No to live sheep exports but it's okay to hurt the crabs?

Aaah what a strange world we live in...full of hypocrisy.

We don't like the idea of sending lambs on a comfortable ship to Saudi Arabia to be killed when they would be killed here anyway but we don't mind boiling the odd crab or lobster or two for our supper.

Think there's a difference? You might be wrong. Today's UK Daily Mail reports that latest research shows that crabs feel pain when they are boiled - surprise surprise - and would remember that pain if they escaped the pot.

The finding could have important implications for the food industry, where many chefs boil crabs, lobsters and prawns alive in the belief that they are impervious to pain.

Wonder if the Green Party think of that when they order up a crustacean delicacy alongside their barley smoothies?

Live sheep exports could create Kiwi consumer backlash

The New Zealand Herald asked readers what they thought about the prospect of resuming live sheep exports with some worrying responses.

The overwhelming sentiment was that the trade was deplorable with many saying they would protest by not buying New Zealand lamb.

As said in previous posts, even if the reality is far different from what Sue Kedgely is promising it will be a difficult business to push in the current consumer market place where top chefs such as Jamie Oliver preach daily on welfare for animals.

It seems no matter what stringent conditions MAF comes up with there will be a large majority of people bent on destroying the trade.

Here's a sample of some of the comments:

"I will stop buying lamb in protest if this takes off!"

"It's inexcusably and unnecessarily cruel.It also destroys jobs and businesses for New Zealanders.A return to live sheep exports signals a triumph of greed over not only the value of humane treatment of animals but also the expectation that our first priority is to maintaining the maximum benefit of our efforts going to our own people.It creates one more field in which we are seen to have lesser expertise than the rest of the world and worse, lesser morality and standards of decency.This suggestion bears a remarkable similarity to Fonterra and the melamine scandal which also impacted both human beings and animals: a morality based only on convenience and profit to a select few at a cost of suffering to the majority - human or animal.It seems the tide in the world has turned. No longer is humanity progressing toward higher principles (however despised 'colonialism' is in modern times) but returning to the lowest common denominator to be found in the characteristics of our trading partners."

"Yes to live sheep exports provided they are flown there in economy class with flight attendant service."

Going cheap...take as much palm kernel as you want says Ravensdown rep...

Scene: Lincoln Field Days 2009

Setting: Inside Ravensdown tent a drum of brown mush indispersed with as many specks of grain as you can count on your fingers.

What Ravensdown calls it: Dairy Hi-Carb

What they proclaim: This palm kernel mix is 'awesum' for both the dairy and arable industry because it helps both industries by giving the dairy farmer a cheap break (never mind the proven poor animal nutrition of the stuff) and the arable farmer a chance to pull out a handful of grain from his silo - therefore helping both shareholders.

What Ravensdown rep said: "You can have as much of this as you want."

What arable farmers said: "I actually came here to buy fertliser. I see you don't have any so I'll just pop along to the Ballance tent shall I?"

Farmgirl talks on Farming Show

You can catch up with Farmgirl's latest chat with Farming Show host Jamie Mackay by going to this link: http://www.farmingshow.com/farming230309.html.

Go to Monday 23rd March if it hasn't already taken you there.

Day 2 of Lincoln Field days today....more of that tonight.

Kune Kune the new Kiwi sheepdog?

For those of you struggling to find and then train a decent sheepdog, meet Sue, a Herefordshire Kune Kune who is about to take the sheepdog trial world by storm.

This real life Babe is a very clever little piggy indeed according to the Daily Mail .

Sue apparently started copying the farm dogs when she saw her owners training them in the garden and worked out that they were receiving treats when they were successful at negotiating obstacles.

'Pigs are very intelligent and I would say Sue is easily as clever as a dog,' the owner said.
'I'm going to enter Sue in this summer's Royal Welsh Show in the dog agility event.'
She added: 'He has been watching the sheep through the fence and has even met them up close, although he was a little wary at first. If he saw a dog herding the sheep I'm sure Sue could learn to do it.'

May-be just the answer for those wayward sheepdogs farmers are always yelling at!

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1164127/Pictured-Sue-clever-little-piggy-high-hopes-real-life-Babe.html

Ravensdown CEO Rodney Green insults arable/horticulture farmers in further slight to the sector

Well for those of you that put on a good $100 000 grand plus of Ravensdown fertiliser each year, of which there are many in Canterbury, you can be assured that your 'friendly' farming co-operative does not value your business at all.

