big issues, Hipkins says that depends on the government of the day’s willingness to compromise.

“If there are areas they’re willing to work with us on to provide some more enduring answers to challenges the sector faces, we’re certainly open to having that discussion with them.”

Hipkins says “polarising language” isn’t the way to bring people together to solve complex issues –and neither is some of the rhetoric used to criticise farmers.

“Challenges like climate change are incredibly complex and we’re going to need to bring people together if we’re going to solve them.

“A balance can – and must – be found between looking after the environment, business and people making a living.

“I don’t think farmers get enough credit for the huge amount of progress they’ve already been making in the environmental area. We’ve seen it on the farms we visited on this trip.

“Farmers rely on the environment day in and day out, and they’re quite conscious of that. I think if we work together, we can highlight that a bit more than we have in the past.”

that increase tax until they reach $180,000, when the 39% threshold starts.

“While the intent of the law change was to target trusts with income over $180,000, we believe a large number of trusts will have income below the $180,000 threshold,” says Boyce, Perpetual Guardian’s national development manager.

“My view is probably that the change is likely to result in a general overtaxing of trusts that earn income between $10,000 and $180,000 a year, which is pretty much ballpark for many farming businesses.”

Trustees should be aware that

they may be eligible for a ‘clawback’, Boyce says.

My view is probably that the change is likely to result in a general overtaxing of trusts that earn income between $10,000 and $180,000 a year, which is pretty much ballpark for many farming businesses.

David Boyce Perpetual Guardian national development manager

“So, someone that has income allocated to them from a trust, where the trust has paid tax at 39%, but their personal tax rate is only 17.5%, then there’s a major refund due in respect to the overpayment of the trustees.”

Farming operations owned in a trust, either directly or via shares in a private farming company, may be faced with a higher tax liability, he says.

“That means trustees may need to hold a larger cash balance to meet terminal tax requirements, and in some cases make larger provisional tax payments.”

Big turnaround job, PM tells farmers

Cutting red tape, freeing farmers up to succeed and making New Zealand an easy place to do business are top priorities for the current Government, the Prime Minister has told farmers.

Speaking to Federated Farmers leaders in Wellington earlier this month, Christopher Luxon said he’s on a mission to get rid of excessive red tape introduced by the Labour

Todd McClay and I feel like corporate laxatives, just trying to get the show unblocked and moving.

Christopher

Luxon

Prime Minister

Government.

“We’ve got to undo a lot of that, so you’re freed up to get back to farming.

“We’re really serious about it. Todd

McClay and I feel like corporate laxatives, just trying to get the show unblocked and moving.”

Luxon blamed “the previous crowd” for turning New Zealand into a country of bureaucrats.

“We’ve become an obstruction economy.

“Don’t get me wrong: we’re not going back to an ideological deregulating of everything, but we actually need smart, sensible regulation that works.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged it’s a very tough time for Kiwi farmers, with on-farm inflation and interest rates through the roof.

“We’ve just got to tough it out for the next six to 12 months because, hopefully, we’ll get inflation down by the end of the year.

“That will then get the economic growth going, and then the bigger question is: how do we grow this joint?”

He said New Zealand has failed to deliver economic productivity for 30 years.

“Everyone’s working very hard,

but we’re not driving enough value and higher standards of living, and higher wealth and prosperity into the country.

“We need a great education system, we need much better infrastructure, we need to embrace science, innovation and technology – and to commercialise that to get higher value out of products.”

Fresh back from his three-day visit to Japan, Luxon said building stronger international connections and attracting foreign investment are key to growing the economy.

“We do not get rich on two blocks in the South Pacific Ocean with five million people selling houses to each other.

“We have to go out there and do business with eight billion people in 195 countries.

“We’re saying, ‘Listen, New Zealand has been in a very inward, introspective way for the last six years, but we are under new management, and we are open for business’.

“Long story short, we’re in a big

He recommends trustees with concerns should seek expert advice.

“The need for a trust for succession and estate planning, as well as asset protection purposes, will still remain a viable structure for ownership of the farm.

“However, my recommendation is that trustees contact their tax adviser to discuss the changes and what impact this may have on the beneficiaries.”

