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.
OPINION: Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ for ‘The Twelve Pests of Christmas’ to highlight the most troublesome farm pests – a serious issue that needs some urgent attention from the Beehive.
Farmers are welcoming the announcement of two new bills to replace the under-fire Resource Management Act.
The Government has announced it will immediately roll over all resource consents for two years, with legislation expected to pass under urgency as early as this week.
Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping "The Twelve Days of Christmas" for "The Twelve Pests of Christmas" in an effort to highlight the most troublesome farm pests.
The biggest reform of local government in more than 35 years is underway.
Fears of a serious early drought in Hawke’s Bay have been allayed – for the moment at least.
There was much theatre in the Beehive before the Government's new Resource Management Act (RMA) reform bills were introduced into Parliament last week.
The government has unveiled yet another move which it claims will unlock the potential of the country’s cities and region.
The government is hailing the news that food and fibre exports are predicted to reach a record $62 billion in the next year.
The final Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction has delivered bad news for dairy farmers.
One person intimately involved in the new legislation to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA) is the outgoing chief executive of the Ministry for the Environment, James Palmer, who's also worked in local government.