In fact you don't exist...but you already knew that when they decided to ignore the sector and enter the palm kernel market.

But yesterday in the New Zealand Farmer's Weekly what we all knew was confirmed when Ravensdown chief executive Rodney Green ignored the presence of a New Zealand arable sector.

"Thank goodness for Western Australia," he brayed, when talking about the purchase of United Farmers last year, because being nearly all arable farming it apparently brought in a third commodity group to the co-operative, behind dairying and the sheep/beef sector.

Hello Rodders...time to come investigate all the huge spud, onion, processed vegetable, cereal and specialist seed operations that prop up your balance sheet each year because apparently you don't think they exist.

In fact you told Alan Williams that in recent years Ravensdown business has changed from its traditional sheep and beef farmer base to a broadly 50/50 split between sheep/beef and dairying. There was no mention of the arable/horticulture sector.

What an insult and it shows why the arable sector shareholding is being largely ignored by the co-operative. Why on earth do we persist with a co-operative when they do not even value or acknowledge our business?

I know of another fertiliser business that is only too keen to pick us up. May-be it's only when we pull out all the tonnages we put through that Ravensdown and Rodney Green might notice the hole in the balance sheet we were filling.

Hysteria overshadowing reality of live sheep exports

You have to hand it to Sue Kedgley. She knows how to push the Green Party agenda forward by using emotion over fact to benefit the cause.

In this case it is the Government's intention to end a six year moratorium on live sheep exports and Kedgley has ramped up the national sentiment to such a hysterical level it is almost impossible to find any real facts among the animal welfare banter.

Kedgley is a smart lady. By talking about 'ritual sacrifice' and reminding us of the Australian disaster when 5000 sheep died in 2004 she has guaranteed an outrage that is disproportionate to the reality - but why let facts get in the way of reality?

The truth is (for anyone not blathering on talkback radio today), that there is strict regulations governing the live export trade and it is in the best interests of the producers to deliver healthy sheep. MAF will have to be absolutely certain that these sheep will not be mistreated on the journey.

But let's be honest about this - Kedgley is absolutely right to say that many of these sheep will be used in Muslim rituals when they reach Saudi Arabia - and while that might not be comfortable in our culture, it it their prerogative to do what they will.

And while we're being honest let's just say that it's slightly hypocritical to suggest a live sheep export is abhorrent to our sensitivities when we cook live crayfish among other things, without much of a thought to how it got on our plate...and then of course there are the vegetables that scream in the pot...aren't they alive!!!

Business exports are valuable right now and while we can't put at risk our reputation, if this live trade can work, we owe it to our farming community and to our economy to give it a go.

This is not Australia and it's not 2004. In terms of animal welfare standards we have come a long way since then and Sue Kedgley knows this, so bravo Sue, you've put the Green Party in the headlines again, you clever clever gal.

Contractors among the first to suffer recession in agriculture

Contractors up and down the country are reporting a dismal season across the board. Although farming has not yet been hit dramatically by the recession (apart from the decreasing dairy pay-out) it seems farmers have been tightening their belts and deciding not to hire cultivators and fertiliser spreaders, in favour of doing it themselves.

Locally many contractors have said they have had the quietest January/February for many years and March has only marginally been better.

The upshot of this is that we may see some contractors forced out of the industry, jobs lost, and less money floating about rural townships - which would be a further blow to the economy as the Government is looking particularly to the rural sector for growth.

Let's hope the situation improves.

Ravensdown defending involvement in animal nutrition market

Too little...too late.

After recent criticism (Farmgirl being among them) Ravensdown have decided to bring out the PR swagger Kings to persuade arable farmers that their involvement in the animal nutrition market (namely the palm kernel market) is actually good for them.

And I expect they will do a magnificent job of sugar coating what is still a kick in the teeth to their cropping farmers, but they forget one thing, and that is while they spin it anyway they like there is still no way that any palm kernel sold from Ravensdown benefits a substantial number of its shareholders.

Regardless of the waffle they express about how it is encouraging some North Island farmers to add grain as well as palm kernel to their mixes and how they are actually trying to help our industry, it does not disguise the fact that they should not be in that market in the first place.

As I've said before Ravensdown is a farming co-operative. It is not there for dairy farmers alone, sheep farmers alone or cropping farmers alone. All we ask is that we have fertiliser at decent prices and leave the animal nutrition market alone.