Hear David Boyce discuss farm succession and estate planning on the latest Federated Farmers Podcast episode – fedfarm.org.nz/podcast

FREED UP: Farmers must be able to get back to farming again, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said at the Primary Industries NZ Summit 2024.

turnaround job now.”

He concluded by saying his Government wants to work with farmers in an adult-to-adult way, not a parent-to-child way.

“We don’t do things to you; we work together with you to sort out the problems and get solutions in place.”

Farmers taking extra work as pinch looms

An Otago sheep and beef farmer who’s had to find other work just to break even says he’s not alone, and that a “cashflow crunch” is coming for many farmers.

Simon Davies, who farms in Toko Mouth, just southeast of Milton, says the combination of sky-high farm costs and record-low returns have forced him to seek out other income streams.

“I’ve got 8500 stock units on a 1000ha effective farm and I’ve had to go off contract fencing to bring in about $60,000 to reach a break-even point this year.

“That’s how tough it is right now in farming.

“That does allow me to spend

I really don’t want to sound too negative, but I will be honest that it’s a little bit daunting at the moment.

farmer

$50,000 on fertiliser, which is not really enough, but it’s $50,000 more than I’ve spent in the past two years.”

Davies, former president of Otago Federated Farmers, says the past few years have been the most challenging of his 20 years in farming.

“I don’t know a sheep and beef farmer right now who hasn’t had to go and get outside income, or their wife has gone to work, to make ends meet.”

“My sheep income has halved, but my expenses have soared about 30% in the past two years.

“Given there’s basically zero profitability in sheep at the moment, you’ve got to try and find a way to make an income elsewhere.”

Davies says he’s fortunate that the owners of the block he leases needed about 6km of boundary fencing redone, which he put his hand up for.

“Had I not found that income, I would have had to find something else to do to make some money.

“I’m loathe to say it, but that was potentially pruning pine trees.

“I’m actually doing a load of

pruning on our block anyway, about 30 hectares, because I can’t afford to pay someone to do it.”

Davies has also turned to other income sources, like cashing up carbon credits, which he’ll have to do more of soon to provide cashflow through to Christmas.

“I’m lucky that I have those credits to sell.

“So, now our income streams are dairy heifers, carbon credits and beef. I’m not sure I’d call wool an income stream – it’s just a cost at this stage. I’ve been lifting my cattle numbers and dropping our sheep.

“We’ve also committed to investing in some on-farm accommodation, which is a bit of a gamble, but we hope it’ll bring in some extra money.”

While times are tough now, Davies is deeply concerned many sheep and beef farmers will hit the wall in a few months’ time.

“There’s going to be a real crunch in cashflow in October/November.

“For most sheep and beef farmers, their income all comes between January and March, and then from March through to December they’re spending money.

“Typically, in March/April, they have $100,000 in the bank, and then they work their way through that, then they work their way through their overdraft until they’re at their maximum in December and waiting for the first lamb cheque.”

However, this year, most farmers didn’t have that $100,000 in the bank in March but were either at near-zero or already in overdraft, he says.

“Every month the interest bill and various standing charges have to go out, and you have to have that money sitting there to cover it.

“That’s probably my bigger concern in the short term, that a lot of sheep and beef farmers out there don’t know how they’re going to pay their bills in October/November.”

Davies doesn’t see things improving for sheep and beef anytime soon.

“I really don’t want to sound too negative, but I will be honest that it’s a little bit daunting at the moment.

“The things I do have hope in are the things I can control, like getting some accommodation on the farm going. I’m optimistic about those.

“But things I can’t control – for example, the sheep meat price in China, or rock-bottom wool prices – I am less optimistic about.”

He says the rural banks need to get behind farmers and work with them to get through the coming months, in particular.

“With the next few months looking so challenging, I hope any farmers in strife are being proactive by having discussions with their banks now.

“I know I’ve certainly been talking to my bank.

“The banks need to be supportive and show some leniency.”

STRETCHED: Toko Mouth farmer Simon Davies says the past few years have been the most challenging of his 20 years in farming.

Simon Davies Toko Mouth

EVERY PENNY: Simon Davies says contract fencing has helped him spend more on fertiliser this year.

