New feds leader Will Foley has plenty on his plate as the Hawke’s Bay provincial president. page 11
celebration of progress New HQ underscores Power Farming’s confidence in farming. page 34
RuralNEWS to all farmers, for all farmers
july 16, 2013: Issue 542
NAWAC chair argues the merit of keeping large-herd cows outside all their lives.
page 10
www.ruralnews.co.nz
MIE plans dead meat? SUD ES H K I SSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
THE HOPES of the farmer lobby Meat Industry Excellence Group (MIE) for a major restructure of the meat industry look to be coming off the rails The group has been asked to allow the big four processors to conclude their own discussions. However, MIE is not holding its breath for the four processors – Alliance, Silver Fern Farms, Anzco and Affco – to accept radical changes. MIE representatives attended the recent red meat sector conference in Auckland. Beef and Lamb chairman Mike Petersen, who spoke to the lobby group at the conference, says he encouraged them to wait. “It’s better for the talks between the four meat companies to come to a conclusion first,” he told Rural News. But MIE official Ross Hyland doesn’t expect the processors will go far enough. “We have said we are prepared to wait for the meat companies to conclude their talks,” he told Rural News. “But if what they come up with is not acceptable, we will push on. At this stage, we
don’t think the meat processors will go far enough and if that happens, there will be no let-up in our campaign.” Hyland says MIE is different from BLNZ and Federated Farmers, who deal with “all the fluffy industry stuff”. MIE’s focus is on the long term sustainability of the industry, he says. Among the meat companies there is no guarantee they will be able to find a workable solution. Cooperatives SFF and Alliance may bow to pressure from farmer shareholders and agree to work
together. However, privately owned Affco and Anzco are showing little appetite for a super meat company. With Anzco and Affco unlikely to play ball, Alliance and SFF will have no incentive to merge. One meat industry leader, who did not want to be named, says a merger of the four companies isn’t the only solution to get processors back into profitability. “The meat companies can collaborate in certain areas to lift efficiency and boost industry returns. But
collaboration doesn’t mean the four companies have to merge.” MIA chairman Bill Falconer told the conference forming a merger meat company will take time. He referred to the formation of Fonterra. “It took a huge amount of time to form Fonterra… many years and deals to make it happen. “The meat industry is much more complex and more time will be required.” – Maori go their own way. Page 3 @rural_news
facebook.com/ruralnews
Key document! Prime Minister John Key launched a new pan-dairy industry strategy to improve environmental practices on farms at Parliament last week. The ‘Sustainable dairying: water accord’ is supported by all dairy companies, 15 regional councils, fertiliser companies, Irrigation NZ, DairyNZ, Fed Farmers and Government. See more page 4
Go on, ask your city insurer about your post rammer's monkey. Unlike them, we know this has nothing to do with a small primate and everything to do with making life on the land easier. Not that it means you can avoid hard work. But what you can avoid is getting stuck with someone who has no idea what you’re on about. So why not talk to an insurer who speaks your language instead. Ask around about us, or for some advice call 0800 366 466. FMG0346A A
animal welfare
That’s what works out here.
Farmers loyal – Feds A N D R EW SWA L LOW
THE SUNDAY night telephone ringround to procure livestock appears less of a factor in farmer behaviour than some suggest, judging by findings of a Federated Farmers members’ survey due out this week. The survey – with 865 respondents in mainly sheep, beef and dairy farmers, plus a few from arable and other sectors – found 66% say they are “very loyal” to a company when selling stock, and 22% “extremely loyal”. Meat and Fibre section chair Jeanette Maxwell told Rural News the results suggest some of the behavioural changes being called for to reform the meat industry, such as greater commitment to contracts, might not be such a big ask. “We’ve heard a lot about Sunday night trading but it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of that happening. We’ve just been told it’s happening.” However, contracts have been broken “both ways” in the past, ie by farmers and processors, hence the current low uptake of them despite 83% of respondents saying they’ve supplied the same company for three years. Contracts must also be reasonable: asking for more than one year’s commitment, or year-round supply from a single farm, is going to find few takers. The detail of the findings will be mailed to Federated Farmers members.