fieldays preview
birds of a feather
Full preview of Mystery Creek including a lift-out site map. pages 35-52
Vet student fundraiser and drench resistance latest. page 61
Rural NEWS
dags Getting docking length right is key, if you need to dock at all...
page 13
to all farmers, for all farmers
june 7, 2011: Issue 493
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Minister lauds farming p e t e r bu r k e
FARMING IS financing the nation and it hasn’t escaped the attention of the Minister in charge. Statistics New Zealand’s latest trade figures showed a record surplus in April, lead by a 32% leap in dairy exports and supported by a 13% surge in meat (see sidebar). Exports to China were up by a staggering 27% over a range of commodities. Finance Minister Bill English told Rural News New Zealand’s farmers have been very resilient and have per-
formed better than expected. He says the challenge in the years ahead will be to meet the growth that’s occurring in markets such as China. “There is no limit in the market. There’s no protectionism in our way. The only limit is really our ability to organise ourselves well enough and produce enough to meet the opportunity. The opportunity there is so large it’s hard to know where to focus.” China’s government wants New Zealand to almost double its exports to that country during the next five years from $11billion a year to $20b. “This increase will mainly come
from New Zealand selling high priced products there,” English says. The scale and opportunity will test the constraints and biological limits of our production systems, as he says it’s going to be hard to continue making consistent productivity increases as have been Bill English seen over the last 10 or 15 years. English adds that while present prices are high, farmers should expect volatility.
“Really high prices are going to draw supply from other producers that are underperforming such as South America or Central Europe… But even if the current prices came down by 15% or 20%, as long as farmers have got on top of their debt, we’ve got the production skills and the persistence to handle prices lower than they are now.” Lincoln University Agribusiness Professor, Keith Woodford, says those who wrote agriculture off in the 1980’s as a sunset industry have to eat their words. “The sun may have set in the west back then, but it’s certainly come up in the east again in more ways than one.” Woodford points out while China is leading the charge, and is now New Zealand’s second largest export market, economic growth in all of Asia is phenomenal. “Just looking at the top 20 markets, 11 of them are now in Asia and it just keeps growing. It’s not a case of any one of them dominating. Collectively Asia is where all the growth is.” to page 4
deer's day out Deer industry conference delegates enjoy a field trip. Conference news pages 14, 15 & 17.
April’s trade stats NEW ZEALAND’S traditional staple exports, dairy products and meat, have lead the country to its largest monthly trade surplus in nearly 20 years. For the month of April 2011, there was a surplus of $1.1 billion or 24% of the value of exports, Statistics New Zealand says. Total exports for the month were valued at $4.7 billion, up $691 million (17%) from April 2010 Leading the export surge was the milk powder, butter and cheese commodity group, up $287 million (32%), spread over a range of markets. Statistics NZ say this was driven by an increase in unsweetened milk powder, with unsalted butter and anhydrous milk fat also significant contributors. Meat and edible offal were up $79 million (13%), led by frozen lamb cuts with bone in and frozen beef cuts. Other primary product exports were also up with wool increasing by $32m (58%) and forestry receipts growing by $41m (15%). “This is the highest monthly surplus ever recorded and the highest in almost 20 years as a percentage of exports,” says Statistics NZ .