Feds make case for rural bank lending probe
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The prospects for 2015 would be a lot better if there was some rain falling, says Federated Farmers president William Rolleston.
Rolleston told Rural News the big question mark hanging over the industry concerns the dairy payout. All eyes will be on the global dairy trade auctions in the next few weeks and that result will be “reasonably telling”.
Meanwhile, Rolleston believes the outlook for sheep and beef farmers is not bad, though parts of South Canterbury are dry.
“They’re having to sell early and that’s not always the best use of prices,” he says.
Another big issue is water and Rolleston says this will play out differently across the country.
“Decisions on water are being made at a regional level not a national level. Over the next 12 months or so that will be in Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Canterbury and Southland. There is an opportunity for water to be shared more equitably, particularly as we see things developing here in Canterbury, and in Waikato. As the water resource gets to its fully allocated state we have to try to think of different ways of dealing with the issue of allocation.”
Rolleston says the concept of ‘first in first served’ no longer works and people are beginning to see a need to work out with fellow farmers in their catchment the best ways to deal with water issues.
With the dairy sector having a high profile and seen by many as dominating the primary sector, Rolleston believes that there needs to be a balance.
“A diverse agricultural economy is a resilient economy and we’d be worried if there was a dominance of any one sector,” he says.
Rolleston points out that in the early part of the last century Southland was full of dairy farms and then became full of sheep farmers.
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has found itself in a stoush with NZPork over the controversial National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL).
Fonterra says the sale of its global consumer business and its Oceania and Sri Lankan operations could take 18 months to complete.
The lobby group the Methane Science Accord (MSA) says it welcomes a recent government move to seek outside advice on reducing biological methane targets, rather than relying on recommendations made by the Climate Change Commission.
Well-known scientist Jock Allison has passed away.
After a decade of consultation and court battles, Environment Southland has officially adopted a plan to prevent further decline in the region's water quality.
Farmers are throwing down the gauntlet to politicians - hold an independent inquiry into rural bank lending or face tough questions from the farming sector.
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