Teamwork key to beating wallabies

We’re all going to need to start singing from the same song sheet if we’re serious about controlling wallaby populations, Matt Simpson says.

The Federated Farmers South Canterbury meat & wool chair has been advocating for a more coordinated approach to pest management, including the formation of community pest liaison groups.

“If we can get better coordination between farmers, landowners, recreational hunters and government, that will be a huge step forward,” Simpson says.

“It’s all good and well for someone in our district to bring in a helicopter and do a heap of wallaby control work, but it can’t be done in isolation.

“Unless there are similar efforts on neighbouring farmers’ and public land, they’ll have wasted their money, because before long, their land will be re-invaded.”

Simpson says the Department of Conversation are understandably reluctant to be isolated in their spending too.

“If they’re going to do a 1080 operation, it’s going to be way more effective if surrounding farmers make efforts to knock over the wallabies on their land too.”

Meetings to talk about forming community pest liaison groups have been held at Albury and at Cattle Creek in the Hakataramea Valley.

Simpson is planning other meetings further along Hunters Hills and says the concept of better coordination is gaining ground.

“People can see it’s commonsense – and it doesn’t have to just be about wallabies either. It could apply to deer or pigs too.

“How many times have we heard farmers complaining about their paddocks being reinfested by animals coming off the public estate?

“We need to get our own act together, better coordinate, and

It’s all good and well for someone in our district to bring in a helicopter and do a heap of wallaby control work, but it can’t be done in isolation.

Matt Simpson Federated Farmers South Canterbury meat & wool chair

make some real progress.

“That will give us the leverage we need to go to DOC and say, ‘Come on, we’re doing our bit, now it’s your turn’.”

Earlier this month, Simpson was called in as Environment Canterbury hosted Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard.

They were joined by Waitaki MP Miles Anderson and MPI’s deputy

director-general biosecurity Stuart Anderson for a look at wallaby control efforts in the area.

They were shown progress on the nearly completed 49km wallabyproof fence being built near Tekapo and heard about plans for toxin control on around 9000ha in Canterbury during winter months.

The MPI-governed Tipu Mātoro National Wallaby Eradication Programme had a $5.9m operation budget in 2023/24.

This was spent across the country on dog and drone surveillance, ground and aerial shooting, ground and aerial toxins, and fencing operations.

The focus is on containment zones around the core wallaby populations in Canterbury and Bay of Plenty, finding and killing wallabies in surrounding areas and gradually tightening the noose.

Tipu Mātoro’s goal is to eliminate

wallaby outside containment zones by the end of 2025, an aspiration Simpson “absolutely applauds” but thinks could be a struggle.

“Wallaby have been breaching the Waitaki River and heading further south into Otago.

“That’s why I’ve asked the Ministers for funding for spray operations to kill off broom, gorse and scrub on Waitaki islands and under bridges that wallabies have been using as a refuge.

“We’ve got to break that cover down, so they don’t have places to hide.”

Wallaby containment efforts are also hampered by some farmers against use of 1080 or other toxins on their land.

“That’s perhaps because they also run commercial hunting sidelines and don’t want deer or pigs impacted,” Simpson says.

“That’s absolutely their right as

landowners, of course.

“But if we’re going to keep our foot on the throat of the wallaby problem, we need to find alternative solutions in those circumstances, such as expert hunters using thermal gear at night when wallabies are out and about.”

Continued funding for pest control operations is also crucial, which is why Simpson says it’s useful that MPs got to see for themselves the extent of the task.

Ultimately, Simpson has his fingers crossed that gene editing can provide an answer.

“Imagine being able to knock a huge hole in the wallaby population in containment areas with toxins and shooting, then put some sterile breeding wallabies in there where they can run for three or four generations.

“That’s how we’ll stamp out the problem for good.”

JOINT EFFORT: Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard (second from left) was among those inspecting wallaby control efforts in South Canterbury this month.

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Associate Director Vacancy

With this Associate Director role, we are offering a development opportunity to grow your knowledge and experience in one of New Zealand’s leading primary sector organisations.

