Corporate narrative?
OPINION: Forget about the fabled 'rural-urban' divide, the real fault-line in farming might actually be the divide between grass-roots farmers and the industry corporates who claim to be 'speaking on behalf of farmers'.
Farmers are supporting a bill from National’s Nathan Guy to introduce harsher penalties and offences for those who deliberately contaminate food.
However, any action from it will have to be funded and resourced adequately to have any real impact, says Federated Farmers.
The bill comes in the wake of last year’s Australian strawberry needle scare which triggered copycat offences here and back over the ditch, says Feds Food Safety spokesperson Andrew Hoggard.
Thousands of strawberries had to be destroyed as needles started showing up in the fruit across stores. The needle scares crushed spirits and trust.
However, this is not New Zealand’s first rodeo when it comes to deliberate food contamination, says Hoggard.
In 2016, Jeremy Hamish Kerr was sentenced to eight and a half years for threatening to spike baby formula with 1080.
At the time of sentencing, the New Zealand Herald reported the crime cost the country more than $37 million.
Hoggard says deliberate food contamination, or threats of it, hurt the country’s ability to exist.
"Our country is built on and relies on primary industries to keep the current living standards we all enjoy. We need to be able to trade products safely. Our trading partners need to be able to rely on us. Any threats and attacks on our nation’s ability to function must be treated as what they are - acts of treason, piracy, espionage and corruption.
"You do not deliberately contaminate food without wanting to cause terror. These are deliberate acts designed to cause incredible anxiety and economic sabotage."
Whatever comes of Guy’s bill, he says one thing is certain: if tougher penalties are to be introduced they must be backed with resourcing.
"There’s no point in waving a flag about an issue and then not resourcing organisations such as the police, the judiciary or the Ministry for Primary Industries to follow through with enforcement.
"Politicians at all levels are great at talking about harsher penalties and regulations, but are very relaxed about the details on how those processes will work and how they’ll be funded."
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Groundswell is ramping up its 'Quit Paris' campaign with signs going up all over the country.
Some farmers in the Nelson region are facing up to five years of hard work to repair their damaged properties caused by the recent devastating floods.
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts…
OPINION: The huge success of former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson's new TV show, Clarkson's Farm, and the boost it…