rural news 16 september 2014

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014: ISSUE 569 www.ruralnews.co.nz

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2014: ISSUE 569 www.ruralnews.co.nz

RURALNEWS

ELECTION 2014Your vote, your choice. Political parties state their policies. PAGES 6-14

MANAGEMENTThink bees with environment planting. PAGE 48 AGRIBUSINESS

Industry stalwart positive about

deer sector’s future.PAGE 35

TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS

PHOTO: ELECTORAL COMMISSION

LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTERThe Council of Trade Unions (CTU) says excessively long hours worked by farm workers – especially on dairy farms – is compromising safety and leading to accidents. President Helen Kelly told Rural News some of the long hours worked by staff are “dangerous”and that farmers overall are not good employers and need to lift their game. She says working conditions including remuneration need to be addressed for the sake of the individuals and the industry. The CTU wants stronger regulation of these issues. See P15 for details.

Rosy outlook for red meat?WHATEVER THE election outcome, sheep and beef farmers appear to be winners this year, says Beef + Lamb NZ’s economic service.

Director Rob Davison says the aver-age profit on a sheep and beef farm for the 2014-15 season will be $110,800 – 8% higher than last season. The season’s

favourable weather so far, expected higher product prices and a more export-friendly exchange rate collec-tively translate to improved returns.

A 6.3% lift in sheep revenue is largely responsible for the increase, while total farm expenditure should rise only by an average of 2.3%, Davison says.

“The international economy plays a significant role, with global growth

expected to reach 3.4%

this year and 4% during 2015. While New Zealand is now in its fourth year of expansion, prospects in other developed economies are gradually improving.

“The three major currencies in which New Zealand agricultural products are mostly traded – the US dollar, Euro and British pound – are all expected to strengthen against the New Zealand dollar over the next 12 months.”

Farmgate prices for lamb and mutton

are forecast to average $103 and $79 per head, respectively – up $3 on 2013-14 provisional prices.

And while total sheep numbers are back on last season, the number of lambs tailed this spring is estimated to be sim-ilar to last spring – 25.6 million – reflect-ing kind weather.

“However, export lamb production is forecast to decrease by 2.6%, as farm-ers opt to hold onto more ewe hoggets as replacement breeding stock, a posi-tive indicator for the sector. Meanwhile, export mutton processing is forecast to drop by 21% over the coming year – a correction on last year, when dry con-ditions in the north and dairy expan-sion in the south saw larger numbers of ewes processed than usual.”

– MIE not so easy.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

Butt out!

COMMERCIAL WOOL companies should stay out of the wool levy vote, says Beef + Lamb NZ chair-man James Parsons.

The fundamental question wool growers need to ask themselves is do they want to invest in industry-good activities? he says.

“Frankly I find it highly disap-pointing that now two commer-cial wool companies motivated by patch protection are attempting to influence my vote as a grower,” he told Rural News.

“Their behaviour principally is wrong and they should stay out of it, leaving it to the growers who would pay the levy to make the decision.”

NZ Merino Co and Wools of NZ have spoken out against the proposed wool levy. Voting papers were sent out to growers last week and the referendum closes in Octo-ber.

Parsons says BLNZ has delib-erately stayed clear of influencing growers’ decision on a wool levy, believing the proposition should stand or fall on its merits and grow-ers should be free to make their own decision.

Wools of NZ suggested an extension of the current BLNZ sheep levy should instead be used to finance wool industry-good activities. But Parsons says it is ille-gal for BLNZ to spend sheep meat

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

TO PAGE 3

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levies in wool-specific activities and it is audited on this. “Attempting to manipu-late the Commodity Levies Act to allow this would be a significant stretch given wool is a separate commodity from sheep meat,” says Parsons.

“Suggesting the wool levy be voted down because growers should invest in industry-good wool activities – via the sheep meat levy – is misleading.

“The fundamental question before grow-ers is: do they want to invest in industry-good wool activities? Even if wool could be incor-porated into a sheep meat levy, sheep farmers would still need to vote on that question.” – More on levy vote pages 17-19, 31

Butt out!FROM PAGE 1

Fonterra model not for meat – Feds

FARMERS HAVE little appetite for a Fonterra-type model for the meat industry, sayso Federated Farmers vice president Anders Crofoot.

At recent seminars on the meat industry the single-seller concept has been virtually dismissed.

Crofoot says the dairy industry is more of a manufacturing model – basically dewatering the product and reassembling it, whereas the meat industry disassembles the base product and then finds markets for the different parts.

“Fonterra has done a reasonably good job of capturing a place in the commodity market. But if you look at what Fonterra said they were going to do in adding a lot of value, the out-come is only partly fulfilled. They are certainly making attempts at it, but the value-add is a very hard propo-sition.

“With the rise in price of milk powder and the demand for it, why would you spend a whole lot of money doing different things when you can just ride that wave?”

The meat industry’s goal is to get extra value out of the market place and the meat companies are doing

that, Crofoot says. But he points out margins are low and the companies are running pretty lean, efficient operations, so there is a limit to how much more can be made.

He says from a farmer’s perspec-tive it would help to have a mecha-nism to deal with the unpredicted volatility in the prices offered: more warning about highs and lows in the market would help farmers manage their businesses more effectively.

Crofoot is concerned that many people seem to spend a lot of their time looking back over their shoul-ders, seeing yesterday’s solutions as solving tomorrow’s problems.

PETER BURKE

peterb@ruralnews�co�nz

MIE poo-poos potential returnsTHE MEAT Industry Excellence Group (MIE) is urging farmers not to be duped by “false positives”.

Chairman John McCarthy says apart from a slightly improved exchange rate forecast, a generally good lambing and a miniscule increase in farmgate prices the fundamentals have not changed.

“As farmers we are forking out year on year for massive overcapacity, we have a destructive emphasis on procurement and we are reliant on a processing sector where the default price is largely set by banker imperatives.”

McCarthy says a more accurate comparison to aspire to would be accurate information on the highest

price paid for lamb in the world today – that’s what New Zealand should be reaching for, he argues.

“Swiss lamb is currently fetching about 140 euros, Chinese farmers are getting roughly 2.5 times that of New Zealand farmers and we are receiving roughly 55% of our UK counterparts.” He says the good news stories perpetuate the status quo and reinforce the mindset that we are better off because we are getting more than last season.

“That is the equivalent of repeating the same action over and over and expecting a different result.”

McCarthy says farmers have huge opportunities but they are unrealisable

under the current model which has a 90% focus on procurement issues and 10% emphasis at the market end. Turn this around and we would be ticking the right boxes, he says.

“The false positives are further reflected in the aspirational but unrealistic goal of increasing red meat exports from $8b to $11.4b by 2024. Whilst this has merit as an aspirational soundbite it is quite patently defying gravity. In order to have a hope in hell of coming near the Government’s predicted figure we will have to be getting nearly three times the prices we are currently receiving.”

McCarthy claims this is serious “crystal ball stuff ” and is not achievable under

the current dysfunctional market model.

PETER BURKE

peterb@ruralnews�co�nz

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MIE chair John McCarthy is telling farmers not to be ‘duped’ by “false positives”.

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4 NEWS

Coming to a farm near you!

WORKSAFE INSPECTORS will look harder at more than just quads starting early 2015, says the national programmes manager Francois Barton.

Starting in the new year Worksafe will work with the industry to improve overall farm safety. It will run joint projects with industry-good organisations and give its inspectors wider scope when they go onfarm.

WorkSafe is in the process of hiring 41 more inspectors to make sure it has 200 inspectors by mid-late 2015.

“WorkSafe does not want to inspect our way to safety,” Barton says. “We’re not interested in playing a game of ‘gotcha’, but inspectors will target risk where they see it.”

Industry leaders have warned farmers to pay extra attention to potential onfarm hazards from next year, ensuring they have a risk management plan, workers and employers are trained to

a suitable level and facilities are up to scratch.

Farms should have all the safety gear necessary for vehicles or power tools used on a property.

Barton says inspectors will scrutinise the use of tractors and quads. “Farm vehicles account for more than 50% of farm fatalities; they are an important focus for us.”

For three years WorkSafe inspectors have promoted safe use of quads, helping cut accident rates. Serious quad accidents have dropped by 9% this year, and this year so far nobody has been killed on a quad.

Barton says farmers’ mindsets are changing; many now see health and safety improvements as an opportunity not a cost.

“There are many good reasons you should be reducing risks on farm: it can help with the health of your business, production costs, and is important for family and workmates.”

GARETH GILLATT

Porina reaching plague proportions

A BIG infestation of porina has hits parts of the central and lower North Island with one farmer, Craig Pat-erson of Raetihi, describing it as of “plague proportions”.

He told Rural News that about 50% of his pasture has been dam-aged, a problem worsening over the past three years. How to deal with it is a problem.

“The main challenge is biologi-cal against chemical. We are trying to do right by the environment as well as get an effective cure. The organic cures are expensive, but you to com-promise the bird life with chemical application. I have seen [declining numbers] of the starlings that often deal with porina.”

Paterson admits starlings can do only so much given that porina are night feeders, but from what he’s seen plovers are now coming around. While he wants to control the porina

on his farm, he’s not keen on some of the chemicals because he believes they harm birds and may cause sec-ondary poisoning.

Meanwhile, David Siefert, Rua-pehu Vet Clinic, says porina is rel-atively new to the area. They first appeared in the northern part of his region about five years ago, but in the last three years have been a problem in the Ohakune area, causing signif-icant and widespread damage. This year he’s had to spray about a third of his own farm to eradicate porina.

“I personally have observed two

flights – a heavy flight in late Febru-ary and another one a week later. It seems like there were a number of different flights – two heavy flights and lots of other ones, which make it harder to deal with because the stan-dard spraying with Dimilin works only when the larvae are quite small. After that you have to use expensive com-pounds to kill them.”

Siefert’s noticed that if there is good pasture growth in summer or there are thistles in the paddock there is a greater chance of the porina sur-viving. – See page 45.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

Be glad you farm in New Zealand!

THE GRASS on the other side of the South Pacific definitely isn’t greener but it holds a host of insights for New Zealand agricul-ture, judging by the report of award winning farmers Craige and Roz Macken-zie following their 28-day study tour of Chile, Uru-guay and Argentina.

“I’m happy we live where we live and farm where we farm and don’t have a government like in Argentina interfer-ing with our marketing,” Craige told Rural News fol-lowing the release of their

Ballance Farm Environ-ment Awards’ Agricul-tural Ambassadors Report on the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust’s web-site www.bfea.org.nz

Reflecting on appalling rural infrastructure, nota-bly in Uruguay, the 33-page report warns, among other things, of the need to maintain rural infrastruc-ture here and not to close our minds to the possibili-ties of GM.

“I don’t think we’re missing out [on GM tech-nology] at the moment but we should be having a mature discussion about it,” says Mackenzie.

Besides productivity

benefits, in future the technology could solve environmental issues such as water and nutrient use, he believes. All farmers using GM spoken to on their tour talked of reduced chemical use, and while poor crop rotation reduced the benefit in some cases, with good agronomy the crops present no more issues than conventional seedings, even in a seed production operation, they found.

On infrastructure, Mackenzie says roads were terrible and rural commu-nities had disintegrated due to lack of schools and

modern communications. “We think the roads in Christchurch are bad but they’re a pleasure com-pared to Uruguay’s.”

Other insights were rents set in tonnages of soybeans, then converted to dollars depending on a reference price on a set date; dairy heifers fetch-ing the equivalent of $14/kg liveweight post wean-ing, and Argentina having about 900 dairy compa-nies, supplied by just 9000 farmers.

The BFEA ambassa-dor role, has now offi-cially passed to this year’s national award winners Mark and Devon Slee.

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NEWS 5

Weaker dollar offers dairy some respiteA WEAKER exchange rate is giving dairy farmers some relief as the prospect of another cut in the milk payout looms next week.

Last week’s decision by the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates pushed the dollar below US82c. Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler also signalled he won’t be as aggressive with future rate hikes as previously thought.

The dollar dropped 0.5c on Wheeler’s announce-ment; the exchange rate has dropped from about US88c in July to about US82c.

But ASB Bank econo-mist Nathan Penny says a lower dollar will only par-tially offset the sharp drop in dairy prices compared to the last season.

And there’s no end in sight to dropping prices, he adds. “We can say $6/kgMS (Fonterra’s last fore-cast payout) is now off the table,” he told Rural News. Fonterra’s board will review its 2014-15 forecast payout next week.

ASB has revised its pre-dicted forecast from $5.80/kgMS to $5. Penny says it’s likely Fonterra will offer a forecast range as uncer-tainty over Russia’s ban on EU, US and Australian dairy products continues.

“No one knows how the whole Russian thing will play out,” he says. “EU products will be available more widely given that Russia imports a lot of EU dairy products.”

The biggest EU dairy exporters to Russia in

2013 were the Nether-lands ($473 million), Fin-land ($400m), Germany ($290m) and Lithuania ($250m).

Fonterra’s board will also announce its 2013-14 annual results on Septem-ber 24.

All eyes will be on Fon-terra’s revised payout, says BNZ economist Doug Steel. He predicts a $5.50 payout and is not ruling out a further drop as the season progresses.

Global milk supply

and the Russian trade ban isn’t helping, he says. The Russian ban on EU dairy products and emer-gency storage measures for dairy are the new ones, forcing EU products into other markets and cre-ating stocks which may overhang the market in months to come, Steel says.

International grain markets are another factor. “Very large pro-duction and end stocks are forecast which means [grain] prices are very low and the margin for grain-based milk producers, particularly in the US, is getting wider. It’s encour-aging them to produce more milk, not less, so this has a long way to run.”

US domestic dairy prices haven’t fallen as far or fast as world prices either, he points out. “The question is ‘will the US market fall back or world prices lift to meet it?’ I expect the US to come back.”

Prices at the GDT two weeks ago were down 6% overall, taking the fall since February to 44%.

Some analysts are talk-

ing about the payout drop-ping much further.

Among them is Peter Redwood, of Redwood Associates, Auckland. At the average GDT and New Zealand dollar (NZD) to US dollar exchange rate for the season to date, the milk price would be $4.93/kgMS, he calculates.

Weighting season-to-date average and spot GDT and NZD prices the news is even worse: $4.24/kgMS, and if GDT and NZD were to remain at current levels the milk price would be $3.94/kgMS.

Redwood stresses dairy prices “matter enor-mously” for both the NZD and short-term inter-est rates, so a fall in the NZD is likely to cushion the impact, but Fonter-ra’s $6/kgMS forecast “will be harder to achieve with every passing auction that undershoots its forecasts”, he warns.

To achieve $6/kgMS now, GDT’s weighted average price would have to rise 40% over the remainder of the season, he says.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

ASB economist Nathan Penny says the lower dollar will only partially offset the dairy price drop.

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6 NEWS: ELECTION 2014

Your vote, your choiceWith this year’s election less than a week away – on Saturday September 20 – Rural News takes an in-depth look how the various political parties plan to treat issues that we believe are important to and will impact on the primary sector.

We asked five political parties – National, Labour, the Greens, NZ First and ACT – for their feedback to a number of key questions we asked on a range of issues including: foreign investment; tax; trade; the ETS; support for science; water and irrigation; as well as promoting careers in the primary sector to name a few.

We also asked four key primary sector bodies – Federated Farmers; Horticulture NZ; DairyNZ and Beef+Lamb NZ – what they want to see as priorities for the primary sector from an incoming government.

All the questions, answers and proposals are outlined in this special Rural News Election 2014 feature over the next seven pages….

Nathan GuyDamien O’Connor Don NicolsonSteffan Browning

Richard Prosser

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Freshwater management: would you reform the NPS and why?

National has greatly amended the NPS this year to introduce a national objectives framework, with national standards and first-ever national bottom lines for freshwater.

We’ve also announced $100 million over 10 years to voluntarily buy and retire selected areas of farmland next to important waterways to create an envi-ronmental buffer that helps improve water quality.Does your party support irrigation projects and what support, if any, will you give these?

Yes, National strongly supports irri-gation projects. Done properly they can boost the economy and environment. Biosecurity: how would your party improve our border systems?

Biosecurity is national’s number-one priority. We’ll continue to strengthen our borders and have added 125 more biosecurity staff and 12 new X-ray machines over the past 18 months.

Dog detector teams have increased from 25 to 40 in the last two years, and budget 2014 increased MPI’s funding by

$17 million with a focus on strengthen-ing biosecurity and food safety systems.Trade: do you support the TPP and why/why not?

Yes, because we believe in open-ing new markets for our producers and signing free trade agreements. The TPP includes 11 countries, including Japan and US. About 45% of our exports go to these countries and the removal of these tariffs would increase returns back to our farmers, with the potential to be worth billions of dollars. Overseas investment in land: What measures, if any, will you implement on restricting foreign ownership land? If not, why not?

Strict rules apply to foreign land sales; National further strengthened them in 2010. An overseas buyer must show they will bring substantial and identifiable benefits to New Zealand over and above what a New Zealand buyer would bring. This is a high hurdle.

Overall we think we have the balance about right, given that only about 2% of farmland is in overseas ownership. Tenure review: would you reform this process?

We don’t see a need for much reform of tenure review at this stage, but we do regularly update processes to make sure it’s effective, efficient and transparent. Science funding: do we spend enough on primary industry research?

Yes. The Primary Growth Part-nership is our flagship policy, with $708m committed jointly with indus-try towards 18 innovative projects. This covers a range of industries and has the potential to deliver returns of up to $11 billion by 2025.

The government also supports pri-mary industry research by funding uni-versities, the Callaghan Institute, the Sustainable Farming Fund, AgResearch and Scion. Will you consider changing the direc-tion of science funding to further emphasise agriculture science that directly benefits farmers?

We have a range of funding com-mitted to agricultural science that will make a real difference to farmers.

Independent research estimates that PGP projects will generate extra income per year of $270/ha for hill country farming, $600/cow for dairy,

$370/tonne of exported seafood, and $190/ha for forestry from PGP.What is your attitude to the Primary Growth Partnership programme?

We strongly support it because it will have real benefits for farmers and the wider New Zealand economy.

Research by NZIER estimates the PGP could add up to $11.1 billion to New Zealand’s economy by 2025, if all the projects reach their maximum potential.

The long term 30-year benefit cost ratio (BCR) for the government fund-ing alone is 32:1, which confirms what a good investment this is.Human resources: The primary industries want more and better trained people at all levels. What incentives, if any, is your party will-ing to offer to encourage universities to take more ag science students ?

Attracting more young people into the primary industries is a major chal-lenge that industry and Government have begun working on together. A recent MPI report estimates we’ll need 50,000 new workers in the sector by 2025.

This year we increased the tuition subsidy for agriculture qualifications at degree level or higher by 8.5% to encour-age more young people into study.What extra funding, if any, would you give to schools to educate career advisors on agriculture?

Recently we launched the Enter-prising Primary Industries Career Challenge (EPIC). This is for Year 10 students to raise awareness amongst their peers about the many and varied careers that can be found in the primary industries.

Employers and industry bodies also have an important role to play, to encourage and support training, and creating a culture of continuous pro-fessional development. Landcorp: should the state be farm-ing?

We support the role Landcorp plays and have no plans to change its struc-ture or sell any part of it. It plays an important role in training staff, driv-ing efficiencies and developing career paths. Their recent strategic review con-firmed they will not be expanding their

NEWS: ELECTION 2014 7National...Election 2014 responses

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Freshwater management: would you reform the NPS and why?

The Green Party will ensure that the [essentials of ] the NPS ensure our rivers are clean enough to swim in.Does your party support irrigation projects and what support, if any, will you give these?

We are opposed to large scale irrigation projects which drive more intensification and increase pollution of our already stressed rivers.Biosecurity: how would your party improve our border systems?

The Green Party favours taking a precautionary approach to biosecurity and reducing risk at the border.Trade: do you support the TPP and why/why not?

We don’t support trade deals like the TPP that unacceptably restrict New Zealand’s sovereignty and are negotiated in secret.Overseas investment in land: what measures, if any, will you implement on restricting foreign ownership land? If not, why not?

Our policy is to increase restrictions on investment and reserve land ownership for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, to ensure the profit realised from New Zealand land stays in New Zealand and doesn’t flow offshore.Tenure review: would you reform this process?

Yes. We support putting reviews on hold pending an investigation of whether the process is effectively protecting conservation values, public access and the Crown’s interest.Science funding: do we spend enough on primary industry research?

The Green Party is proposing investing $1 billion in R&D. Our

plan includes grants and tax credits. Primary industries would directly benefit from this and from improved extension services and secondary effects.Will you consider changing the direction of science funding to place more emphasis on agricultural science that directly benefits the farmer?

To capture more of the value in New Zealand of our agricultural exports it’s important we ensure research is focused on adding value to our exports, not enabling more volume. Agricultural science is best done via a collaborative approach with farmers. Funding for agricultural science needs to be directed more to agro-ecological – organic and biological farming systems that improve climate resilience and improved farmer profitability.What is your attitude to the Primary Growth Partnership programme?

We need to invest more in protecting our brand and building the agriculture sector by adding value to our exports. Capturing more value in New Zealand is important to ensure we can protect the clean green and safe brand on which we trade, however the PGP scheme is too narrow and wasteful and needs to be reviewed.Human resources: the primary industries need more and better trained people at all levels. What incentives, if any, is your party willing to offer to encourage universities to take more ag science students?A part of our smart green

innovation is the funding of more tertiary places in the sciences. What extra funding, if any, would you give to schools to educate career advisors on agriculture?

NoneLandcorp: should the state be farming?

Yes, although it should be an exemplar for a family farming model not large corporate farming.Do you support the ETS? If not, what changes would you make to the current scheme?

No, we support a real price on carbon that drives polluters to reduce their pollution. Our climate tax cut package would see revenue from the carbon tax returned to all New Zealanders via a tax free threshold and a cut to the company tax rate.

Our primary sector is vulnerable to the increasing number and severity of extreme weather events we are facing. We all have to do our share in reducing greenhouse gas pollution. Our package would see dairy emissions face half the price at $12.50 per tonne, as it is above 1990 levels of emissions. However we would set up a scheme whereby emissions reductions would be credited back to the farmer. More details at greens.org.nz/climateWhat taxation changes, if any, does your party plan to implement?

As well as our climate tax cut which would result in a $2000 income tax-free band and a 1% company tax cut, we are also proposing a new top tax rate on income earned over $140,000 of 40%.

The extra revenue raised would be used to end child poverty and ensure all children have a chance to thrive.We support a comprehensive capital gains tax, excluding the family home. Farming for capital gains rather than production is not sustainable in the long term and pushes farming further out of reach of our children.


8 NEWS: ELECTION 2014The Greens...Green Party – election responses

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NEWS: ELECTION 2014 9Federated Farmers...Election 2014 wish list

PASTORAL FARMING lies at the heart of our economy and how we see ourselves as a nation. Fed-erated Farmers released its manifesto on Septem-ber 10 with the major points summarised as:

Going forward as a pri-mary superpower

New Zealand agricul-ture ranks among the best on earth in production efficiency, environmental outcomes and emissions. We may be a small country by population and size, but we are a primary exporting superpower, and agribusi-

ness is our one true com-petitive advantage. It is where our future contin-ues to lie but we need to ensure we maximise our opportunities. This means trade relationships, like the Trans Pacific Partner-ship, are essential for con-tinued prosperity.

The environment and economy are flipsides of the same coin

It is no coincidence that green is the colour of pasture. Successful farm-ing is impossible with-out farming in and with the environment. There

is heavy environmental investment by farmers to improve environmental outcomes. The environ-ment also needs farming to be profitable in order to make this ongoing envi-ronmental investment possible.

New Zealand’s eco-nomic prescription works

We must be wary of a growing trend towards regulation as a solution to every problem. Very few people under the age of 40 will have much recall of what New Zealand was like under ‘hands-on’ economic management, which typified New Zea-land up to the mid-1980s.

The general economic tra-jectory of New Zealand will remain sound assum-ing ongoing refinement.

Science and innova-tion matters

Research is the key to increasing onfarm produc-tivity and the value and range of the products we help to produce. Research

is also fundamental to reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint by enabling us to do more from less. This requires turning people on to sci-ence and inspiring them about what the primary industries are capable of achieving.

Our people are our big-

gest assetAgriculture has always

been knowledge-led and there are opportunities to take this knowledge to the world. Our people are a precious resource and deserve every opportunity to maximise their poten-tial in the best possible working environment.

DairyNZ...DAIRYNZ WOULD like three key things for dairy farmers from the next government:

First, help us invest in science and research, upskill people and boost national prosperity.

A successful dairy industry is good for New Zealand. We’re keen to see the government continue to invest with dairy farmers in science and research that will drive our ability to create jobs, support rural communities and keep our exporting edge.

We need 1000 new graduate-level roles every year for dairy farming. We are working to attract and train the

people power we will need and we can’t take our foot off the accelerator. We need that support strengthened.

Second, keep the focus on biosecurity.A foot-and-mouth disease incursion is one of the big-

gest risks to the New Zealand economy. Other new bios-ecurity risks will emerge.

Tb controls have been a longstanding jointly funded initiative between the government and industries; this recognised the impact the disease has on the productive potential of farms, and the flow-on impact into our com-munities.

The pest killing schemes have reduced possum popu-lations, as welcomed by the parliamentary commissioner for the environment.

Third, support farmers’ efforts to improve water qual-ity.

The dairy industry recognises that we must farm within environmental limits. We want to see resources put into speeding up the implementation of the national water quality and quantity limit setting processes so all farm-ers have certainty.

We also need the time to plan for any changes and budget for environmental investments. We have a good collaborative decision-making framework in place now that regional councils are starting to implement. But the longer it drags on, the harder it can be for farmers to plan ahead and make the most of opportunities.

We also need to see improved water monitoring. Local limit setting and water quality management processes need the resources to work with us as we all invest in sound science and economic impact modelling to drive good decisionmaking.

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10 NEWS: ELECTION 2014Labour...Labour Party – election responses

Freshwater management would you reform the NPS and why?

Labour would with urgency introduce a new NPS for Freshwater Man-agement based on the principles of the Shep-pard version so that: rivers and lakes are required, as a minimum standard, to be clean enough for people to swim in without get-ting sick.

We support regional councils in meeting the new NPS’s requirements to set clear and enforce-able limits on nutrient limits and minimum flow regimes on named water-ways.

Does your party sup-port irrigation projects and what support, if any, would you give these?

Labour supports com-munities, through their local councils, deciding which proposed water storage and irrigation schemes are appropriate.

Each project must attract broad consen-sus from across the wider community, even if the major beneficiaries (and financial contributors) are local farmers and electric-ity generators.