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As a Ballance shareholder, this role offers you an opportunity to enhance your skills in primary sector governance. You will contribute equally to all discussions but will hold no voting rights on Board decisions. The position is voluntary (unpaid), however travel and accommodation for Board meetings is provided.

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Notice of 2024 Elections

• DairyNZ Board of Directors

• DairyNZ Directors Remuneration

Invitation for 2024 candidate nominations – three positions available

• Two directors for the Board of DairyNZ Incorporated.

• One member for the DairyNZ Directors’ Remuneration Committee.

Current levy-paying dairy farmers are now invited to nominate candidates to fill these three positions.

All farmers paying a levy on milksolids to DairyNZ are eligible to stand for election. An information pack outlining desired criteria and nomination requirements for the positions can be obtained from the Retur ning Officer Nominations must be received by the Retur ning Officer by 12 noon on Friday, 9 August 2024.

Elections

If more than the required nominations are received, a voting process will be carried out by postal voting using the STV (single transferable vote) voting method. Votes will be weighted by annual milksolids based on 2023/24 dairy season ended 31 May 2024 Voting credentials will be posted to all registered DairyNZ levy payers on 18 September, with voting closing at noon on Thursday, 17 October 2024.

The DairyNZ Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday, 22 October 2024. Election results will be announced at the meeting.

For further details contact the Retur ning Officer below

Anthony Morton Retur ning Officer – DairyNZ Incorporated 0800 666 935 iro@electionz.com

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SALE TALK

So a farmer asks a friend to come over to his place to help him fix his generator. They work for a while, and two cows come walking through the pasture beside the barn. The friend looks over and says, “Wow. Those are some fine looking animals. Where do they sleep?”

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Farmer: “The black one or the white one?”

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Buyers bullish over in-calf beef cows

Significantly more in-calf cows have answered the call of robust returns in the yards, a lifted market and varying levels of feed between regions.

Alex Coddington MARKETS Livestock

RETURNS for cattle have been strong this year compared to last, and the values on cows have been no exception.

Analysing saleyard data on vetted-in-calf (VIC) beef cows has shown values in the North Island to be mostly higher than yearago levels, especially dependent on which saleyard you are buying from.

Robust returns in the yards, a lifted market for finished prime cows, and varying levels of feed between regions have pulled significantly more VIC beef cows to auction this year.

In the South Island, different seasonal circumstances have made VIC beef cows better buying, although there were fewer through these yards.

Demand for cows has been strong through the association of good international demand for beef, especially imported 90CL (chemical lean) beef into the United States.

Their limited availability of finished cows has led them to import immense quantities from South America, Australia and New Zealand.

The prolonged time expected for the US to rebuild its cow herd provides confidence that demand

for beef should remain strong for some time.

There have been almost 800 more VIC beef cows through the yards this year in the North Island from March to June, and over 300 fewer in the South.

Overall, an additional 400 VIC beef cows were sold through the yards nationally compared to 2023.

Looking back on previous years, a five-year average throughput would include results from 2020, when saleyards were essentially shut down.

There have been almost 800 more vetted-incalf beef cows through the yards this year in the North Island from March to June.

The throughput of VIC beef cows nationally in 2018 and 2019 was comfortably over 4000 head from March to June each year. In 2020 the number dropped drastically and has been recovering year by year ever since.

Stortford Lodge held the first of the in-calf cow fairs in March. Large consignments of wellbred Angus drew a big crowd of return buyers, who held the fair to a similar level of returns as the previous year.

Since then, more than 1200 beef cows have been sold at Stortford

Lodge, around 160 more than in 2023, with the average return increasing 11c/kg to $2.48/kg.

Results for VIC beef cows at Feilding were very similar. Over 200 more were on offer this year compared to last, including the 445 sold at the in-calf cow fair in May.

From March to June, almost 700 in-calf beef cows were sold at Feilding, with the average value increasing 11c/kg to $2.42/kg. Historically, the Frankton saleyards have posted a more modest throughput at a lower price.

Since 2008, this has looked like around 50-150 beef cows at an average return of around $2.00$2.05/kg – understandably, due to dairy and dairy-beef cows being the more available composition in this region.

However, this year the number of VIC beef cows sold through these yards has increased from 87 to 273, while the average price lifted 47c/kg, from $2.04/kg to $2.51/kg, surpassing results from Stortford Lodge.