So it is with trepidation that we will attend the meeting with the big guns on the 7th April. I'm sure, as happened the last time I posted on this matter, that I will have some anonymous poor comments again from directors and those trying to protect their own jobs but I do it for a valid reason - in the name of trying to achieve fairness across the board and keep the co-operative honest.

How about a Farmer owned supermarket?

It was made fairly clear last night on Sunday that our supermarkets are heading in the same direction as their British counterparts albeit without the huge discounts for customers.

Here the reality of price mark ups was exposed with a Hawkes Bay Royal Gala apple grower saying how he received just $037.5 cents per kilo for his fruit yet the same supermarket he sold too was marking it up to $3.69 per kilo.

The problem is of course that Foodstuffs almost holds the monopoly on the market and can afford to pay little to the producer and charge lots for the customer.

The suggestion put forth last night was that to avoid the price hikes we should go to our local corner store or butcher - and that does appear to be happening more and more. From personal experience of Farmers Markets it has become clear that people are looking for quality produce without the supermarkets intervening in between.

This then could be a good outlet for producers but it is of course on too smaller scale which leads me to ask why we couldn't get together and start our own Farmers supermarket, shut the blockheads out and market our product the way we want it marketed. It would also ensure that people understand that something like a loaf of bread might have increased by near 100% in price in the past two years, yet the farmer is still only receiving a pitiful 10 to 20 cents per loaf and as co-owners we could sell at a price that better reflects what consumers want to pay.

Further to that we could ensure the quality of produce on the shelf - a sore point for many growers as I found out as a journalist in Marlborough when a local apple grower told me that while his seconds went to a market and were supposed to be used for secondary products, he knew they were ending up on supermarket shelves at similar prices to the top quality apples. This causes consumers to loose faith in the produce and to unfairly blame the grower.

Locally Countdown has been guilty of this and many feel sorry for the producers when they pick up oranges with a thick layer of fur over them (as I did recently) and produce that is soft and rotting in the middle.

Fantasy it might be but wow...imagine what we could achieve if we were able to pull a Farmer's supermarket off...

Never mind saving kiddies, give it all away

Excuse the pun but it beggars belief!

Our do gooder PM is now suggesting that if we don't spend the pitiful $10 bucks extra a week he's offering in tax cuts, we could do the right thing and give it to charity because apparently many charities are going through a hard time right now.

Sorry to have to tell you this John, but you're a bit out of touch luv...you see we're all going through a hard time right now...and those very people the charities need to reach are the ones that could do with the extra $98 per week you've awarded yourself and your wealthy peers.

Could the bloke sound anymore naive then in his speech to Philanthropy NZ conference? There is political innocence and then there is sheer idiocy.

At a time when most people are struggling to pay their mortgage, raise their kids and ahem ahem, save for retirement, the mere hint that others may in fact not really need this tax cut (ie. the rich) is mocking to say the least.

But this is National we are talking about...the party that helps the rich get richer while the rest drift away.

And then there's the boil of superannuation and the fact that the pot will be dry by the time most of us get there...if he was going to suggest doing anything with the tax cut, surely it should be that it goes into saving for retirement?

As for his request for an 'American culture of giving' - look no further than the mess that country is in right now.

Forget the giving to charity Johno, and live in the real world, a world where people are struggling to buy fresh vegetables to feed their children...help them to help themselves by increasing their tax cut so that their children don't end up needing the very foodbanks and later the unemployment benefit that the wealthy is never going to foot the bill for.

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Farmgirl slacking off 'til Thursday

Just to say I am away to see the lovely Chris Martin and Coldplay until Thursday...in the city where all our money is going to fund their transport woes...will post plenty when I get back. Have a good couple of days.

Cheerio.

Are lamb prices going to hold?

Okay, I have a vested interest in this. Today we have almost secured 1000 Southland lambs to finish and it looks likely that we will have to pay $85 to $90 per lamb.

We have been advised that this price is not likely to drop, and that even if a short sharp cold period puts paid to growing conditions down South, there are just not the lambs in the market, so we consider ourselves lucky if indeed we do manage to secure them, despite the horrendous overdraft it will likely cause!

Alas there are plenty of grass paddocks in Canterbury - a surplus of the recent wet spell that has carved havoc through the harvest season, so competition is hot.

Alliance have advised that they expect we will get over $6 a kilogram in August for them - with some predicting, all going well, that this could hit $6.50.

So while $120 to $135 a lamb seems a good profit, there is a lot riding on the overseas markets in the next couple of months for many of us as these lambs are not on contract - as such.

