New era dawning for the primary sector — Feds

Federated Farmers President William Rolleston says New Zealand's primary sector is not the same sector it once was. And in five to 10 years it'll be a different landscape again.

"Consumers, especially the younger generations, think differently and there's a real lack of understanding about our food chains," says Dr Rolleston.

"The crux of it is we need to challenge common beliefs and explain that food doesn't just come from the supermarket; there's a lot of work needed to produce it.

"If we're going to feed a growing population, we need to gain the buy-in to advance agricultural production. This means making a clear, intelligent, inclusive and respectful case for this.

"Attracting young people into agriculture to not only become our future farmers but future leaders is of the utmost importance; it's critical to the success of the nation."

One of the ways to promote this is to get agriculture back onto the school curriculum via science and facilitate growing things in the playgrounds.

"The current slump in dairy prices and with all of the doom and gloom that gets published, it's a timely reminder that we all have a vested interest to support the primary sector," says Dr Rolleston.

"This has the potential to turn away many of our brightest young people who may have been thinking about entering the industry just when we need them jump in."

Other items in KPMG's Agribusiness Agenda: Federated Farmers believes:

- Biosecurity is a number one priority to prevent risks from reaching our borders.

- We'll continue to promote work that supports our reputation among the world's most carbon efficient food producers.

- We're in favour of the increased market access opportunities provided under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and support the long-held bipartisan approach to trade.

- We support the work of the NZ Productivity Commission that will facilitate the 'hard conversations' the country needs to have such as genetic modification and intensification of farming while reducing our environmental footprint.