I don't know about you, but personally I think we need something self-affirming, something uplifting, something positive this week.
Most of us knew that it was just a matter of time before the Delta variant managed to weasel itself across the border and get into us.
A population that has been so well-protected that we have no acquired immunity, just a million having had both shots of the vaccine and 1.5m of us having had one shot, means that the rapid health response at the time of writing may still not be enough to shut this incursion down. Then we’ve got something decent to be concerned about and for good reason as we look towards Sydney and Suva.
Level 4 lockdown has little effect on busy farmers, but much of the rest of the country is seriously impacted.
Hold on Steve, we thought you were writing about something positive.
Yes, yes but I’m just setting the scene. Bear with me.
Then there is the weather and climate. Some of you have had devastating floods. It seems churlish to mention, here we are still dealing with a second cumulative drought. My annual rainfall here in Central Hawke’s Bay is around half of what I should have had by now and this towards the end of August. The usual windy, dry months of spring are ahead but of course, nowadays, anything could happen.
It was so dry underfoot that I had a fertiliser truck driving around on my heavy Hatuma clay soils in July, spinning a bit of nitrogen on to build some feed covers for lambing. That truck could have gone through any gully that usually would have running water in it at this time of the year.
I pump from spring-fed creeks so am fortunate, but have mates out towards the coast who are struggling to keep water up to their cows. In August for goodness sake.
There’s the pace and scale of legislative change weighing heavily on our minds.
Don’t forget the impact on our sheep and beef sector of the rapid increase in the carbon market that Keith Woodford’s excellent series is highlighting.
Gee thanks Steve, I feel really uplifted now.
Well, we get to my point now.
It could be a heck of a lot worse and our worries are trivial to those experienced by others.
Look at the poor beggars in Afghanistan, for example.
Because it sits at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, it has had a hell of a history of foreign invasions and wars.
Its mountainous and tough terrain is considered unconquerable and is nicknamed ‘the graveyard of empires’. The three most recent of these being the British Empire, the Soviet Union and now America.
The country has high levels of terrorism, poverty, child malnutrition and corruption.
And now we have seen the Taliban rapidly retake control of the country after the US forces and their allies left after 20 years’ involvement.
The Taliban are talking a conciliatory game but they have been brutal and cruel in the past and it’s no wonder so many Afghans would rather be anywhere but in their own country.
Then there is poor, benighted Haiti. Eleven years ago, an earthquake there killed up to 300,000 people, although no one is sure of that terrible toll.
One of the poorest nations on the planet, their corrupt president has recently been assassinated, another devastating earthquake has just killed thousands, injured many more and made tens of thousands homeless. Then a tropical storm followed up to add to the misery and suffering.
The majority reading this have their own homes, guaranteed jobs, decent balance sheets and have been getting good returns for our produce for several years with near record prices forecast for the season ahead.
Yes, it’s tough out there but we also have much to be grateful for.
