Wednesday, 20 September 2023 13:55

"We're not to blame" - O'Connor

Written by  Staff Reporters
Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says the Government is not to blame for on-farm pressures.

In an interview with Country TV, O’Connor claimed the country is facing huge inflationary pressures from the Russo-Ukrainian War.

“The Ukraine War has put huge pressure on fuel costs and that has flowed right through. We’ve seen that and many other countries are fighting inflation just as we are as well,” O’Connor says.

He says that while on-farm inflation has been going up recently, it is coming back down but inflation is also coming down at a time when commodity prices are also dropping.

The most recent Food Price Index from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations saw a 2.1% drop in the index.

Meanwhile, Rabobank senior agriculture economist Emma Higgins is predicting further discomfort for dairy farmers in particular this season due to a “sluggish” Chinese market.

O’Connor says that while it’s clear there is frustration with the situation farmers find themselves in, “the Government’s a good kicking horse”.

“You can just flog us, but, actually, we’re not to blame for many of the pressures on-farm,” he says.

“I think farmers need to be honest about that because, if they think a change of government’s going to relieve all that pressure, they’re dreaming.”

O’Connor says there are underlying structural issues that need to be addressed and rectified.

“It won’t happen overnight, we’ve got to take a long-term approach to this because it’s really important that future generations in farming can firstly see the incentive to get into it and then stay in it,” he says.

He claims that some of the rhetoric from different organisations and political parties is not helping the situation, especially when it comes to that feeling of pressure on farm.

“It’s a lot of rhetoric and it’s been run up by organisations like Fed Farmers under Andrew Hoggard, now Andrew’s stepped up and he’s going to stand for ACT which is fine, but some of the messages that they were sending to farmers were quite inaccurate,” O’Connor claims.

He points to the saga surrounding Intensive Winter Grazing (IWG) practices as an example of that.

The issue of IWG practices has long been an issue in the farming community, with some vets claiming the practice results in poor animal welfare and at least one activist taking to the skies to seemingly spy on farmers’ practices.

Late last year, new regulations surrounding the practice came into effect but concerns around slope stipulations and the number of consents required still remained.

Since then, Otago Regional Council says it had issued 207 consents for the practice by early May.

O’Connor says that after changes to winter grazing regulations were made, there was a view from some in the industry that as many as 10,000 consents would be required.

“We’ve had 300 consents issued. Most of the farm practice has improved dramatically, so we’ve got there, but saying that there was a need for 10,000 did cause a panic across the farming sector. That was unnecessary and so there’s a lot of rhetoric out there which is causing alarm among farmers.”

It should be noted that O’Connor’s 300 consents figure does not allow for the number of farms issued permitted activity status by regional councils like Environment Southland because they could not meet the slope criteria but had met all other requirements of the consent process.

Get the full story on Country TV, tonight at 7.30pm on sky channel 81, or get 30 days FREE access, online and on demand at www.countrytv.co.nz.

More like this

Feds support live animal exports

Federated Farmers have reiterated their support for the coalition Government to abolish the present ban on the live export of animals.

Live exports battle

As the coalition Government mulls new regulations to reinstate the export of live animals, debate is heating up between supporters and opponents.

Crazy

OPINION: Your canine crusader was truly impressed by the almost unanimous support given by politicians of all stripes in Parliament to the recent passing of legislation for the NZ/EU free trade deal.

New minister's hort focus

The new Minister of Horticulture, Nicola Grigg, says the reason that she came into Parliament was because of her interest in and commitment to agriculture.

Featured

Farmers urged not to be complacent about TB

New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.

Editorial: Making wool great again

OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.

National

Machinery & Products

Farmer-led group buys Novag

While the name and technology remain unchanged and new machines will continue to carry the Novag name, all the assets,…

Buhler name to go

Shareholders at a special meeting have approved a proposed deal that will see Buhler Industries, the publicly traded Versatile and…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Make it 1000%!

OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…

Own goal

OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter