NZ GRASSLANDS
MACHINERY
Lack of pasture persistance a recurring theme at conference. PAGE 32
Case-IH Axial-Flow combines ‘set the industry benchmark.' PAGE 41
RURALNEWS
AGRICULTURE More has to be done to encourage young people to a make a career in agribusiness.
PAGE 15
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
NOVEMBER 19, 2013: ISSUE 550
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Made in China! SUD ES H K I SSU N sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
FONTERRA IS comfortable with putting all its eggs in one basket when it comes to trade with China. Chairman John Wilson says he’s “very comfortable’ that 1 in every 5kgMS produced on New Zealand farms end up in the Chinese market. Speaking last week at the BNZ Northland Dairy Development Trust Conference in Whangarei, Wilson was questioned whether it was safe to rely so heavily on one market. Wilson pointed out that Fonterra was also sending a lot of dairy products into the Middle East and North Africa. But he was comfortable with export numbers into China. “So we have no concern around the numbers we are sitting at the moment,” he told the conference. He says Fonterra has “a very genuine exposure” in China. “The supply/demand figures (in China) are real, the growth figures are real,” he says. “What you are seeing is a dramatic
transformation of an economy of 1.3 billion people.” Fonterra’s business in China includes ingredients, food service, consumer business and milk production. Last year the co-op exported 400,000 tonnes of milkpowder. Over 50% of pizzas in China are topped with Fonterra cheese supplied by its ingredients business. Wilson says the ingredients business is growing by 28% annually. Recently Fonterra launched its Anchor UHT milk and Anmum infant formula brands in China. Fonterra also has dairy farms in various parts of the country.
Wilson says authorities in China expect Fonterra to invest across the dairy industry. ‘When we are in China talking to ministers, at both national and state council levels and regulators, they expect Fonterra to invest across the dairy sector in China. “And importantly around what we are doing around farms to improve milk quality, animal husbandry, growing crops and providing scholarships for rural students “So we are seeing that our investment across China, in the first instance to promote ingredients out of New Zealand, is highly valued.”
Wilson said milk production in China, this year, is down about 20% - mainly due to foot and mouth and other diseases. Some smaller farmers have also moved out of farming. Fonterra’s information is based on discussions it has had with China’s two main dairy processors – Yili and Mengniu. Wilson says the drop in Chinese milk production means greater demand for products from New Zealand. Fonterra is also continuing to work in China to improve its branding after the false botulism scare. Recently it hosted a group of Chinese journalists who visited the co-op’s factories and its product testing facilities at Te Rapa.
Manawatu-based agricultural contractor Paul Linklater is currently flat out — like many other farmers and rural contractors around the country – cultivating paddocks. However, he is doing something a little different to others using an invention that adds new meaning to the concept of ‘precision agriculture’. Find out more about Linklater’s machine and growing business on page 24.
Ag’s future under threat? A N D R EW SWA L LOW andrews@ruralnews.co.nz
THE PIPELINE of graduates and doctorates feeding farming and – arguably more importantly – farm research in New Zealand has nearly run dry, judging by figures presented at the recent New Zealand Grassland Association conference in Tauranga. Of 2280 university graduates in New Zealand in 2011 – only 68 were in agriculture, NZGA retiring president Jacqueline Rowarth told the conference during a broad-ranging address. Most of those agricultural graduates went straight into good jobs rather than research, lured by $50,000/year or more jobs, often with a vehicle supplied on top. Within five years many would be knocking on the door of $100,000, whereas if they’d done a doctorate they might be offered $65,000 for a post-doctorate position in a similar timespan, without nearly the same job security. “These are bright kids. They’re doing the opportunity cost.” Rowarth’s presentation followed a similarly concerning statistic relayed by keynote speaker John Hay. Between 2002 and 2010 just 74 of 6227 doctorates completed in New Zealand were in agriculture,
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