Labour would ensure the processing of consents for proposed water storage and

irrigation schemes were linked, with any consents being consistent with Labour’s new NPS for Freshwater Management.Biosecurity - how would your party improve our border systems?

Labour would establish a stand-alone indepen-dent biosecurity agency and boost its capability to identify offshore threats to the primary indus-tries. We would support those working to reduce the impact of varroa, PSA, thileria, clover weed root weevil, and other intro-duced biological pests. We would continue work to eliminate bovine TB.

Trade: do you support the TPP and why/why not?

Half our trade goes to the TPP countries. If we did not participate in a successful agreement our exporters would be disad-vantaged by facing barri-ers in the key TPP markets that our competitors do not.

Labour wants to see the full text before an agree-ment is signed to ensure that what is agreed will benefit New Zealand. Overseas investment in land: what measures, if any, will you implement on restricting foreign ownership land? If not, why not?

Labour would clamp down on the sale of rural land to foreign buyers by limiting the discretion of the minister to approve sales.

Labour would in two ways narrow the type of investment in rural land that would be acceptable.

First, by requiring that foreign investment would need to deliver bene-fits over and above what a New Zealand investor would produce.

Second, to ensure that substantial job creation (for example through the introduction of new tech-nology or new products) and substantial increases in exports are the most important factors to be considered. Tenure review: would you reform this process?

Labour has always been upfront about our position on high country rents. We would provide the right

incentives for farmers who are managing the land properly and ensure their rents are affordable.

However, we have to establish the base value of the land and the base rental so that it is consistent with most other commercial entities across the country otherwise everyone will be claiming relief. Science funding: do we spend enough on pri-mary industry research?

Our research and development spend is too low. Labour would review the funding allocated to the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) and reprioritise some to the Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF). Would you consider changing the direction of science funding to place more emphasis on agriculture science that directly benefits the farmer?

Labour would rein-state post-graduate stu-dent allowances to ensure our brightest students can remain in New Zealand to do research. This would help encourage people into important research fields such as agricultural sciences.What is your attitude to the Primary Growth Partnership programme?

Labour would review the PGP and reprioritise some funding to the SFF and maintain the wider funding criteria of the SFF.Human resources: the primary industries are asking for more and better trained people at

all levels. What incen-tives, if any, is your party willing to offer to encourage universities to take more ag science students?

Labour would review the structure and opera-tions of the Tertiary Edu-cation Commission to develop an approach that focuses on collabora-tion, access, relevance and excellence. Labour would work with the primary sector to achieve more direct incentives and pro-vide more opportunities for young New Zealand-ers to move into science learning. What extra funding, if any, would you give to schools to educate career advisors on agri-culture?

Labour supports agri-culture being promoted as a career option. To strengthen careers advice, we would commit $2.5 mil-lion in 2015-16 to develop a national careers strategy that sets goals and strate-gies for ensuring there is a high quality careers advice structure at school and beyond. The provision of advice about careers in agriculture could form part of this. Landcorp: should the state be in farming?

Labour supports Landcorp as a Crown-owned farming operation. It can continue to lead the development of new technologies and farm practices through economies of scale and the diversity of its operations. Labour believes it can continue to have role

in the development of marginal lands, such as Maori owned land, to raise the level of production and opportunities for young New Zealand farmers. Labour would not sell Landcorp.Do you support the ETS? If not, what changes would you make to the current scheme?

Labour would restore the ETS so that it did what it was intended to do – put a price on carbon that drives behaviour change away from carbon-pol-luting goods and services towards low or zero-car-bon options.

We would, as a matter of urgency, move to restrict international units by requiring at least 50% of all units surrendered to meet obligations under the ETS to be NZUs (on an ongoing basis).

We would strengthen the ETS by bringing agri-culture in on January 1, 2016 to base the amount of free emissions units allo-cated to agriculture on 90% of its 2005 emissions. What taxation changes, if any, does your party plan to implement?

Labour would make a small increase to the income tax rate to 36% for earnings above $150,000 and a matching increase to the trust rate.

We would tighten up on tax avoidance and introduce a capital gains tax, excluding the family home, fund R+D tax cred-its and accelerated depre-ciation to assist moving the economy from volume to value.

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One tyre company, continuing to construct quality aftermarket tyres that last, is Cooper Tires. Drivers choosing quality American made Cooper Tires are finding they are getting a lot more mileage and better value for money than

original tyres. This is because Cooper Tires make tyres that last without compromising on high quality tyre components.

Cooper Tires are only sold through appointed local tyre professionals, so they know your conditions and can advise the right tyre for the job.

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NEWS: ELECTION 2014 11NZ First...NZ First – election responses

ing through to the tertiary sector.Landcorp: should the state be farming?

New Zealand First does not see a role for the state in engaging or compet-ing directly with private farmer owners in commer-cial agricultural produc-tion. Rather, we believe

bodies such as Landcorp exist, and should exist, as a mechanism by which New Zealand Inc can keep one step ahead of international competitors.Do you support the ETS? If not, what changes would you make to the current scheme?

No. New Zealand First

does not believe our vital primary industries should be pointlessly penal-ised through the imple-mentation of a scheme intended primarily as a trading exchange, rather than an emissions reduc-tion initiative, before either the world’s larg-est emitter nations or our

biggest trading partners have implemented such schemes themselves.What taxation changes, if any, does your party plan to implement?

Our primary taxation changes as announced to date are not agriculture-specific, but they include the removal of GST from

food and council rates, the abolition of second-ary tax, and a commit-ment to using tax policy to incentivise investment in industries such as fish-eries and forestry, as well as enabling businesses to facilitate an economically viable increase in the mini-mum wage to $17 per hour.

Freshwater manage-ment: would you reform the NPS and why?

New Zealand First sup-ports the collaborative approach and the over-all direction of the Land and Water Forum. We are not satisfied that the NPS fully embraces the aims and intentions of the LWF. However, we are encour-aged that the consensus-based structure of the LWF allows a framework by which the government of the day may be directed towards adopting the views and decisions of the forum.Does your party support irrigation projects, and what support, if any, will you give these?

New Zealand First fully supports projects to improve and increase irri-gation opportunities. We support the present gov-ernment’s initiatives.Biosecurity: how would your party improve our border systems?

New Zealand First is deeply concerned by the direction the present gov-ernment is taking on bios-ecurity. We do not accept unproven and irrespon-sible policies such as pro-filing and reliance on the SmartGate, at the expense of sniffer dogs, inspections and boots on the ground. We aim to achieve 100% x-ray and inspection of all inbound goods, freight, passengers and luggage.Trade: do you support the TPPA and why/why not?

No. New Zealand First holds grave concerns that the terms of the TPPA may seriously compromise this country’s sovereignty and we will not commit to being bound by it.Overseas investment in land: what measures, if any, will you implement to restrict foreign own-ership of land?

New Zealand First policy is that ownership of land and property in New Zealand will be lim-ited to New Zealand citi-zens and to people granted permanent residence and [living in New Zealand]. In the case of corporate ownership we will require corporations, companies and other legal entities to prove a majority New Zea-land shareholding before being permitted to obtain freehold title.

Tenure review: would you reform this process?

New Zealand First is concerned that the high country tenure review process may conceal unin-tended detrimental conse-quences. While we cannot criticise some farmers for taking advantage of its lowland freehold provi-sions, we believe the long-term future of the high country will not be well served by the withdrawal of maintenance activities previously provided by leaseholders.Science funding: do we spend enough on pri-mary industry research?

No. And we should not allow the closure and rationalisation of estab-lished research institutes.Will you consider chang-ing the direction of sci-ence funding to place more emphasis on agri-culture science that directly benefits farm-ers?

Yes, to science fund-ing directed towards agri-culture. What is your attitude to the Primary Growth Partnership programme?

New Zealand First fully supports the PGP in con-cept and in practice. We recognise the incompara-ble value of government-sponsored venture capital initiatives of this type in our vital primary indus-tries.Human resources: the primary industries need greater numbers of better trained people. What incentives, if any, is your party willing to offer to encourage uni-versities to take more ag science students?

New Zealand First believes in incentivising training in specific indus-try-related disciplines, where the nation has determined a particular value or need. This would involve the rescinding of course-related costs and fees, in return for a period of paid service in areas such as medicine and agri-cultural science.What extra funding, if any, would you give to schools to educate career advisors on agri-culture?

We believe the educa-tion system should take an integrated approach, beginning in the school system and transition-


12 NEWS: ELECTION 2014Horticulture NZ...Election 2014 wish list

HORTNZ’S ‘KEY wants’ out of the election are biosecurity, resource management reform, and continuing support for trade and market access through free trade agreements.

Add to that continuing support for the recognised seasonal

employer scheme, and improving education and the attractiveness of careers in agriculture.

Biosecurity should be at the top of everyone in agriculture’s list. Horticulture has been through three major pest detections in the past two years. Horticulture

knows the risks and is relieved to see moves in recent times to improve our border security. But we can never rest on this issue. The consequences of becoming complacent are very scary.

HortNZ has been calling for resource management reform

for a long time and it looks like we need to continue to keep doing this. We’d like to see major reorganisation of local government and territorial authorities. We work closely with many councils, and that costs growers a lot of money. The system needs to be

considerably more cost-effective and streamlined.

Continuing to work on trade and market access issues is a no-brainer for horticulture. Although horticulture often takes a back seat in trade deals, we have seen outstanding results on the removal of tariffs to some significant

How Government can help sheep and beef farmsNEW ZEALAND sheep and beef farmers export beef, sheepmeat, wool and other red meat products to at least 120 countries. These exports are worth about $7b a year.

Red meat and co-products are NZ’s second-largest export category behind dairy. For sheep and beef farmers to become more confident and more profitable, BLNZ believes an incoming government should address the following:

Further support for the development of science capability in the primary sector, particularly in farm systems, forages, precision agriculture, pest and weed management, and mitigation of the environmental impact of farming

Nutrient discharge regimes must be applied in an equitable manner, reflecting the ecosystem services provided by sheep and beef farms

Funding for Primary Growth Partnerships with the sheep and beef industry must be continued to provide farmers with knowledge and tools to encourage greater efficiency and profit

Recognition that NZ’s brand and reputation face risks that must be continually mitigated, including animal welfare, biosecurity and food safety

More work in removing barriers to our exports in key existing and developing markets

Recognition of the regulatory impost on NZ sheep and beef farmers and minimisation of unnecessarily burdensome regulation

The cost of agricultural education must be lowered relative to other areas. This will be a key driver in achieving the ‘People Powered’ report’s target of attracting 50,000 more workers to the agricultural sector.

markets in the last three years. More of this is needed to keep our industry viable.

The recognised seasonal employer scheme has fast become one of the key contributors to economic growth in horticulture, particularly the fruit industry. We cannot do without this scheme now, and nor can the Pacific Island nations who partner with us to

provide the scheme and its participants.

People: we need more people with higher levels of skill than ever before. We need government to give strong signals to encourage more students into agriculture, horticulture and science and to work creatively with industry groups and education providers to ensure we have a pool of technically able staff to drive our future.

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NEWS: ELECTION 2014 13ACT...Election 2014 responses

Freshwater manage-ment: would you reform the NPS and why?

While the aspiration of the NPS is useful, ACT would slow the process until a wider suite of data is independently scruti-nised to properly assess the state and trend of waterways. ACT observes much emotive dialogue that is serving primary industry poorly, mean-while communities that will make decisions about water quality, quantity and use under the NPS and NOF lack important data.Does your party support irrigation projects and what support, if any, will you give these?

ACT supports local determination to develop concepts like storage and irrigation that make for better local resilience. ACT will fight to clear bureaucratic nuisance for those schemes that locals,

rather than the Crown, deem to have merit. Biosecurity: how would your party improve our border systems?

ACT believes the integ-rity of our border security is important and rightfully one of the most impor-tant government responsi-bilities. But it is importers and therefore consumers who should bear the cost of border security rather than taxpayers or export-ers.Trade: do you support the TPP and why/why not?

ACT supports free and fair trade between all nations, with equivalence desirable over all aspects of any agreement.Overseas investment in land: what measures, if any, will you implement on restricting foreign ownership land? If not, why not?

ACT will not restrict

foreign investment. From the early 19th century NZ has been built on foreign investment. ACT would work towards the goal of free and fair investment between all nations.

ACT says private prop-erty is sacrosanct and any taking by dint of public pressure must be fully compensated by the tax-payer. Tenure review: would you reform this process?

ACT is committed to recognising property rights. In tenure review processes, it is right to provide full compensa-tion when conditions of a lease are changed. Any leases under review must be allowed to complete the process. Science funding: do we spend enough on pri-mary industry research?

In primary industry, government funds linking with industry bodies that

enjoy compulsory levies from producers deserve much more scrutiny. A lower taxation regime coupled with a reduction in monopoly costs would allow producers to better decide their own destiny. Will you consider chang-ing the direction of sci-ence funding to place more emphasis on agri-culture science that directly benefits the farmer?

No. If it directly ben-efits the producer then the producer will willingly demand and pay for it. What producers have to be wary of is any science pro-gramme gaming them. What is your attitude to the Primary Growth Partnership programme?

Just like direct produc-tion subsidy, corporate welfare has no place in any ACT policy.

We prefer that busi-nesses operate in a much

lower tax regime so they do not feel obligated to retrieve cash from the Crown begging bowl.Human resources: The primary industries are asking for more and better trained people at all levels. What incen-tives, if any, is your party willing to offer to encourage universities to take more ag science students?

None. ACT believes any industry training and employment problems will sort themselves when those industries become attractive propositions. Good employers or career advancement prospects always draw the right employees. If the state has any role, it is to demand schools don’t turn stu-dents off career options as they have done to the pas-toral sector for a genera-tion or more. What extra funding, if

any, would you give to schools to edu-cate career advi-sors on agriculture?

None. Industry train-ing organisations should link with schools. ACT believes the profitability of an industry will more attract the right numbers of students to itself. Landcorp: should the state be farming?

ACT believes there is no good reason why the taxpayer should be subject to the vagaries of farming. Do you support the ETS? If not, what changes would you make to the current scheme?

ACT wants the ETS repealed because it serves no useful purpose and never will, yet it is a cost on every unit of produc-tion today.

Producers, like any energy user, deserve better from politicians who have

cow-towed to left-wing

redistribution-ists under the guise

of environmentalism. ACT knows that open markets drive the most efficient resource use, not politicians who waste resourcesWhat taxation changes, if any, does your party plan to implement?

ACT is a fervent advo-cate of lower and flat-ter tax bands to advance the growth potential of the regions and the entire nation.

Cutting company tax to 12.5 % and personal tax to 17.5% will gener-ate more investment lead-ing to more and better paid employment with a flow-on effect being that of regions keeping more of what they earn instead of having too much of it fil-tered through the wasteful process of government.

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14 NEWS: ELECTION 2014

footprint by buying more properties.Do you support the ETS? If not, what changes would you make to the current scheme?

Yes. Unlike our political opponents, we won’t be rush-ing to include animal emissions in the ETS.

We have always said these emissions would be con-sidered only if there are practical technologies to reduce emissions, and if our trading partners have made further progress with their climate change policies to reduce emis-sions.

New Zealand farmers are the most environmentally efficient in the world and have reduced carbon emissions since 1990. Farmers already contribute to the ETS through electricity and fuel consumption, where the primary sector is a large consumer. What taxation changes, if any, does your party plan to implement?

We’re committed to lower taxes over time as condi-tions allow. We won’t be introducing the five new taxes our opponents are promoting: capital gains, higher income tax, carbon tax, irrigation tax or a regional fuel tax. These would be a massive handbrake on regional economies.

FROM PAGE 7

National...

Feds slam Labour’s capital gains tax

FEDERATED FARMERS has slammed Labour’s plans for a capital gains tax (CGT).

President William Rolleston told Rural News the proposal is too com-plicated and puts an extra and unfair burden on the

farming sector at a time when they are already having proposals for resource rentals and pen-alties on biological emis-sions.

The Feds commis-sioned the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) to analyse Labour’s capital gains tax policy and, says

Rolleston, NZIER found the CGT “would not be a good addition to New Zea-land’s tax mix”.

“We agree with that comment. Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the report comes down to the revenue assump-tions. In 2011, the Labour Party estimated a 15% cap-ital gains tax would raise

$17.5 million in its first year, rising to $3.7 billion by 2026.

“The NZIER tell us these estimates are high, since the revenue poten-tial of its proposed CGT is more likely to be half that sum. In fact, it may be smaller. If this key policy is out by such a margin it poses fundamental ques-

tions about Labour’s shadow budget.”

Rolleston says while the CGT may not be a problem if a farm is passed down from one genera-tion to another, it will be a problem if the older gen-eration decides to sell it to the younger generation. His impression is that, in those circumstances, the

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

sale of the farm will get caught up in the CGT trap.

“I haven’t seen a clause which suggests an exemp-tion. The risk is that it would mean the farm would be held onto by the older generation for too long and the younger gen-eration will get uninspired and do some other career because they can’t deal with the uncertainty.”

Rolleston rejects claims by Labour that Fed Farm-ers is playing politics by commissioning and releas-ing the NZIER report so close the election.

“That’s an unfair criti-cism. We commissioned this because Labour has proposed this tax. We got a draft from NZIER and asked them to check some figures and they have

come back to us with the answers.

“We got this out before the election because we think it needs to be out in the public domain so people can have a look at it. We are not play-ing politics. But agricul-ture is a political football in this election and that is not a comfortable place for it because it is so vitally important to New Zealand’s prosperity,” Rolleston says.

A CAPITAL gains tax genuinely risks capital lock-in with the housing market, Rolleston says.

To avoid taxable gains people would choose not to sell, achieving the opposite of what is desired for productive investment.

“Since the housing market has been part of a CGT rationale, the NZIER found Labour’s CGT will not aid affordability and is not as progressive as many would like to think.

“Indeed, a CGT may lead to higher rents. What is more, speculative property investment is already subject to income tax on capital gains. The lesson we can draw from countries with a CGT is that they are not immune to rising house prices. Indeed, two weeks ago, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Sydney and Melbourne houses had their strongest winter price surge since 2007.”

Rolleston says Federated Farmers, NZIER and others like Victoria University’s tax working group agree a CGT of the kind proposed by Labour would not be an efficient and effective option.

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NEWS 15Bad employers?Union targets farm

sector’s long, tough hoursHELEN KELLY says some farmers get upset when

she criticises their employment practices.

But farmers overall are not good employers, she

insists, citing low remuneration, a lack of training,

few workers in Kiwisaver and high staff turnover

especially in the dairy sector.

“This is all an indication, to my mind, of poor

employment relations,” Kelly told Rural News. “We

also hear from farm workers who feel they have very

poor work conditions and that their goodwill is being

abused and misused.

“Then you get the general narrative from

farmers that New Zealanders are lazy and you

can’t get good Kiwi workers…. We know that

when MBIE went out and inspected farmers

from a labour perspective many were failing to

keep good records and not paying heed to the

statutory code.

“We also see outrageous social media state-

ments by farmers saying ‘I’ve got a farm worker

and she’s in calf and I suppose she’ll want

parental leave.”

Dairy farmers are bringing in more migrant

workers: 20% of farm assistants are now

from overseas – unacceptable, Kelly

says.

The Employment Relations Act, which

sets out how wages are determined,

doesn’t protect farm workers, she insists. It provides

for unionisation and collective bargaining only on big

worksites where there is traditional union represen-

tation.

In contrast, the dairy processing industry, which

is unionised, sees that its workers get good terms

and conditions of employment and training.

“But farm workers are not unionised because

they are out there in the middle of nowhere in twos

and threes at the mercy of their employers. The

fact they live on their employers’ property and work

alongside them every day [involves] a risk for them

to join the union, and collective bargaining is out of

the question.”

Ironically, Kelly claims the farming industry is the

most unionised industry in the country. She notes

that DairyNZ has a compulsory levy which enables it

to work and advocate on behalf of farmers, and that

Federated Farmers, while a members’ organisation,

lobbies for those members.

Kelly believes farm workers would benefit from

some form of unionisation.

FEDERATED FARMERS board member and dairy farmer Katie Milne says her organisation would like more hard data on work safety to find out exactly what’s going on.

Nobody wants to see farmers or workers injured or killed, but every day on farms dangerous situations arise that have to be managed.

“For example, it might be

raining, you have leggings on, the cow runs in the wrong direc-tion and you trip over. That’s why we want to drill down into that data to find out the problem areas.

The farm is an ever-changing environment: every paddock is different and every time you go into a paddock it is different.”

Milne says some of the prob-lems can be attributed to a

‘she’ll be right’ mentality and she agrees farmers need to be better educated about work safety. They tend to have stuff in their heads and don’t always write it down.

“When an inspector comes to investigate something that might have gone wrong, some farmers may not have it written down.

“That’s difficult because as

regulators these guys inves-tigating incidents want to see paperwork.

“That’s an area where farmers as a group need to up their game.”

Milne agrees that not all farmers are good documenters. They are instead practical people who want to go outdoors and farm and the paper thing doesn’t necessarily ring a bell.

Farmers need to lift game – Feds

FATIGUE IS a huge issue among farm workers and others doing physical work, says Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly.

At least 20 people died in the past year on NZ farms – outrageous and unacceptable, and linked to hours worked, she says.

Average weekly hours for a dairy farm worker have risen 30 min-utes in the past year to 51 hours. Such long hours and the hazards and risks on farms need to be doc-umented.

Kelly says while it’s accepted that at certain times of the year farm workers have to work long hours, this needs to be documented and in a safety plan so that risks are clearly identified. And workers need proper breaks, a good night sleep and time off.

“New Zealand has no maximum hours of work. I regularly look on

the Fonterra Fencepost website and see jobs requiring people to work 60-70 hours a week – 18 days on / 3 days off. These hours are dan-gerous hours.

“Farmers are employing one staff member when they should be employing two because there are no penalties for that. There are no overtime rates in New Zealand, so it’s cheaper to have one worker. You only have to train one, you only have to provide one house – that sort of thing. There is no incentive to limit the hours.”

Kelly says no ‘she’ll be right’ atti-tude to farm safety persists among farm workers: workers don’t want to go to work and be injured. Farm-ers must see themselves as employ-ers, not just as farmers.

“We hear of farm workers being put on a quad on the first day of work with no induction or train-ing. We hear of young people get-ting insufficient rest and getting up early to milk cows and when they get home barely having enough

time to wash, have a feed and a sleep before they get up again. Those sorts of things cause accidents and need sys-tems to manage them.”

Kelly says the CTU wants much stron-ger regulation of farm hours of work and conditions. She points to Federated Farmers’ remunera-tion report that says 62% of dairy farmers spent nothing on train-ing last year.

“That’s unsustainable for the industry let alone for the workers. We’d like opportunity for farm workers to participate in unions, have elected health and safety repre-sentatives and be part of health and safety development.”

Kelly says the Pike River Mine tragedy drew attention to health

and safety and prompted a call for more action. Since agriculture is one of NZ’s five most dangerous industries it is now a focus of the union movement.

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

CTU boss Helen Kelly

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16 NEWS

Lincoln backs Feds call

Subsidies missing from trade talksIN ALL the negotiations on trade deals underway there’s often a key ele-ment missing – subsidies, says New Zealand’s special agricultural trade envoy Mike Petersen.

While an OECD report earlier this month showed government support

for agriculture in OECD nations is declining, other reports show a rise in sub-sidies and supports out-side the OECD. “So it’s a mixed bag,” Petersen told Rural News in response to the OECD report.

Agricultural subsidies are “the one thing miss-ing in all the negotiations on trade agreements,” he adds, but there’s a good

reason for that. “The only way to deal with them is through the WTO and that’s going nowhere with the Doha round of talks stalled.”

Petersen believes the 155 member countries of the WTO need to address agricultural supports as a block. “Otherwise you get huge distortions if it’s done in bilateral

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

agreements.”The OECD report

calls on governments to do more to break links between farm support and production, capitalising recent high commodity prices and farm incomes.

OECD secretary gen-eral Angel Gurria warns that if prices fall “produc-tion and trade-distorting support could inch back up.”

The report highlights the big differences among OECD countries in the amount, composition and progress in reforming farm supports. Despite an overall downward trend and de-linking of subsi-dies and production, some countries still rely heavily on market interventions that can affect prices. It notes that supports in Australia, Chile and New Zealand are limited to safety net measures, disaster relief and R&D; less than 3% of gross farm receipts come from sup-port in Iceland, Japan, Korea, Norway and Swit-zerland, and over 40% of gross receipts is govern-ment support.

While not part of the report, the OECD’s online subsidy calculator shows 0.5% of New Zealand’s farm receipts are from subsidies, compared to the OECD average of 18.2%. The European Union’s average is 20% and the US 7.5%.

Japan tops the support table with 55.6% of farm receipts as subsidy, and 83% of the subsidies are output commodity based (ie 46.4% of total farm receipts). Korea is the worst offender for com-modity-based supports, making up 49% of total farm receipts in a total subsidy package of 52.6%.

The OECD report rec-ommends:

Dismantling market intervention mechanisms in favour of support that is less connected to produc-tion and more targeted to specific needs

Governments should make farm policies more coherent with macroeco-nomic, trade, structural, social and environmen-tal policies. They should reduce impediments to structural adjustments to attract financial and human resources to the

sectorCountries should con-

solidate past farm sup-port reforms and avoid any recoupling of support with production, which can lead to higher costs and market disruption. Reforms could usefully include relaxing or ending production quotas

Transferring funds from farm support to edu-cation, infrastructure and research investment in the sector

Governments should be bolder about prioritis-ing the environment and the sustainable use of nat-ural resources

Payments to mitigate income risks should not crowd out market-based risk management tools and farmers’ own manage-ment of normal business risks.

@rural_news


Mike Petersen

LINCOLN UNIVER-SITY says it sup-ports, in principle, Federated Farmers’ call for increased invest-ment in science research and innovation, espe-cially for the primary sector.

Irrespective of who-ever forms the next gov-ernment, the federation has asked for $600m more to be invested over the next three years.

This call was made by Feds president William Rolleston during the launch of its 2014 gen-eral election manifesto at Lincoln University.

He stressed the importance of the pri-mary sector to the New Zealand economy, noting that the primary industries contribute 73% of the country’s merchandise exports, pastoral agriculture alone making up 45%.

He also emphasised New Zealand’s place as a world leader in food production.

Lincoln Univer-sity acting vice-chan-cellor Sheelagh Matear says Federated Farm-ers announcement reflects the importance of ensuring that the pri-mary sector and the land-based industries in general are adequately supported, always with an eye on ensuring growth and innovation.

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NEWS 17

Wools of NZ chief Ross Townshend has spent thre months working out the companys office in the UK.