And for those farmers not able to get lambs and with plenty of grazing available there is not much to be had in the dairy market.

The Otago Daily Times reports that dairy farmers down South are holding off signing contracts as the situation becomes clearer. They know that with all the extra grass around they should be able to barter downwards - as will happen in Canterbury.

It's a situation we will keep our eye on with interest.

Let's hope those in the Northern Hemisphere keep eating at home as the recession bites (even Gordon Ramsay has had to close his posh Paris restaurant as punters save their money and cook at home instead of going out), and demanding our lovely lamb for their Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, all days of the week dinner!

Some good points re our banks

Just wanted to share this from one of our readers and thank him for his comments. It gives all of us a far better insight.

"Trouble is, Farmgirl, though the short term rates will come back a bit more on the back of the OCR, long term rates are already starting to trend up, so it's a problem of trying to forecast how long the low variable rates will last as compared to fixing long now. If I was in the UK or US, with the amount of money they are printing then I would be expecting hyper (monetary) inflation in two or so years time, quite possibly less, so perhaps a year at best? Key has been a bit more moderate, however, Bollard has now once mentioned 'quantitative easing', a disaster, but there you go, a real threat given he is saying the OCR can't go below 2.5%, so same scenario here as UK and US.I'm not advising any policy :) but outside the seasonal financing, those long term rates are looking not too bad, and perhaps, just perhaps - I'm making no prediction, by the time the OCR is on 2.5%, the longer term rates, under some realistic scenarios, will be more expensive than they are now. Possibly, not definitely. Choices, choices. I see Bernard Hickey is saying to be looking at the long term from about now, and over perhaps the next month.

Also I realise the bankers have been getting a lot of flack for many farmers' short term rates still cushioning the banks with quite high premiums, but then again, some farm balance sheets are very strained and the risk premiums the banks are using are understandable and probably justified. While it may well be right that the banks were throwing money at the farming sector up to as little as ten months ago, not one farmer was forced into taking on more debt. The banks have been caught as flat footed at the strength and speed of the economic crisis as their customers - and there is the one point of criticism, for they perhaps 'c'ould have known better."

Mmmm...well put...and certainly food for thought.

Thanks again.

No surprises with interest rate cut

There were no surprises with Dr Bollard's announcement of a record low interest rate of 3%, down from 3.5% but he did suggest that the days of big cuts are over, with New Zealand not expected to head in the direction of near zero policy rates of some other countries.

Any cuts from now on will be smaller, so those wanting to lock in fixed mortgages will be looking for that magical cut to 2.5% that is expected by the middle of the year.

Let's hope our banks play ball.

Interest Rates around the world (how we compare):

New Zealand - 3 per cent

European Central Bank - 1.5 per cent
Bank of England - 0.5 per cent
Australia - 3.25 per cent
US Federal Reserve - 0-0.25pc
Japan 0.1 per cent

Increasing Meat and Wool levy a must to keep us in the game

So increases in input costs on farm are not such a welcome addition at the moment which may cause Meat and Wool New Zealand some problems in seeking to double the sheep and beef levies.

The proposal is for sheep levies to rise from 40c to between 60 and 80c, beef cattle levies to rise from $3.60 to $5.50 and $6 a head while the wool levy would fall from 5.25c to 5c per kilogram.

It would be easy to stall the increase (the first to be asked for since 2004) and adopt a wait and see approach to the global economic problems but this would only end up disadvantaging the entire industry.

Meat and Wool have been doing an admirable job - and a much needed one in promoting our meat into overseas markets with an independent report confirming that we are making money on our investment.

And like any business, (think Fonterra or PGG Wrightson) to grow we need more investment.

The August vote should be a no-brainer and hopefully farmers' will avoid all the negativity coming out of the economy and not shut the only sure fire way to make more money - investment, investment, investment.

Thank God for fertiliser competition

Yet again it has been brought home to us here how vital competition in the fertiliser market is with the grumblings coming from UK farmers about the monopolistic industry there.

The latest fall in nitrogen prices in Britain has been met with contempt by farmers who ordered early and are now footing an expensive bill for their trouble.

UK Farmer's Weekly reported many farmers had a perception that the UK fertiliser industry in the form of Growhow UK has excessively profited at their expense - a serious charge, but probably not that far wrong.

Growhow marketing manager Ken Bowler denied the monopoly his company enjoyed had caused the high prices, saying while Growhow was the one remaining manufacturing supplier they still have to compete with opportunistic sellers.

