Recent Bank surveys showing Primary producers frustrations and depressed outlook, even though the sector is receiving record export prices, the dismantling of democracy is a major influence.
Good to be home, back out in gumboots and leggings feeding stock and getting on with actually farming, rather than listening to politicians and bureaucrats who think they know how it should be done. We here in NZ have the second best water quality in the OECD and are one of the world’s most efficient producers of food on a carbon emissions basis. Normally I come home from the Primary Industries Conference (or it’s predecessor) inspired, challenged and encouraged as being amongst the best food producers in the world, who through investment in technology and management can become even better as we produce safe, nutritious food to feed an exploding world population. Not this time sadly. I have returned from three days of being beaten into submission, lectured about all that is wrong and told how we must comply with a raft of legislation that will do nothing other than making food production in this country more expensive, more difficult and will result in more of NZ being planted in pine trees by overseas investors speculating on our ETS subsidies. At the same time, our democratic power is being taken from local communities and vested in Wellington and our democracy itself, dismantled. So we sat and listened to how the consumer is demanded all of these things, as justification to meekly follow the legislation. Then in the evening we went to an Arable Industry meeting and heard that a multi-national commodity trader has set up shop in NZ and captured the supply of 80% of NZ’s milling wheat and now has a structure that has wiped $30/t from the wheat price and encourages the importation of wheat to allow them to transfer price and minimise their NZ tax obligations (in my opinion of course). That suggests to me that actually the manufacturer and consumer couldn’t give a flying $&@k where their wheat came from or what conditions it was grown under. We sit idly by, too timid to question. I am proud to be a farmer, amongst the very best food producers on our planet, striving everyday to do better. Just to be clear, this is not a slap at Feds, this is a commentary of the narrative beyond the farm gate in all organisations and levels of Government
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