Friday, March 29, 2024

PULPIT: Urban people get too much help

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It is hard to know where to start in these unprecedented times.
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Oil is selling in negative figures, people are getting paid to stay at home and industries like tourism and international education, touted as replacements for the primary industries and promoted as financial success stories, have evaporated into nothing. 

Some people have been devasted by the situation while others have taken advantage. Covid-19 is bringing out the best and worst in people.

The world has changed. It feels like somebody has turned the switch off.

The health versus economy debate will be argued for years.  

What will not be argued is the fact we are at the beginning of a huge economic and social reset. That might not be a bad thing. Agriculture will lead the rebuild in New Zealand.

The recent reduction by the Reserve Bank of the official cash rate by 0.75% and a relaxing of the rules forcing banks to retain more capital have given breathing space. The view that interest rates will stay low and could drop even further will come as a relief to many.

Covid-19 has been manageable for farming families who live and work in isolation. The drought has not and is not.

Unfortunately, the drought in Hawke’s Bay continues to bite and has had a greater impact on farming families than the pandemic.  

It has become the silent drought.  

In some areas it is the worst in 100 years.  Dams are dry, stock are losing condition and value, crops are failing and supplementary feed is expensive if you can find it.

The only areas with any feed are Gisborne, Wairoa, Otago, North Otago and South Canterbury.

Some in Hawke’s Bay have had Mycoplasma bovis, others have had TB and a very unfortunate few have had both. 

The resilience required to survive in farming is exhausting. Problems are owned and the costs vary in nature.

How far will the reset extend?

Before the lockdown it was reported on March 2 that Napier City Council chief executive Wayne Jack had resigned and last month that he was close to agreeing on an exit package of close to $1 million.

After the ramifications of the lockdown were starting to be felt Rotorua Lakes District Council chief executive Geoff Williams, who was re-appointed on March 25, said pay cuts for the executive team would be immoral. His package, including a vehicle allowance is $390,371. Talking like this in a tourist town? Unfortunately, he is not the only person to have misread the room. The supermarket duopoly might need to take care.

The Rural Support Trust has sent out a flyer. It says “There are no cash payments for drought businesses but there is Government funding of $2m coming to include funding recovery advice and to support local organisations like the trust.”  That is for the whole country.

It is hard to remain upbeat while living through a perfect storm.  

Farming has gone from the outhouse to the penthouse in a matter of weeks but the pain experienced by many over the past couple of years has not gone away.  

Perception becomes reality and the beat-up on farmers has been relentless.  

Environmental issues, compliance costs and the banks have all played their part.  

All this is compounded by a growing disconnect with urban populations and anti- farmer sentiment. For many this prolonged drought seems like the last straw.

There is pain down every rural road in Hawke’s Bay.  It is hard to watch on as our urban cousins receive assistance, many justified but not all.  

Some of the corporate bailouts are huge.  

The costs are socialised while the profits are privatised. We are also businesspeople, who  farm for next year despite adversity in the present, businesspeople who are now being asked to carry the economy in these difficult times. Imagine if we did not put the bulls and rams out. There would be no next year.

If there is a silver lining to be found in this it is the uptake of digital technology in households throughout NZ. Another is the shovel-ready projects. The nation needs a discussion about water storage for the benefit of all. Currently 85% of our water goes out to sea.

Lack of substantial rain to many parts of Hawke’s Bay since the middle of last year has caught up with stock famers.  

It is tinder dry from the ocean to the ranges.  

Many have had to chew through their winter feed reserves in the hope autumn rain would arrive and set up the covers for winter. Others have seed in the ground. Some have put fertiliser on. It is knife-edge stuff. We need rain before the frosts. The frosts don’t feel far away.

Unfortunately, for Hawke’s Bay the dry in most parts of the North Island and the top of the South Island has had a devastating effect on the store markets. They have been in freefall for months. Yield, such an important factor in driving profit in all processed stock has also been disappointing. The added waiting time for killing space because of covid-19 has not helped.  

It is grim being a farmer in Hawke’s Bay.  

A decent easterly would be a good start but we have a long way to go. People are being tested to the end of their resilience. We run different systems, we have different farms, we all have a story. Every farm has a story.

Maybe the farming community is also due a reset.  

The nature of farming forces us to compete. We compete for space at the works, we compete for stock. We compete for land and we compete for water. That will not change. Perhaps the way we think about it needs to.  

Cricket is a team game played by individuals. Some of the individuals in the team compete to get the most runs, others try to get the most wickets. This could not be done without the help of others and all for the good of the game. Good teams play people to their strengths.

Perhaps the wider farming community needs to do the same?

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