Tuesday, 24 July 2018 07:55

Who’s paying what on M. bovis?

Written by  Nigel Malthus
Discussions are continuing on how dairy and beef sectors will split the M. bovis bill. Discussions are continuing on how dairy and beef sectors will split the M. bovis bill.

Agreement between the dairy and beef sectors on who pays what for the industry share of eradicating Mycoplasma bovis is still a month away, say industry sources.

Federated Farmers president Katie Milne says she hopes for a fair split.

The cost of the eradication programme is reckoned $886 million over 10 years. MPI says $16m of that is loss of production and will be borne by farmers, while $870m is the cost of the response, including compensation. 

The Government will pay 68% of that and the two levying bodies, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ will pay 32% (about $278m).

But exactly how it will be split between them remains under discussion. Dairy industry sources say a 80/20 split between dairy farmers and beef farmers would be fair.

However, beef farmers are pushing for a 90/10 split, pointing out that dairy farms are at the centre of the outbreak.

“We continue to work closely with Beef + Lamb on it,” said a DairyNZ spokeswoman. “There will however be an announcement made when an agreement is achieved.”

The process is being handled under the guidance of the GIA (the Government Industry Agreement for Biosecurity Readiness and Response), which is the partnership between primary industry and the Government to manage pest and disease incursions. 

BLNZ chairman Andrew Morrison said it is crucial to get it right now, because Mycoplasma bovis makes a good test case to produce a formula for any future incursions.

Morrison said the determination should be “reasonably formulaic,” taking into account the size of each sector and the impact at the farmgate.

However, decisions have to be made on what is in or out of the scope of the agreement, for example, whether the supply of feed should be assessed as part of the dairy sector or a service supplied to the sector.

Morrison declined to put a figure on the likely split.

At the time the eradication was decided on in May, Morrison said they expected the beef industry’s contribution to be very small “due to the relative value of the industries involved and because the impact on beef production is expected to be limited”.

More like this

M. bovis plan on track

New Zealand's world-first Mycoplasma bovis eradication programme is making great strides but this isn't the time for complacency, says Ospri.

M. bovis plan gets farmer backing

The Government’s plan to implement a National Pest Management Plan (NPMP) for Mycoplasma bovis has been well received by farmers.

Featured

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

DairyNZ plantain trials cut nitrate leaching by 26%

DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter