The office wallahs in Wellington are showing they know what is going on, and just as importantly what isn’t happening, in the primary industries sector.
And they are, according to director-general Martyn Dunne ready to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in, in some cases partly due to political pressure.
Good job.
After all, that’s what bureaucrats and politicians are for.
Whether this signals a change to the Government’s seemingly inflexible hands-off policy when it comes to showing leadership in agriculture is yet to be seem.
One of the major issues of recent years has been meat industry reform and the Government avoided it like a contagious disease, refusing to even facilitate discussions between the various parties involved.
Its message was for those parties to sort themselves out then go to the Government with a proposal if legislation was needed.
The rest of that story is history, some of it yet to be written and farmers will be watching developments at Alliance and Silver Fern Farms with great interest.
Now, though, MPI has decided it’s time to test the water and wade into several issues.
It is getting involved in sorting out agricultural education, providing guidance on climate change and giving some direction to the development of a New Zealand Story for agriculture.
On the first topic Dunne said he was feeling the pressure from the Government to sort out what has become a shambles.
There’s no doubt agricultural education is haphazard at best. It bumbles along with no co-ordination. That leaves gaps in some areas and duplication in others.
And it does nothing to attract talent to the sector.
In June 2014 I trundled up to Massey University along with assorted worthies, various vested interests and no doubt some hangers on to make up numbers and make sure the buns were eaten.
It was the launch of People Powered, a report on building capabilities to make sure our primary industries remained internationally competitive.
The guts of it was that the sector needed more people with greater skills. It predicted about 50,000 extra jobs would be created over the following decade but also that another 221,000 people would be needed to replace those who left, retired, died or whose skills weren’t up to the job.
That’s 271,000 people.
It could be expected a good chunk of them would be youngsters emerging from education.
But a quarter of the decade has gone and not much appears to have happened. I asked those involved at the time who was going to co-ordinate it and ensure things got done.
The answers were vague and hands were waved as I was told MPI would hold a meeting at some time for those interested to review progress.
From what I can see that meeting, if it was held, must have been very short if progress was the only item on the agenda.
Now political pressure is being brought to bear. Perhaps the Government has realised its target of doubling the value of primary industry exports over that decade is looking more like Mission Impossible.
Whatever its motivation, the Government pressure is welcome. After all, we employ politicians because we want them to exert influence and take a hands-on approach to running the public service.
So, credit where it’s due. Well done to Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy for flexing his muscles and well done to Dunne for letting the buck stop with him.
The New Zealand Story is another area that needs leadership. Dunne has expressed that himself and has said that doesn’t mean dictatorship. He’s not aiming to write the story but to take on a role that brings the plot together and gives it some cohesion.
Climate change is something we know little about and Dunne’s aim of supporting research to better understand our future environment and what we need to do to thrive in it is sensible.
Despite all the hoop-la and grandstanding about the dramatic effects of climate change and its dire consequences we have little detail.
Our farmers need specific information about which grasses will grow best on their farms, which breeds of animals they should be using and which crops will provide the best returns. Someone needs to drive that and Dunne and his staff are the right people. They need to listen to what farmers want and get that from the boffins at the ministry, in other government departments and agencies and from universities. They also need to provide farmers with advice on what is and isn’t possible.