Woolgrowers return for another goWOOLS OF New Zealand has a “significantly bigger” contract with UK fabric manufacturer Camira for 2015, says chief executive Ross Townshend.

Wools of NZ is offer-ing the same price as last year at $6.25/kg plus the 10c sign-on incentive. The earlier payment terms are worth about another 8.5c as well, he says. “There’s a sign-on incentive bonus for people who sign on before the October 31,” he says

“Also we were criticised a bit last year for deferred payment terms and while the 2015 supply has deferred payment terms – there’s twice as much money twice as fast so growers are at least cash neutral at shearing.”

Townshend has just spent three months work-ing out of the company’s Ilkley office in the UK.

“One objective was to get the Ilkley office work-ing in the way we now envisage in the new com-mercialised Wools of New Zealand world,” Townsh-end says.

“It was also an oppor-tunity for me spend time with a whole bunch of key European contacts and I would have visited about 25 key prospects and cus-tomers for us. That’s

impossible to do from New Zealand.”

Most of the Wools of NZ staff at Ilkley are long serving so have been through various historic steps including the Wool Board days, a period of uncertainty to a new entity under Wools of NZ in Feb-ruary last year. “We want to operate slightly dif-ferently as a commercial entity than what we might have done as an industry good entity.

“It is exactly the same argument as the Wool Levy thing. The wool levy is intended to be indus-try good and more or less one size fits all whereas we now need to be much more tailored with Wools of NZ’s marketing and sales spending and much more focused about how we use that resource at Ilkley.”

He believes the team is enjoying that customer focus. “There’s been a great watershed almost: we’ve got some plans we got from the sales guys which then dovetail back into the creative side.” It is working well but needed some leadership and push from New Zealand.

Townshend says they’ve got proposi-tions for 2015 sales with a number of others in addition to Camira and are quietly building. The direct-to-scour volumes

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

are doing “stunningly well”. They had the biggest ever month last month. “There’s a good level of grower satisfaction with a lot of guys coming back for

their second or third go. It is a nice painless, graphic way to go to market and save some money.”

Wools of NZ has no intention of seeking more

shareholders any time soon. However there are about 10-12 growers interested in selling their shares mainly because they have left farming.

Coast in a dry spellNERVOUS WEST Coast farmers hope rain is close at hand; no more than 1mm has fallen at Westport over the past month.

“This is the driest start to spring in some years,” says Katie Milne, Federated Farmers West Coast provincial president. “Apparently a dry spell is 15 consecutive days with less than one millilitre of rainfall and the South Island has been very dry.”

MetService puts the Coast’s dry spell down to a per-sistent high, which has been sitting out to the west, meandering across the country.

“The good news is that MetService says over the next 10 days they expect about 100mm for the West Coast. It will be welcome because the dry has brought back unwelcome memories of the 2013 drought,” Milne added.

“It’s also wrecking havoc with fertiliser applica-tion and that’s going to affect pasture growth. It will have a knock-on effect on dairy and drystock farms at the worst possible time. Our supplementary feed is depleted and grass stocks are at their lowest.”

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18 NEWS

Northland dries out – againAT LEAST 100 Northland dairy farmers are dealing with ongoing impacts from recent floods, says the Northland Rural Support Trust.

At least half of those have had medium-high impacts, coordinator Julie Jonker told Rural News.

“At the moment the day to day challenges are less, but they are still challenging,” she says.

“Milk production has been down only 1% in Northland so obviously people have been doing the right things.

“In some cases they stuck in seed that has

germinated despite the second flood (in mid-August) which came up and went down quickly. But in some cases it has delayed people being able to put their pastures in which is putting back their ability to have pastures back head-ing into spring.

“Some farms have sent cows off for grazing which obviously impacts heavily because they are not milking.”

Jonker says DairyNZ is recommending farmers reduce the impact financially to this year. They should talk to banks about ensur-

ing their cows are as well fed as possible and get body condition score up so October mating will be successful for next year. “Otherwise they will have a double whammy because those who do autumn calving would have been mating in July when the floods hit.”

The Rural Support Trust will officially be involved with this event until November.

It is often after people have dealt with the immediate emergency, that people feel stressed and often they won’t realise why, says Jonker. Tel. 0800 787254 – Pam Tipa

Levy no reason not to add to farmer profits – claim

THE WOOL industry needs industry-good investment that will not be picked up by companies, says Derrick Mill-ton, deputy chair of the Wool Levy Group.

The levy proposal is focusing in pre-competitive indus-try-good activities to assist commercial wool companies to thrive.

New Zealand has 30 commodities which have a levy and are all moving forward, says Millton. “Why is it the wool industry thinks it can get away without any collective investment?” he asks. “The wool industry is going back-wards while other industries like beef and dairy are forg-ing ahead; what’s going wrong?

“If we don’t have a levy we will never know what it could achieve. You can argue the toss one way or another for a long, long time. The key is after five years growers will decide whether or not to continue with the levy.

“It gives the option of seeing what could be done, which is not being done by commercial companies, for the wool industry to unite all growers.”

Millton says he admires what the commercial compa-nies are doing, but clearly 70% of growers are not repre-sented under these models. “If the volumes transacted by these companies were of sufficient size we made not need a levy but that has not happened in the last five-six years.”

Investments in industry-good, trade and education will not be made by these companies. Even the single desk model of kiwifruit still requires a commodity levy.

Wools of NZ chairman Mark Shadbolt has suggested the Wool Industry Research Organisation (of which Millton is chairman) and its subsidiary Wool Industry Research Ltd pick up the work proposed under the wool levy.

But Millton says WRONZ and WIRL invest in post-har-vest research; the mandate of the constitution is focused in this area and will not allow funds to be used for any-thing other than that.

Wool is a unique fibre that has never been able to be copied. “It needs to contribute more to sheep farmers’ income. Farmers need to understand the potential value that it could provide to the sheep industry.”

The Levy Review Group has worked for three years and two remits have gone through Beef + Lamb NZ annual meetings leading to a referendum. The levy is an attempt to unify the wool industry.

“It is hard to put a value on what it will create in dol-lars per kilograms but it may be sufficient to attract fund-ing to bring the other parts of the industry together and to drive the price of wool up.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

TO PAGE 19

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NEWS 19

The Wool Levy Group believes with-out collective investment the future of the wool industry bleak.

“We are losing 2000 sheep a day. That can’t go on. People say farmers will decide when they go back into wool but you can run out of critical mass which is important to the industry.”

Brokers, exporters and other parts of the wool industry are positive regarding the levy. “I cannot understand why two commercial wool companies are opposing this initiative. A collective voice is some-thing we have been lacking for so long. There’s no reason why wool can’t contrib-ute a greater amount to farmers’ bottom line.”

All votes wanted in wool referendumWOOL Levy Group chair-woman Sandra Faulkner wants all wool growers to vote in the wool referen-dum this month, regard-less of how they feel about a proposed levy.

On October 10, 17,000 sheep farmers will have been able to choose whether to approve a 2-5 cent/kg levy on wool, rais-ing $4.6 million from 154,000 tonnes of wool.

Forms for the postal ballot were sent out last week. A positive result – based on wool grower numbers and wool weight – will be required before a new commodity levy can be put in place.

Faulkner says though many farmers are busy lambing it’s important they vote on the issue. “It doesn’t matter what your feelings are on a levy, what is important is that you vote.”

Faulkner believes the central wool organisation the levy would support would be a huge boost to the industry. New Zealand

is the world’s third-largest wool exporter ($700 mil-lion annually) but grow-ers have suffered from not having a central voice to represent them. Nearly half the country’s wool-growers are not involved in the three organizations marketing wool interna-tionally – Merino NZ, Pri-mary Wool Co-op and Wools of New Zealand.

This has prevented New Zealand grow-ers from using benefits already available to them, claims Faulkner. “New Zealand woolgrowers have paid for a place on the International Wool Tex-tile Organisation but we haven’t been able to send anybody along. We’ve paid for the seat at the table, but aren’t able to get involved because none of the groups speak for everybody.”

Faulkner says building demand for wool would be the main goal of a levy-funded group: $2.7 million (58%) of the levy would be spent on consumer edu-cation.

Wool marketing needs

the most effort, but only some of the money would be spent on marketing to end-users; lots would go to educate retail workers and to persuading design-ers and fashion industry people to work more with wool.

Roughly 12% of the pro-posed levy is intended for R&D, mostly collat-ing research already com-pleted or underway. “A lot of work has been done on sheep and wool already but more needs to be done to get that information out to farmers.”

Faulkner, a woolgrower, says the committee is aghast at the idea of a big unwieldy organization. Only $920,000 would be set aside for governance and administration. The organization would have a fulltime chief executive and one other employee.

Most attractive to Faulkner is a requirement that the levy, if adopted, would have to pass a vote every five years to con-tinue. “If it’s not doing its job in five years we can scrap it.”

GARETH GILLATT Wool Levy Group chair Sandra

Faulkner.

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NEWS 21

The rise of whey proteinCRITICS WHO claim the New Zea-land dairy industry is exporting too many commodities are not acknowl-edging the realities, says consultant Kevin Marshall.

The former director of R&D for the New Zealand Dairy Board and chief executive of the Dairy Research Institute points out that statistics record exports as commodities but do not reveal that the industry’s exports of even the simplest of products are added-value, extra revenue being obtained for quality, reliability and service.

Marshall co-authored Whey to Go, that looks at the success story of the whey protein concentrate industry in New Zealand. The book is a series of chapters by people who were major players in the development of WPC products.

Marshall says whey deserves more credit for increasing the value of milk supplied by farmers.

“Much of the exports are tailor-made for specific customers and have had the outcomes from science,

research and development embedded in them, thus adding significant value,” he told Rural News.

“And increasingly the industry is marketing, globally, the ultimate in added-value with its own-branded consumer products.

“Whey is the source of many of these added-value products and the industry deserves more credit for sus-tainably increasing the value of milk obtained from farms.”

The book recounts that in the early days milk was used largely for two products – butter and cheese. Milk for butter was separated into cream and skim milk in a mechanical cream sep-arator. Farmers supplying butter facto-ries often did their own separation and sent only cream to the factory. The left-over skim milk, containing protein, lac-tose and minerals, was fed to pigs kept onfarm to generate cash from this oth-erwise wasted byproduct.

Suppliers to cheese factories also took the whey byproduct back to farms for pigs.

But by 1969 whey had become a major challenge for the industry; there was too much whey and few opportu-nities to do anything useful with it. It

was very dilute as a feedstock for pro-cessing – 94% water. The true protein component was only 0.5% of the whey volume.

Things changed when Coca-Cola approached the New Zealand Dairy Board about sourcing protein from whey – 10,000 tonnes a year. The dairy industry built a commercial WPC plant. But by 1973 Coca-Cola had decided against whey.

Though having developed “undoubtedly the most comprehen-sive knowledge of whey ultrafiltration in the world,” the dairy industry was left with the means of making a unique product but no customer. The WPC plant at Waitakaruru, north Waikato, continued to operate but found no market.

Then another door opened. The

Japanese food industry had become aware of the new class of food pro-teins available through ultrafiltration of whey.

In 1977, the NZ Dairy Board, responding to increasing demand from Japan, increased WPC manufacturing capacity. For many years New Zealand has been the leading global supplier of WPC.

WPC and later products like whey protein isolates and milk protein con-centrates are now a valuable part of dairy trade. The book says the technol-ogy of ultrafiltration now underlies the manufacture of products that return at least $1b dollars annually to the New Zealand economy.

According to Marshall, there are no significant quantities of unprocessed whey left in New Zealand. But the demand for whey products, particu-larly whey protein concentrates and lactose, continues to grow.

“The future is bright: new sources will need to be sought overseas and New Zealand technology applied to them,” he says.

Whey to Go is available from www.ngaiopress.com/Whey.htm. Price $44.99 plus $6.00 postage in New Zealand.

SUDESH KISSUN

[email protected]

KEVIN MARSHALL says the book tells a fascinating story of innovation in practice and the factors required for successful innovation – vision, leader-ship, persistence, willingness to invest, high calibre people, relevant tech-nology and staying close to customers. That motivated the story’s authors.

“Others have said it is an incentive to get on and find other ways of further adding value to primary products.

“We hope even more policy makers, private and government, investors and others involved in process and product development will read the story and learn more about the process of inno-vation. “

The book recalled many memories from people who worked in the industry at the time.

He says the book bears no rela-tion to Fonterra’s false botulism scare involving WPC80. “The precautionary recall of whey protein concentrate in 2013 has had far-reaching impact for Fonterra and some customers.

“Press reports indicate Fonterra has learned much from this incident and implemented a number of changes. However there is no indication of a long term setback for the NZ whey trade.”

A story of innovation

Kevin Marshall dismisses critics of NZ’s ‘commodity’ exports.

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NEWS 23Weather remains unpredictable as ever!

PHIL DUNCAN of Weather Watch is very sceptical of long range forecasts from anyone.

He’s got a particular issue with NIWA because they rely so heavily – and are so confident about – the models they produce on their computers. But Duncan says the computers are only as good as the people working them.

“For example, at the start of year, the

world scientific community – not just New Zealand – were all talking about this very high chance of El Nino coming in and the computer models were 80% sure of it,” he told Rural News. “But now the computer models are backing off from that, so we had six months of hype and media attention over nothing.”

Duncan says you can talk some trends and cycles certainly. But it is very hard to get specific in this coun-try – because it consists of two small

mountainous islands in the roaring for-ties. “Anything can happen and it does,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Duncan describes the current weather patterns sweeping the country as ‘chaotic’.

He says the country appears to be in neutral phase with neither an El Nino nor La Nina pattern strong enough to influence events. While Northland has had repeated floods, other parts of the central, western and lower North Island

are getting very dry and in need of rain. Duncan says the present conditions

are a “little unusual” as we head into spring.

He says Northland, Auckland and Coromandel have been hit by tropical storms coming down from the north, whereas the rain that’s fallen in Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and Canterbury is due to the southeasterly events. Philip Duncan says there have been a lot of these this year.

“So what we have got now is like not having the parents around and the kids going crazy. Anything might happen – they may be all sitting quietly and the next minute running around going nuts,” he adds.

“The weather does the same thing when it doesn’t have a driving force of La Nina or El Nino. It gets a little bit more chaotic so we can get into these funny patterns for three or four months or even a year or two.”

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

The buzz of bee monthTHE THREE most important things to agriculture are bees, bees and bees, says Federated Farmers Bees chair-man John Hartnell.

In a media statement last week marking September as Bee Aware Month, Hartnell said one-third of human food relies directly on bees for pollination and another third of it is indirectly dependent on them through pollination of pasture and other animal feed crops.

“Without the honeybee, we’d be pretty much depen-dent on an austere diet of fish, starch, grains and sea-weed….

“If we don’t look after all natural pollinators – the hon-eybee especially – we could see economic and social col-lapse. We are truly tiptoeing around the edge of a global chasm.”

Meanwhile the National Beekeepers Association says bees support over $5 billion/year of agri-industry exports from New Zealand.

“Bees in New Zealand are faring a lot better than in many other countries, where bee populations are often under threat, but we still need to promote and protect our Kiwi bees,” says NBA chief executive Daniel Paul.

“We need to plant bee-friendly plants for them to feed on, be careful with our use of pesticides and insecticides and we mustn’t bring honey or honey products from over-seas into New Zealand.”

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24 NEWS

Exposure in Asia for NZ growersMOST OF New Zealand’s 13 stall holders at this year’s Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong plan on a greater presence next year, says Horticulture NZ pres-ident Julian Raine.

Zespri already had a substantial stall at the

event, but is looking at a bigger one next year, he says. “They see the impor-tance of the presence at the Hong Kong Asia Logis-tica as vitally important to meet customers and to reinforce their brand,” he told Rural News.

The New Zealand con-tingent was supported by HortNZ, Trade and Enter-

prise and Plant and Food Research.

Simon Limmer, Zes-pri’s general manager grower and government relations, says it’s an important trade fair in its annual calendar and has been for 15 years.

“It’s a fantastic oppor-tunity to catch up with all our major customers and

distributors from around the world in one place; we can hold a month’s worth of meetings in a few days.

“This year’s event attracted over 440 exhibi-tors and about 7000 trade buyers and visitors from 60 countries. It’s also a valuable way for us to check out emerging trends in the fruit market – new

products, developments in packaging and such.”

Zespri had an attractive stand at the trade show, with spaces for relax-ing, sampling kiwifruit and holding more formal meetings. It had a Sun-Gold water feature, kiwi-fruit vines and birdsong to give a sense of health and vitality and promote brand

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

awareness of the new gold kiwifruit, Zespri SunGold.

Zespri also participated in Asiafruit Congress with corporate relations man-ager for China, Matt Craw-ford, speaking on a panel that discussed how com-panies protect their intel-lectual property in Asia. The business conference also covered strategic insights into subjects such as branding success in Asia, the challenge of food safety and the huge poten-tial of Indonesia.

“Japan is our number-one market for volume and value, and China is now our third-larg-est market and set to be our number-one market by 2018,” says Limmer. “China now consumes almost a quarter of all fruit supplied globally. Asia Fruit Logistic is a great way for us to build relationships in this vital region, as volumes of Zespri Kiwifruit increase strongly over the next few years.”

NZ Avocado chief exec-utive Jen Scoular says the organisation had a stand at the Asia Fruit Logis-tica for the first time with marketing material push-ing images of New Zealand and avocados. It attracted a lot of inquiries from exporters and the three New Zealand avocado companies there attracted

attention from retail cus-tomers.

“It also allows us to look at what countries like Chile, Mexico or Peru are doing, who are huge producers of avocados which makes you aware of the investment they are making in the Asian mar-kets.”

It reinforced the need for provisions in their strategy to invest more in the market.

“We intend to develop a premium value chain so we are not commod-ity traders, we are going in with a premium prod-uct. To do that you need to invest in market relation-ships and education for the people handling and ripening avocados from New Zealand.”

Attending as an indus-try organisation showed New Zealand is serious about being in those mar-kets and helped get a lot of market intelligence out to retailers.

Zespri NZ’s Simon Limmer.

THE AVOCADO industry is expecting its biggest volume export season this year – 7.4 million trays. The most it has done before is 3 million, says Scoular.

The fruit is arriving in Asia and they are ramping up volumes to Australia. “It is a big year but we have never done better planning and there is good communication between the exporters them-selves and the exporters and us,” says Scoular.

“We are doing a lot more monitoring for getting the supply demand right. We have all the processing and systems in place to allow us to export well and we’re putting a lot of promotional activity in to drive consumption in the New Zealand and export markets.”

Exporters have been ‘consolidating’; two big firms –Primor Produce and Team Avocado – consolidated their supply in Australia by forming Avoco. Avanza, operating for 8-9 years, represents four companies and is the largest export group in Asia; it is also ramping up volumes.

Avocado trees planted three-four years ago are coming into full production and orchards in general are increasing their productivity.

“It’s exciting – we’ve got additional funding in the last year through the Primary Growth Partner-ship and we feel strongly the growth opportunities for us are excellent.”

Avocados boom as demand doubles


NEWS 25

Young stock judge making her markA LINCOLN University student has won a presti-gious ‘young judge’ award at the Royal Queensland Show, Brisbane.

Nancy Crawshaw (18), from Nuhaka, North Island East Coast, last month won Australasian Stud Beef Cattle Young Judge. She also was recently named Allflex Future Beef New Zealand Senior Ambassa-dor 2014.

Crawshaw’s parents Sue and Grant own and operate Kendhardt Angus Stud at Nuhaka, to where Grant’s parents relocated the stud from Oxford in North Can-terbury in the 1960s.

“At the stud we are con-stantly working to breed the best animals, using the best lines and if there are faults they are culled,” says Nancy.

She claims a natural flair for cattle judging and is developing her ability in other classes. “My first

show was the 2006 Feilding A&P Show. I have always judged sheep and cattle and more recently dairy. Cattle have always been my strength and interest but I still like to give the other areas a go.”

She has had to over-come a fear of public speaking to succeed.

“I had a fear of the microphone and in the beginning I would stand there with my full judg-

ment speech written and read it without look-ing up. Then I moved to just having bullet points and now I can give an impromptu speech. It takes time to build up that confidence but dad always encouraged us to get in there and do it and compulsory speeches at Nuhaka Primary School also helped.”

A friendly rivalry with older brother Patrick also

SARAH CHARTERISmotivated her. They were joint-national winners in 2011, but at 15 Crawshaw was too young to join her brother at the Australian competition. “There has always been sibling compe-tition, each of us wanting to beat the other – it makes for good fun.”

Crawshaw finds Austra-lian competitors “hard-out compared to how laid-back we are in New Zealand”.

The contest had a more

even ratio of female com-petitors to male; in New Zealand stock judging is male-dominated. Now she hopes her success will inspire other young women.

“There are always a lot more boys competing than girls and I hope the suc-cess I’ve had will encourage other girls to give it a go. You can teach stock judg-ing but it is always easier when a person has a nat-

ural eye, and a lot of girls have that.”

Her uni studies must now come first as she works towards a career in cattle genetics. But she is bitten by the stock judg-ing bug, the Christchurch A&P Show and November nationals now on her radar.

And she is giving other youngsters a hand up, she says.

“At this year’s Future Beef I helped a 7-year-old

lead in his handlers’ class. I looked at his tiny hands and how eager he was and realised that was me only a few years ago.

“Stock judging is an incredible way to develop your eye for cattle and sheep potential while also getting you out and about in the industry networking. You never quite know who is watching you and what opportunities can come from it.”

Nancy Crawshaw says stock judging is an incredible way to developyour eye for cattle and sheep potential.


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26 WORLD

US cattlemen lament FMD riskUS CATTLE farmers are unhappy with a Gov-ernment proposal to allow cattle and beef imports from northern Argentina.

The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) says it proposes to amend regulations which would enable fresh (chilled or frozen) beef from northern Argentina to be imported to the US.

However, National Cattlemen’s Beef Asso-ciation president Bob McCan says its members are deeply concerned.

“These recent actions by APHIS present a big risk to the health and wellbeing of the nation’s cattle herd through the possible intro-duction of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)

virus,” he says.“FMD is an extremely con-

tagious viral disease of clo-ven-hooved animals and many wildlife species. This disease is considered to be one of the most economically devastating live-stock diseases in the world and an outbreak could threaten the entire US economy and jeopar-dize our national food security.”

The move opens the export gates, allowing that region of Argentina to export live cattle and fresh and frozen beef to the US.

APHIS defended its decision, saying it

conducted an assessment after a request from the Argentine Gov-ernment to recognize the Patago-nia region as FMD-free.

“Based on the assessment, APHIS determined that FMD is not present in the Patagonia region of Argentina, and that the surveillance prevention and control measures implemented by Argentina in that region were sufficient to minimise the likelihood of introducing

FMD into the US through the importation of susceptible ruminants and ruminant commodities.”

Bob McCan

Aussie dairy farmers are legendsA MARKETING cam-paign launched last year is helping lift industry con-fidence, says Dairy Aus-tralia.

The ‘Legendairy’ cam-paign launched August last year highlights the story of dairy farmers to dairy consumers.

A one-year report released this month shows that 40% of farm-ers spoke positively about the industry, up 11% from 2013, 48% had positive and negative comments and only 11% spoke negatively, compared to 29% the pre-vious year.

At the same time, pos-itive dairy farmer senti-ment about the future of the industry is on an upward trend for the first time in six years.

Dairy Australia says Legendairy has captured the right tone, messages and attitude. “We’re con-

fident that the Legendairy platform is the right one to connect with our audi-ences and create behav-

iour change.”Dairy Australia spent

A$5.4 million on market-ing and promoting the

industry in 2012-13, $1.4m more than the previous year. Activities included four radio commercials, acquiring 12,100 Facebook followers, 18,200 unique visitors on its Legendairy website since going live in late March 2014 and securing 700 Twitter fol-lowers.

Over 55 positive farmer profiles, arti-cles and videos featured in regional newspapers, magazines and industry newsletters and online; from July 2013 to June 2014 Legendairy featured in 188 media clips with a total circulation of 3.7 mil-lion readers.

Dairy Australia says tracking data shows that 69% of farmers are aware of Legendairy (November

2013); dairy farmer con-fidence in the industry’s future increased by 11%.

For the second year of

Legendairy, Dairy Austra-lia is looking at boosting participation by farmers and consumers. “We’re focusing on boosting par-ticipation by farmers to share the industry story even more.

“We’ll continue to build more visibility within each of our audience groups, and introduce expanded messaging to consum-ers to protect the place of dairy in their diets and encourage new consump-tion opportunities.

“With a continued focus on mums as the primary influencers of household consumption, we’ve created a new call to action for consumers: ‘Start and end your day with dairy – Legendairy’.

“This idea of maximis-ing opportunities for dairy across the day ties in well with the natural rhythm of farm life.”

Australian dairy farmers are taking their stories to consumers.

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AUSTRALIA’S EXTENSIVE levy system for agri-cultural research and marketing is to be reviewed in a parliamentary inquiry into how the money is collected and used and how much influence farm-ers have on the way industry groups spend the cash.

Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan filed the motion calling for the inquiry after a recent Senate inquiry on grass-fed beef levies sparked debate about the role of Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA).

Heffernan says the Coalition and Labor par-ties support an inquiry by the rural and regional affairs committee, which will file its report by late November.

The Senate voted to approve the wide-rang-ing inquiry.

“Given what the MLA inquiry found, a lot of dissatisfaction, that’s brought to notice a lot of other people and the main player in the mushroom industry who has a different view to a lot people in the mushroom industry,” he says. “The best way to sort it out is to let everyone have their say.”

MLA is already revamping its link with levy-pay-ers. Managing director Richard Norton is reforming how information from levy payers flows into MLA and how the organisation gets information back in the form of extension.

The biggest change is a new system of gathering producers’ R&D priorities through three regional councils.

Levies are paid by producers in dairy, grains, hor-ticulture, livestock, wine, grapes, poultry, forestry, bees, sugar cane, cotton and wool.

The R&D and marketing funded by the levies has been credited with making Australian farm-ers world leaders in production efficiency, sustain-ability, product quality, innovation and supply and response to market needs.

Senator Eric Abtez, the government leader in the Senate, says the coalition indicated during the 2013 election campaign it planned a review of the levy process.

A 2011 Productivity Commission inquiry esti-mated levy payments accounted for only A$246 million of the A$1.495 billion spent on rural R&D spending in 2009. – Alan Harman

WORLD 27

Aussie levies to be investigated

Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan

EU bites backEUROPEANS ARE being urged to eat more fruit and vegetables to counter a Russian ban on imports.

Freshfel, the umbrella body for EU fruit and vegetable farmers, has written to the European Commis-sion asking for additional steps by the EU to stimulate the consump-tion of fresh fruit and vegetables in Europe.

