Green but not much grass!
Dairy farmers in the lower North Island are working on protecting next season, according to Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre, who farms just north of the Horowhenua township of Levin.
Federated Farmers say that If OSPRI is to catch-up on under investment in the NAIT platform and deliver on workability and farmer support, levy increases are likely necessary.
OSPRI is consulting on proposals to increase the NAIT tag levy from $0.90 to $1.35 and the slaughter levy from $0.50 to $1.77.
The initial levies in 2012 were $1.10 and $1.35 respectively but in 2014 were dropped to the current lower figures and haven’t been renewed since.
“It is frustrating for farmers to see levies take big jumps due to historical underinvestment in industry assets such as NAIT. It would be far better to have appropriate, well-planned investment with gradual increases in levies rather than big increases to fix problems,” says Federated Farmers meat & wool chairperson William Beetham.
"But now, if we’re to achieve a user-friendly system that delivers biosecurity critical to the sustainability of our industry, we’ll need to get the revenue in place and hold OSPRI to account to deliver a system that empowers farmers, not frustrates them."
Federated Farmers dairy chairperson Wayne Langford questions whether the current planned investment goes far enough.
"It is the act of tagging, registering and complying with NAIT that is an issue for farmers as well as the actual interface itself," Langford says.
The NAIT board is two years into a five-year programme to replace the NAIT database, provide more regional and call centre support and generally make the system more reliable and easier to use.
"They’ve eaten up accumulated reserves to fund the program and to continue the upgrade programme, they need more revenue," Beetham says. "It’s pertinent to note the 35% Crown contribution is also proposed to increase from the current $2.14 million to $5.54 million."
"We can’t stumble on with a flawed platform and farmers being fined when sometimes non-compliance is because of lack of support to help them make sense of a poor-performing system."
"Federated Farmers also wants to see improved measures for transparency around transactions in NAIT animals, and new stock agent standards governing behaviour, retained as priorities," Beetham says.
Farmer-led charity, Meat the Need is calling for donations to enable it to supply more meals to families in need.
Weaker pricing and demand from China continue to impact New Zealand red meat export earnings.
Fonterra has cemented its position as the country’s number one cheesemaker by picking up nine NZ Champion of Cheese trophies this year.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.