Opinion
24 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – November 30, 2020
Summit provided food for thought Alternative View
Alan Emerson
I SPENT the start of last week at the Primary Industries Summit and Awards conference in Wellington. The conference was about ‘Supporting the Adaptation of New Zealand’s Primary Industries into the Future’ and it certainly achieved that. The world is quickly changing in an era of covid-19 and the conference not only recognised that fact, but provided some genuine options for NZ going forward.
In 2030, successful companies will be those that improve the health of the planet, provide a smart diet and high technology harvests. There were over 400 attendees, which was good to see. Farmers, farming leaders, agriculture businesspeople and officials all mixing and mingling as we do in the provinces. The programme was excellent, and I learned a lot. There was a good bench of highly qualified speakers giving their perspective of our industry moving forward. I’ve heard many prime ministerial addresses over the years, but the speech from Jacinda Adern was both pertinent and focused. Much to the relief of the delegates, she made the
point that if a regulation was impracticable or unclear it would be revisited and made workable. She acknowledged the importance of the sector, outlined the issues facing us and discussed both an export led recovery and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). As Feds president Andrew Hoggard said in his vote of thanks, the Prime Minister certainly knew and understood the sector. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) director-general Ray Smith gave a good review of the future of primary industries. His points that we must increase our water storage, revitalise wool, invest in more research and science, develop new products and improve our trade market access were hard to argue with. He also emphasised that having thriving rural communities was a priority for MPI. I hadn’t heard our chief trade negotiator Vangelis Vitalis before, and he was impressive. In the unpredictable world of covid-19, it is good to have a person with his abilities representing our interests. With world trade decreasing by 1718%, prices softening and a return to protectionism, we certainly need people with Vangelis’ talents. Other topics I found interesting was a presentation on the Yili – Westland takeover. I was initially against the sale of Westland Milk, but the presentation convinced me otherwise. Likewise, the Bavarian company Baywa’s investment in T & G. There was a presentation on Regenerative Agriculture (RA). The talk by Australian RA disciple Dr Christine Jones didn’t inspire me. She made a lot of claims, but proved nothing. Correspondingly, South Otago RA farmer Hamish Bielski was passionate about RA. I wouldn’t question his commitment, but I don’t agree with his cause.
INSIGHTFUL: The Primary Industries Summit had a host of qualified speakers sharing their perspective of industry moving forward. University of Otago professor Peter Dearden gave an impressive rendition of the virtues and importance of modern science which we need to embrace in its entirety. Photo: Facebook/MPI
The session on plant-based diets was good, and convinced me that it has a place in NZ. While I won’t be consuming any of those foods myself, I accept they have a valuable part to play in our total food mix, especially if we accept gene editing and genetic engineering, which are important for plant-based foods and vegan diets. Exploring the opportunities presented by gene editing to enable sustainable farming was a must-watch. University of Otago professor Peter Dearden gave an impressive rendition of the virtues and importance of modern science which we need to embrace in its entirety. His position was, simply, that gene editing was vital for the future of NZ agriculture and I agree. His statement “recognising science and innovation are critical to our response to global catastrophe from covid to climate change” was prophetic. Canterbury farmer Hamish
Marr gave a passionate speech in support of glyphosate. I couldn’t disagree with any of his arguments. There was considerable discussion on consumer needs and preferences in a postcovid world, which I found interesting. Health and wellness, sustainability, trust and safety, and value all featured. Basically, the post-covid consumer wants a product that is “simple to shop for and simple to cook.” There will also be a move to premium pre-cooked meals and premium premixed drinks and snacks. Home entertainment will be more important than dining out. In 2030, successful companies will be those that improve the health of the planet, provide a smart diet and high technology harvests. Several speakers discussed the needs of the post-covid consumer. Several also promoted the idea of certification, but the issue I had was that we have
several certification schemes, all standalone. We hear about improved traceability, that people need to know the NZ story better, that people should understand that we have good and ethical employment practices. We heard from both Fonterra and Zespri about their excellent sustainability initiatives. My view is that we’re doing everything right now, but the international market is largely unaware of that. The NZ story is fine but that’s all it is, a story. What we need to do is to have one internationally recognised sustainability scheme along the lines of Ireland’s Origin Green, and to do that will take leadership. Let’s hope that happens sooner than later. Our future depends on it.
Your View Alan Emerson is a semi-retired Wairarapa farmer and businessman: dath.emerson@gmail.com
Congrats on your win, Mr President-elect From the Ridge
Steve Wyn-Harris
FROM the Ridge (FTR): Presidentelect Joe Biden, congratulations on your election win. Joe Biden (JB): Well, thank you. It was part of a very big team effort, but we are incredibly pleased. It’s great to be talking to you down in New Zealand. I had a great visit there back in 2016 while vice-president and had a good conversation with your Prime Minister just last week. I look forward to a refreshed relationship with your nation. FTR: I see you are having some trouble with Donald Trump acknowledging his election defeat. His administration is only now
just starting to allow you the odd briefing and he isn’t showing much enthusiasm for leaving the White House. JB: I think our Secret Service is quite capable of removing trespassers, but I don’t expect it will get to that. FTR: Happy Birthday as well. I see you turned 78 last week. Let’s talk a little about this. When Trump took office four years ago, he took the title of the oldest president at the time of his inauguration as he was 70. He took that title off Ronald Regan who was 69. Mind you, Regan was a few days shy of 78 when he left office. But you must go back to 1841 to William Harrison for the fourth oldest at 68. He tragically died a month later, so didn’t get long to experience that high office. Is your age and mental agility your biggest challenge? JB: I don’t accept that. Age is just a number and I’m up for the massive challenges facing our country. I’m in the process of
building a great team to support me. And of course, if the worst were to happen, Kamala Harris is an extremely capable woman. As they say, the VP is but a heartbeat away from being president. FTR: Well, we saw you jogging across a stage to show how fit you were and Trump leaving his sick bed to campaign. You do know that Harrison mentioned above, delivered his lengthy inaugural address without a coat or hat to demonstrate his vigour, caught a cold and was dead within 30 days. You guys need to be careful. Obama, Clinton, Kennedy and Teddy Roosevelt were all in their early to mid-forties, as an example of the other end of the presidential age range. However, I guess you could argue that didn’t all go well for some of them either. Given how close some of those swing state victories were for you, one can’t help but think that if Trump had made a half decent attempt at controlling the pandemic, he might still be president.
JB: You make a good point but sadly for this country, he didn’t and my team and myself have a big task ahead of sorting this crisis out. We’ve already lost 260,000 American lives to this virus. The experts are saying it could be nearly 400,000 by early next year. By comparison we lost 47,000 lives in Vietnam in combat, 53,000 in WW1 and 292,000 in WW2, so it will be somewhere near the total of these three national tragedies. FTR: If that were your only challenge, it would be daunting enough. How are you going to draw your country together? Your victory speech was great, and you talked about doing just this but easier said than done. JB: We must rebuild bridges here. Between the different political parties, across the disparate regions that have completely different world views, between the races and all manner of other differing groupings. But yes, you are right, it will be a massive task. FTR: Well, it feels like the US
Given how close some of those swing state victories were for you, one can’t help but think that if Trump had made a half decent attempt at controlling the pandemic, he might still be president.
is in the process of rejoining the League of Nations rather than the individual isolationist approach of recent years. Given how intertwined most of us are with your economy and culture, it’s good to have you back. Good luck! JB: Thank you.
Your View Steve Wyn-Harris is a Central Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer. swyn@xtra.co.nz
