Farmers have a plethora of organisations.
First, we have the levy groups. DairyNZ does some excellent work with science, extension and economic modelling. They’re not good at politics. In addition, they have little engagement. Despite chairman Jim van der Poel claiming a mandate in the recent levy vote just over one dairy farmer in three voted yes.
That one farmer in three has imposed a tax on the rest of the dairy industry of $405 million over the next six years and that’s a lot of money not going into the provincial economy.
Beef + Lamb’s extension work is also excellent but I believe they spend money in areas they shouldn’t.
Trade Minister David Parker has kept us informed of the international trade issues including Brexit and the European Union. What B+LNZ can add is beyond me yet they spent a considerable amount keeping Jeff Grant in London.
We then have the statements from B+LNZ independent director Melissa Clark Reynolds who wants people to eat less but way better meat and says food needs to be produced with love so the flavour of love is evident in the food. We produce way better meat now. I don’t want people to eat less meat and as far as the flavour of love being evident, I’ll leave it there.
Further why pay for research into regenerative agriculture when there is so much credible science freely available?
Three weeks ago I asked B+LNZ a series of questions about costs. Such is their arrogance I haven’t had a straight answer.
Resources are short and shouldn’t be wasted.
In addition to the sector groups there’s the Food and Fibre Leaders Group.
With just 12 people they hire an independent facilitator. Can’t the chairmen of B+LNZ and DairyNZ or the president of Feds facilitate a meeting with 11 others?
And why is Apiculture NZ, the bee group, there? The industry is so divided you’d need a troop of army tanks to get them into a drafting race.
The group meets Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern regularly and makes decisions affecting you and I. What those discussions are about we don’t know. Further, what’s the purpose of the group, how much does it cost and what’s it achieved?
In addition, we have the Agriculture Strategic Coordination Group, about which I’ve written.
So, what needs to happen?
We need to reform the Commodity Levies Act to ensure upwards of a 50% vote of support from all eligible farmers, budgets with greater detail and more accountability. I’d also like to see a compulsory satisfaction survey of all levy-paying farmers every second year.
Following that we need one, single, transparent voice for agriculture.
We have the resources.
B+LNZ takes $29.3m from farmers annually and Dairy NZ $67.5m. FAR takes more than $9m and Horticulture NZ $4.6m.
That means farmers pay more than $110m annually or $3000 a farmer for industry good.
That a single voice for our sector is needed is evident from the recently released Koi Tu report, The Future of Food and the Primary Sector.
It graphically outlines the challenges for the sector and suggests many initiatives I support.
I’ll analyse it in detail next week but the report says we need clear and unequivocal endorsement to the nation of the central role of the primary industries and growers in wealth and jobs creation.
I believe achieving that is vital for our future but you can’t get there with a series of ad-hoc groups pulling in different directions while following their own agendas.
An example of pulling in different directions – we have Federated Farmers, B+LNZ and DairyNZ all preparing election manifestos. It is a criminal waste of money and resources.
We need that unified approach. It must be transparent, politically effective and give our primary industry a strong, united voice in the media.
It would effectively streamline what we have now, provide a single point of contact, be more resource efficient and reduce costs. As I’ve outlined the sector certainly has the resources.
Will it happen?
I sincerely hope it does.
My concern is patch preservation is more important to the organisations involved than coordination and results despite the fact having a single primary sector organisation is not a luxury but a necessity if we are to survive.
