Conrad Smith: Farming and sport share similar demands
The challenges of high-performance sport and farming are not as dissimilar as they may first appear.
Farmers with employees living on their property should be charging them market rates to combat impressions that dairy workers were underpaid, says DairyNZ people team leader Jane Muir.
The subject of low wages in the dairy industry got media attention last week when Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly tweeted links to job postings on the Farm Source site which she claimed proved gross underpayment of workers.
Kelly tweeted links to job descriptions which she claimed were for jobs paying $12.80-$15.55 per hour. She arrived at this rate by dividing the offered base salary by the average number of working hours – which Muir says does not fairly represent overall market offers.
While farmers may offer workers accommodation, its cost is often calculated at discounted rates which, Muir says, can reflect a poor, unwarranted image of the industry.
While it was common for employers to offer accommodation this was often done so at discounted rates, reducing the overall value of the package. For example, rents in the regions listed in the ads mentioned by Kelly were $240-360 a week – as much as $18,000 a year in some cases.
This is no good for an industry reputedly a poor employer, says Muir. “The dairy industry is struggling for employees and when stories like this hit the media people in towns say ‘there’s no way I’d let my child enter the dairy industry for pay like that’.”
Muir recommends increasing rents, then increasing salaries in line with the rent increase to paint a truer picture of the actual industry. “We calculate that 10% of the operators reported to be paying below the minimum wage through calving would [not be unjustly accused] if they were to [charge] a market rent.”
A Chinese business leader says Chinese investors are unfairly viewed as potential security risks in New Zealand.
In the first of two articles focusing on electrification in New Zealand, Leo Argent talks with Mike Casey, operator of the 100% electric-operated Electric Cherries orchard and founder of advocacy group Rewiring Aotearoa.
A Foundation for Arable Research initiative which took a closer look at the efficiency of a key piece of machinery for arable farmers - their combine harvesters - has been recognised at the Primary Industry NZ Awards.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has reiterated New Zealand’s ‘China And’ policy, adding that it wasn’t about choosing one market over another but creating more options for exporters.
A long running trade dispute between New Zealand and Canada over dairy access has been resolved.
New Zealand Police is urging rural property owners to remain vigilant and ensure their property is secure.
OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its…
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content…