“Increasing the consumption by one piece of fruit or vegetable per person per week over the next year would increase EU consump-tion by about 2 million tonnes - the volume currently exported to Russia,” it says.

It also points out that Europe-ans are today consuming one piece of fruit or vegetable fewer per day than in 2004.

“An ambitious pan-European campaign can let consumers dis-cover the wide variety of tasty and healthy fruit and vegetables avail-able in our countries,” Freshfel says.

There seems to be political sup-port for the move. Germany’s agri-culture minister Christian Schmidt

also told a local radio station that Europeans should eat more fruit and vegetables.

“You should eat, I should eat, we should eat. You cannot lament the fact that there is lots of fruit and then not eat fruit, that much is obvious,” he told the radio station.

For its part the European Coun-cil of Young Farmers (CEJA) has launched a social media campaign.

CEJA says while the EU has been quick to introduce support measures for domestic producers, many farmers will still be nega-tively affected by Russia’s retalia-

tory measures.It is asking the general public,

decision-makers, other stakehold-ers and farmers themselves to take selfies of them eating EU fruit and vegetables and spread the word on social media.

CEJA hopes this will encourage people to go out and buy some EU fruit and vegetables and promote our products to markets outside the EU.

Russia declared a one-year embargo on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the US, EU, Canada, Australia and Norway in

retaliation for western economic sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Last month the EU announced the European Union will pro-vide $243 million in aid to farmers affected by the ban. The EU said on August 18 that the aid would help farmers who grow tomatoes, car-rots, white cabbage, peppers, cau-liflower, cucumbers, mushrooms, apples, pears, berries, grapes and kiwifruit.

Exports of all EU food products now banned by Russia were worth $8 billion last year, representing 4.2% of the bloc’s total agricultural shipments.

About 29% of the EU’s fruit and vegetable exports went to Russia, and the sector is the most affected by the ban because the products are perishable.

EU pear exports to countries outside the 28-country bloc were worth $486m last year, with Russia accounting for half the value at $278m. The top EU suppliers to Russia were Belgium, Lithuania and the Netherlands.

EU told eat more fruit to counter Russian ban.

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c/kgCWT Change Last Week

2 Wks Ago

Last Year

NI P2 Steer - 300kg n/c 5.15 5.15 4.80M2 Bull - 300kg +3 5.20 5.17 4.50P2 Cow - 230kg +3 4.18 4.15 3.65M Cow - 200kg +3 4.18 4.15 3.55

Local Trade - 230kg n/c 5.15 5.15 4.90SI P2 Steer - 300kg +2 4.67 4.65 4.50

M2 Bull - 300kg n/c 4.13 4.13 4.30P2 Cow - 230kg n/c 3.25 3.25 3.15M Cow - 200kg n/c 3.20 3.20 2.95

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Export Market DemandChange Last Week 2 Wks

Ago Last Year 5yr Ave

95CL US$/lb +8 3.00 2.92 1.93 1.84NZ$/kg +29 7.98 7.69 5.37 5.29

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks Ago 3 Wks


% Returned NI -2% 64.8% 67.0% 83.76% 78.4%% Returned SI -2% 51.8% 53.7% 78.2% 71.9%

LAMB PRICES

c/kgCWTChange Last

Week2 Wks

AgoLast Year

NI Lamb YM - 13.5kg +2 6.08 6.06 5.71PM - 16.0kg +2 6.10 6.08 5.73PX - 19.0kg +2 6.12 6.10 5.75PH - 22.0kg +2 6.13 6.11 5.76

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.65 3.65 3.25SI Lamb YM - 13.5kg n/c 5.98 5.98 5.51

PM - 16.0kg n/c 5.98 5.98 5.53PX - 19.0kg n/c 5.98 5.98 5.55PH - 22.0kg n/c 5.98 5.98 5.56

Mutton MX1 - 21kg n/c 3.03 3.03 3.20

Slaughter

Export Market DemandChange Last

Week2 Wks


UK Leg £/lb +3 2.13 2.10 1.82 1.82NZ$/kg +5 8.34 8.29 8.18 8.48

Procurement IndicatorChange 2Wks

Ago3 Wks


% Returned NI -0% 74.3% 74.5% 70.3% 73.2%% Returned SI -0% 71.9% 72.4% 68.2% 73.5%

Venison PricesChange Last

Week2 Wks


NI Stag - 60kg +15 7.00 6.85 7.25 7.91SI Stag - 60kg +20 7.25 7.05 7.45 8.23

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Test-a-bull, move-a-bull, trace-a-bullProtect your business – make sure your service bulls are TB tested and their movements are recorded in NAIT.

NEWS PRICE WATCH


BEEF

Bull prices overtaking prime

Bull is taking its turn to shine as the continued strength of the US market pushes NI export prices above steer. Processor margins for bull are allowing more leverage on prices paid to farmers, whereas margins on prime are well back on bull. Last weeks bull price was around the $5.20/kg mark. Even while the bull kill is higher than usual for this time of year, numbers are still very low. Bull schedules in the SI are significantly behind the North between $4.00-$4.50/kg. Numbers of bulls getting slaughtered in the South are, however, very low. $4.90/kg appears enough to bring more numbers out for SI local trade; export steer remains unable to match local trade at $4.65/kg.

Imported bull meat in short supply

With supplies of beef to the US market not showing any signs of improving, imported prices continue to strengthen, Bull meat or 95CL, in particular is very short, and imported prices broke through the $3/lb level last week, up a staggering 55% on last season. Imported 90CL, while behind bull meat, is similarly firm and up 10c/lb on last week. Domestic 90CL has also hit the $3/lb mark. There has been anticipation of a temporary increase in supply as the cull cow season arrives and more fed cattle come to the market. At this stage, while reports suggest there is some fed cattle meat hitting the grinder, there has been no downwards impact on prices. Where to from here? The unpredictibiity of the market has many industry commentators giving up trying to pick what might happen next.

LAMB

Spring pricing brings optimism to NI lamb

A fixed price spring lamb contract released in the NI last week has injected some optimism into export lamb pricing. Priced between $6.40-$6.70/kg for mid Sept-Oct kill for both new and old seasons lambs, these prices will put pressure on the spot price to match. Export prices ranged between $6.00-$6.30/kg gross last week. Contract pricing combined with the upcoming chilled christmas trade will see lamb schedules lift in coming weeks. SI prices remain steady at $6.00/kg. A higher bobby kill compared to last year is keeping a lid on lamb prices at present. Once the bobby season is over, procurement pressure and renewed market demand will see these schedules lift.

Solid prices for ewes with lambs at foot

Prices remain firm for the limited numbers of store lambs available in both islands. In the NI lambs under 40kg are trading for well over $3.00/kg in the yards, and 40kg plus between $2.80-$2.90/kg. Prices in the SI are not too far behind with lambs between 35-37kg also trading over $3.00/kg in the yards. Ewes with lambs at foot are attracting solid demand and prices in both islands. In the NI, tight feed supplies is seeing a few more coming forward and selling between $65-$85 all counted. In the SI the trend away from dairy grazing and back into breeding ewes has resulted in good demand for ewes with LAF. The range in the South is $70-80 all counted.

DAIRY

Russian sanctions impact dairy prices

The hint of stability seen in dairy prices in late August appears to have been shortlived as prices plummeted again at the most recent global dairy trade auction. Both skim milk and whole milk powder recorded significant falls, with the overall price index falling by 6%. Dairy product prices are now at their lowest level since mid 2012. Analysts have cited contributing factors to the most recent decline to be higher volumes traded as NZ production comes on stream and uncertainty surrounding the destination of EU dairy products following Russian sanctions.

WOOL PRICE WATCH DAIRY PRICE WATCH

Indicators in NZ$ Change 04-Sep 28-Aug Last Year Indicators in NZ$/T Change Last 2

WksPrev. 2

WksLast Year

Coarse Xbred Indic. -5 5.34 5.39 5.11 Butter -185 3779 3964 5051

Fine Xbred Indicator -3 5.68 5.71 5.32 Skim Milk Powder -452 3660 4112 6049

Lamb Indicator - - - - Whole Milk Powder -11 3540 3552 6435

Mid Micron Indic. - - 7.44 7.55 Cheddar -172 4780 4952 5727

Overseas Price Indicators Overseas Price Indicators

Indicators in US$/kg Change 04-Sep 28-Aug Last Year Indicators in US$/T Change Last 2

WksPrev. 2

WksLast Year

Coarse Xbred Indicator -8 4.44 4.52 4.17 Butter -200 3163 3363 3925Fine Xbred Indicator -6 4.73 4.79 4.35 Skim Milk Powder -425 3063 3488 4700Lamb Indicator - - - - Whole Milk Powder -50 2963 3013 5000Mid Micron Indicator - - 6.24 6.17 Cheddar -200 4000 4200 4450

CURRENCY WATCH

vs. NZ Dollar Last Week 2 Wks Ago 4 Wks Ago Last Year

US dollar 0.829 0.837 0.845 0.792Euro 0.641 0.635 0.633 0.603UK pound 0.508 0.504 0.503 0.507Aus dollar 0.887 0.895 0.913 0.867Japan yen 87.26 86.80 86.02 79.02

Euro

Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

UK Pound

US Dollar

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30 AGRIBUSINESS

Water taxes not the answer – Hyslop

RESOURCE RENTALS for water would have unintended consequences, but there will have to be changes in the way many farmers manage the resource, says the newly appointed acting chair of Irrigation New Zealand.

Talking to Rural News following the retirement of previous chair John Donkers, earlier this month, Nicky Hyslop said Labour and the Green Par-ty’s proposal won’t deliver the out-comes they’re looking for.

Faced with effectively a tax on irri-gation – in some cases hundreds of dollars per hectare on top of consider-able existing costs of irrigation – farm-ing would have to further intensify, in some cases probably converting to dairying, the very thing the parties pro-posing the policy are trying to prevent, she explains.

“I don’t think resource rentals will deliver what they’re looking for and

there’s already a positive framework in place with communities determining what they want water quality to look like.”

Canterbury, where Hyslop hails from, is in the vanguard of that com-munity-driven process, with zone com-mittees representing cross-sections of catchment zone populations reaching consensus on local water quality objec-tives and how to reach them.

“Some of the outcomes have not been favourable to farmers at all. There’s some good tension there,” says Hyslop, refuting suggestions the pro-cess has been hijacked by farmer rep-resentatives.

“It’s really important the general public understand that farmers, as much as anyone, want good water qual-ity outcomes for our children to enjoy the playground which we all live in.”

Hyslop sees INZ’s role as providing a strong voice for members by advocacy and leadership, uniting the agricultural sectors when it comes to water issues.

“We get in front of central govern-ment and regional government and make sure the policy coming out makes sense and is workable, practical and will achieve the objectives of the commu-nity.”

Irrigation has a “really important” role in meeting those objectives, be they economic, social or environmen-tal, she believes. Towns like Timaru and Oamaru are benefitting from the economic boost and stability irriga-tion the hinterland brings, and, with ever smarter approaches to water and nutrient management, environmental impact is minimised.

Meanwhile water storage put in for irrigation can be used to enhance river flows and replenish lowland streams.

While Irrigation New Zealand has been doing a good job in raising aware-ness of irrigation’s benefits and work-ing with policy makers in recent years, Hyslop says she’d like to see more than the current 60% of irrigated area included in its membership.

“There’s still a large percentage of irrigators that benefit from the work Irrigation New Zealand does regard-less of their non-membership. We need to pull them in for the betterment of everybody.”

Hyslop has signalled she will stand for election as chair at INZ’s annual meeting in October.

Donkers’ retirement was on med-ical advice following recurrence of a non life-threatening condition which made it difficult to carry out the chair-

man’s role “with the commitment and focus that is required, particularly at this time,” he said.

Hyslop has been on INZ’s board nearly five years and is a director of South Canterbury irrigation com-pany Opuha Water Partnership. With husband Jonty she farms an intensive sheep, beef and arable fully irrigated property at Levels, South Canterbury and was a registered farm management consultant for 20 years with Macfarlane Rural Business.

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

New Irrigation NZ chair Nicky Hyslep says a storage for irrigation can benefit water flows.


AGRIBUSINESS 31

Westland drops its forecastWHILE FONTERRA repeated its $6/kgMS forecast in the last week of August, Westland Milk Products cut its prediction for 2014-15 to $5.40-$5.80/kgMS – down from $6.00-$6.40/kgMS.

“The reduction is driven by the falls in prices across the globe and the continued high value of the New Zealand dollar,” said chief executive Rod Quin.

Quin said Westland’s board and manage-ment were conscious of the stress the revision would put on some suppliers, but remained

committed to monthly forecast updates.“We’ll be monitoring the situation and

working with shareholders to help ensure they have the resources and tools to manage their way through this.

“Westland will also continue its strategy to grow its capacity to produce higher value nutritional products such as infant formula. Our traditional reliance on bulk dairy com-modities such as skim milk makes us more vulnerable to the cyclical swings of the inter-national dairy market.” Rod Quin

Don’t re-invent the wheel with wool levy!WHILE THE wool industry needs more research and training “we don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” says Wools of New Zealand chief executive Ross Townshend.

“Why wouldn’t we do it with the existing systems?” he asks. “Just pick up the pace rather than create a whole new bureaucracy, infrastructure, chiefdom, board of directors and whatever else.”

Townshend urges wool growers to vote in the Octo-ber wool levy referendum. “They run the risk of this whole thing being driven by not many people as a proportion of the vote.” Only 16% of growers voted at the last Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting on whether a referendum should be held. “51% of 16% is hardly a raging mandate and people need to either vote to say ‘yes we want this’ or conversely say ‘no we don’t want this thing’.

“There’s no point in saying ‘I won’t vote’ and then if the wool levy gets passed, whining and moaning.”

Townshend says a “fair slug” of the people around the wool levy table are already committed to Primary Wool, Elders Co-op, Wools of New Zealand or some other wool company.

“They are already onto a good thing and prepared to commit. I don’t understand why they want to go back to this stone-age thing.

“There’s been a lot of progress on wool and a lot of things happening below the waterline that’s very good. To pour a whole lot of farmers’ money into generic pro-motion is just bloody dumb.”

He was commenting on a Wools of NZ wool levy posi-tion paper which says wool research behind the farm-gate needs to be attached to work already being done in the wool industry. While WNZ agrees more training and tech transfer is needed inside the farm gate and beyond, it believes these functions can be provided by existing agen-cies such as Tectra and AgITO, he says.

“WNZ would go as far as recommending that the Wool Industry Research Consortium (WIRL), as an established agency, manage the collection and distribution of public-private money investment in R&D and broaden its man-date to provide the functions and outcomes viewed as necessary to the industry, including leadership,” says the Wools of NZ paper.”

Chairman Mark Shadbolt says funding is also avail-able from the MPI’s Primary Growth Partnership, which already supports the NZ Sheep Industry Transformation Project, undertaken with NZ Merino, as an example.

WNZ believes there are three key issues for growers in relation to the proposed wool levy:

• What extra returns will a levy provide in the short to long term?

• Do we need another structure in place at all (as WIRL is already established and funded)?

• Why the current levy on sheep can’t be expanded to cover wool?

“It is noteworthy also that since the wool levy was rejected in 2009, growers have enjoyed improving com-mercial returns on the strength of market penetration, improving industry collaboration, grower commitment and investment, leadership and government support – this during a period of rationalisation and a declining wool clip nationally.

“What a levy should not be is a crutch to abandon this new-found sense of purpose in our industry.”

PAM TIPA

[email protected]

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34 AGRIBUSINESS

Focus on working with limitsDAIRYNZ’S NEW head of R&D, David McCall, says the key strategic direction for science in DNZ is finding ways for farmers to operate within nutrient limits now being set by regional councils.

There is a need to come up with solu-tions, practices – especially technol-ogies and products that commercial companies will produce that are going to

help improve productivity and efficiency on farm within the limits.

“So everything we do, in our science, is... putting things together and focusing on driving increased profit within that constraint.”

McCall says DairyNZ will continue to work with other science providers in New Zealand and share their knowledge.

DairyNZ’s David McCall

Venison prices on the up and up?EUROPEAN MARKET prices for chilled New Zealand venison are reported to be up about 5% on last year, and exporters hope to see less competition from European game meat supplies.

But prices to farmers are held back by a stronger New Zealand dollar.

Venison exporters have recently indicated they see the venison schedule potentially reaching $8/kg for 55-60 kg AP stags. This would be similar to the 2012 national aver-age published schedule peak of $7.95/kg and much better than last year’s peak of $7.40/kg.

According to Deer Industry NZ (DINZ), the main factor restraining prices to farmers in the traditional chilled game meat season is currency – with the Kiwi dollar 8.4% stronger against the Euro than at the same time last year. This is reflected in an average schedule that is 7% weaker.

The spring schedule peak runs through to the end of October. That allows time for the last animals to be pro-cessed by the beginning of November and shipped to Europe for consumption over the Christmas/New Year period.

DINZ chief executive Dan Coup says the fundamentals of the European market are looking better, with other red meats steady or firm in price and reports that wild shot game may be less available than last year.

There are also anecdotes that some chefs who bought cheaper European shot venison found they had made a mistake – that the superior quality of New Zealand ven-ison justified its higher price.

“Price trends for game meats in Europe are not directly linked to sheepmeat and beef prices, but if beef prices are firming, it makes it easier to sell venison at a good price. The reverse also applies,” Coup says.

“A wild card is the possible impact of EU sanctions in response to Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine civil war. This has consequences for the supply of protein in the European market, and risks impeding economic growth through restricting trade with Russia.”

The leg cuts, loins and some other items like rolled shoulder roasts are exported chilled each season. Cuts from non-eligible animals and manufacturing type prod-ucts go into the frozen game meat trade.

NZ chilled loins and legs are currently selling at a pre-mium over frozen of Euro 5/kg and Euro 3/kg respectively; this premium is the driver of the spring schedule price in New Zealand.

Coup says improved access to China is likely to have a firming influence on prices to farmers in due course.

“It’s early days, but it is reasonable to expect that the access approvals given to all our major export plants will provide them with a more direct route to Chinese buyers of tails, pizzles, sinews and other co-products. “

WOOL LEVY R E F E R E N D U M 2 0 1 4

One voice for New Zealand wool producers.Communication, education, innovation.

IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED VOTING PAPERS GO TO

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FREEPHONE 0508 666 002 EMAIL [email protected]

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TO VOTE, GO TO WWW.VOTEWOOL.CO.NZ OR RETURN VOTING PAPERS BY MAIL

POSTAL VOTES NEED TO BE IN THE MAIL BY 6 OCTOBER TO REACH THE RETURNING OFFICER IN TIME


AGRIBUSINESS 35WOOLLY THINKINGI AM amazed, after sheep farmers voted out the levy, that a group now proposes reinstating a levy.

This will be the worldwide joke of the year – among wool buyers, users and producers – if it does happen. The levy was removed after wool prices slumped to an historic low, and they have risen from that low level without any wool levies input and wasted advertising.

This idea is almost as stupid as proposing to win an election by increasing personal income tax rates, and a capital gains tax.

Sheep farmers – please be sensible and vote against this proposal.

A fund to train shearers could come from other sources than a wool levy. As a suggestion, the Stevenson Group is asked to form a char-itable trust for this specific purpose, after the sale of Lochinver Station. Simon WithersKaipara Flats

Industry stalwart positive about deer sector’s futureALPINE GROUP director Jonathan Wallis is confident about the future of deer farming and suggests farmers should turn environmental constraints to their advantage.

Wallis was speaking in Queenstown in late August to 70 young deer farm-ers taking part in the New Zealand Deer Farmers’ Association Next Generation Accelerator Programme.

The Wallis family, led by Jonathan’s father the legendary Sir Tim Wallis, has been involved with deer since the days of wild venison recovery in the early 1960s. Today, the family’s Alpine Group is as positive as ever about the future of deer farming. Of the 30,000 stock units run on the group’s Minaret Station, 60% are deer.

“The dairy industry has opened up a lead over the red meat sector, but this gap will start to narrow as dairy comes down off its current highs,” Wallis says. “Sure, with venison we have been work-ing with reduced margins, but this sit-uation will be turned around through

initiatives to reduce business risk and as we achieve a better balance between supply and demand.

“The decline we have seen in farmed deer numbers in recent years will be reversed as prices recover. This could mean a restricted supply of venison for export as hinds are retained to rebuild herds.”

Wallis is heartened to see initia-

tives to build venison demand outside the constraints of the traditional game season, such as the proposed introduc-tion of Cervena into selected high-value markets in Europe.

Another competitive advantage for deer is the value of the co-products, a large percentage of the export value of a deer. An Alpine Group company pro-cesses and exports deer co-products –

antler, sinews, tails, pizzles and blood – mostly to Hong Kong and China.

The 20,000ha Minaret Station includes 27km of Lake Wanaka shore-line, Wallis says. “Our pastoral farming division has been acutely aware of our environmental stewardship responsi-bilities. Since Minaret was purchased in 1995 the station’s stocking levels have been increased 15-fold, but as we devel-oped the property all major waterways were fenced off.

“Good environmental management strengthens the credibility of the New Zealand story that marketers can use overseas.”

The Next Generation Accelerator Programme also included sessions on succession planning and deer nutrition – one of the three major planks of the Deer Industry NZ’s “Passion 2 Profit” project.

The programme was sponsored by FMG, Deer Industry New Zealand, Alli-ance Group and Silver Fern Farms.www.deernz.org/dinz-activity/p2p-deer-industry-initiative

Alpine Group’s Jonathan Wallis

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38 OPINION

THE HOUNDWant to share your opinion or

gossip with the Hound? Send your emails to:

[email protected]

EDITORIAL EDNA

Keeping his distance

THE HOUND hears that at the recent Tararua Growers annual meeting and dinner, the guest speaker was well-known local lad and Minister for Primary Indus-tries Nathan Guy. In his speech Guy made mention of another Levin oldboy also making headlines – Nicky Hager. But Guy was quick to point out their paths had not converged, even during their school-days. The minister went to Waiopehu College, while Hager went to the other college in Levin – Horow-henua. Guy also revealed he’s much younger than the Dirty Politics author – born in 1970, Hager in 1958.

She’s backYOUR OLD mate reckons those who think the current government are heartless, right-wing ideo-logues would’ve felt a shudder go up their spines after reading page 3 of Rural News September 2. There was the mother of ‘Ruthenasia’ politics, the former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson, bagging the proposal for a new wool levy. Mind you, the Hound reckons, love or hate her you must admit Ruthless Ruth – who is now chair of Merino NZ – has, rightly or wrongly, held steadfastly firm to her free-market ideals. A bit different from some of the politicians chasing our vote this election.

How much?THIS OLD mutt reckons the MIE chair and advo-cate for red meat sector reform John McCarthy is in danger of becoming a screaming skull. The frontman for the MIE group, so far $200k of levy payer funding, recently issued a media release urging farmers “not to be duped by false posi-tives”. The Hound would rather see actual cost-ings from MIE about how much farmers will have to pay to meat companies to meet his group’s calls for reducing capacity in the sector. This would give MIE more credence than just yelling into the wind and accentuating the negative all the time.

DumbYOUR OLD mate is less than impressed by the Nat’s ‘on the hop’ late election announcement about spending $100 million of taxpayer funds to buy and retire selected areas of farmland next to important waterways. The Hound reckons this is a classic case of ‘policy by focus group’ that may play well with urban liberals and townies, but is truly a dog of an idea. For starters, it will further fuel the shouting by the anti-dairy lobby about how bad dairy is for water quality. $10m a year will buy SFA land and, once purchased, what happens to it then?

Dam dodgyYOUR CANINE crusader wonders if any of the muck being drip fed from odious blogger Cameron Slat-er’s Whale Oil account may be about to blow back on opponents of the Hawkes Bay Ruataniwha dam project. The Hound understands that Slater has campaigned against the Ruataniwha dam and anybody helping promote it. Given Slater’s friend-ship with Simon Lusk, a supposed political fix-it man and staunch anti-dam opponent, this old mutt reckons people in Hawkes Bay may want to be asking some serious questions of certain regional councillors and their ties to both Lusk and Slater.

“Notice how candidates who say we should concentrate on policy, not personality, often don’t have one.”

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IN JUST a few days the 2014 election cam-paign will be over and then will start the pro-cess of forming a new government. Depending on which parties get what number of votes this could be a simple or a drawn-out process.

This has been the most bizarre election cam-paign in 50 years, memorable for lacking serious debate on issues of real importance to New Zea-landers. Instead, day after day, our television screens and newspapers have been full of the latest silly little scandals, while issues of sub-stance were ignored.

Hopes were for true debate on serious issues such as science funding for agriculture, for meaningful rather than trivial debate on envi-ronmental issues, and for voters to get good information on which to base their decision on election day.

For farmers there are some choices: to live with National’s essentially status quo model with some minor changes around the fringes. Labour’s capital gains tax has implications for the sector and could be a match winner or loser. The Greens predictably have never devi-ated from their stance to impose more restric-tions and costs on farmers. For them the cow is the cause of the problem, not the saviour of the economy.

In the past, the differences between National and Labour from a farmer’s perspective have been minor. But Labour cuddling up to the Greens represents a complete paradigm shift and has rightly or wrongly made many people in the agribusiness sector nervous. It’s also fair to say that over the years, agriculture’s power base has declined as New Zealand becomes a much more urbanised society and the general under-standing of farming in the cities has diminished.

Whichever parties get into power, it’s impor-tant they don’t erect unnecessary and unrealis-tic roadblocks in the way of agriculture. While things might not be perfect now, there is huge potential for things to get a lot worse. It’s hard enough for farmers to battle the vagaries and volatility of global markets without having to battle their own political masters to make a crust and keep the New Zealand economy viable and vibrant.

Every vote counts


OPINION 39

More than one election that mattersGENERAL ELECTIONS are overshadowing debate on governance of agricultural companies, several of which have advertised board vacan-cies.

Indeed, Fonterra has announced that several candidates for the share-holders’ council have been elected unopposed. Whether this is a sign of complete trust in the incumbents, or apathy in the region, is a moot point.

The shareholders’ council has at least 30 people, and the prob-lem with a large group is that individuals struggle to make a difference. In-depth discussion is dif-ficult with a large board. People say the same thing as somebody else – but want to have their say; others are constrained by fearing they’ve ‘had their time’ even though they have a new point, and dead wood can survive.

A new study of com-panies in the US, by Wall Street Journal analysts, has shown that companies with fewer directors tend to outperform their peers. The research compared like companies with like over a three-year period. Telecommunication com-panies with small boards (8-12) achieved 14% share-holder return – whereas large boards (12-14) lost 9.1%. Technology com-panies with small boards achieved 8.3%, but with large boards lost 16.8%.