Between the South Island saleyards, Coalgate, and Temuka, only one held an in-calf cow fair at the height of the dry in autumn. The VIC cows on offer were mostly Angus and Shorthorn, making $2.10-$2.18/kg.

This set the tone for an average return for the year of $2.16/kg, 12c/kg back on last year’s results

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through the same period.

Coalgate had significantly fewer in-calf beef cows through the

yards without a fair this year but will most likely see more VIC beef cows through July.

INTEREST: Demand for cows has been strong through the association of good international demand for beef, especially imported 90 chemical lean beef into the US.

Weekly saleyards

When times are tough, manufacturing beef goes up. That is the logical pattern given a decrease in fancy feasts and an increase in home cooking that stretches the meal. This is being seen at weekly prime cattle sales around the country, particularly in the North Island. At Feilding’s Monday July 15 sale, traditional and Hereford-Friesian bulls, 550-700kg, made $3.54-$3.58/kg and an Angus cow, 550kg, earned $2.88/kg. The next day at Frankton, dairy-beef cows, which weighed 531-745kg, collected $2.69-$2.75/kg. Processing demand pushed some hopeful breeders out of the market at Stortford Lodge on Wednesday, July 17, and vetted-in-calf traditional cows, 560-638kg, fetched $2.74-$2.91/kg.

Taranaki | July 17 | 371 cattle

R2

Boner Friesian cows, 437-603kg

Stortford Lodge | July 15 | 1060 sheep

AgriHQ market trends

Cattle Sheep

NZX market trends

In the depths of our wild winter now

Philip Duncan NEWS Weather

JUST what is a “normal winter” in New Zealand?

It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot since a government agency recently started to talk of stratospheric warming over Antarctica.

While that is a very real thing and is so significant scientists around the planet are talking about it, what does it REALLY mean for New Zealand’s weather?

The last time it happened, a few years ago, no one noticed it weatherwise in NZ.

This time around we may do. When there is warming occurring high up in the stratosphere it can make the storms that circle Antarctica more “loose”.

Rather than fitting tightly around Antarctica, this year it’s like someone stretched the elastic and it means the Southern Ocean weather has a greater chance of sending out lows, fronts, southerlies and even large highs.

But whether they hit NZ,

Tasmania or the land-free Pacific Ocean to our east is the milliondollar question.

When someone says this August may be stormier in NZ – in the depths of winter – my first thought is “What do we expect?” What is “normal” weather for two large mountainous islands all alone at sea, smack-bang halfway between the equator and Antarctica with more than half of our nation in the Roaring Forties belt of windy westerlies circling latitude 40?

As Jamie MacKay from Newstalk ZB’s The Country always says, “Forewarned is forearmed” – but because NZ is so small, we can sometimes buck the international trends.

We recently had an El Niño event that, despite the hype, turned out to be no where near as dry as two of the three previous La Niña events that were headlined as being “wet” but instead brought major widespread drought.

My point is, chaos IS New Zealand’s normal. The Southern Ocean, which brushes the South Island, is the stormiest body of sea BY FAR on the planet.

The gales that roar south of NZ can blow right around the entire

globe and never touch land once. That’s impossible to do in the northern hemisphere.

All that wild energy – with polar blasts of air that are from places -50degC heading our way, at the same time as a tropical cyclone from near Fiji might be too, or a calm and settled high pressure zone exiting Australia that acts like Superman holding these

frigid and tropical air masses from colliding over us, giving NZ those frosty blue dome days so many of us love in winter.

NZ is the “Goldilocks” belt between the freezing airmass and the tropical airmass with anticyclones that sometimes protect us from both – or encourage more from both. This warming up high in the

IT’S COMPLICATED: Look at that messy chaos, says Phil Duncan. White arrows represent wind direction, showing how incredibly complicated New Zealand’s winter weather pattern is.

skies over Antarctica may very well unleash us more storms, so it’s good knowing there’s an increased chance of severe winter weather and simply having that in the back of your mind to be on the look out for them.

But also, hearing winter may be stormy feels like someone also saying “the sea may be a bit wet”. Perspective is always key.