NEWS No room at the Lincoln University inn. PAGE 5
MACHINERY NZ’s favourite ute upgrade worth the wait. PAGE 27
RURALNEWS
NEWS The year in review is he good, bad or ugly.
PAGE 6-7
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS
DECEMBER 15, 2015: ISSUE 598
www.ruralnews.co.nz
MIE not quite dead SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
A GROUP of red meat farmers seeking industry reforms have not given up hope despite bleeding support. Meat Industry Excellence (MIE) says the deal between Silver Fern Farms and Chinese company Shanghai Malling “is not yet a fait accompli”. The joint venture has been approved by shareholders of both companies; it is awaiting the green light from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). MIE stalwart John McCarthy told Rural News that either the OIO or the Government could still knock back the deal. “Look at what happened with the Lochinver deal,” he says, referring to
the Government’s decision to block the sale this year of the Lochinver Station to Shanghai Pengxin for $88 million. McCarthy says if the deal is knocked back, major reform may well be back on the agenda within months. “This industry desperately needs dynamic new leadership with a vision to implement the coveted 80% model with contracted supply as portrayed in the` Newco’ business strategy.” While MIE is trying to sound upbeat,
it is continuing to lose key members: three more executives, Blair Gallagher, Tom O’Sullivan and Tim Coop resigned this month In a combined statement, the three say it has become obvious that following the successful Shanghai Maling vote MIE will now be entering a new phase and that has given the three of us time to reflect on our ongoing commitment. “We have each given a great deal
of voluntary time and effort over the last two years,” they say. “We thrived on farmer engagement, driving change through director elections, and promoting the ‘Pathways to Long term Sustainability’ report. They acknowledged the outstanding farmer support received during stint with MIE. TO PAGE 3 @rural_news facebook.com/ruralnews
SPEAR A THOUGHT AS YOU tuck into your Christmas dinner this year, spare a thought about all the hard work that has gone into getting that yummy asparagus on your plate. Pictured are Ashley Boyd (left), Tony Rickman and Alex Boyd from Boyds Asparagus, Cambridge. A sizeable portion of New Zealand’s asparagus production comes from Boyds Asparagus. The company handles around 280ha of the crop grown by seven key growers in New Zealand. It is estimated the total asparagusgrowing land in the country is about 500ha. See full story page 21
REACTION ROLLS ON PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
SAFE’S CAMPAIGN against New Zealand’s dairy industry has drawn a backlash from people within and outside farming. Prime Minister John Key says the campaign is “economic sabotage”, and NZ First’s Winston Peters is calling it “economic vandalism”. Gore sharemilker Bridget Lowry says she’s had a huge response to a petition seeking to remove SAFE’s charitable trust status. By mid-last week she had at least 8000 signatures and increasing by the hour. The petition is on the website. Lowry says the petition was started earlier this year, but the group’s latest antics have seen a huge upsurge in people signing. Meanwhile, DairyNZ’s chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says the industry-good organisation is extremely disappointed SAFE had chosen to advertise internationally and says it’s totally unnecessary. “SAFE says its footage comes from 12 farms in Waikato. There are 11,970 dairy farms in NZ so its footage represents just 0.1% of dairy farms,” he says. Mackle says DairyNZ and the Ministry for Primary Industries and six other industry associations have joined together to eradicate the mistreatment of bobby calves. DairyNZ has also set up a question and answer page on its website about the bobby calf issue. – SAFE under fire – page 4
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