Saturday, March 30, 2024

Finding reason is key to Feds role

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Federated Farmers president Katie Milne wears many hats but first and foremost is advocating for farmers to ensure they get a fair deal. Tim Fulton reports.
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Federated Farmers at its best can be “the dripping voice of reason”, president Katie Milne says.

Entering her third and final year as head of the organisation Milne has come to see how much it is expected to read the mood, sort and feed information and sometimes make a stir.

Two years ago Milne stepped up to become the first female national president. She has shared responsibility for biosecurity, rural health, walking access and local government liaison plus sole charge of international trade, workplace health and safety and liaison with Rural Women NZ.

Milne says her original goal was just trying to make sure farmers got a fair deal all the way. 

As president she’s often one of the first to take a call from power-brokers.

“And that’s when you realise this is a very powerful and well-respected role and that people understand you’re going to be the dripping voice of reason a little bit and that you’re going to have a fair view to put forward and that you’re going to probably know the expectation of the country.”

Sometimes people expected Feds to be clever, forceful and constructive all at once. 

Diplomacy is the way to go at times but at other times a rocket does the job.

Milne often finds herself reminding policy-makers of the nuances of being a farmer – and sometimes pointing out cock-ups.

“Whether it’s looking at new water policies or whatever you like, if we’re coming in hot or raising some issues it’s because of the implications for the rural communities that they effect.”

Some officials describe new regulations or other impositions as just a cost of business and suggest farmers should get over it and move on. 

It’s the wrong approach, she says.

“I think there’s a misconception out there in the halls of power that you can just keep throwing things at farmers and they just cope. 

“Well, they’ve got a bloody job, for one.”

The born-and-bred West Coaster finds there’s nothing better for explaining farming issues to officials than having the chance to properly get her hands in the dirt again.

“As I’ve said multiple times, there’s nothing like a good little kick from a heifer in spring on the forearm to remind you that the job is pretty biological.”

Most regulators genuinely want the best for farming but everyone needs to keep sight of the big picture, she says.

“People aren’t setting out to upset farmers and get stuff wrong but sometimes they just don’t know what they don’t know. And they have no ability to look through our rural lens at what the implications are. It’s our role to help them do that, to either change the policy or get it to a place where it’s less of an issue for government or ourselves.”

She appreciates it when officials come calling, whether it’s for advice or a heads-up.

“People would never ring me about things they’re not going to come in and have a chat about officially but it might be look, you’re getting an email tomorrow or something’s embargoed etc.”

It’s better than being kept out of the loop and she finds the courtesies create mutual respect.

“At the same time, if I’ve got an issue that I don’t think they’ve addressed properly I can pick up that phone and go ‘look, this doesn’t go down well for these reasons – and this is something you should consider’.”

The advice doesn’t always get taken on board but sometimes parts of a conversation do. 

Her Feds tenure has been dominated by the response to Mycoplasma bovis and an industry-wide push to improve Nait compliance.

Milne has criticised the Ministry for Primary Industries and other agencies for failing to make reforms more workable.

Some of the institutional problems go back years. OPSPRI was going to assess some years ago why farmers’ adoption of Nait was poor. Sadly the job was put in the on-hold basket and the delay was compounded when OSPRI had a change of chief executive in 2014

Still, everyone had a hand in making the Nait system work. Electronic readers on trucks could help, she says.

“We still do have areas that are black-as for connectivity but again, if you’re loading animals onto a truck and then, when that truck gets into coverage it fires the data off, how magic is that? And the technology is out there and about.”

The other traceability gap is the linkages between the Nait database databases and other entities, like LIC’s Minda system. Farmers lost confidence in Nait as a result.

“I’ve been told there were issues. Well, that’s hardly a farmer’s fault but they’ve entered the data and expected it to be done because they’ve been told they can do it that way. You’ve got no oversight of whether it did or didn’t happen.”

Milne enjoys the to-and-fro of Feds advocacy and doesn’t appear to relish the end of her three-year term as president next year. 

“It is interesting. You build up these networks and you start to know how the system works properly then you walk away and leave it, to have nothing to do with it. It doesn’t seem like a very sensible thing. I have people asking me what I’m going to do because they still think I’ve got something to offer. But I haven’t had a full-time chance, really, to think about what the future holds.”

What she does appear certain of is that stepping away from Feds would free up a hell of a lot of time.

The job takes her away from home much more than she would like. She’s now home mostly at weekends. When she took the role she asked partner Ian Whitmore, daughter Andrea and son-in-law Simon if they could manage the farm without her.

“Before I stood for the Federated Farmers presidency I said to the team you can’t count me on for anything more on the farm if this comes off.”

That forewarning was justified as her role has often demanded her attention even before she became president.

Her 125ha West Coast farm went once-a-day milking after the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake when Feds duty called her away from home for three weeks to lend a hand in North Canterbury. 

“It was a critical time of the year,” she says.

“We just put everything on once-a-day here, middle of mating, boom, we just did it.”

The family milks 220 cows at Rotomanu near Lake Brunner and is in the top 3% nationally on genetic merit, doing just under 400kg/MS on about 100 effective hectares – close to what the farm did under a twice-a-day regime.

“Farming’s all about the right inputs at the right time,” she says.

“It speaks volumes about that what comes out in solids is all about what you put down their throats. If you think you are going to put less down their throats on once a day or whatever, no, keep putting down as much as you can. And if they’re genetically capable, they’ll do it for you.”

Milne is also a director of Westland Milk Products, which farmers have agreed to sell to Chinese company Yili.

So it might not just be her involvement with Feds coming to an end. 

“While Feds will definitely fall by the wayside … Westland, of course, that might be a different kettle of fish in a couple of months as well,” she says.

“So I might find that I have nothing to do.”

Outside agribusiness Milne encouraged more sustainable farming with the Lake Brunner Catchment Project and played a leading role in the creation of the Lake Brunner Community Catchment Care Group.

She has also served as a volunteer firefighter, on the executive of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa and run a local contracting business.

She has run up quite a resume, a body of work recognised with the Dairy Woman of the Year and Rural Woman of Influence titles in 2015.

Plenty of people have asked her if she would consider a career in politics next, like so many Federated Farmers leaders before her.

“A few have had a go, haven’t they? I haven’t thought about it. I know I’ve been asked. I haven’t had a serious think about it at all.”

In the meantime, agri work keeps calling. 

“It is hard. I’ve had the whole day at home today and I’ve just realised I’ve hardly stepped outside the door.” 

The thought reminds her to go check some pest traps before dark.

She treasures her home time, especially when she’s feeding calves. 

If she’s lucky there’ll be time for a walk in the bush (the farm alone includes 29ha of native trees), kayaking on a nearby lake or a flight somewhere with Ian.

“I do like to get outdoors and walk in the bush. I used to get on the lake a lot but I haven’t done a lot of that this year. We do a bit of flying an old ’73 Cessna which can take us away overnight or even just for the day.”

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