NZ meat industry loses $1.5b annually to non-tariff barriers
Wouldn't it be great if the meat industry could get its hands on the $1.5 billion dollars it's missing out on because of non-tariff trade barriers (NTBs)?
The Labour Party has sent “blank invoices” to farmers around the country, says Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
The invoices don’t have “any details about the price,” he says.
“There is something different about this invoice compared to an invoice a hard working farmer receives after buying feed, a new tractor or repairing his irrigation system.
“The farmers have received the bill but they don’t know how much it will cost them,” he told Dairy News.
Guy says the proposal to charge a royalty for irrigated water on farms is a ludicrous policy.
He is urging farming leaders to meet Labour’s new leader Jacinda Ardern over the next two weeks and seek more detail on the proposal.
“Labour must be upfront with the farming community rather than hiding until after the election.”
Guy says Labour is also proposing large setbacks for riparian planting on farms.
Dairy farmers have already planted 27,000km of fences along waterways, fencing off 97% of them.
Guy says pushing back riparian planting would result in loss of productive land and impose further costs like mechanical cleaning of waterways with diggers, which most farmers do once a year.
“Labour wants all the posts and wires ripped out and pushed back; is it one metre or four metres further out?”
He told Parliament that Labour’s proposed water policy sucks. “It is badly thought out, badly implemented and damages the most productive sector of our economy -- the primary industries.
“Labour has slammed the door shut on the primary sector. Damian O’Connor (Labour’s rural spokesman) got smashed to pieces… he got smashed by a caucus more excited by the urban vote than the rural vote.
Like many manufacturers around the world, European agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturers are currently operating in a difficult market environment. But they are heading to the world’s largest agricultural machinery event in Hanover next month with a degree of cautious optimism.
Established in 2021, the John Deere Technician of the Year Awards champion the important contribution parts and service technicians make to the Australian and New Zealand agriculture, construction and forestry industries.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.
New Zealand is closer to eradicating bovine TB than ever before, but possums remain a threat, says Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.
The ACT Party says media reports that global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance shows why New Zealand needs to rethink its approach to climate.
OPINION: Dairy industry players are also falling by the wayside as the economic downturn bites around the country.
OPINION: Methane Science Accord, a farmer-led organisation advocating for zero tax on ruminant methane, will be quietly celebrating its first…