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New TAMA president Kyle Baxter.
With Covid-19 effectively cancelling the annual meeting of the Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA), this year’s event was conducted by teleconferencing.
The annual meeting is normally held at the National Fieldays.
John Tulloch, who has headed TAMA for the past two years, has made way for new president Kyle Baxter of Norwood. He will be backed by new vice president Alistair Tulloch of the Power Farming Group. Also elected to the management group were Josh Vroombout (AGCO), Brian Matchett (Piako Group) and Tim Brown (Southland Farm Machinery).
“The relevance of TAMA is now even more important as we move through these challenging times,” Baxter says. “This has already seen us move away from just reporting monthly sales figures, to working closely with government and other industry bodies to play our part in the primary industry’s recovery of the New Zealand economy.
“Over the last few years, we have welcomed new members from the machinery retailing sector. That means TAMA can speak as a united voice in areas such as apprenticeships, recruitment of skilled staff from within NZ or from overseas, while continuing to raise the profile of an industry sector that is worth in excess of $1.6 billion annually.”
In other TAMA news, the provider of statistics for the association, Agriview is reporting that sales of tractors in NZ to June 30, was down by 25% to 1275 units (2019 saw 1702 for the same period). Meanwhile, the rolling 12-month total was down by a similar amount to 3580 machines.
TAMA has also been lobbying government to raise the current asset value write-off levels to $150,000 to align the allowance with Australia. Currently, the level in NZ is only $5,000.
So far, the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Revenue Minister Stuart Nash have declined the suggestion and talks of future tax policy reviews. Meanwhile, National’s spokesman for agriculture David Bennett says the write-off allowances need looking at. He has indicated that if elected, National would raise the figure to $150,000 for two years.
TAMA has also been in discussions with the National Fieldays organisation. It is hoping to gain concessions for its members, which will see the organisation waive the contentious Premium Reserve site fees for the 2021 event.
First up to the podium at the recent Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) Conference in Wellington, Minster for Agriculture, Todd McClay, reflected on a difficult 12 months, but hinted at signs that things were turning the corner, saying “when ag does well, New Zealand does well”.
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