MANAGEMENT
MACHINERY
Station key to Landcorp’s breeding success. PAGES 26-27
The world’s most fuel efficient tractor. PAGE 38
RURALNEWS
ANIMAL HEALTH Gong for animal ethics research
PAGE 32
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
DECEMBER 2, 2014: ISSUE 574
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Time to get realistic P E T E R BU R K E peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
THERE MUST be realistic expectations about what can be done to improve the environment, warns a local government leader. Taranaki Regional Council’s director of environment quality Gary Bedford says public expectations, especially in large urban areas, are getting ahead of the science and a degree of realism needs to be taken. Bedford says for many reasons, including some election slogans, it seems easy for people to think, ‘Yes we must have a clean environment where we can swim in the rivers every day and the sun will always shine and there will be no pollution’. “But the reality is that those expecta-
tions come with a cost in the real world if you want to achieve them. They also require an understanding of processes in the real world and the techniques, methods, science and engineering that’s required to deliver these. Currently, we have the expectations running ahead of what can be delivered for a sensible cost.” Bedford says policy development in New Zealand today appropriately allows
for a great deal of public participation. But there is a downside: not everyone is fully informed and often the public don’t understand the implications of what they are demanding. “So if you have councils developing policies based on what people want, that policy development or those expectations can run ahead of what the real world can deliver in science and engineering. So be careful about what you
wish for, you may get it.” In all this the internet is a “doubled edged sword”, Bedford says. It’s very easy for a group to whip up a campaign on social media without getting the facts right. “The ability to communicate more widely and more speedily is all good stuff, but also it means disinformation and poor information can be spread.” @rural_news
facebook.com/ruralnews
GUY AT THE MOVIES Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy last week visited the plush Roxy cinema in Wellington, where he outlined a three-year push to double primary sector exports by 2025. The event was a meeting of the agribusiness ‘boot camp’ group. The halls of the cinema were decked out with posters of famous and not-sofamous movies. Details about the day on pages 6-7.
No silver bullet! FARMERS WILL support any agreement between meat processors on a moratorium on new plants, says Beef + Lamb NZ chairman James Parsons. However, Parsons says the agreement must be backed by a large majority of the processors and be beneficial to farmers. He confirmed support for a June discussion document that proposes a 12-year moratorium on new beef and sheep processing chains, including expansion of existing plants. BLNZ has not taken a position on the proposal; Parsons is leaving the decision to directors and management of meat companies. He says the proposal is not a silver bullet for meat industry woes but has the potential to “derisk” issues of over-capacity. “A meat company which rationalises capacity at a plant won’t face the prospect of another company setting up a new plant down the road,” he says. On the other hand, Parsons says some farmers would not see the over-capacity as an issue, given droughts over the last few years. “The last thing farmers would want is to have stock waiting to be killed.”
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