MANAGEMENT Wetlands helping to combat nutrient leaching. PAGE 30
MACHINERY Engineered from the ground up. PAGE 42
RURALNEWS
RESEARCH Fingerprint yields clues to milking way.
PAGE 17
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
OCTOBER 20, 2015: ISSUE 594
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Yet another underarm DAVID ANDERSON
WHERE THE bloody hell were they? Even with the ANZAC relationship dating back 100 years, it seems the lack of commitment by our Australian cousins cost New Zealand’s dairy sector more meaningful gains from the recently concluded TPP negotiations. NZ special agriculture envoy Mike Petersen told Rural News that if Australia had stood with New Zealand there would have been a much better dairy deal. “Unfortunately the Aussies did not stand with us over dairy in Atlanta (where the TPP was concluded earlier this month). Their focus was on sugar, biologics and other matters,” Petersen says. “If we’d had the Aussies onside, we’d have got a better dairy deal, but it was too hard with just us (NZ) against the combined and heavily protected dairy sectors of the US, Canada and Japan.”
Despite the less-than-ideal outcome for dairy, Petersen, in Atlanta with the rest of the NZ negotiating team, believes the TPP has delivered an “outstanding” result for the NZ primary sector. “It is an outstanding deal for New Zealand. We have basically gained free trade access for the majority of our primary sector products – with the exception of dairy and some beef – to 11 new markets with a population of 800 million or 40% of the world’s trade. “We now have access to 11 new mar-
kets tariff-free for fruit and veg, sheepmeat, seafood, wine and forestry, and the next best thing for beef.” Petersen says critics of the deal fail to recognise that the TPP has given NZ the equivalent of free trade deals with countries we could never have expected to sign up to bi-lateral deals. “The US, Japan, Canada and Mexico would not be interested in doing a bilateral with a tiny country of 4.6 million people. They would ask, ‘what’s in it for us?’, and they’d be right,”
he explains. “Through the TPP process we now have free access for all our primary products—with the exception of dairy and some beef – into these four markets and seven others.” Meanwhile, Petersen says it would have been untenable and economically stupid for NZ to walk away from the TPP. “The TPP would have gone ahead without us – it would have been 11 countries instead of 12,” he says. – More on the TPP pp 6-10
PREPARING FOR THE WORST Hawarden farmer Dan Hodgen, with his son Gus, 8, says North Canterbury farmers are preparing to go back into drought mode. No recent rain means farmers in the district are back on tenterhooks with drought-breaking early spring rains now a distant memory. See full story page 5
MIE TO VANISH? SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
THE FUTURE of farmer lobby Meat Industry Excellence is up for discussion, says chairman Peter McDonald. With the Silver Ferns Farm vote over (held on Fri Oct 16, after Rural News went to press), MIE will soon be meeting with its core base of supporters to map out its future. McDonald believes the ginger group has a role to play provided its objectives are clearly defined and agreed on by its supporters. The farmer lobby has failed in its bid to get the meat co-ops Alliance and Silver Fern Farms to merge. But McDonald does not believe the lobby group has failed and doesn’t want it disbanded. He believes MIE must continue advocating for farmer suppliers and supplying industry information to members. “In the meat sector knowledge historically was and is always held by the companies; farmers were told only on a need to know basis,” he told Rural News. “And the meat companies always believe farmers need to know bugger all.” MIE will take its time in deciding its future. McDonald says this will allow the emotion arising from last week’s decision to subside. “But we need to be sure about our objective going forward; we can’t muck farmers around and waste their time.” TO PAGE 3
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