NEWS
MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
AGRIBUSINESS
Hort exports top $6.2 billion.
Made in NZ – Pluck’s Engineering. PAGE 26
New AgResearch boss keen to make NZ Ag great again PAGE 18-19
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TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS AUGUST 25, 2020: ISSUE 708
www.ruralnews.co.nz
What a cluster! PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
FARMING LEADERS have hit out at the Ministry of Health’s handling of the Level 3 lockdown in the Auckland region and the chaos and frustration that it’s creating.
Farmers, commercial growers, rural professionals and a whole raft of businesses have been thrown into disarray with the inept way the Ministry of Health (MoH) has run the lockdown. It appears the MoH also ignored the advice of the Ministry for Primary industry on how the matter should
be handled as rural people needlessly queued for hours to get through police checkpoints. HortNZ chief executive Mike Chapman has described the location of the border and the way it is policed as absurd. Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard says the regional
lockdown was actually harder for farmers in Auckland than when the whole country was in Level 4 lockdown. Meanwhile, Feds Auckland president Alan Cole says the MoH bungle is creating an animal welfare issue. Hoggard says his organisation raised a number of issues with MPI, in
LOW WOOL PRICES STING! White Rock Station is way out on the isolated south Wairarapa Coast. Co-owner Tim Ritchie says the price they get for wool now doesn’t even pay for the cost of shearing. Thankfully for Ritchie and the other owners, the station is not just a cattle and sheep farm. Large areas of mānuka on the property have been used to establish a lucrative mānuka honey operation. There are over 500 hives on the property, which provide White Rock with a significant income – especially since wool prices have fallen sharply. Read more about how Ritchie, who earlier this year retired as the chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, and other family members have revived the historic station’s fortunes. See full story pages 20-21.
particular trying to get exemptions for essential workers, such as vets whose main base is at Pukekohe but who have clients on the other side of the lockdown. These were some of the people subjected five hour waits. “If an animal is sick you need a vet immediately otherwise it will die,” Hoggard told Rural News. “The MoH lacks an understanding of the supply chain. They just look through a health lens and everything else is subsidiary to that. On the other hand, MPI have been very good and have put our case forward.” Hoggard says farmers have complained about not being allowed to visit their farms and check stock on the other side of border, which he says has been distressing for them. He says Feds have been advising farmers to drive around with two rates demands – one for the farm and one for the run-off. “Hopefully, and in theory, the police will understand and they will be able to get through.” Hoggard says if lockdown is going to happen again the process needs to be streamlined, with some sort of scan or sticker, which allows essential workers to get though checkpoints quickly. “Trucks should have fast lanes and be waved through and not be forced to sit in a queue for five hours like the people who are heading to the beach or their holiday homes,” he says. The frustration in the voice of Auckland Feds president Alan Cole was clearly evident when he spoke to Rural News. He says this is one of the busiest TO PAGE 3
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