Farmers Urged to Cut Fuel Use as Diesel Shortages Bite
Respected farm accountant Pita Alexander says with the present fuel crisis there are many ways farmers can reduce their consumption of petrol and diesel.
That is not to in any way minimise the situation that world is facing caused by a bunch of individuals whose egos have little regard for the lives and lively hoods of millions of others.
But at the same time the past is being brought up – carless days and the like – and that is causing panic and stress in NZ.
While our politicians are doing their level best to calm things down and keep things in perspective, some sections of the mainstream media are hyping the situation up.
News bulletins and newspapers are becoming more and more depressing, and many individuals are suffering from media fatigue – meaning they have had enough and are looking for something positive.
One could speculate that the overly negative coverage in the media is making things worse.
Dom Kalasih, Transport New Zealand, rightly points out that media coming to him for comment only want a ‘crisis’ story, and are seemingly not interested in a real perspective of the situation.
Sure, the situation is dynamic and evolving one and yes, we might get to carless days and the like.
At the same time, we see our primary exporters – meat processors and the like working hard to get around the crisis and find ways of getting our exports to market. They are doing a stirling job behind the scenes for the benefit of all NZers’s. No stories about them in the mainstream media!
One group impacted by the fuel price hikes is rural contractors and they are reaching out to farmers to explain the situation they are in.
Where a contractor has a fixed price contract with a farmer there will need to be discussions between the two parties on how to deal with the situation and see if the contract can be amended to recognise the present situation.
But then some contracts are approached in the traditional way of a shake of hand and that can leave a contractor a bit exposed.
There is no doubt that overall, there is a severe economic crisis in NZ, and the fuel crisis is adding to the problem and people are suffering for a whole lot of reasons unrelated to the middle east crisis. There is a need to warn the nation about what might happen, but at the same time a bit more perspective would be welcome.
