On the positive side I wouldn’t live anywhere else, I wouldn’t do anything different, I’m fortunate to be blessed by a lot of rural colleagues and mates and the gin has kept flowing.
With Mycoplasma bovis I thought Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s call to try to eradicate it was a brave one but I supported it.
What the response did prove was that Nait wasn’t working and neither was OSPRI, the agency in charge of running it.
That the system is up for review is positive and I only hope it goes the full distance.
For the record, I strongly believe subcutaneous tags are the only real answer.
Also for the record, OSPRI was governed by representatives from Dairy NZ, Beef + Lamb, Deer Industry NZ and the Primary Industries Ministry.
With 75% of the governance in farmers’ hands we let ourselves down badly.
The protest groups did themselves proud over the year by showing a total lack of honesty, integrity and any scientific argument.
We started the year with SAFE and its Animal 360 campaign including, among other things, that 8000 to 10,000 chickens died every day from starvation.
Farmers have a strong, vested interest in having healthy happy stock. The industry would be bankrupt if the SAFE figures were remotely accurate.
Further, as SAFE had to trespass on farms for the 360 filming I wonder where the police and Worksafe were?
The Greater Wellington Regional Council didn’t cover itself with glory either, claiming, without any evidence, farm dumps by the thousands are all causing rampant pollution. When asked for proof there were vacant stares.
Greenpeace, that international multi-million dollar fringe group, wanted nitrogen fertiliser banned without any shred of proof.
It said industrialised agriculture contributes massively to global emissions, destroys forests and sucks rivers dry.
The environmental heavyweight then called for a ban on chemical nitrogen fertilisers.
As my mother told me, self-praise is no recommendation and if Greenpeace is an environmental heavyweight then I’m the next All Black pivot.
It actually went on to claim Ravensdown and Ballance are two little-known NZ companies.
It tempts the question, what log did it crawl out from under?
Mind you, it’s in good company with the last of the compulsory unions in NZ in the form of Fish and Game, whose anti-farming paranoia is exceeded only by its lack of scientific argument.
Another anti-farming chorus came from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton who wrote a report about the impact on global warming by NZ’s livestock emissions that came, in my view, from a pre-ordained position.
As our total emissions are 0.17% of global emissions the effect of our livestock burps is likely to be somewhere around zip on the international stage.
I was surprised when Landcorp tacitly supported Greenpeace with the suggestion the Government impose a nitrogen tax. As I’ve written, it would have little environmental impact and what’s a state-owned enterprise doing suggesting new taxes.
Further, in a sneaky submission I could obtain only through an Official Information Act request it wanted an extra tax on water and a capital gains tax.
That would all be disastrous for practical farmers but wouldn’t affect the state farmer.
I wrote an attack on Landcorp to get several responses that were concerned that a reaction to my article might be the abuse of rank and file Landcorp staff.
I am very sorry if that happened. My concern was the behavior of the board and senior management and not those on the farms.
My view of Landcorp is that if it was a two-tooth you’d cull it.
Over the year I tore my remaining hair out by the actions of Fonterra and its Shareholders Council.
I’m not going to repeat what I’ve written except to say rank and file dairy farmers seem the least relevant to both organisations.
I remain hopeful the two new board members can achieve something but there you have an issue.
Out of the 11 Fonterra board members seven are elected and four are appointed, in this case by the previous board.
So, if you have the four voting with the chairman, as generally happens, then the chairman needs to get only one more farmer-director onside to carry a vote.
Next year will be an interesting year for our largest company.
Finally, I do appreciate all your emails whether you agree with me or not. I always answer them and acknowledge your opinions. I appreciate your support.
Have a great Christmas break, may the weather be kind and 2019 be a cracker.
