increase font size
Roger Smith, new head of Biosecurity NZ.
Farming will change post Mycoplasma bovis, says Roger Smith, the man appointed to head Biosecurity New Zealand, a new dedicated stand-alone business unit within the Ministry for Primary Industries.
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.”
The recent East Coast Farming Expo, held over two days at Wairoa, offered an insight into the current state of agriculture on the east of the North Island, at a time when the locals are remembering the second anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.
OPINION: At last, a serious effort to better connect farmers and scientists.
An initiative by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to connect farmers with scientists is taking off judging by the response at recent regional field days.
Scientists from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) are part of an international team working to develop a low-cost diagnostic tool that could significantly improve food crop production in developing countries.
A company growing and processing seaweed with known methane-busting properties at a facility in Bluff is expanding internationally but New Zealand cattle farmers won't be getting the product anytime soon.
Rural retailer Farmlands has launched a new casual clothing range available across 42 stores nationwide and through its online store.
Federated Farmers says the health and safety changes announced this week by the Government represent the start of overdue reforms.
The Government is calling on rural New Zealanders to share their views on proposed regulations designed to improve the management of farm plastic waste.
For many urban New Zealanders, stepping into Pāmu’s Pinta dairy farm near Taupo last month was the first time they had had the chance to experience farm life up close.
After tasting 240 New Zealand made cheeses, judges have bestowed medals upon 199 of the entries.
Bay of Plenty’s top share farmers Andre and Natalie Meier are no strangers to the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards winning circle.
OPINION: Is it the beginning of the end for Greenpeace?
OPINION: The good times felt across the dairy sector weren't lost at last week's Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting.
