Top ag scientist to advise PM
A highly experienced agricultural scientist with specialist knowledge of the dairy sector is the Prime Minister's new Chief Science Advisor.
Read: Low public awareness for biosecurity.
The new unit, launched last week, is designed to focus more on biosecurity, not just at the border but in developing a nationwide awareness among NZers of the importance of biosecurity.
Smith told Dairy News that M. bovis has taught us that we need to bring biosecurity back from the country’s border to the farm border.
“Farmers are going to have to learn that biosecurity starts at the farm and that is something very difficult for us. If you look at the Southland model, cows move freely from farm to farm, people swap around and that is fine in a disease free environment. But we don’t always have a disease free environment and now we have to look at how we farm.
“We will have to go back to basic rules about how we control the movement of animals between farms, how we protect ourselves from spreading a disease from one farm to another. We are learning quickly as the world changes and as farming gets more mobile and more agile we have look at how we control the movement of goods and pests between farms.”
Smith says in the coming weeks the Government must make big decisions in light of M. bovis. It must look at management systems onfarm and how these are implemented. Some farms have ‘closed’ farming systems, others don’t.
“I come from a dairy farm with a closed system and we have a very safe biosecurity system because of this. But if you have transient stock moving between farms you have to look and see what controls you have in place before you start sending stock off-farm.
“Also, what controls do you have before you bring stock onfarm? And what about, say, your tractor movements?
“We have to make sure that a disease on a farm is not transmitted to another property.”
Smith says although moving stock around farms may have economic benefit in some cases, there is risk that needs to be managed. M. bovis is terrible but it could happen with other diseases, so Biosecurity NZ will look to discover the best ways to manage farms in the light of such a risk.
Smith says the way MPI has run the M. bovis incursion will not change. The systems were based on science and internationally agreed models and there is no need to change this.
“At Biosecurity NZ we will make sure it’s not just seen as biosecurity for the primary sector. I go out and survey people: farmers understand biosecurity, people in Auckland don’t. So we’re saying that biosecurity is for all New Zealanders.”