The companies exam-ined had a market capital-isation of at least US$10 billion, but the prob-lems identified for big boards related to manag-ing people, not the size of company.

Arguments against having a small board include the difficulty of ensuring diversity of thinking: psychologi-cal research suggests at least six people are required to avoid the risk of ‘group-think’. The US research identified 8-12 as adding value to the com-pany; those 8-12 indi-viduals should be from different disciplines and backgrounds to achieve balanced input and rigour of debate

This is particularly the case for the New Zealand primary sector where deal-ing ‘from soil to saliva’ is increasingly the norm.

These companies are much more complicated than they once were and more and more trust is put in management by elected board members who are liable for the companies’ operations. High pro-file legal cases make the point: investments have been made without full understanding and when something goes wrong the directors are in court.

Further examples include overseas expan-sion, urged by the gov-ernment. In some cases expansion has proved less than successful, result-ing in loss of shareholder money.

Fonterra, impor-tant because it drives the export economy, is hold-ing elections for three board members this year. Candidates have yet to go through the matrix pro-cess where their suitabil-ity for a board position is examined, but ‘proven commercial experience and abilities, participation in Fonterra’s governance development programme and governance experi-ence’ have already been highlighted as beneficial.

In addition, many shareholders believe that the route to the board is through the sharehold-ers’ council, because this shows true commitment.

The problem with this philosophy is two-fold. Firstly, if farmer members have the same experience and have been through the same development pro-gramme, the result could be conformity rather than diversity; rigour of debate will be compromised.

The second problem is with the geographic governance model of the shareholders’ council. Research from Iowa State and Kansas State Univer-sities suggests this repre-sentative model results in directors focusing on the interests of the mem-bers/investors in their geo-graphic area rather than the best interests of the company. For most value-

added businesses the research suggests that for value-added businesses a geographic governance model is not a good train-ing ground.

The primary sector

needs vibrant companies and current philosophies for election are unlikely to create the board struc-ture needed for business development. The gover-nance of New Zealand is

important, but so is that of our companies. A strategy refresh for the board selec-tion process is required.• Jacqueline Rowarth is pro-fessor of agribusiness, The University of Waikato.

A new study of companies in the US, by Wall Street Journal analysts, has shown that companies with fewer directors tend to outperform their peers.

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40 OPINIONag twitsRural News’ irreverent and hypothetical look at what’s happening in the farming world

Top Bleats view all

jwilsonfonterra: Sure global dairy prices may have taken a fall lately. But at least dairy farmers won’t be looking at massively high tax bills next year! #silverlining #whenbadnews-isgoodnews

crazycolincraig: Those loony polls say we’re only tracking at 3-4%. If New Zealanders don’t get us past the 5% threshold I’ll be forced to sue all voters until we get a better result! How loony is that? #toomuchmoney #nomps

winstonfirstandlast: Thank god there are still 5-6% of racist, xenophobic, senile, grumpy voters who will give NZ First the tick. Our bottom line is that I get my wrinkly bottom back in line for a ministerial house and limo. #ilovealzheimers

rnormangreens: Our smart, green polices are so smart and so green that we are too smart and too green to say exactly what these are. We love NZ but hate cows. Smart, green cows? I don’t think so! # hatefarmers #hateminers #hateoil #lovepoverty

honeslackofmana: There’s no way I’d ever change my strong and vehement objection to legalising cannabis – no matter how many mil-lions a certain fat, German promises me. Oh, wait a minute… #soldout #moneytalks

johnmcarthymie: If you think things can’t get any more negative, draining and off-put-ting, take a break from politics to read another negative, draining and off-putting MIE media release about how negative, draining and off-putting the red meat sector is. #making-politicslookgood

davidjesuscunliffe: When I’m prime minister I’ll wave my magic wand then money will flow from the sky, all wars will end, poverty will no longer exist, my caucus will back me, voters will love me and 25% will be an outstanding result. #fantasyisland

johnkeypm: I’m pretty relaxed about the election result. I’m pretty relaxed about Dirty Politics. I’m pretty relaxed about Winston. I’m pretty relaxed about Colin. I’m pretty relaxed about the Ukraine. I’m pretty relaxed about Syria. I’m pretty relaxed about being relaxed. #iamrelaxed

thatguynathan: Hey @johnkeypm here’s an idea. Why not pluck a figure out of the air – say $100 million – and say we’ll use it to buy land near water over the next 10 years. #makingitupaswego

damienoconnormp: Thanks to all those useless bloody, gay unionists and schoolteach-ers I’m going to be stuck on the opposition benches for another three bloody years. #it’smypartyandi’llcryifiwantto

drbillfeds: As an apolitical body, Fed Farmers has no political bias and is only too happy to work with the Labour, Greens, InternetMana and NZ First opposition to keep them there. #fingerscrossed #keepitblue

WELL DONE TO FARMERS IN THE MANAWATU

ON BEHALF of our members we wish to thank the wider rural community for their contributions to improving the water quality in our region.

A number of projects have received well-earned publicity. However, most ‘best practice” goes unreported, and we as a

club laud such practice and openly thank those working to improve the water quality in lakes, rivers, streams and precious wetlands in our region and across New Zealand.

Local anglers recognise that farmers, encouraged by Fonterra and our regional council, want

to reduce the impact of agricultural land use on the waterways of the district. We support the practice of riparian plantings and acknowledge the cost in time, trees and the loss of grazing and income.

The practice of riparian planting is, however, an important natural method of

restoring the water quality and biodiversity of our waterways by acting as bio-filters in addition to regulating stream temperatures and providing wildlife habitat.

By further reducing damaging runoff into our streams and rivers we will enhance the whole community’s

ability to use and enjoy our valuable waterways. Without doubt, future generations will benefit from the efforts of people today and we thank all those helping with this essential challenge.Jim Hale President, Manawatu Freshwater Anglers Club

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OPINION 41

Foreign investment debate worth more than election year platitudesWITH THE election pend-ing, the current sale of Lochinver Station before the OIO, and the wider debate on foreign invest-ment in land assets (rural and residential), the issue of direct foreign invest-ment in land has jumped to the top of the queue of hot issues.

Much of the discussion has been emotive, and that is legitimate, but it’s the economic debate that seems to have been lost.

We pose the question, “What is the economic return to NZ Inc. by allow-ing foreign direct invest-ment in land?”

Many of the NZ public offerings of investment in farming offer returns of 3-4% cash and 8-9% on capital. Importantly, the capital return, if treated appropriately, is tax free. Given that much of the NZ Inc agribusiness value is tied up in the value of our rural land, it seems the first major test appears to fail.

Profits from a gain in the value of land are not taxed, if managed appro-priately, so there is no return for NZ Inc, par-ticularly if those funds are repatriated and not invested into better (i.e. greater than 3-4%) cash-returning assets.

Of course, there is the counter argument that if the capital is released and applied to a better return-ing asset, then there is some value.

Using the Lochinver Station example, it can be argued that NZ Inc is releasing capital from one lower performing asset to invest in a higher per-forming asset, which has a better outcome for NZ Inc. But in the Crafar farms example, that cap-ital simply repaid debt. What is done with the Lochinver purchase from an economic perspective in the future will finally determine whether NZ Inc benefits.

As yet, we don’t have that information.

The Crafar exam-

ple also showed another factor to consider when it comes to foreign invest-ment. The offer was much larger than the next clos-est offer, which raises the question of how a foreign entity with no experience in NZ farming systems could justify a value much higher than the largest and most experienced operators in NZ, relative to the cash returns from the asset. We don’t know the answer to that as we are not privy to the wider strategy being employed, but it needs clarity because it appears to be putting a value on land that is outside what can be economically justified. There are lots of other examples of this.

Our high country sta-tions are often sold for much more than any pro-duction values – though that’s not just to foreign investors. The economic value to NZ Inc is once again negative, because the outcome will create greater barriers to entry for operators focused on

HADEN DILLONproductive returns, from which NZ Inc benefits through increased exports and profitable taxable earnings.

But there is the alter-native view that the land is being put into a higher value use. Tour-ism in Otago is valued at $2.17b, so the creation of 53,000ha of covenants on land covering Motat-apu, Mount Soho, Glen-coe and Coronet Peak stations has to be seen as a big endorsement of for-eign investment, as the land was placed into the covenants by the owners of Soho Property Ltd and its overseas owner Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange.

Underlying all of this of course is our free market. It has served us well. No one should be told who

they can and cannot sell their private assets to. We also need to acknowl-edge that we need foreign investment. NZ Inc is rela-tively poor when it comes to the amount of capital we hold. As a country we tend to hold the value of our agribusiness indus-try in the value of our land, but this has been a hard fought process. Suc-cessive governments and economic policies have created an environment that makes us attractive.

So NZ Inc needs to ensure it gets a return for its investment without interfering in the mechanism that has created it. The economic debate needs to move toward what measures can be put in place to ensure NZ Inc gets its share of its

investment, while those in the market can still trade and make the best decisions for their businesses.

We think the answer starts by measuring the overall outcomes from recent OIO approved decisions, and whether they have achieved what was expected eco-nomically.

Each OIO, in itself, is a detailed application and the applicant has to achieve the agreed out-comes. But we think an overall review of OIO approvals and outcomes over the last few years would provide a more informed debate, on not only the benefits, but

allow an informed debate on mechanisms and pro-cess that may need to be implemented to ensure that if there is any mis-alignment NZ Inc is still getting its return. • Crowe Howarth’s Hayden Dillon is the managing prin-cipal for Waikato, heading corporate agribusiness and capital advice.

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42 MANAGEMENT

Hard to split new fungicidesIF YOU want to pour just one product into the sprayer tank for your fun-gicide applications on cereals this spring there are two new products on the market that are just the thing.

The hard part is going to be choosing which to use when.

Both contain a fungi-cide from the SDHI group and, to boost eradicant activity and reduce the risk of diseases develop-

ing resistance to SDHIs, a triazole.

In the case of Bayer Cropscience’s Aviator Xpro the triazole is pro-thioconazole at 150g/L with 75g/L of new SDHI bixafen. Meanwhile BASF’s Adexar delivers 62.5g/L of both epoxicon-azole and its new SDHI, fluxapyroxad.

BASF’s Grant Hagerty says if speckled leaf blotch (SLB or septoria tritici) is visible in wheat, then

T1 and T2 is when Adexar should be deployed, with a robust dose of Opus (epoxiconazole) prior to the T1 to start the pro-gramme.

“It’s not stripe rust we’re dealing with. It’s a very different pathogen and a much harder beast to kill,” he explains, noting SLB’s sensitivity to the tri-azoles has dropped.

Where 0.4-0.5L/ha of Opus as a pre-T1 or “T-nought” was adequate

Two new fungicide products offer broad-spectrum, dual mode of action disease control from one can this spring. The hard part is how to choose between them. Andrew Swallow reports.

in the past, giving good protection of clean leaves and about 60% eradicant activity on tissue already infected with SLB, now 1.0L/ha might give 30% eradicant activity. How-ever, it will still protect clean leaves, reducing pressure on the chemistry come T1.

Generic epoxicon-azoles, while giving infe-rior control, have forced the price of Opus down considerably so a litre rate’s no longer the outlay it once was, he adds.

At T1 is where the new products come in, and their arrival is timely, SLB having been confirmed as now widely resistant to strobilurin fungicides, a former mainstay of fungi-cide programmes.

Hagerty says both the new SDHI’s are better on SLB than market incum-bent Syngenta’s Seguris Flexi (isopyrazam). He also maintains fluxapy-roxad has the edge on Bay-er’s bixafen in terms of eradicant activity and, at the lower end of the dose spectrum, protection.

However, he stresses growers should heed label rates with both the new products, BASF’s or Bay-er’s, as they are New Zea-land specific and lower than those in given in Europe. If they are cut, growers can expect perfor-mance to drop away rap-idly.

“In the FAR trials they cut one (Adexar) treat-ment from 1.25L/ha to 1.0L/ha; 100% of the rate

to 80%. They lost 300kg/ha of grain and would only have saved $25/ha.”

That’s echoed by Bayer CropScience’s Neil Wad-dingham, who questions why FAR trialled the lower, 0.7L/ha recommended rate of Aviator Xpro, (see table), then suggested growers top up the pro-thioconazole rate with a bit more Proline (Rural News, Sept 2).

“If you just use a litre/ha it would do the same thing anyway and a bit more bixafen gives you a bit more greening.”

If growers go the other way, and resort to their historic tactic of halving label rates, Waddingham warns instead of getting a good return on their fungicide investment, as they will at label rates, the drastic drop in efficacy at reduced rates of the new products means “they might end up getting very little back at all for what they do spend.”

He sees Aviator Xpro fitting best at flag leaf emergence and again as a T3 at ear emergence.

“That way you’re get-ting all the benefit of dis-ease control and the greening of the crop…. The exception is if you’ve got really bad septoria because you drilled early. In that situation there’s a case for Aviator Xpro at T1 and T2.”

At flag leaf he doesn’t believe there’s any need to tank-mix another fungi-cide, but at T3 some might add a strobilurin “for

added leaf rust control, greening and general plant health.”

Aviator Xpro’s latest approved timing in wheat is flowering, and in barley, at boot stage.

Waddingham says on autumn sown barley use it at the traditional GS31-32 first fungicide timing, followed by flag leaf. In spring sown barley, with its much faster early devel-opment, one hit at GS39’s the way to go.

“The SDHI is really of

benefit with ramularia. Get in with it once the flag leaf is out. But it’s also an extremely good scald product.”

As for mixing with other products, Wadding-ham says he “wouldn’t anticipate any problems as long as you’re only adding one product.”

Adexar’s label says it can be tank mixed with commonly used fungi-cides, herbicides, insec-ticides and growth regulators. – More page 44

FUNGICIDE FACTS Aviator Xpro❱❱ 75g/litre bixafen + 150g/litre prothioconazole.❱❱ Recommended rate 0.7-1.0L/ha on wheat,

barley or triticale.❱❱ 15L or 5L cans.❱❱ Max two applications/season, inc any other

SDHI.❱❱ Latest application flowering in wheat; boot in

barley.❱❱ Ryegrass approval sought for next year.Adexar❱❱ 62.5g/litre fluxapyroxad + 62.5g/L

epoxiconazole.❱❱ Recommended rate 1.25L/ha on wheat and

barley.❱❱ 10L can.❱❱ Max two applications/season, inc any other

SDHI.❱❱ Latest application (ie withholding): 42 days

before harvest, wheat or barley.❱❱ Ryegrass work underway.

Bayer’s Neil Waddingham says Aviator fits at T1 and T2 on autumn sown barley.

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44 MANAGEMENT

“IT’S HARD to say which one’s the stron-ger,” says FAR’s Rob Craigie of the two new SDHI plus triazole formulations, Adexar and Aviator Pro (see main story page 42).

“And of course you’ve got Seguris Flexi which with a triazole will also do the job.”

All three options were used at various rates across five wheat trials last season (see table) producing very high yield responses in the face of severe disease pressure. Averaged across the trials Adexar appeared to have an edge but Craigie warns

it wasn’t statistically significant and really there’s nothing to choose between the top six mixes.

“It’s going to take at least another year’s work to sort it out – that’s if it doesn’t stay dry and we actually get some results this year ,” he commented last week, reflecting on nearly a month without rain across the Canterbury plain.

“In autumn sown barley they’ve given similar results. There’s nothing really to tease them apart, or Seguris Flexi with a triazole come to theat.”

FAR sits on the fence

Product and rate% yield gain over

untreated

Adexar @1.25L/ha 69a

Aviator Xpro @ 1.0L/ha 66a

Adexar @ 1.0L/ha 64a

Proline @ 0.6L/ha + Comet @ 0.8L/ha 43a

Aviator Xpro @ 0.7L/ha 62a

Opus @ 0.6L/ha + Seguris Flexi @ 1.0L/ha 61a

Opus @ 0.6L/ha + Comet @ 0.8L/ha 53b

Proline 0.6L/ha 52b

Opus 0.75L/ha 44c

Five site mean results. Wheat moderately or fully susceptible to septoria. Two applications at above rates, at GS31 & GS39 in two-pass programmes or GS39 & GS59 in three-pass programmes. Least sig-nificant difference 8.7%. Source: FAR Spring Field Walks

Blackgrass likely to be a problem

MPI IS urging extra vig-ilance over cereal crop weed blackgrass this summer, following a spill of seed contami-nated with it last winter.

“We didn’t find any blackgrass last season and are confident that if it were there the opera-tions team would have found it,” says MPI response manager Brad Chandler.

“However, we are also conscious that if there is any chance of blackgrass appearing it is most likely to show its face this season. So everyone involved, including the public, needs to remain vigilant and keep a lookout.”

The spill was along a route between Ashbur-

ton and Methven. Nine rounds of surveillance along the route, three roadside verge cuts and herbicide spraying will start October 13 and finish late March.

MPI’s response is with support from Federated Farmers, Foundation for Arable Research, Canter-bury Regional Council (ECan), Ashburton Dis-trict Council, New Zea-land Grain & Seed Trade Association and PGG Wrightson.

PGG Wrightson was moving the seed, identi-fied as contaminated by MPI, to a cleaning plant when the spill occurred.

Blackgrass is a seri-ous weed of winter cereals in the UK and

Europe where it has developed resistance to many herbicides. It til-lers and seeds prolifi-cally, with single plants capable of shedding thousands of seeds.

Suspected blackgrass

should be reported to MPI on 0800 809966.

To identify black-grass see: http://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecu-rity-animal-welfare/pests-diseases/help-stop-black-grass

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MANAGEMENT 45

Drought boosts porina numbersPORINA EXPERT Colin Ferguson, AgResearch, says droughts over recent summers have contributed to an explosion of insects in certain parts of the North Island.

He says two or three years ago there was virtually no porina there, but when the porina disappear so do all the natural pathogens that normally control the insect.

“That means in subsequent years, and normally two years after a dry summer, we’d expect to get an outbreak of porina because they had been able to build up in num-bers and natural diseases that nor-mally control the populations to some extent haven’t had a chance to do that.

“They will catch up, but it takes a little longer. What we are seeing right through a lot of the North Island, at the moment, is the porina populations responding to some of the dry summers that we have had.”

He says the other thing he is seeing is a lot of caterpillars from late flights of moths in the lower North Island. In some regions people are seeing damage they wouldn’t normally see coming from caterpillars. He and others were predicting this phenomenon about three years ago, but many people failed to act or get informa-tion.

Ferguson says the only way farmers badly affected by porina can now deal with the problem is with conventional insecticide, either Diazinon or Chlorpyrifos.

“If farmers knew they were going to get this problem and treated their pastures months ago that would have been fine. It would have given them good control for a lot less money, but at this time of the year the caterpillars are too big for Dimilin.”

Ferguson says starlings would

not help the porina problem greatly given that porina are night feeders and during the day are often 200-250mm below ground. He believes the porina problem will persist as long as there are droughts like those of recent years.

“The dry puts more pressure on the plant and the porina cat-erpillars are feeding on grass that

isn’t growing so that exacerbates the damage.

“The dry doesn’t bother the porina because they are spending most of their life 200-250mm down in the soil, coming up at night to feed. The caterpillars are big – they are hungry and grass isn’t growing and that’s adding to the damage farmers are seeing now.”

Herbicide problems mount in AussieRESULTS OF a weeds survey have stunned grain growers in NSW, says organiser Maurie Street, chief executive of Grain Orana Alliance.

It found all 78 annual ryegrass samples submitted were resistant to at least one mode of herbicide action and 87% were resistant to two or more. Over half (54%) were resis-tant to four or more MOAs, leaving few herbicide control options for those growers.

In some cases ryegrass was resistant to herbicides that had never been applied to the paddock where the seed was collected. “This phenomenon is well-known and highlights that hygiene is important.”

With half or more of the herbicide options lost, Street is concerned about the 6% of samples found to be resistant to Group M products such as glyphosate, as they’re essential for no-till farming and their loss has wide-reaching conse-quences.

Of 41 black oats samples submitted, 25% were still sus-ceptible to all MOAs tested but half were resistant to two or more groups.

Street, who has multiple herbicide resistance problems on his property, says cultural controls can turn the situation around within a few years “to get back on the front foot.” He uses narrow windrow burning, high sowing rates, and pre-emergence herbicides.

“We realised that we couldn’t ‘rotate our way out’ of the situation and had to take decisive action…. I expect wide adoption of non-herbicide tactics over the next few years.” For more see www.weedsmart.org.au

AgResearch’s Colin Ferguson says drought exacerbates porina problems.

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MANAGEMENT 47

Trees can save farmsFARMERS SEEM to take mortgages for granted when it comes to farm ownership and succes-sion planning. Whether the farm is sold or passed to the next generation, it is often the same thing. The value of improvements and years of mortgage repay-ments turns into a lump sum at the end of a life-time of work. The cycle fre-quently repeats if the next owner is a son or daughter.

A large mortgage is a financial burden that drives hard work but can limit development. High suicide rates and mortgagee sales indicate that farm life is not easy for some.

There is an alternative to this mortgage cycle that many farm foresters have worked out. They can enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle because they have a port-folio of incomes and an estate plan for succession.

Forestry can be prac-ticed in two distinct ways. Option one is to plant one or two blocks, wait until they mature, then fell, usu-ally when there is a finan-cial crisis or retirement need. The other is to plant small areas almost every year, building up a range of age classes to form what is called a “normal” forest. In due course the areas can be cropped and replanted in perpetuity.

The first approach is not really forestry. It’s a bit like a lifestyle-block owner running two steers for the freezer and calling it farm-ing. Large forest compa-nies succeed because they have normal forests with annual cropping creating a good cash flow planned around a 25-28 year crop-ping cycle. Another advan-tage is risk from wind damage is spread across a range of age classes. There are plenty of tools to assist with planning this type of forestry and some are tai-lored to farmers’ needs.

Once a normal forest is achieved, which will take most of a generation, the economics change dramat-ically. Like farming, costs and returns can be consid-ered annually. The end of year net profit can include how much wood grew on the property that year, the net annual increment.

The usual approach in forest economics of dis-counted cash flow of all

costs and returns may not be applicable when com-paring forestry with other farm land uses. Farming generally does not con-sider investments to set up a farm, such as fences, water, cultivation, seed and fertiliser, in a discounted cash flow analysis; it writes them off, or depreciates them quickly, and annu-

alises costs and returns thereafter. When you do this with forestry, for example as an annuity, the comparison is more under-standable, and the returns are more than competitive with drystock farming.

More importantly, the farmer has an alternative income stream that is flex-ible. Trees can be felled over a 10 year window and there is potential to avoid low parts of price cycles. In estate terms, it provides more resilient cash flows helping to ensure that the farm will not be in finan-cial danger when drought and low prices persist. The income from log sales may be spread over the current year and any of three previ-ous years in whatever pro-portion is selected for tax purposes.

For farms with only lim-ited areas of pasture avail-able to convert to tree crops, Option one is a useful strategy, provided it’s big enough to give your-self a healthy retirement fund. Ownership can be transferred with a Forestry Right. The farm can be gifted to the children with little debt, breaking the cycle of perpetual mort-gages.

But the location of woodlots is crucial to keep extraction costs low. Please get advice on this. I have seen returns from farm woodlots vary from $2000/ha to $38,000/ha, and total payouts ranging from those that are barely able to repair the fencing to cheques of over $1 million. The variation in profitabil-ity is often caused by road-ing and harvesting costs.

GRAHAM WEST Planning where to plant tree crops is more impor-tant than when to start, but on the issue of timing, my suggestion is start when your first child is born, or you turn forty. In 25 years you will be able to face retirement or succes-sion planning a little more easily. And the farm stays in the family. Yes, it’s coun-

ter intuitive, but trees can save farms.• The opinions expressed in this article are from the author only and are not official Scion statements. Graham West is a Principal Technologist at Scion, the Crown Research Institute dedicated to forestry, wood product, biomaterial and bioenergy development.

Graham West

A range of planting dates spreads risk of wind damage.

Dynamo®


48 MANAGEMENT

Think bees with enviro planting

PLANTING TREES or shrubs to protect waterways, provide shelther or prevent erosion? Then please think bees, say the leaders of the Trees for Bees project.

The opportunity presented by riparian plantings was flagged in a recent parliamentary

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

select committee report (see panel) but it’s not just riparian work that can be tuned to enhance the environment for the popular pollinators, Trees for Bees planting advisor Angus McPherson told Rural News.

“There is a lot of work going on planting trees for shelter, land stabilisation and for riparian protection…. This is another factor to consider when you’re doing it. If we can incorporate these bee-friendly species as part of the mix it would be a help. We have a serious issue with a lack of pollen and maintaining hives at certain times of the year.”

Ironically, part of the

LAST WEEK Federated Farmers issued the following ‘bee aware’ tips:• If a crop is flowering and bees are working the

crop, spray at dusk or before dawn.• Even if chemicals are labelled as ‘bee friendly’,

do not risk using them: adjuvants in the mix can be more dangerous to bees than the chem-ical itself.

• Brief contractors about bee requirements.• Avoid irrigation when and where bees are working /

flying. Bees hit by irrigation die of cold.• Ensure irrigator drift cannot reach bee yards and

take out hives.• Avoid putting hives in irrigator paths, allowing for

drift.• Locate hives according to pollination target: less

bee-attractive crops such as kiwifruit, carrots and onions need hives in the paddock; more attractive crops such as white clover draw bees from beyond paddock boundaries so hives can be nearby on shel-tered warm north-facing sites if need be.

Feds’ ‘bee aware’ tips

problem is due to clearance of willow, gorse and broom, because they’re considered weed species. “They were good pollen and nectar sources.”

Pesticide use and varroa control is also putting hives under pressure, so anything

that can

be done to improve the bees’

habitat should be jumped at, he says.

Typically early spring and late summer and autumn are the problem times for hives if pollen, which is used by the bees to raise brood, or nectar, used for energy and to make honey, are in short

Riparian and other plantings are an opportunity to boost bee habitat.

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MANAGEMENT 49A spread of flowering dates in plantings is the ideal, so bees don’t face a feast or famine sitution.Think bees with enviro planting

THE PRIMARY production select committee was briefed on July 3 on the health of bees in New Zealand and on July 28 reported that, among other things, it is concerned “farmers in general would be unaware of the advantages of mixed plantings on riparian margins for the health of bees”.

The committee says insufficient attention is being paid by the Ministry for Primary Industries and beekeeping organisations to this opportunity to improve honey yields and bees’ habitat, nutrition and health. It urges MPI to provide a lead in investi-gating the best use of riparian margins for bees, and to circulate information about riparian planting among regional councils.

