That’s the message from the newly-elected chairman of Federated Farmers Dairy, Andrew Hoggard.
Hoggard, who replaced Willy Leferink, is hopeful that new technology in both areas may provide some answers. Hoggard was elected unopposed at the Feds annual conference last week.
According to Hoggard, while some excellent progress has been made on the effluent management front, not all regions around the country are up to the compliance standards. But he says when he looks back at what has happened in his own region – Manawatu/Wanganaui over the past eight years farmers have made a phenomenal investment in environmental management. He says a lot of knowledge has been gained and it’s important that the rest of the country comes up to that standard.
He says in regards to labour issues, conditions onfarm have changed markedly in recent years and compliance issues are something farmers have to deal with. He says the rules have always been there but haven’t been enforced to the degree that they are now.
“When I started off it was just me sharemilking 150 cows. Did I need to know about a health and safety plan? No, back then it was just me. I knew what was dangerous, I grew up on that farm. I knew what was dangerous, I knew what was safe and I knew what to do. Did I keep a record of my hours? No it was just me. I worked till I got the job done. Now I employ people and I can’t put that same expectation on them,” he says.
Hoggard says he has to have procedures and other things in place because that is the changing face of dairy work with more staff involved.
“We do need to lift our game and have better procedures in place and it is a challenge because a lot of our labour regulations are based around large factory settings and not small business like ours. It’s a lot easier for large factories to comply with all these rules as opposed to small business because they have got a whole lot of other stuff they are dealing with,” he says.
Hoggard, who farms in the Manawatu and uses technology extensively on it, says he hopes he’s looking for technology for answers and to make the job of compliance easier. He says some of the recording is still paper based and he is hoping for change.
“One thing that IT could provide relates to simple record keeping. I’d love my staff to be able to hit a stop/go button on their cellphone when they start and stop work which automatically goes into my farm accounting software.
“When I come to do the pay slip at the end of the week I can see what hours they have worked and it’s all sorted. That would be just one way of how it could be made much simpler and easier,” he says.
Hoggard says it’s important that the farming industry, including dairying, has a good reputation as employers so that they can attract good young people to take up farming.
He says the dairy sector with its sharemilking system and other career pathways offers good opportunities for young people.
Hoggard is a strong believer in the cooperative movement for the dairy sector and says it’s an excellent system. But he has concerns at the growing number of private processing companies that are appearing on the scene – especially if they are foreign owned.
“It is one thing that does scare me. If we have foreign owned land, producing milk for a foreign owned processor, where are the returns to New Zealand?
“That’s not front and centre of the big issues at the moment, but it is in the background,” he says.
