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Erosion scheme motives hill country farmers. PAGE 30
Folding-trailed cultivator drill range extended. PAGE 38
Lincoln University vice chancellor is upbeat about the university’s prospects. PAGE 5
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS FEBRUARY 21, 2017: ISSUE 624
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Bully boys – critic PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
MASSEY UNIVERSITY ecologist Mike Joy, and dairy industry critic, has accused the sector of bullying behaviour. Speaking at the Beef+LambNZ’s Environmental Conference, last week, Joy claims the power that the dairy industry holds over the nation has made it harder for people to question some of its behaviours. “If you say something against dairy it’s like saying something against rugby or Richie McCaw – simply don’t dare say it. Dairy, pardon the pun is a sacred
cow. Nobody is game to say anything about it and we turn a blind eye to so many impacts of it. People won’t speak because of the response they will get.” Joy says this has become evident in Environment Waikato’s Plan Change One, which has adopted the concept of grand parenting nitrogen leaching. He says the pollution rights have been given to the existing polluters, which disadvantages sheep and beef farmers. Meanwhile, Joy has also pleaded for farmers to fence off small streams. He claims the present system of fencing off larger streams was wrong and that focus should be on the small ones, which feed into these.
Under the Sustainable Dairy Water Accord, streams over a metre wide and 30cm deep have to be fenced off and it’s claimed that 96% of these have been done. But Joy says fencing these isn’t as effective as it might seem and believes some farmers apply the rules to suit themselves. “When people apply that rule about the metre and 30cm, they generally apply it where it suits them and this relates to the width of the stream and also the depth,” he claims. “Last time we looked at an area and said let’s have look and monitor what is happening; it seems that most streams didn’t have to be fenced
because they didn’t meet the criteria. In my view, we should be fencing all the little ones.” Joy also has problems with science being politicised. He says all the money is with the government and industry who are promoting intensification. He claims that work which gets commissioned by individuals or councils and doesn’t suit them (industry or government) doesn’t see the light of day. However, he concedes that the role of a consultant is to meet the needs of the needs of the person who is paying for the work. • More on sheep and beef worries over river plan – p6
Lambastic! Two of NZ’s top female athletes, Eliza McCartney and Sarah Walker were on hand to help last week to celebrate National Lamb Day and the 135th anniversary of the sending of the first shipment of NZ frozen mutton to Britain on the refrigerated ship the Dunedin. McCartney and Walker are two of four Iron Maiden Ambassadors employed by Beef+Lamb NZ to promote NZ lamb. The celebration took the form of a special dinner, held at the palatial residence of the British High Commissioner to NZ Jonathan Sinclair in Wellington. Four of BLNZ’s platinum chefs prepared the meal which was attended by diplomats, meat industry representatives’, farmers and government officials. The four lamb courses were served and followed by dessert. Eliza McCartney and Sarah Walker are pictured with Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and UK High Commissioner Jonathan Sinclair with the main course of the night – rack of lamb prepared by Chef Rex Morgan. – Peter Burke
JAP/US DEAL BROKE TPP NEW ZEALAND was ‘screwed’ the moment we allowed Japan and the US to sew a bilateral side-deal under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), says trade expert Charles Finny. “And we should not have allowed that to happen; that was a mistake in my view,” Finny told the Federated Farmers Dairy council meeting in Wel- Charles Finny lington, last week. Finny told dairy farmer leaders that while TPP wasn’t a particularly good deal for dairy, it was a great shame not to have the deal done. He was critical of the TPP negotiations and what it done to NZ. Describing former Trade Minister Tim Groser a close friend, he said the TPP deal broke apart the political consensus that existed in NZ on trade policy which some of them had helped built up over the years. “It really upset me when the Labour Party said they won’t be supporting the TPP.” Finny says he doesn’t think it was the intention of Groser or his negotiators to do this.
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