When this happened MAF advisors largely went out and worked as independent consultants and took the ethos of the department with them.
“These people are retiring and those of us who are sheep and beef farmers are bereft of good, independent advice.”
Pearce, whose family runs a dairy and sheep and beef operation at Waitotara, near Whanganui, says he’s had problems dealing with a fertiliser rep who was trying to persuade him not to buy a cheaper product. He says farmers should analyse the advice they get and work out what might be missing; and they should note who is sponsoring an event and be aware that any advice may be leading to a commercial opportunity for such a sponsor.
“The agriculture sector now lacks science funding allocated to grazing management. Much of the research done in this area is on good-quality land on research farms; whereas I believe this research should be done on second-class land where the biggest gains could be made. The amount of research done on second-class land is pitiful.”
Pearce is full of praise for DairyNZ, which he says has a complete package of unbiased advice for its dairy farmers; he notes that the service it provides is the nearest thing to that provided by the Ministry of Agriculture in the 1980s.
He calculates that for every cow on his farm he pays about $13.70 to DairyNZ by way of the levy and says what he gets back in return represents real value for money.