The committee’s full report, including a statement that there is no evidence of colony collapse disorder in New Zealand despite widespread use of neonicoti-noid insecticides, is at www.parliament.govt.nz ‘select committees’ under parliamentary business, then ‘reports’ under committee documents and type ‘bees’ as keyword in the search box.

Parliamentary report

PLANTING TREES FOR BEES❱❱ Many areas suitable.

❱❱ Can turn erosion or run-off risk areas into assets.

❱❱ May include trees for harvest.

❱❱ Plant a range of flowering dates.

❱❱ Ask local apiarist(s) when bee feed’s needed.

See www.treesforbees.org.nz for more.

@rural_news


supply. Those gaps can be filled with tree and shrub species that have plenty of pollen or nectar and which flower at those times.

“Go talk to your local apiarist and ask what are the critical times for bee feed for the hives on your farm. They will know when because it’s when they have to feed [the hives] or shift them.”

Armed with that information farmers, or planting planners, should then look at the appropriate regional planting guide on the Trees for Bees website (www.treesforbees.org.nz), McPherson says.

“Some nurseries have good information too and they will be able to advise you on flowering times locally because flowering times vary throughout the country with some species, and there’s a bit of variation year to year.”

They’ll also be able to provide tips on species according to location.

For example, a shallow rooting alder wouldn’t be a good choice on the margin of a cropping paddock, but there are deep rooting strains which would be fine, he explains.

A spread of flowering dates in plantings is the ideal, so bees don’t face a feast and famine situation, however for farmers with crops that require bee pollination, avoiding tree species that flower at the same time as the crop may be wise so bees aren’t distracted from the target crop.

McPherson’s Trees for Bees colleague, Linda Newstrom-Lloyd, says 15 demonstration farm plantings are complete or underway as part of the project, mainly around Gisborne and in Canterbury.

“The local beekeeper tells us his problem times and then the farmer says what he or she wants to achieve, then Angus and I work together to come

up with a plan.”The demonstration

plantings include a wide range of farm types, from hill country sheep and beef, to dairy, arable, horticultural with nearly 10,000 trees and shrubs established.

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50 MANAGEMENT

More to potash than soil tests

TreatmentFour year mean yield kg DM/ha/year

Mamaku Pouakani

Control 7856 6499

75kgK/ha split 9146 8895

150kgK/ha split 9970 9220

300kgK/ha split 10,244 10,5348

600kgK/ha split 9807 10,253

300kgK/ha once 9942 10,535

In this first preview of papers for the New Zealand Grassland Association conference in Alexandra in November, Andrew Swallow talks to Jeff Morton about potash on pasture.

JUST BECAUSE the quick test result for potassium in your soil is low, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should be making massive capital applications of the nutrient.

That’s the take-home message in a paper for the Grassland Association conference in Alexandra in November by Jeff Morton, Ballance Agri-Nutrients.

He and colleague Aaron Stafford, and Martin Hawke of MFH Consul-tancy, Rotorua, look at results from three years replicated trials on two low-potash pumice sites – one at Mamaku near Rotorua, the other at Pouakani near Whaka-

maru. Initial quick test (QT) potash results from the dairy pasture sites were four and two respec-tively.

Potash, as potassium chloride (KCl – 50% K), was applied as a one-off 300kgK/ha/year, or at rates totalling 0, 75, 150, 300 and 600kgK/ha/year split evenly between September, November and February. Pasture response was measured by mowing every 4-6 weeks with 50-60% of clippings returned to simulate recy-cling of K by animal excre-tion. Clover content was assessed visually and anal-ysed for K content.

Soil samples to 75mm

in spring and, in the second year autumn, to 75-150mm and 150-300mm, showed soil QT results were raised by applications of 300kgK/ha or more at Mamaku, and by applications of 150kgK/ha and over at Pouakani.

At most samplings, autumn soil QT K results were always higher than during spring.

“When the 300kgK/ha/year treatment was applied only once com-pared to three applica-tions per year, autumn soil QT K levels were much lower which suggests that a significant propor-tion of the high rate was leached in drainage during

the growth season which would be expected at these high annual rainfalls, especially at Mamaku,” the authors note, reflect-ing on precipitation aver-aging 2078mm/year at Mamaku and 1350mm/year at Pouakani over the dura-tion of the trial.

Pasture yields at Pouakani and Mamaku were only 61% and 85% of the theoretical maximum, much lower than the 80% and 91% that, based on previous research data, should have been pos-sible at QT K levels of 2 and 4 respectively. Con-sequently “relatively high rates of K were required to achieve near-maximum

pasture yield, espe-cially at Pouakani,” the authors say.

The fact that, with split applica-tions, 95% of maxi-mum yield could be achieved at a QT K of 3 on these coarse pumice sites, whereas a QT K of 5 was needed on aver-age in trials on other pumice sites, indicates “these pumice soils do not require such a high soil QT K for near maximum pasture production com-pared with pumice soils that do not lose as much K.”

The authors con-clude: “for coarse textured pumice soils under high rainfall the aim should be to meet pasture K demand rather than a target QT K range.”

Morton told Rural News such a split K application approach would likely pay not just on these pumice

soils, but on other high loss potassium soils such as the podzols of North-land, allophanic soils such as the higher altitude pas-tures of Taranaki, and coastal sands nationwide.

“On all high K loss soils, not just pumice, the aim should be to meet the seasonal pasture demand

Adapted from Morton et al, Potassium requirements of pasture on pumice soils, New Zea-land Grassland Association Conference Proceedings, 2014.

Mean pasture yields off coarse pumice

POTASH POINTERS❱❱ Leaches freely from pumice, podsols, sands and

allophanic soils.❱❱ High soil levels hard to maintain on such soils.❱❱ For dairy pasture consider split applications total-

ling about 150kgK/ha/year on leaching-prone soils.

❱❱ Tissue test clover to check for pasture deficiency.

Trial site: Poukani, South Waikato.

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MANAGEMENT 51

More to potash than soil tests THIS YEAR’S New Zealand Grass-land Association conference is in Alexandra with the theme “Central Otago: A land of difference – farm-ing in the extremes”.

“It’s the hottest, driest and coldest place in the country. You can be working with Merinos in a 300mm/year rainfall area, or dairy cows under centre pivot irrigation,” explains association vice president David Stevens, who’s put together the programme for this, the NZGA’s 76th conference.

While the two conference field days don’t include a dairy farm, they will be looking at dairy support and intensive stock finishing under irri-gation, as well as improved hill coun-try with lucerne or annual legumes.

Greenfields’ lucerne-based oper-ation at the top of the Ida Valley is another stop. “It’s corporate farm-ing and they run a different busi-ness model. There’s no capital stock. They’re just finishing, or grazing on behalf, on lucerne or harvesting the lucerne.”

Back at the conference venue the range of papers to be presented will be similarly broad. “There’s

everything from dairy to lucerne and dryland legumes, hill country development or high sugar grasses. There’s a wide range of papers.”

Besides getting the latest, sci-entifically robust research, Ste-vens believes farmers benefit in other ways from attending. “It’s the opportunity to establish networks with other like-minded farmers and to talk to experts in various fields and develop personal contacts with them. You can talk to scientists and agribusiness people who can put the science into context for your own situation.”

Association president Warwick Lissaman, a sheep and beef farmer from Seddon, Marlborough, echoes that. “It’s a melting pot of industry, science and farmers getting together to address the issues of the day and of the future.”

The information flow is two-way, he stresses, with farmers’ input helping the science and industry del-egates decide where research and development goes next.

“I fundamentally believe it’s the science and research community that will enable us to make the step

changes – and we still are making step changes for all the talk of there only being incremental gains in the future – that are needed. It can give us, the people with skin in the game, capital committed, the confi-dence we can get a positive bottom-line profit result from taking up the available technology and research.”

Farmers can also be confident that any paper presented at the conference has gone through an independent scientific peer review process. While presenters may ver-bally expand on written paper con-tent during the conference, fellow scientists and/or industry experts are quick to challenge comments that may be hard to justify.

“It’s a science conference, not a sales conference,” stresses Lissa-man. “So much research looks really exciting on one year’s data or from one site but once it’s randomised and replicated you can’t always draw the same inferences.”

The conference is November 5-7. Early bird registration is $395 for NZGA members, $495 for non members, $230 for students. See www.grassland.org.nz for more.

Farming in the extremes theme

for potassium.”Tissue analysis can be

useful to check that essen-tial nutrients such as potash are getting into the plant, he adds. “It’s best to test the clover. That’s the key species and you can use it as a monitoring tool.”

In the trial reported, adequate K content in clover was achieved with 150-300kg K/ha/year applied.

Morton stresses that maximum pasture response will not be the optimum economically, and the Grassland Asso-

ciation conference paper concludes from modelling through Overseer, that an appropriate fertiliser pro-gramme for such pumice soils in moderate to high rainfall areas is three applications of 40-50kg K/ha to supply 120-150kgK/ha/year.

Results of the trials on pumice showed splitting potash applications to be beneficial, says Jeff Morton, Ballance.

VDA474/RN/BB

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A broadband boost for Central Hawke’s Bay Vodafone’s Waipukurau cell site was the first in the Central Hawke’s Bay district to be upgraded, delivering wireless broadband to over 675 rural addresses in the area for the first time.

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Their new Vodafone wireless broadband connection is capable of delivering maximum download speeds of 21Mbps, comes with 30GB of data (more than 14 times the amount the Smiths used to get) and unlimited calling to New Zealand landlines. Gus says that he and his wife Anita are more confidently connected than they’ve ever been.

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52 MANAGEMENT

Workshops advise farmers about ‘creep’

DAIRY FARMERS are being urged to take into account the capital costs asso-ciated with changing farming systems – which would see them use more sup-plements such as PKE and maize silage.

DairyNZ research and development manager David McCall says moving to a high input system is not just about the ongoing costs of buying feed such

as PKE, it’s the capital cost of the infra-structure and the ongoing interest pay-ments that can be the killer if the payout drops.

McCall says dairy farmers need to understand there is a big risk associated with high input systems – especially when the market is so volatile. He says this is why Dairy NZ have initiated the ‘system choice’ workshops, designed to ensure farmers fully understand the implications and costs associated with

changing to a high input system.“Systems choice is about addressing

the importance of making sure farmers who make decisions about intensifi-cation and put in infrastructure do so with their eyes wide open,” he explains. “That they do that as a planned deci-sionmaking process and don’t ‘creep their way’ into systems.”

He explains that “creep” is where a farmer puts on a bit of PKE, then “the next thing is he needs some troughs

to feed it out and then he needs con-crete because that will reduce wastage. The next thing is to decide to do a bit of something else as well, buying a feedout wagon and then having to expand the size of the shed to house the tractor.”

McCall says before they know it, farmers have ‘crept’ their way to another system without necessarily having done a complete investment analysis – which is what Dairy NZ is encouraging people to do. He says farmers need to see a

system change as an investment and do a proper investment analysis, which will canvas not only the financial ele-ments but also some of the non-finan-cial elements.

“So the system choice workshops will pull together all these factors and point out to farmers that they need to make objective and calculated deci-sions on what system they farm with rather than drift from one thing to another.”

PETER BURKE

[email protected]

Support young stock supply chainFINISHING FARMERS would be wise to ensure

they have access to a sustainable supply of quality

young stock by treating their calf-rearing counter-

parts consistently and fairly, says iFarm Agri-market

analyst Mel Croad.

Croad says as many as 20% of calf rearers could

have given up producing 100kg beef bulls following

poor returns last year, some due to finishing farmers

pulling out of contracts leaving rearers selling at

a loss on the open market. Consequently they’ve

switched to rearing export heifers or got out of the

industry altogether.

“A balance needs to be found with returns,” she

says. “Rearers saw finishing farmers earn huge

profits [last year] and wondered why their business

wasn’t viable.”

Croad has signed a contract with calf rearers to

supply her own family farm and says it has saved

the operation time and money while bringing in

good rewards. “Light stock don’t grow into good

calves. By signing a contract we know we can get the

entirety of our stock from two or three calf rearers

while being sure that all the calves we get are in good

condition and weigh over 100kg.”

Croad expects this season to be the turning point

for many rearers in the industry with many only

committing half of their stock to contracts.

“A lot of the rearers out there have kept 50%

or more of their stock for sales.” Prices for 100kg

calves for October delivery have already lifted to

$420-450/head, she notes.

While beef demand is strong now Croad warns

against too many rash decisions as New Zealand’s

current key beef market has reached unseen highs.

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DRYSTOCK FARMERS should consider using more nitrogen to boost pasture and, more impor-tantly, stock growth rates, a Beef + Lamb New Zea-land field day earlier this month heard.

AgFirst consultant Bob Thomson told the 50 or so sheep and beef farm-ers present at the Kaipara event that nitrogen is a cost-effective and power-ful tool to have in the farm management kit.

For every kilogramme of nitrogen applied as much as 30kgDM/ha of extra pasture may be grown but even at lower response rates increases in pasture at times of year when feed is otherwise in short supply can prove very profitable.

Thomson said trying to work around winter is a difficult prospect for any pastoral farmer and late autumn and early spring pasture management is critical. In late autumn increasing pasture cover with a little extra nutrient can make the difference to being able to carry stock through winter or not. Similarly, in early spring, it can help fill a gap between

available feed and stock demand.

Buying in supplemen-tary feed is an alterna-tive, but generally costs more, especially if not planned and spot pur-chases are made when it’s needed (see table). Simi-larly, offloading stock can reduce demand for feed but for similar reasons, prices received at such pinch points in the feed calendar are often low.

For example, this season farmers in Hawkes Bay, Northland and the central North Island have faced cold, wet conditions which has held back pasture growth and supplement “banks” have been raided more than planned.

Farmers that can hold stock levels through such

holes in feed supply gen-erally get better financial results, says Thomson.

“While the feed situa-tion is tight now you don’t really want to ditch the stock if you need to buy them back in a month or so.”

Nitrogen stacks up favourably against hay, silage and grains on a cost/benefit ratio, he says.

“Nitrogen is the cheap-est way to generate extra feed generally.”

At current prices Thomson calculates extra grass grown from nitro-gen fertiliser costs 14-21c/kgDM when nitrogen’s applied at 30 kg/ha and costs $790/t on-farm.

This stacks up extremely favourably against $85 for a bale of silage, $90 for a bale of hay

MANAGEMENT 53

Returns on nitrogen in thousands

Feed Supply Solutions Unit Cost* c/kgDM

Baled silage $85/bale $0.44

Hay bales $90/bale $0.56

Bulk PKE $310/tonne $0.34

Bagged dairy mix $440/tonne $0.51

Off farm grazing $12 cow/week $0.51

Nitrogen $790/tonne $0.14-$0.21**

* Using prices at the time of writing for Northland** Cost per kgDM depends on response rate

Beef + Lamb New Zealand held a Farming for Profit field day at Kaipara, Northland, earlier this month. Gareth Gillatt reports.

or $310/t for palm kernel expeller (PKE) meal, he notes.

Using Farmax to com-pare different stock classes’ response rates to extra pasture and conse-quent return on nitrogen investment, he calculates that at a feed conversion

of 18:1, prime bulls offer the best returns. Steers’ feed conversion’s more like 20:1 and breeding cows 30:1.

Calculations done at the event predicted

bulls would net farm-ers an extra $130/ha after costs while farmers put-ting fertiliser over blocks with breeding cows on would get an extra $73/ha. “There’s profit to be made from using nitrogen across stock which offer good feed conversion effi-

ciency.”Thomson notes nitro-

gen is relatively cheap at the moment and the beef schedule quite high “so there’s a real opportunity to make a profit with fin-ishing cattle.”

Schedule prices, feed wedges and nitrogen costs all need to be factored into calculations when decid-ing whether it is wise to apply nitrogen or not. Another key consideration is soil temperature and ability to get fertiliser on

ahead of any feed short-falls or increased demand.

For best results Thom-son says put N on when soil temperature is 12 degrees and rising and soil moisture level is consis-tent.

“The thing about nitro-gen is that you’ve got to think ahead.”

It normally takes 10-14 days for urea to give grass a boost but once it does it keeps on growing faster for 30-50 days afterward, he explains.

Nitrogen: a profitable tool to provide extra feed at pinch points.

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54 ANIMAL HEALTH

When milk is wrong colour you know things are not good!

HOW OFTEN have you or your staff been checking colostrum cows for mastitis?

DairyNZ’s senior scientist specialising in mastitis management, Dr Jane Lacy-Hulbert, says the minimum should be to check every colostrum cow daily, and ideally, twice a day, for the four day colostrum period.

“Try to find and treat new clinical cases that have happened at calving or just after. If

you pick them up in the colostrum cows it will help keep infection in the herd down for the whole season.”

Each quarter should be stripped and checked for clots.

“When it (colostrum) goes ‘junkety’ and the wrong colour, you know there’s something wrong.”

Making sure teats are clean, particularly for the first milking, is a must.

“Wash and dry them. If a cow’s been lying in the mud to calve, this won’t be good for

mastitis.”Putting cows onto

clean pasture to calve will minimise the mess.

“A common way is to put the ones you think will calve overnight or that day through the fence onto the next break.”

Besides posing a mastitis risk, soil on teats rubs during milking, causing abrasions and discomfort which, depending on severity of damage, may persist for many milkings.

Incorrect milking system set-up can be another cause of teat damage, so arrange for machine test to check vacuum settings, pulsation rates and ratios, and liner fittings to correct a a persistent cause of damaged teats.

After milking, apply a teatspray. Make sure that your teat spray meets the new requirements for avoiding chemical residues in milk. Some products have been re-registered with AVCM to reduce the risk of causing residues in milk. “Contact your teat spray supplier or your milk processor. They’ll

be most aware of which products are approved and which are not.”

Ensuring the correct quantity per cow is applied, and at the right concentration, is also important to minimise residue risk while ensuring the spray does its job.

In terms of product choice, Lacy-Hulbert refuses to be drawn, saying there are “horses for courses.”

“If it’s a registered, AVCM- approved teat spray, that’s okay by us.”

Checking coverage, whether using manual application or an automated system, is important.

“The best teat spray is the teat spray that gets on the teat. Teat spray on the body or legs is not going to help prevent mastitis!”

Hold a piece of card at udder height to check the spray pattern of automated systems, or with a manual gun, spray the card or wall to check there’s a good cone of droplets.

“Are you getting a good cone or is it a narrow squirt or all

dribbly?”A paper towel

wrapped round each teat can be used to find out if sprays are covering all teats.

At calving the most likely cause of mastitis is Streptococcus uberis but taking samples from some clinical cases, using aseptic technique, and storing them frozen for possible analysis later is a good idea so that if a persistent or wider problem develops, the cause of early cases can be checked.

“There’s advice on how to do this in the Healthy Udder guide or your vet will be able to tell you what to do.”

When mastitis is found, Lacy-Hulbert says the “MRS T” routine is a good one to follow: Mark the cow; Record her number and planned treatment; Separate from herd; and then Treat.

Separating and milking later helps prevent spreading mastitis through milking equipment, and reduces the risk of mastitis milk, or worse still, penicillin treated milk, going in the vat, she explains.

MUST DO'S❱❱ Thorough teatspray after every milking.

❱❱ Strip every colostrum cow every morning.

❱❱ Rapid Mastitis Test (RMT) all cows before entering milking herd.

❱❱ Strip whole herd weekly for first few months – do a quarter/milking over four milkings.

❱❱ Clots on milk filter? Strip whole herd next milking or four milkings as above.

❱❱ RMT test cow’s other quarters if any quarter clinical.

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

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ANIMAL HEALTH 55

AGRESEARCH SAYS its scientists and US research-ers have identified rumen microbial differences between sheep with high and low methane emis-sions.

The microbial gene expression differences will help define methane traits in sheep and assist selec-tion of low methane flocks.

“Understanding the microbial composition of a low methane animal and how its rumen works will enable us to focus on targeting the methanogens directly using complementary approaches such as drenches, slow release boluses or specialised for-ages and supplements,” says AgResearch’s project leader Graeme Attwood.

Methane belched from sheep and other rumi-nants is about 28% of global emissions of the gas related to human activity.

The work is funded by the New Zealand Gov-ernment as part of the Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research project underway at AgResearch Grasslands, Palmerston North, and the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Insti-tute (JGI), San Francisco, California.

The findings were reported in the Genome Research journal earlier this month.

While AgResearch’s media release on the find-ings didn’t mention it, reducing methane losses from sheep could also boost productivity as poten-tially more energy is retained in the animal.

Sheep methane milestone

Plan grazing to manage parasitesHAPPY NEW year! Regarding intestinal para-sites that’s where we are on the calendar, accord-ing to the latest Wormwise newsletter.

Worm management in spring has a big season-long effect and it’s not just about drenches: also cru-cial are monitoring and strategic grazing to mini-mise pasture contamina-tion and reduce exposure of vulnerable stock.

“To not have a graz-ing plan as part of a worm management plan is invit-ing high levels of worm

larval challenge that limit animal performance regardless of how much drench is used…. Just set-ting out a strict drenching schedule is poor plan-ning,” Wormwise states.

Monitoring may include a faecal egg count reduction test – the deci-sion which drench to use should be determined by knowing what works on the farm’s parasite popu-lation – faecal egg counts (FEC), condition scoring, weight gains and obser-vation.

Yearling cattle is where

treatment without moni-toring to drive the drench decision is valid. Most are challenged by ostertagia in spring and explosive outbreaks can occur. The problem is that FECs are unreliable.

The same doesn’t apply to two-year-olds. While FECs are equally unreli-able, most will not be sus-

ceptible by this age. “A valid approach could be to drench the underperform-ing lighter end,” the news-letter suggests.

Quarantine drench-ing stock returning from off-farm winter grazing should be considered as there’s “potential to intro-duce a range of unwanted resistant worms on to

your farm.” A triple-active product should be used and stock quarantined for at least 24 hours before release onto pasture likely carrying drench suscepti-ble infective larvae, NOT clean pasture.

For more see www.beef-lambnz.com/wormwise

@rural_newsfacebook.com/ruralnews

There’s more to parasite control than just product and method, reminds Wormwise.

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56 ANIMAL HEALTH ANIMAL HEALTH 57

RE ANNA Holland’s article in Rural News Aug 19 and the “disappointed” dog trialist who responded in the Sept 2 issue, we voice our support for Anna and her column.

My husband is a dog trialist inspired and challenged by Anna’s columns…. She has provided us with insight and objective gems which have enabled us to considerably enhance our efforts and to keep striving for excellence in all we do with our working dogs.

Anna is one of few trainers able to train any dog regardless of it temperament and past history. Due to this fabulous role model we have had success with dogs that usually would have been shot or considered useless.

The world needs more like Anna. Thank you for making the world a better place for humans and dogs.Corena HowellsRD1 Waiau

SUPPORT FOR ANNA HOLLAND

Keep feeding calves on pastureSUPPORTING CALVES’ diets with a blend of fibre and grain once they hit pasture is critical for ongo-ing development and life-long health, says feed specialist Michael Bell of Fiber Fresh Feeds.

“Feeding quality fibre is for rumen development and creating life-long, sus-tainable animal health,

as well as making calves pasture-ready. But calves also need fat and energy, which they get from meal-based feeds. That’s where the philosophy of blending comes in.”

Feeding a fibre-based product like FiberStart as well as a meal when they go out to pasture is impor-tant to keep rumen devel-

opment going and avoid weaning checks, says Bell. He advocates feeding through to 12 weeks.

“The first 12 weeks in a calf ’s life is the most crucial time in develop-ing productive rumens and laying down the foun-dations of life-long gut health. Superior full stom-ach development enables

greater efficiency and absorption of nutrients and allows calves to thrive and develop to their full potential.

“The end result is bigger, healthier animals that have greater breed-ing potential, improved long-term milk produc-tion, lower empty rates and better six week in-calf

rates.”Recently completed

research by AgResearch shows Fiber Fresh reared calves have 18% heavier rumens at weaning than those fed a control diet, as well as having thicker rumen walls and a greater number of papillae, sug-gesting improved physical and morphological devel-

opment, says Bell. The research also

saw calves with an adult-like rumen fermentation pattern during and post weaning, better metabolic functionality and a better nutrient transport system.

“At seven weeks old, calves reared on Fiber

Fresh have a big, well-muscled rumen with supe-rior papillae growth, giving a large surface area for nutrient absorption that results in greater feed effi-ciency. Ultimately, this will have longer-term ben-efits on the bottom line.”

PKE seller changes nameTOEPFER STOCKFEED has changed its name to ADM New Zealand. It was taken over earlier this year by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).

The New York Stock Exchange lists ADM as having US$90 b sales in 2013 and a market capitalisation of US$30 b. It deals in food, feed, fuel and industrial goods.

In New Zealand it sells bulk commodities such as PKE, DDGS and tapioca, and speciality products such as Lysine and natural vitamin E.

“The ownership change will not impact our com-pany’s service or prices established in our first year of business in New Zealand,” general manager ADM New Zealand Ross Bowmar says. Tel. 0800 123 PKE

“ It was so frustrating. We didn’t know what the heck was going on − why did we have so many empties?”

David Williams

Manage BVD. Vaccinate with Bovilis®

It was 2010, we’d had a high number of empty cows for several years, and we couldn’t understand what the problem was. We just couldn’t make headway. It was pretty distressing. So we looked at

our production, we looked at the fertility of the cows, and we came to the conclusion that we should do blood tests and see what the problem was.

BVD was one of the things in a mix of things it could’ve been. I didn’t know a great deal about it at that time, or how prevalent it was in the area. It was actually my vet who put me on to it and did the testing. We tested 10 or 15 empty cows and… the results came back positive with BVD.

I took it all in my stride; I was just relieved to know what the problem was. The vet recommended that we vaccinate all the cows, but I considered that too big a hurdle, so in the first year I just vaccinated

half the herd, and from then on I’ve vaccinated all the heifers going in. We used the Bovilis vaccination, and it’s made a real difference. Because we vaccinated at a time when we had the cattle in the yards, we just fitted it in with our normal programme. I’ve recently had more tests done and the prevalence of BVD in the herd is a lot lower, and we came up with a fresh set of recommendations − to blood test and vaccinate all the heifers going in to make sure no PIs (persistently infected animals) get into the herd. Now that we know what the problem is and we’re dealing with it, things are looking up. With better feeding levels and better management with the Bovilis vaccine, I reckon we’ll get on top of the BVD problem.

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“It was my vet who put me on to it and did the testing. We tested 10 or 15 empty cows and… the results came back positive with BVD.”

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ANIMAL HEALTH 57

Buying bulls? Do the checks!IF YOU are buying or leasing bulls this spring, think about the animal health issues you could be importing.

TBfree is flagging the need to check bulls’ bovine tuberculosis risk but Dairy NZ says the risks are much wider than that.

