NZ meat industry loses $1.5b annually to non-tariff barriers
Wouldn't it be great if the meat industry could get its hands on the $1.5 billion dollars it's missing out on because of non-tariff trade barriers (NTBs)?
The government is being accused of going cap-in-hand to the primary sector seeking cash to help eradicate Mycoplasma bovis.
National’s primary industries spokesman Nathan Guy claims the Ministry for Primary Industries is canvassing the dairy and red meat industry for money to pay for its response and eradication of the disease.
“In Parliament Damien O’Connor couldn’t say how much money the Government is prepared to contribute to fully eradicate Mycoplasma bovis,” Guy says.
“Knowing how tight the Government’s finances are because of its other big-spending commitments – and even with financial contributions from industry – Mr O’Connor has an uphill battle convincing his Cabinet colleagues how critical funding of over $100 million actually is.”
Meanwhile, National’s biosecurity spokeswoman Barbara Kuriger says New Zealand farmers deserve clarity and transparency from the Government on its plans to trace and eradicate the disease.
“Farmers are already dealing with challenging conditions, given the worsening droughts in many of our regions, and now the uncertainty about the Government’s plans to contain Mycoplasma bovis is adding unfair stress to the rural sector.”
Kuriger says farmers deserve to know what plans are in place to contain the spread.
“The minister needs to be more open with the information he has received.”
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
A day after the ouster of PGG Wrightson’s chair and his deputy, the listed rural trader’s board has appointed John Nichol as the new independent chair.
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