Friday, March 29, 2024

Livestock export ban escalating

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In what could be the final nail in the coffin, the Government has proposed a Bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act making the ban on sea freight for exporting livestock permanent. This would make it difficult for any future governments to reverse the ban and close the door on the trade for good.
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Animal Genetic Trade Association technical advisor Jim Edwards says the industry will meet whatever the Government requires and the organisation is already working on a Gold Standard programme for animal welfare.

In what could be the final nail in the coffin, the Government has proposed a Bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act making the ban on sea freight for exporting livestock permanent. This would make it difficult for any future governments to reverse the ban and close the door on the trade for good.

The proposal does not sit well with some.

“The ban is a knee-jerk reaction after the Gulf Livestock 1 maritime tragedy and ignores the independent advice supporting the continuation of the trade,” National Party spokesperson for animal welfare Tim van de Molen says.

“That undermines those who are making improvements and while we support tightening of rules, we trust industry to determine appropriate solutions.

“They have a lot at stake and the Government shouldn’t dictate what needs to happen.”

The ban could create ripple effects on further trading.

“We do need to keep in mind the implications on trade relationships, it isn’t a simple fix, there are aspects that could trigger other concerns, but the trade provides significant benefits and should continue,” he says.

“Transparency is important and animal welfare checks need to be rigorous, but we have every confidence the industry would develop what is necessary.”

The Animal Genetic Trade Association (AGTA) are not going down without a fight and have been working hard to encourage submissions against the Bill.

“We need to look at this from a global perspective, we can’t just look at this from inside New Zealand,” AGTA technical advisor Dr Jim Edwards says.

“The level of urbanisation around the world is affecting food security and we are in a position where we can and should help.”

Markets import livestock to create self-sufficient herds that can supply milk and meat products to their people. Creating herds helps overcome food shortage problems, but the reality for many countries is that they do not have the space or the water security to sustain enough production to feed their population and they will continue to need other trade products.

“Many relationships are built from livestock trading,” he says.

“There are concerns if China couldn’t source livestock from New Zealand anymore and looked to other countries, those relationships could evolve further and impact more of our economy.”

Some suggest exporting germplasm such as semen and embryos as an alternative, but that is already happening. China needs stock to breed from and many of the importers are seeking livestock to quickly establish the foundations of new herds.

“Sending semen and embryos is only viable once herds are established; they need the heifers to build the herds in the first place and once they’re established they can breed their own replacements and become self-sufficient,” he says.

“There is a lot of development happening and not just in China. We have other countries asking for help to develop their food production by building herds.

“And some countries just do not have sufficient pasture and grazing land to breed and raise the number of cattle required to feed their population.”

If the Bill goes ahead, it will prohibit anyone from obtaining an animal welfare export certificate to export cattle, deer, sheep and goats by sea from April 30, 2023. Currently, it is an offence to export an animal from NZ without a certificate issued under the Animal Welfare Act.

Animal welfare and reputational risk are the common themes among those opposed to the trade. Their views were expressed during the consultation period on the Livestock Export Review that was carried out by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) from November 2019 to January 2020.

Welfare of animals was highlighted by Trade Minister Damien O’Connor when he made the announcement of the ban, but there are further welfare concerns to consider. Transportation after arrival is one, with many importing countries relying on multi-purpose trucks rather than the specialised trucks that NZ uses.

Slaughter standards are another serious concern and although exporting animals for slaughter has been banned in NZ since 2008, an animal will eventually come to the end of its productive life and what happens after that worries many people.

Many submissions during MPI’s review expressed NZ should not export animals to countries that have lower welfare standards and should limit exports to countries that humanely slaughter animals to NZ standards and allow euthanasia of sick, diseased and suffering animals.

“You cannot simply sell animals to countries with no animal welfare protection laws and wish them good luck,” one submitter said.

There is general agreement amongst exporters themselves that there is a gap in the system and they fully support further post-arrival monitoring and reporting. Many submissions highlighted the lack of knowledge of the welfare of our animals within farming and the slaughter process of the destination countries.

Edwards believes if we close the door on the trade for good we will miss opportunities to support other countries to raise their standards.

“We can use our relationships to help educate and support other nations,” Edwards says.

“It could be part of agreements – we will supply you with livestock but you must meet these requirements and we want transparency to make sure they are being met.”

During the transition period as the trade is being phased out there has been a continuous improvement project with MPI to make improvements to manage animal welfare risks.

“We have seen further improvements throughout the export process and should have a high level of confidence in the current standards,” Van de Molen says.

“We know the health and welfare of the animals is a top priority; the vessels have vets on hand for any issues that arise in transit so that their welfare pre-departure, on the vessel and on arrival remains high.

“Things are always evolving and like anything, we’re doing better than five to 10 years ago.

But the industry is frustrated the Government went straight to a ban without an opportunity to explore solutions and show they could alter practices and develop assurance measures.

AGTA is already developing a Gold Standard programme to provide assurance that all animals are cared for throughout the export process and beyond. The standard would outline specific requirements and policies that are designed to lead to a positive sentient state for exported livestock.

It will cover elements such as minimum weight and body condition score requirements and environmental and nutritional needs. There will be minimum standards for vessels and a transparent reporting system to measure animal welfare during the voyage.

They are also proposing protection for animals after they have arrived at their destination, to ensure expectations that they live at least an equivalent life to that they would have in NZ.

“We would like to have reciprocal arrangements where vets from importing countries come to New Zealand and our vets can visit destinations. Before the pandemic Chinese vets were visiting regularly,” Edwards says.

“And that New Zealand offers training to support our partners to achieve global animal welfare standards.”

The trade stakeholders want to be given the chance to prove they can raise the standards, provide transparency and assure the welfare of animals is paramount to everything they do.

“We can’t forget the underlying benefits of the trade, that we are supporting the social development and food security objectives of our most important trading partners,” he says.

“And there are significant benefits to our rural communities from the high premiums the trade attracts. If it ceases, it is likely that those heifers that would have been exported will be destined to become bobby calves.

“Livestock exporting allows us to maintain tight trading relationships with some of the largest importers of NZ agricultural products, including buyers of milk products, and that provides a significant source of export revenue for our small country.”

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