“There are a whole lot of things you need to be thinking about besides just the age, size and breed of bull,” stresses technical policy advisor (vet-erinary) Nita Harding. “TB testing is important but bulls should be tested and vaccinated for BVD too, and we recommend farmers get evidence of that.”

Vaccination for BVD works two ways, protecting the herd from possi-ble infection from the incoming bull, and protecting the bull from possibly unidentified BVD in the herd which, if the bull hasn’t previously been exposed to the disease, could seri-ously affect his fertility, she points out.

It’s a similar situation with Thei-leria, where a naïve bull moved into a herd where the tick-born disease is circulating could become ill and even die from the disease.

“If there’s been Theileria in the area you are buying from, or your herd has had Theileria, then you need to be careful where you source your bulls from. Speak to your vet.”

Another test that’s recommended is EBL – enzootic bovine leuco-sis – though Harding says it’s not thought to be present in New Zealand. “There’s no evidence of it and many bulls brought into dairy herds are beef bulls so if it was there [in beef herds] I think we’d be seeing it.”

Not so with BVD and there have been incidences of bulls bringing the disease into naïve herds caus-ing major reproduction failures, lost production, and the subsequent prob-lem of PI (persistent infector) calves being born.

Internal parasites are another con-sideration, and quarantine drench-ing bulls coming in is good practice. “Keep them separate from the herd for at least a few days so you can check them over.”

Having the right number of bulls is also important so use the calcula-tor in Dairy NZ’s In-Calf programme to work out how many will be needed come the end of AB mating, she adds.

Once bulls are on the farm, try to make sure groups are “socialised” so

that when they’re in with the cows they’re doing their job, not busy fight-ing each other. And run a couple of “teams” which are rotated every three or four days.

TBfree’s disease control manager, Kevin Crews, suggests the onus to check bulls should be with the lessor or vendor.

“Commercial bull lessors should ideally organise a TB test for all bulls before marketing and leasing them to herd owners, meaning as many animals as possible can be tested in one go.”

Crews points out there is no fee to TB test service bulls and it gives the receiving farms some peace of mind that the leased animal is clear of the disease.

A pre-sale animal status decla-ration form should be requested to check TB status of the herd. However, C10 does not provide absolute guar-antees, warns Crews. Risk of exposure to TB-infected wild animals is also important and ensuring NAIT details are up to date – sending and receiving records – will help trace movements and clear herds more quickly should a problem occur.

Get incoming bulls’ health status checked, say Dairy NZ and TBfree.

LIC SAYS do the maths before cutting breeding costs in response to reduced payout forecasts.

“In a year like this, when the spotlight is on every farm expense, farmers need to consider the real cost of reducing spend in an area that has such a long term impact on the herd asset,” says bull acquisition manager Malcolm Ellis.

Average breeding and herd improvement spend is already “pretty trim” at 3.4% of farm working

expenses, and some of that is non-negotiable, so any potential savings are marginal, he maintains.

“Such moderate savings will provide slim immediate relief, while the long-term cost of a genetically inferior group of animals moving through the herd is huge.

“I have milked a lot of very good cows in my time but also some poor ones and I believe we totally undervalue the difference.”

Ellis says stay focussed on breeding

progeny that will be the most efficient convertors of feed into profit. That means high BW genetics. It’s particularly important for higher order sharemilkers as their herd is their biggest asset.

Lower milk prices may be offset by diversifying income streams, for example, by adding a week’s AB to provide stock to sell next calving season, he suggests.

“In a more moderate milk price environment increased stock sales are gold. The real pinch from this year’s lower payout will be felt

next spring, but extra investment into AB this year will provide farmers with more options next year.

“Friesian heifer calves were selling for upwards of $950 each this spring, a demand underpinned by export activity that isn’t going away.”

Cost cutting caution

ANDREW SWALLOW

[email protected]

@rural_news


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58 ANIMAL HEALTH

Bee deaths prompt $441m lawsuitCANADIAN BEEKEEP-ERS have launched a Can$400m (NZ$441m) class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of neo-nicotinoid pesticides

claiming they are killing bee colonies.

Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, while not directly involved in the suit, says the class action has been filed by law firm Siskinds LLP to recover

ALAN HARMAN alleged losses and damages from as far back as 2006.

The pesticides contain imidacloprid, clothiani-din or thiomethoxam and are alleged to have caused losses due to killed or weakened bees; non-pro-ductive queens and bee colonies; lost breeding stock; contaminated wax, combs and hives; reduced honey production and lost profits; costs incurred to meet honey and pol-lination contracts; and increased labour, equip-ment and supply expenses.

The class action seeks to recover these losses as well as Can$50m in punitive damages. Neo-nicotinoid pesticides are applied to corn, soy-bean and canola seeds, among others, planted in Canada. The pesticides are designed to travel through the plant and attack the nervous systems of insects that feed on roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, pollen or nectar of the plant.

The Canadian Broad-casting Corp reported pes-ticides were found in 70%

of dead bees tested by Health Canada in 2013.

Siskinds’ partner Paula Lombardi says honey-bees are of critical impor-tance to the food chain. “Without a vibrant and healthy bee population, so many of the foods we enjoy will simply no longer grow,” she says. “We cannot afford to take the bees’ important work for granted, nor can we ignore threats to their survival as a species.”

The suit says two big Ontario beekeeping oper-ators, Sun Parlor and Munro Honey, are partici-pating in the action. Sun Parlor is a long-standing family owned and oper-ated business that’s one of Ontario’s largest honey producers and hive prod-uct distributors. According to the statement of claim, between 2006 and 2013 bee, hive, and honey losses cost it Can$2,112,200.

Munro Honey is a sim-ilarly long-standing and large family owned busi-ness producing and dis-tributing honey and hive products.

TBFREE NEW Zealand has completed the Baton-Arthur aerial possum control operation in Tasman to protect cattle and deer herds from bovine tuberculo-sis (TB).

TBfree New Zealand Northern South Island pro-gramme manager Matt Hickson says that the opera-tion is part of a wider control programme to prevent TB-infected possums from spreading out of Kahurangi National Park to neighbouring farmland and infecting cattle and deer herds.

The operation involved the aerial application of 1080 pellets over approximately 27,500 hectares within the eastern reaches of the national park, includ-ing some adjacent and nearby private forest and farm-land blocks west of the Motueka River. It extends from the lower Wangapeka River in the south to just north of the Flora Saddle, including the eastern slopes of the Mount Arthur Range. The operation supports annual ground-based control in the area, using traps and hand-laid toxins.

The Department of Conservation has also com-pleted the Leslie aerial 1080 operation over an adjacent 20,000 hectares to the west of the Mount Arthur Range to control pests that prey on native species. This col-laboration helps control TB-infected possums which are responsible for the majority of new cattle and deer herd infections.

Hickson says operational warning signs have been placed at all likely public access points to the area.

TB-infected possums under assault

Canadian apiarists are suing pesticide manufacturers for losses alleged to be due to neonicotinoids.

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IN RESPONSE to Colin Bolton’s letter (Rural News, Sept 2) I do not need to prove in any way that I can train a dog: I can.

In my column regarding Baz I wasn’t raving about my training skills, rather the intelligence and natural ability of a dog deemed ‘no good’. I emphasised that it took a small effort on my part to turn him around.

I do not despise dog trialling. I competed with both Huntaway and Heading dogs off and on between 1979 – 1993 in Wairarapa, Southern Hawkes Bay and Wanganui, even being in the prize money occasion-ally, though nothing major.

I shepherded for 21 years and stopped dog trialling when I gave up. I was born and raised in Auck-land and I didn’t have a father, brother or husband with a farm to train and run my dogs on. If I’d loved trialling with a passion I could have found a way to con-tinue, but, to be honest, I found it lonely: in those days it was rare to see a female triallist.

I may or may not ‘front up’ at a trial to compete again. If I do it won’t be to prove anything. Dog triallists are not the only people capable of training a dog: there are many top handlers and dogs who work stock everyday, never setting foot on a trial ground.

Mr Bolton, I invite you to one of my training days, as my guest. I wonder if your opinion of me would be the same at the end of the day?

To emphasise my point regarding natural ability, intelligence and training, my Huntaway bitch Eve had Baz’s problem: she too used to fly in amongst the sheep splitting them

in every direction and biting.Where Baz had intelligence and

natural ability by the bucket load and was quick to learn, Eve took forever to learn anything. When-ever I thought she was starting to get it she’d disappoint me yet again. I could have trained two or three dogs in the time it took to train her.

I threatened to shoot her more times than I can remember throughout training. I didn’t breed her yet I loved her, so I persevered. Two years ago she paid me back big time.

Although I gave up shepherd-ing 20 years ago I continue to live in the country and occasionally I train a young dog. On the odd occasion I dust off the whistle and my pets and I will give someone a

hand. For example, in 2012 I was in charge of a docking. Chloe and Hope were slowing at seven years old and I needed to save them for tricky work or emergencies. Eve was only 20 months old but she had to do the bulk of the mus-tering, on steep hill country with over 3000 ewes. I get a lump in my throat thinking about her amazing effort: she didn’t put a foot wrong. But I will still never breed from her.

Even though she has some of the best trial bloodlines in the coun-try and even though she eventually made it, she is totally woman-made, whereas Baz is a natural. There lies the difference.

For those of you horrified that I would use a Huntaway to muster for docking, I teach my Hunt-aways to run quietly to the best position in a paddock before I ask for noise. Otherwise the dog waits silently. You may think such train-ing takes away the bark – not at all. When hunting stock in close contact, they have as much noise as any dog, if not more. – Support for Anna page 56.• Anna Holland is teaching people dog training. For more information www.annaholland.co.nz or Ph 06) 212 4848 or [email protected]

ANIMAL HEALTH 59

It’s all about the dog, not the writer!

TRAINING DAYTihoi – TaupoSunday 12th OctoberPhone Anna: (06)212 4848

Anna Holland and friends.

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We have a STIHL MS 251 CBEQ Chainsaw plus a safety package, total value of $1337, to give away in celebration of the Canterbury A&P Show, to be held Wednesday 12 to Friday 14 November 2014. Simply answer the question below, and we’ll put you in the draw!

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60 MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Polaris spray tank and screen are part of the $2,380 of free accessories included in the Farmer Edition package.

Polaris’ Sportsman Ace pulls on its work clothesTHE POLARIS Ace in standard form looks more recreational than work focused, despite sharing the mechanicals of the more conventional Sportsman quad and so being just as work-capable.

To help convince farmers the Ace makes as much sense on the farm as a quad – perhaps more-so than a quad due to the obvious safety advantages – Polaris has created a Farmer Edition that comes with free accessories worth $2380.

Rural News has spent some time in the saddle of the Ace now. It is much more stable than a quad due to the lower centre of gravity of the seating configuration – more like a car than a quad with level floor, proper seat, foot pedals and steering wheel. Add the roll cage and seatbelt into the equation and the Ace seems a sensible option. But can it really do the

grunt work? Well, it is mechanically

similar to the Sportsman quad that farmers might usually consider. It has a 32hp liquid cooled, fuel injected engine, on-demand AWD, low range, independent suspension with 24cm travel and can tow up to 680kg. The undersides are fully protected with bash plates.

The Farmer Edition adds $2388 worth of free kit to the $11,995 standard price. The only extra you’ll pay is the labour to fit the farm kit, which includes Smith Attachment bull bar and mudflap kits, a Redline 55L spray tank, a tailpipe extension (to reduce noise), and from the Polaris accessory shop, fender kit, rearview mirror, sports roof, mesh rear cover, doors, screen and tow hitch. All practical additions that make it good value for money.

And yes, it can do the hard yards on farm. The

flat floor makes it easy to get in and out (no swinging the leg over), the seat height is such that you don’t have to lower yourself in or hoist yourself out, so getting in and out to open gates etc is not a problem. It can tow and it is as tough as any Polaris quad.

The roof and low screen add a degree of comfort that you might appreciate on those long, wet days. And because you sit in, rather than on, the Ace, you don’t experience the same amount of pitch and roll as atop a quad, nor do you get strain on your wrists over the bumpy stuff.

We threw the Ace Farmer Edition at some pretty gnarly terrain, at speed, and the big shocks took it all in its stride. It can also lug along slowly through the mud or behind trudging stock.

The rear tray is a bit small, and of course in the Farm Edition is occupied by the (removable) spray tank. A traditional quad

ADAM FRICKER

is not a lot better in this regard though and to get lots more load and storage space you’d need

to buy a side-by-side at a much higher price.

So, though the Sportsman Ace looks

like it was designed more for play than work, underneath its sensible new work clothes it is still

a fun machine to punt offroad, and it is also capable of filling the role of workhorse.

Polaris has created a special ‘Farmer Edition’ of its Sportsman Ace especially for the rural market.

Rethinking applied.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 61

APEX VALVES, manufacturer of plumbing and agricultural water con-trol valves, has recently acquired Anka Products.

This acquisition means that Anka will now be a 100% kiwi-owned and operated manufacturer.

Anka Products says it offers an extensive range of fittings for polyeth-ylene pipe, hose nozzle’s, check and foot valves, swivels and pipe unions, which will now be made in New Zealand by Apex.

Anka has become a preferred prod-uct by many farmers and growers over the last 18 years and is well known as the ‘blue nut’ fitting. Apex Valves has over 30 years of experience in the water control valve industry and together Apex now offers a range of water con-trol products that are true, field proven favourites amongst farmers.

Hydroflow is owned by Ken Breckon and is the distributor for Apex’s agricul-tural valves and Anka products.

Business partners – Bevan Gracie at the helm of Apex Valves and Ken Breckon distributing the product through Hydroflow say they are excited about the secured future of Anka. They

are both pleased that Anka will remain 100% NZ Made and are looking forward to the innovations the Apex R&D team, plastic engineers and valve experts can apply to the Anka range of products.

Breckon says Hydroflow and Anka formed a strong relationship over five years ago and have had very positive traction in the market as many farm-

ers now understand the benefits of the Anka product over the existing main market competitor.

“After discussions with the late Mike McMahon (Anka Products Direc-tor and Owner), we started to represent Anka in the market. Sadly, Mike passed away hence the opportunity for Apex to purchase Anka. Mike will be greatly

missed”.Breckon believes Apex and Anka go

hand-in-hand and it’s a perfect comple-ment to the Apex product offering.

“It also completes the Hydroflow range; we are plumbing and agricul-tural product distribution specialists and Apex and Anka are key the play-ers in the market. They both produce

a premium quality product that farm-ers rely on.”

Wendy McMahon says Anka enjoyed a great partnership with Hydroflow.

“Since Hydroflow came on board as a distributor, we grew from strength to strength,” she told Rural News. “Mike would be proud to see the company sold to Apex. I would like to see Mike’s legacy continue and grow. We know that these guys will do that very well.”

Anka will operate as a division of Apex and Terry McMahon, the late Mike McMahon’s brother, will continue to manage Anka alongside the Apex team.

The acquisition of Anka opens also opens export opportunities for Anka, says Apex Valves managing director Bevan Gracie. Apex, which exports to 17 countries, will use its network to sell Anka products globally.

Gracie says “Apex is already getting enquiries for Anka products from cur-rent and new overseas distributors. We look forward to leveraging off both brands and growing the Anka range, both at home and abroad.

We also welcome the Anka employ-ees, all of which will be retained and are highly valued by Apex”.

Anka deal a ‘perfect fit’ for ApexKen Breckon from Apex and Hydroflow and Anka’s Wendy McMahon shake on the new alliance between Anka and Apex.

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Trouble-free fencing crossings for irrigatorsGETTING IRRIGATOR wheels through or across fences is reckoned trouble-free using gear made by Robertson Engi-neering Ltd.

Under the brand name Strainrite this Wellington company makes a wide range of steel components for farm fencing, adding up to whole systems. Its Sureflex ‘irrigator springs’ – fence springs and drive-through-gate devices – draw on that expertise.

The spring maintains tension in a fence, preventing excessive sagging.

Its expansion allows wheels to pass over – tension maintained – after which the fence returns to its stock-proof state.

A limiter, stronger than the fence

wire and the spring’s yield strength, prevents damage from over-stretch-ing. The restrictor connects reliably to the spring and the fence wire beyond the limits of the spring, protecting the higher-value spring and preventing damage to the fence wire.

To avoid fence shorts, all attach-ments and limiting devices are con-tained within the spring.

Importantly, the spring’s elasticity dampens the wire’s recoil as it releases off the irrigator rear wheel. This ensures the fence wire is not weakened by exces-sive tension during recoil.

A restrictor mechanism inside the spring limits the spring from over-extension and forces the equalisation

of expansion to other springs fitted in the wire.

The Sureflex restrictor mechanism automatically retracts back inside itself, even after full extension

The Sureflex crossing point, incor-porates a ladder system tried and tested on numerous installations over many years, designed to anchor the fence, forcing it lay over and then stand up as the irrigator wheel moves off the fence.

Strainrite principal Brian Collins points out that fence wires must be able to slide independent of each other, even while being traversed by irrigator wheels. So fence wire sleeves are used, attached to ground, allowing unre-stricted wire movement. Sureflex uses polypipe drilled to accept 4mm diame-ter Bayco monofilament nylon wire to tie the ladder to steel ‘Y’ posts, driven into the ground.

Strainrite markets a spring-back ‘wand’ gate – an electrified drive-through gate that allows pivot wheel access through permanent fences.

And the company’s bungee gate, a long-life, UV-stabilised mono-core electrified bungee cord, allows irriga-tor wheels to pass through a fence gap or gateway. Tel. 0800 266 258www.strainrite.co.nz

Getting irrigators over fences is made easier with Strainrite’s ‘irrigator spring’s’.

Contact your nearest Reese dealer for more information. All prices are exclusive of GST. Freight charges may apply

Reese Agri Ph: 06-357 9323 Email: [email protected] Ph Jon: 021-433 129 www.reeseagri.co.nz

The new generation 3000 series Grassfarmer is the one you’ve been waiting for – an improved and more refined version of one

of the world’s most popular grass drills.Engineered to exceed all your expectations with a raft of new and improved features. Built with the sort of quality workmanship you’d expect from a company that has built and marketed seed drills for more than 40 years, the Grassfarmer models are available as Tine and T-Boot or as concave Disc opener versions, 14 row, 2.1m sowing width and 18 row 2.7m sowing width.

TINE AND T-BOOT MODEL FEATURES:❱❱ Unique Aitchison slim line castings and inverted T-boot

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SPECIFICATIONS 3014C 3018COverall width 2720mm (8’11”) 3320mm (10’11”)Sowing width 2.1m (6’11”) 2.7m (8’10”)No. Tines 14 Tines 18 Tines

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DISC MODEL FEATURES:❱❱ Large 14” concave discs, ideal for matted pasture renovation

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❱❱ Unique Aitchison sponge seed distribution system fitted to both models, gentle on seeds and very accurate.

SPECIFICATIONS 3014D 3018DOverall width 2720mm (8’11”) 3320mm (10’11”)Sowing width 2.1m (6’11”) 2.7m (8’10”)No. Tines 14 Discs 18 DiscsRow spacing 150mm (6”) 150mm (6”)

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A NEW dual-active herbicide from Zelam achieves a more robust weed kill than products containing single actives, the company says.

The product is Dynamo, a non-hormone herbi-cide for use in pasture, lucerne and clover seed crops. It combines Flumetsulam, the active ingredient in Zelam’s herbicide Headstart, and Bentazone.

Its Oleo liquid formulation contains all the neces-sary surfactants and adjuvants.

Zelam says since it launched Headstart three sea-sons ago it has sought ways of getting more out of the active ingredient Flumetsulam.

“We have seen improved and more consistent weed control with Headstart, by having the required adju-vant system part of the formulation in the one can. In Dynamo, not only are the optimum ratios of the adju-vant part of the formulation, we have added another active ingredient – Bentazone.”

The company says these two actives have a true syn-ergistic effect when it comes to controlling weeds. A number of key weeds will be killed by either Flumet-sulam or Bentazone alone, but put them together and the results improve.

Dynamo is best applied when weeds are small and growing, usually when there is good soil moisture and temperatures are not too low. As a rule of thumb, results are best when soil temperatures are greater than 10oC.

Dynamo kills a broad spectrum of weeds including some troublesome species not controlled by conventional herbicides, including amaranthus (redroot), fathen, buttercups (annual and giant), chickweed, spurrey, cleavers, black nightshade, shepherds purse, speedwell, field madder, hedge mustard, twin cress, wireweed, willow weed, sorrel, mallows, yellow gromwell, mayweeds, oxeye daisy, field pansy, henbit, nodding thistle, storksbill, hawkbit and broadleaf dock.

Zelam says clover safety is a key benefit of using Dynamo. This is because it is a non-hormone product, so it has no impact on young clover – down to the two true leaf stage. This means no waiting until clover is established before killing weeds. And no waiting for clover to reach a certain growth stage before weeds are able to establish and compete with a crop, which will result in a yield penalty.

Being non-hormone, Dynamo will also help to eliminate phenoxy resistant weeds that exist in some regions.

More robust kill

Deutz-Fahr lifts its R&D spendingHEFTY SPENDING on R&D by European trac-tor maker Deutz-Fahr is propelling it to the front in high-performance machines, says local dis-tributor Power Farming.

National tractor man-ager Brett Maber says in the four years since the Morrinsville company took over the brand in New Zealand it has sold at least 1000 tractors.

He says Deutz Fahr has spent €200 million on R&D in the past five years and during the next five will spend €250 million. “The result is world-lead-ing, reliable, state of the art tractors with cutting edge efficiency, economic performance, productivity, comfort.

Maber last year attended Agritechnica, seeing prototypes of two new tractor series that he says “will leave the compe-tition behind in the super horsepower stakes”.

“Our launch of some great tractors, such as the 7250 TTV – one of the most highly acclaimed tractors to hit the market for some years and the 2013 Tractor of the Year – and the equally impres-sive 5 and 6 Series, dem-onstrate the positive developments of the prin-cipal’s R&D.”

Also coming are two new series of high horsepower tractors, the Deutz-Fahr 9 series and 11 series, now in the latter stages of development.

The 9 series is expected to offer tractors up to 340hp and the 11 series up to 440hp.

Power Farming says Deutz-Fahr is the fastest growing high performance tractor brand in Europe and world-leading in trac-tors, harvesters, diesel engines and agricultural machinery.

The company is head-quartered at Treviglio, northern Italy, and has eight factories in Europe and Asia and sales subsid-iaries and joint ventures in Europe, North Amer-ica and Asia. It is building a huge new factory at Lau-ingen, Germany, where it will make 16,000 tractors annually. The site will have

a test drive area, train-ing centre, showroom, museum and shop.

Maber says the 5 series (100-130hp) and the 6 series (120-160hp), both with either powershift or variable transmissions, are selling well to NZ farmers and contractors. Tel. 07 902-222www.powerfarming.co.nz

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Spring Specials


64 MACHINERY & PRODUCTSCapacity and bale density up in new seriesGREATER CAPACITY capacity, bale density, output and reliability will be seen in two new Case IH RB 5 Series variable-chamber round balers launch-ing later this year says the distributor.

The RB455 and RB465, which make bales of up to 1.5m and 1.8m diameter, improve on the previous RB 4 Series machines, which they replace. They come in standard, rotor or rotor cutter feeder versions.

Announcing the new balers, Tim Fanning, operations manager Case IH, commented that “improving per-formance while controlling costs is always a factor when considering any new machinery purchase”.

“The RB5 series balers greatly improve on previous models. We have rigorously tested them against compet-itor machines under a range of differ-ent field conditions, in different crops, with the focus on bale density and machine capacity. Compared with these machines we recorded 20% increases in capacity and 14% in bale density.”

The balers have improved four-bar and new five-bar pickup reels using larger, stronger components, a new net wrap system, more accurate twine wrap system, durable endless bale chamber

belts, and an improved density control system. The specification also includes a new in-cab control display with the option of an ISOBUS system.

By fitting a 10% larger in-feed auger – now 220mm in diameter – Case IH has increased the machines’ capac-ity, improved feeding and reduced crop wrapping. A higher throat open-ing markedly reduces crop pinching, and the auger has been repositioned to increase throughput.

New pickups have a simplified drive system, a larger, more durable drive chain and bigger springs to improve flotation. Rotor feeder and rotor cutter models offer the option of a front-piv-oting, drop-floor for the rotor, which enables the operator to clear plugs with-out leaving the cab simply by lowering the bale chamber floor hydraulically. Pivoting wheels reduce the need to raise the pickup when turning, while flip-up castor wheels make it easy to switch between transport and field positions, while limiting pickup width for trans-port to no more than 2.55m.

Optional on 1.8m and 2.0m pick-ups, the new five-bar reel improves on a standard four-bar design. It gives more consistent feeding because each

row of tines has to move a smaller section of crop from the windrow, resulting in more positive, efficient movement to the feeder. The 2.0m-wide, 315mm-diameter pickup reel has 160 6mm diameter heavy-duty rubber tines which, compared with the stan-dard four-bar 128-tine pickup, lift crop more cleanly. The 1.8m five-bar pickup has 140 rubber tines, compared with 112 steel tines on a four-bar unit.

A new top assist roller, optional on 1.8m and 2.0m rotor pickups, helps to feed crop into the rotor more efficiently to increase capacity, while centre pad-dles move it more positively to the rotor and longer auger flights distribute it more evenly. Two undershot augers work with overshot in-feed augers to keep the crop moving towards the centre of the auger, the speed difference between them preventing wrapping.

RB455 and RB465 models have four 273mm-wide endless belts that perform better and last longer, Case IH says. Their construction and sealed edges reduce fray, and the belts are closely spaced to minimise crop accumulation and losses, especially in short grass, while a new back-wrap roll increases belt drive force by 35% and reduces slip-

page. Rotor models offer the option of a dual hydraulic density system, which uses two hydraulic cylinders to increase bale density by 5% compared with a sin-gle-cylinder system.

The improved wrapping arrange-ment features a new electrical control system, separate motors for the duck-

bill and net knife operation, and a lower current draw, allowing the electrical harness to be connected directly to a 12V, 25A cab socket.

Various changes reduce the number of adjustments required and the over-all sensitivity of the wrapping system,

The RB455 and 465 (pictured) models have four 273mm-wide endless belts, which Case IH says perform better and last longer.

TO PAGE 65

Call 0800 804 458 to find your local dealer. Or visit our website, www.giltrapag.co.nz

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while new centre-pivot, dual twine tubes improve twine placement on the bale.

Featuring new electrical systems for wrapping control, the RB455 and RB465 can be supplied with a choice of in cab monitors, from a new standard black and white moni-tor to the AFS PRO 300 with ISOBUS. The new, easier-to-use monitor has a 10% larger screen, the ISOBUS version features a new electrical system which makes it easier to add future revisions, and the solid-state H-Bridge control-ling power to the motors is more durable than the mechan-ical relays used previously.

