increase font size
Katie Milne.
The Government has been warned that it needs to back off some of its signalled regulations if it wants farming to help the NZ economy recover from the COVID-19 hit.
Federated Farmers national president Katie Milne told Parliament’s Epidemic Response Committee that: "winter is coming" for the sector – and not just the freezing weather.
She told MPs the double whammy of the drought and reduced capacity at meat processing works meant many farmers were carrying into the colder months more stock than they would wish, and feed was very tight.
Milne said winter, in another sense, was the dampener on primary produce prices that would likely stem from world economies crashed by the virus crisis.
"Meat that was getting $5-something a kilo is now bringing in $3, if we can get it off the farm. The milk returns (per kg of milk solids) had $7 in front of it this year, but there are predictions next year it will be $5."
While the sector was working as hard as it could to keep things going, "farming will not come out of this unscathed," she told the committee.
Milne added that Feds also had particular concerns about the lockdown impacts on businesses downstream of producers and growers, which help keep farming running every day – "the suppliers to the guy who fixes the hydraulic pump, the guy who imports the tractor tyres".
She also sounded a warning about the potential for signalled government regulation in the environmental space to reduce agriculture’s earnings at a time when farmers - and the nation - can’t afford it.
Milne pointed out that research done by agriculture sector agencies and Local Government NZ suggested the impact of the Essential Freshwater package, if not modified, could cut agricultural earnings by 10-30% in some regions.
If pause was pressed on those regulations "that wouldn’t kick the can down the road" on progress because farmers were already underway with a host of environmental initiatives and work streams, she said.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
OPINION: The previous government spent too much during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite warnings from officials, according to a briefing released by the Treasury.
Federated Farmers says the final report into banking competition is a significant step forward for rural New Zealand - and a vindication of the farming sector's concern.
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has announced it is supporting a new Member’s Bill which it says could bring clarity to New Zealand farmers and save millions in legal costs.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.