Case IH is offering an optional AFS PRO 300 touch-screen colour monitor with improved graphics, easier nav-igation and the ability to control functions and settings from the main screen. Customers can, however, use the new ISOBUS-compatible RB455 and RB465 balers with an existing virtual terminal on any ISOBUS-equipped tractor.

CB Norwood distributes Case IH in New Zealand.Tel. 0800 CASE IHwww.caseih.co.nz

Economic 90hp tractor may attract interestJOHN DEERE North Island distributor Cervus Equipment is market-ing the maker’s 93hp JD 5093E, a tractor “devel-oped to offer the perfor-mance and options of 100hp tractors with the economies of scale avail-able in utility tractors.”

Cervus Northland regional manager Tim Ormond says the new tractor meets an impor-tant need for a small-to-medium tractor for dairy and beef farmers who pre-viously bought second-hand,

“They’re well-suited to smaller, mid-sized dairy and beef farmers, or as second tractors on larger operations.”

Developed by John Deere in 2012, the 5093E is powered by a turbo-charged 4-cylinder engine; it has shuttle shift via the maker’s electrohydraulic PowrReverser transmis-sion.

With 12 forward/reverse gears, Ormond says the new tractor is great for front loader work as the operator does not have to clutch or slow down to go from forward to reverse.

Power comes from John Deere’s PowerTech 4045 turbocharged diesel engine, capable of pro-ducing 93hp through the wheels or 79hp through the PTO at 2400rpm.

Better than second-hand, says Ormond. “Given their affordabil-ity, farmers now see that stepping into a new unit, backed by a factory war-ranty and lower interest finance, makes sense.”

He believes the new model will bridge the gap between the 75E, and the 5085M. The 75hp 5075E was usually too small for the mid-sized farmer while the M series was not suited to price-conscious buyers.

Ormond says this is the first offer of the maker’s PowrReverser on a trac-

GARETH GILLATTtor under 100hp. And with a hydraulic flow of 85L/m, mechanical 4WD front axle providing traction on demand and a loader lift-ing to 3.33m, it should be popular, he says.

“We brought in two

to Northland and one sold before arriving,” he says. “The other arrived on Friday and we have ordered an extra two.”www.cervuse-quipment.co.nz

CERVUS EQUIPMENT is the authorised John Deere dealer in the North Island, selling farm, commercial and residential tractors tractors, ride-on mowers, golf and turf products, etc.

The company is Canadian, with 35 dealerships in western Canada. It bought out Agriturf Ltd, Field-power Northland Ltd and Bayquip Agricultural Ltd.

Cervus Equipment has 10 John Deere dealer-ships in the North Island – Waipapa, Whangarei, Rotorua, Gisborne, Hastings, Waipukurau, New Plymouth, Stratford and Palmerston North.

Fresh from Canada

The JD 5093E is, according to Cervus Equipment developed to offer the performance of a 100hp tractor.

Bale density upFROM PAGE 64

Turbofarmer P34.7 PlusThe Turbofarmer P34.7 Plus sets a new benchmark for material handling efficiency, performance and safety. Featuring the CDC ‘Dynamic Load Control’ system, eliminating the possibility to overload and cause the rear wheels to leave the ground.

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GISBORNE Power Farming Gisborne 06 868 8908HASTINGS Power Farming Hawke’s Bay 06 879 9998HAWERA Power Farming Taranaki 06 278 0240FEILDING Power Farming Manawatu 06 323 8182MASTERTON James Trucks & Machinery 06 370 8240NELSON Brian Miller Truck & Tractor 03 544 5723 GREYMOUTH Power Farming West Coast 03 768 4370CHRISTCHURCH Power Farming Canterbury 03 349 5975

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It’s a wrap – film popular!FILM WRAPPING silage bales instead of net-wrap-ping them before applying balewrap is gaining popu-larity says a machinery dis-tributor.

Power Farming distrib-utes Irish-made McHale balers in New Zealand, its machinery division general manager Graeme Leigh saying the new McHale Fusion 3 Plus baler allows wide polythene film, rather than netwrap, to secure silage bales before sealing with bale wrap.

The technique is referred to as film-on-film wrapping.

“One of the options for net replacement is Baletite [made by Minster Films] specifically for film-on-film wrapping,” Leigh says.

“Baletite has been around for three years and test results show it produces better quality baleage than that made with netwrap.”

In 2013 Minster Films commissioned Dr Dave Davies, formerly of the UK’s Institute of Grass-land and Environmen-tal Research and now a consultant, to run a farm trial to test the quality of the silage produced using Baletite instead of net-wrap.

Davies oversaw the pro-duction of 44 silage bales from one field of grass cut, wilted for 24 hours then baled using a McHale Fusion 3 Plus fitted to apply either netwrap or Baletite.

To ensure similar grass

was ensiled in each treat-ment, chamber wrapping alternated between net-wrap and Baletite every eight bales.

In February 2014, 206 days after ensiling, 12 bales from each treatment were opened and assessed for silage quality using: a pressure test to see how quickly the vacuum in a bale returned to normal atmospheric levels; mould assessment, i.e. weigh-ing all the mould in a bale to assess the percentage of the bale affected; and silage analysis by taking a core sample from each bale.

The pressure test showed that the vacuum in Baletite bales took 180 seconds to dissipate com-

pared to the vacuum in the netwrap bales which took 20 seconds, indicating a much better seal for the Baletite bales.

The Baletite bales had a much lower mean mould weight per bale at 5.5kg fresh matter (FM) com-pared to 23.9kg FM for the netwrap bales.

The total silage lost, which includes stor-age losses plus mould losses, showed the net-wrap bales lost on aver-age twice as much DM as the Baletite treatment.

The chemical analyses of the silage by the labora-tory indicated the Baletite treated bales had better quality silage.

The Baletite bales had a higher DM than the net-

wrap bales, and the Baletite silage had higher sugar levels (89gm/kgDM vs 70g/kgDM for netwrap silage). Baletite silage also

had a lower pH (4.46 vs 4.52 for netwrap silage).

The results showed lower levels of ammo-nia-N in the Baletite bales compared to the netwrap bales. Ammonia-N con-centration in silage pro-vides a gauge of protein breakdown: the lower the level the less protein has been degraded.

Summary figures show the film-on-film bales had: 7.5% lower DM losses than netwrap bales thanks to better fermentation; 80% lower DM losses than netwrap bales through mould; and 52% lower total DM losses than net-wrap bales.

“If these results are translated into outcomes for dairy farmers, film-on-film bales would give an average of 7.35kg more DM per bale than netwrap,” Leigh says.

“Given that it takes about 5.8 MJ ME to produce one litre of milk, the additional 86.7 MJ ME in each film-on-film bale could produce an additional 15 litres of milk.”

Davies says the Bale-

tite bales in the farm trial showed better silage fer-mentation and lower losses than the netwrap treated bales.

This can be explained by the fact that Baletite net replacement film is tensioned onto the bale in the bale chamber, forcing air out of the bale to promote faster fermentation in the early stages while maintaining a more oxygen-free environment during the time the bales are in storage.

Film-on-film wrapping also enables automation of the feeding process and easier recycling after use.

Leigh say last year 70% of the fixed chamber McHale Fusion 3 baler-wrappers Power Farming sold in New Zealand were film-on-film machines and he expects the percentage to be 90% this year.

“People are seeing ben-efits. Feedback from farm-ers has been extremely positive and this is reflected in the sales we have had this year.”Tel. 07 902 2200www.powerfarming.co.nz

Baletite film creates a vacuum and excludes air from the bale.

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Versatile tractor up to all the big jobs on stationA 102HP Massey Fergu-son 5440 tractor bought last November by Puke-kaka Station, near Tai-hape, is making many jobs easier with its versa-tility and simplicity, the station manager says.

Rob Stratton chose this machine ahead of several others for gen-eral use on the 1100ha sheep and beef property. It stocks 5000 ewes, 1700 hoggets, 280 cows and 220 weaner cattle.

The tractor replaced an older Massey Fer-guson model, though it was not a straight swap. Stratton says he test drove various trac-tors before deciding “the Massey Ferguson was the simplest tractor to drive – very user friendly”.

“We put a post thumper on the back of it, we spray ground with it and we feed out with it. We do lots of basic work with it, and whatever we use it for, it’s good.”

The MF 5440 was bigger than Stratton ini-tially wanted because the station doesn’t do any cropping; the 25ha of winter crop they put in each year is done by con-tractors. “We just wanted a farm tractor but we wanted a sloping bonnet for better visibility.”

Massey Ferguson’s 5400 series tractor are known for simple opera-tion, reliability and ease

of maintenance, says dis-tributor Agco.

It has the maker’s Dyna-4 transmission as standard – four speeds on the go with less minimal loss. It also has the MF electronic linkage con-trol and hydraulics with high lift capacity and oil flow.

The MF 5440’s mechanically governed engine “gives outstand-ing pulling capacity and uphill performance, and the ability to move heavier loads faster”.

Says Stratton, “We use it for tidying trees, grad-ing tracks, cleaning out the sheep yards, feeding out haylage, putting in water schemes and other general jobs.

“The gear system is

good and I like the way the hydraulics are set up. It’s simple and the slop-ing bonnet improves what you can see out of the cab.”

The new pivoting bonnet on the MF 5440 allows improved access for maintenance of the air filter and radiators.

Stratton drives the MF 5440 himself, so do a couple of other young workers employed on the property. They’ve all found the MF 5440 simple to learn and easy to use.Tel. 272 708 027Email [email protected].

Pukekaka Station’s MF 5440 does a big range of farm chores.

“We put a post thumper on the back of it, we spray ground with it and we feed out with it. We do lots of basic work with it, and whatever we use it for, it’s good.”

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New diesel a little ripperNISSAN’S ALLIANCE with Renault has given birth to some fantastic engines. The little diesel unit powering the Nissan Qashqai TS is the latest

and it’s a ripper.The front-wheel drive

TS is powered by a 1.6L R9M turbo diesel pro-ducing 96kW of power and 320Nm of torque. Like the 2.3L unit in the new Navara we reviewed recently, the 1.6L unit is

new-generation diesel technology, notably smoother and quieter than older diesel engines, not to mention more eco-nomical.

It has great mid-range punch and doesn’t mind a few revs, another feature of many new-generation diesels.

The handsome new Qashqai also has a 2.0L petrol option, a perfectly adequate power unit, but the torque of the diesel, matched with a CVT automatic that keeps revs in the creamy part of the torque curve, makes for more effortless progress.

The engine has a cold-loop, low-pressure exhaust gas recircula-tion system. By recycling the exhaust gas at a lower temperature, emissions are lower. Thermal man-agement is also better in this engine, says Nissan, reducing the warm-up phase, friction losses and fuel consumption.

Nissan NZ is offer-ing the diesel only in one mid-range variant, pre-sumably to avoid the price premium top-of-the-line diesels often demand. For the asking price of $42,990 the TS is well equipped, featuring 19-inch alloys, idle stop-start, fog lights, privacy

glass, dual-zone climate control and push button engine start.

On the down side, it costs only $1000 less than the range-topping petrol Ti which for $43,990 adds leather, blind-spot detection, lane departure warning, intelligent parking assist and more besides.

While the new Qashqai shares the same platform as the new X-Trail, it has

a very different character. It feels lighter on its feet and ‘sporty’, up to a point, compared to its larger stable mate.

Styling is similar to the X-Trail – no bad thing – with a tucked-in rear end and smaller dimensions overall. It is, however, still large enough inside, including the 430L boot, to be practical.

It has a few electronic tricks at play to improve

the handling and ride: active ride control applies subtle braking to individual wheels and fettles torque output over bumpy roads to flatten out the ride; active engine braking uses the Xtronic CVT tranny to give better vehicle control during deceleration; and the electronic steering, while a bit numb, is direct and feel-some enough to let the driver read the road

surface. It points and steers better than many in this cross-over SUV category.

So, it’s not the value proposition of the range, but the TS diesel’s saving grace is that sparkling little engine. The engine’s light weight contributes to the ability to rev higher than old diesel slugs, and to the claimed fuel consumption figure of 4.9L/100km.

ADAM FRICKER

Nissan Qashqai TS.

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MACHINERY & PRODUCTS 69Enjoy the thrill of a high country muster and shearingFOR THE first time in 25 years, visitors and locals will be able to experience something of the shearing season at Mt Nicholas High Country Farm, courtesy of tourism oper-ator Southern Discoveries, the only company with boat access to the station.

Once a year 29,000 Merinos are mustered from hills and mountains beside Lake Wakatipu for shearing. The family-owned station supplies wool exclusively to the Ice-breaker clothing company.

The sheep are mustered by four musterers on horse-back with 40 dogs. Shearers and wool handlers spend seven weeks shearing about 1200 sheep per day.

“The woolshed is a hive of activity, everyone working hard on their individual jobs, says Kate Cocks, Mt Nich-olas Station. “By the end of shearing we’ll have clipped 115,000kg of wool and made 600 bales.”

Starting at 7am each day the shearers work two-hour stretches with 30 minutes between; they take an hour for lunch and finish at 5pm. Head shearer Kelly Hokianga, who has shorn at Mt Nicholas for 40 years, says it is hard work.

“Each shearer will burn the same calories as running a marathon daily and will eat five meals a day to keep up energy levels. It’s a tough but rewarding job and we spend around three or four months a year touring the South Island shearing.”

From now until mid-October, Southern Discoveries will run two trips daily from Queenstown. A farm guide will show visitors the shearing process and explain the dif-ferent jobs.

Southern Discoveries Queenstown operations man-ager Douglas Keith said it was “a privilege to be able to show people the shearing at Mt Nicholas, an impres-sive sight most people… may never have seen before.” Visitors can learn the history of the station, watch sheep being moved by a sheepdog, see how the locals live and meet working animals.

The lasts three hours 45 minutes, including morning or afternoon tea and the boat trip on Lake Wakatipu. Tel. 03 441 8231 www.southerndiscoveries.co.nz

Mt Nicholas High Country Station beside Lake Wakatipu musters and shears 29,000 Merinos annually.

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WHANGAREI Power Farming Northland 09 438 9163DARGAVILLE Power Farming Northland 09 439 3333PUKEKOHE The Tractor Centre 09 238 7179MORRINSVILLE Maber Motors 07 889 5059TE AWAMUTU Power Farming Te Awamutu 07 870 2411TAURANGA Capital Tractors 07 543 0021WHAKATANE Jacks Machinery 07 308 7299ROTORUA Truck & Tractor Services 07 349 6528

GISBORNE Power Farming Gisborne 06 868 8908HASTINGS Power Farming Hawke’s Bay 06 879 9998HAWERA Power Farming Taranaki 06 278 0240FEILDING Power Farming Manawatu 06 323 8182MASTERTON Wairarapa Machinery 06 377 3009NELSON Brian Miller Truck & Tractor 03 544 5723 BLENHEIM Tractor Repairs & Spares 03 572 5173GREYMOUTH Power Farming West Coast 03 768 4370

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The DTX is a mounted one-passstubble incorporator & soil loosenerFitted with the unique Simba roller system as standard,the DD press rings provide the ultimate consolidation weatherproof finish.This unit can also be fitted with an APV airseeder for grass seed or brassicas.

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RURAL TRADER 71

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300mm x 6 metre ................................ $410

400mm x 6 metre ................................ $515

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Vodafone Advertorial

Work smarter, not harder.The need to feed 9.6 billion people around the world by 2050 is an opportunity, but also a huge challenge for New Zealand’s farmers. As global demand increases and the availability of arable land decreases, there is additional pressure to work more sustainably while keeping a lid on costs.

Fortunately, for farmers with an eye on the future, technology is now more accessible than ever – faster networks, greater connectivity and digital applications are changing agribusiness to ensure farmers are ready for the future.

Connecting the digital and physical worlds It all starts with being connected, says Vodafone New Zealand’s Enterprise Director, Grant Hopkins. “The roll out of the Rural Broadband Initiative lets rural businesses enjoy fast internet connectivity, opening up a range of possibilities for how they’re run, how they grow and how they keep customers happy.”

Vodafone delivers 3G services to almost 200,000 rural addresses across four million hectares of land, using 89 new and 264 upgraded cell sites. This enables businesses to improve farming output and manage farms more effectively. For rural households, this access to broadband and improved mobile coverage is helping to build stronger communities, create job opportunities and improve health and safety.

Better connectivity means farm managers can start working smarter. Tracking delivery fleets in transit, monitoring fertiliser application, testing the moisture level in soil and much more – all from their computer or smartphone.

Digital applications are mobilising agribusinesses across the value chain Apps provide opportunities for farmers to save time and make quicker decisions.

Technology has made it possible for farmers to gain real-time data across many areas of farming and consolidate this through a smartphone or computer, so they can make faster, better decisions.

“Wairarapa Moana uses the Vodafone network to establish their online farm management system, which automatically collects and displays data on milk production, soil tests, weather and water information, pasture cover readings and irrigation preset limits across their multiple farms. Farmers can access real-time data via smartphone and tablet, and receive text alerts to minimise workload and increase decision-making power,” says Hopkins.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) is making an impact M2M solutions are transforming the way agribusiness operates. M2M is a set of technologies that lets multiple devices communicate without human input. That means you can get anytime/anywhere access to real-time data to identify problems as they occur and solve them remotely. It can centralise your controls, help increase efficiencies, improve safety and productivity.

Several forward-thinking New Zealand companies are seizing the opportunity to harvest data in the field.

Precision Farming uses GPS and machine -to-machine (M2M) to make fertiliser use more efficient and environmentally sensitive.

WaterForce uses M2M technology to measure soil moisture and monitor water levels, and connects to SCADAfarm, which monitors the irrigation pumps.

Making the most of what you’ve got There’s a wealth of data available to ensure better business outcomes and now technology has made it possible to harvest this data. From yield, herd health, pricing, weather, soil conditions, product performance, distribution, maintenance and more. Creating a data supply chain will help farmers manage margins, minimise risk and drive efficiencies.

Becoming a smart farm is more than just incorporating these technologies. Whether it’s operating more efficiently or keeping in touch with customers here or overseas, Vodafone can help you stay ahead of the game. Are you ready?

To find out how Vodafone can help you become a Ready Business, visit vodafone.co.nz/readybusiness

WaterForce Using Vodafone’s M2M network, WaterForce measures soil moisture and monitors water

levels, giving farmers a powerful land management tool that also helps them

meet environmental compliances.

Technology in use

VDA466/AGRI/RN1

Grant Hopkins, Enterprise Director, Vodafone New Zealand.

Device gathers M2M data

Network carries M2M data

Apps use M2M data

EROAD Vodafone technology and network lets farms track and manage their vehicle fleet using EROAD, an app

which helps keep a lid on operation costs while reducing emissions.

Wairarapa Moana Employing a standardised online farm management system and Vodafone’s

network lets farmers at Wairarapa Moana access real-time automated data across their multiple sites – without stepping

foot in the field.


4.5mwide bays



PACKAGE DEAL


3.6mwide bays


COLOURSTEEL ADD$700



COLOURSTEEL ADD$900

3.6mwide bays


3.6mwide bays


COLOURSTEEL ADD$900


3.6mwide bays




4.8mwide bays



3 Bay Lean-toBays: 3 x 4.5mDepth: 6.0m (2 x 3.0m)Height: 3.6 – 3.0mInc: PA door, roller door and internal wallGates not included


4.5mwide bays


PACKAGE DEAL


3.6mwide bays


ADD CANOPY

Zinc $900 +GST

Coloursteel $1100 +GST



4.8mwide bays 2 Bay Lean-to

Bays: 2 x 4.8mDepth: 9.0m (2 x 4.5m)Height: 3.9 – 3.0mGates not included



4.5mwide bays




4.5mwide bays





3.6mwide bays

COLOURSTEEL ADD$900

Angus Lifestyle BarnBays: 3 x 4.0mDepth: 8.0m (2 x 4.0m)Height: 3.0 – 4.6 - 3.0m Inc: PA door, flashings, spouting, 3xroller door


4.0mwide bays


FREE FREIGHTis included in all kitset shed prices shown within a 30km radius of any Goldpine store“NZ’S STRONGEST FARM BUILDING”

To get in the draw to win the Gator all you need to do is place a Strongbuilt® shed order with Goldpine and pay your 10% deposit by 5:30pm on the 30th September 2014.

ü Built to last

ü Easy to build yourself

ü Engineered with strength for NZ conditions

ü A timber frame that takes the knocks

ü Designed to meet your needs

Murray Holdaway - Palmerston NorthJOHN DEERE GATOR WINNER - FEB 2014

Every Strongbuilt® shed order receives a John Deere Gator scale model and one lucky winner will receive a real John Deere Gator XUV550 Crossover Utility Vehicle.

Designed for performance, comfort and customisation, this awesome 4WD Gator features a powerful V-twin engine, independent four-wheel suspension and over 75 available attachments - a handy addition to your work and play vehicles!

MUST END

30TH SEPLIM

ITED

TI


WORTH OVER $16,000


4.5mwide bays




3.6mwide bays




3.6mwide bays




4.5mwide bays




4.5mwide bays



PACKAGE DEAL


4.8mwide bays




4.8mwide bays





4.5mwide bays




4.8mwide bays



SAVE

UP

TO 24%

$12,497EA+GST

RRP $16,485

MAILER SPECIAL

$3697EA+GST

SAVE

UP

TO 26%

$4897EA+GST

RRP $6675

SAVE

UP

TO 23%

$4697EA+GST

RRP $6155

$6997EA+GST

MAILER SPECIAL

MAILER SPECIAL

$19,297EA+GST

SAVE

UP

TO 26%

$9297EA+GST

RRP $12,675

MAILER SPECIAL

$6797EA+GST

SAVE

UP

TO 24%

$7997EA+GST

RRP $10,645

SAVE

UP

TO 20%

$9997EA+GST

RRP $12,545

MAILER SPECIAL

$5897EA+GST

SAVE

UP

TO 24%

$7597EA+GST

RRP $10,035

MAILER SPECIAL

$10,297EA+GST

RRP $20,375

EA+GST

$14,897$4897EA+GST

RRP $6525

SAVE

UP

TO 26%SA

VE U

P TO 26%

BUY A SHED AND WIN THE GATOR Terms and Conditions: Orders must be placed, with a non refundable 10% deposit by 5:30pm on 30th September 2014. Deposits need to be visible in your Goldpine Customer Account by Thursday 2nd October 2014 at 8:00am. Delivery must be taken prior to 31st October 2014. Draw will take place on the 9th October 2014. For full terms and conditions, please ask the team at your local Goldpine store. STRONGBUILT® Terms and Conditions: All prices exclusive of GST and are from 1st September - 30th September 2014 only, while stocks last. Prices based on high wind zone, 0.75kPa snow loading and 300kPa soil loading. 10% deposit is required. Offer valid on these Strongbuilt® Standard Kitset Sheds only and for payments made via a Goldpine account. Sheds are compliant to the 1170 building code requirements. Delivery must be taken before 31st October 2014 and freight included is within a 30km radius of any Goldpine Store. These shed offers are not available in conjunction with any other shed offer. Photographs are for illustrative purposes only. Full terms & conditions available on request.

MAILER SPECIAL

$10,997EA+GST

SAVE

UP

TO 20%

$15,997EA+GST

RRP $20,065

SAVE

UP

TO 24%

$11,397EA+GST

RRP $15,025 MAILER SPECIAL

$13,897EA+GST

$10,997EA+GST

MAILER SPECIAL

SAVE

UP

TO 24%

$9897EA+GST

RRP $13,045

SAVE

UP

TO 25%

$10,997EA+GST

RRP $14,775

Phone Orders Welcome0800 2 GOLDPINE(0800 2 465 374)

üBuilt to lastüEasy to build yourselfüEngineered with strength for NZ conditionsüA timber frame that takes the knocksüDesigned to meet your needs

STORE LOCATIONS

“Your Outdoor Timber Specialist” Goldpine is a family owned company that’s been around for over 35 years. We are very proudly Kiwi-owned and have built a solid reputation for providing high quality timber and fencing products for outdoor use.Contact us for all your fencing and farm building needs.

Masterton

Feilding

Dannevirke

Stratford

OtorohangaPutaruru

Te Awamutu

Morrinsville

Waihi

Hastings

OTOROHANGAReuben Warren Store Manager1 Phillips Ave Ph:(07) 873 8183

PUTARURUJeffrey Gash Store Manager100 Taupo St Ph:(07) 883 8334

STRATFORDJohn Durdle Store ManagerCnr SH3 & Monmouth Rd Ph:(06) 765 4256

HASTINGSAaron Mullins Store Manager1412 Omahu Road Ph: (06) 879 5580

FEILDINGPhil Lamond Store Manager39 Kawakawa Road Ph:(06) 323 2718

MASTERTONSue RaynerStore Manager89 Ngaumutawa Rd Ph:(06) 377 7425

WAIHIKiel Bagnall Store Manager2 Dean Crescent Ph:(07) 863 9167

MORRINSVILLEHamish Millward Store Manager4 Marshall St Ph:(07) 889 5553

TE AWAMUTUMatt Eggers Store Manager520 Ohaupo Rd Ph:(07) 870 5158

DANNEVIRKEGerard McKay Store ManagerCnr SH2 & Laws Rd Ph:(06) 374 4101

Masterton

Feilding

Dannevirke

Stratford

OtorohangaPutaruru

Te Awamutu

Morrinsville

Waihi

Hastings

OTOROHANGAReuben Warren Store Manager1 Phillips Ave Ph:(07) 873 8183

PUTARURUJeffrey Gash Store Manager100 Taupo St Ph:(07) 883 8334

STRATFORDJohn Durdle Store ManagerCnr SH3 & Monmouth Rd Ph:(06) 765 4256

HASTINGSAaron Mullins Store Manager1412 Omahu Road Ph: (06) 879 5580

FEILDINGPhil Lamond Store Manager39 Kawakawa Road Ph:(06) 323 2718

MASTERTONSue RaynerStore Manager89 Ngaumutawa Rd Ph:(06) 377 7425

WAIHIKiel Bagnall Store Manager2 Dean Crescent Ph:(07) 863 9167

MORRINSVILLEHamish Millward Store Manager4 Marshall St Ph:(07) 889 5553

TE AWAMUTUReg NunnSalesperson520 Ohaupo Rd Ph:(07) 870 5158

DANNEVIRKEGerard McKay Store ManagerCnr SH2 & Laws Rd Ph:(06) 374 4101

Opening Hours Monday to Friday 7.30am – 5.30pmSaturday 8.00am – 12.30pm

rural news 16 september 2014

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