But farmers do feel cheated and it serves to remind us how lucky we are to have Ravensdown and Ballance battling it out for market share. It's true fertiliser prices have been high this season due to international prices - this is not a problem British farmers face alone.

Here we grew wheat when Urea was $1100/tonne and now we could grow that same wheat for $690/tonne. But unlike our English counterparts we can afford to be pragmatic about it, knowing that with the competition in our industry the co-operatives have to bring the prices down as quickly as they possibly can and not drag their feet for extra profit share as seems to be happening with Growhow.

Currently the UK depends on 60% of its fertiliser from imports so it could benefit immensely from having more competition.

Here are the current UK fertiliser prices for March 2009 (£/t delivered):


UK SP5 34.5% N
£265-270

Imported urea Imported AN (full analysis)
£280-300

Granular(dependent upon quality)
£240-270


All illustrated prices are based upon 24t loads for cash payment the month following. Prices for smaller loads and 50kg bags will vary considerably.

For further information go to: http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/11/114677/global-marketplace-sees-fertiliser-fall.html

Shorty and some much needed light relief

This from the UK Daily Mail today:

Get Shorty! The tiny pony who keeps sparking 999 calls ... because people think she's stuck in the mud!

For a tiny pony, Shorty is certainly causing a lot of bother. Her legs are so short that when she's standing on a marshy riverbank passers-by keep thinking she's sinking in mud and then call 999.
This has meant that fire crews have been called out four times now to 'rescue' her and led to Mayflower getting the Shorty moniker from locals.
On the last occasion, animal rescue expert Anton Phillips was dispatched to a salt marsh beside the River Test in Southampton, Hants, with 12 other firefighters, in two fire engines together Mr Phillips, of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: 'Every time we get there we can see very quickly what we were dealing with - a pony with short legs that looks like a dwarf.
'The pony is oddly shaped but it is fit and healthy and there is no reason to worry about it.
'From 200 yards away it does look like the pony is trapped in the mud, especially when it is stood next to New Forest ponies which are about twice as tall.'
He added: 'Obviously it's not the pony's fault for being so short but it probably needs fencing in to stop us getting called out.
'There is a cost implication to consider and callouts like this are a big expense.'
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service estimates that each time a fire engine goes out it costs at least £251.
Mr Phillips, 50, said the pony must have inherited its unusual proportions from two different breeds.
'It looks like it has a Shetland's little legs and a New Forest pony's long body', he said.
However, owner Sandra Whitcher today insisted Mayflower is a pure-bred 12-year-old Shetland.
She said: 'People are always phoning up and saying Mayflower has got stuck in mud when she's perfectly OK - she's just got short legs.
'We have had animal rescuers, the police and the fire brigade up here. When they get here Mayflower sees them and just runs off so they realise she's not stuck at all.
'We might have to put up a sign so passing motorists know the horse is not stuck.'
But she added: 'The only problem is that one day she might actually get stuck and then the fire brigade won't turn up.'
Shetland ponies, known for their short legs, typically grow to between 2ft 4in and 3ft 6in tall.
New Forest ponies are larger, tending to be between 4ft and 4ft 10in, and more normally proportioned.with a specialist lifting vehicle.

Merger of Lincoln University and AgResearch a no-brainer

Yesterday's announcement of a proposed merger between Lincoln University and AgResearch is positive and will ultimately reap rewards for agriculture.

Having a world class scientific land based university will lure research contracts and overseas scientists and could ultimately produce some significant results.

The proposal also signals a move in the right direction with many concerned the University has been moving steadily away from its core agricultural base. This merger may alleviate that concern and put agriculture to the fore of scientific development in this country.

While the merger is expected to cost around $2.5 million to complete it will save the same amount year as well as attracting $50 million plus in additional revenue each year and it provides the University with a security it has been lacking over the past decade.

Attacks in Northern Ireland feeding on a lack of identity

It's just sad, sad, sad...which ever way you look at it.

Having lived in Northern Ireland for a few months a couple of years ago I was taken aback by the new political peace process. I couldn't stop watching the television news with fierce Protestant leader Ian Paisley doggedly standing side by side with Sinn Fein and former IRA men Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams. It wasn't comfortable but it was workable and most people you talked to in Northern Ireland desperately wanted it to work.

Tourism was booming. People were coming to see the beauty of the landscape as well as the scarred reminders of the past.

But there was always this undercurrent underpinning the optimism. It was in the walking tour of Belfast I undertook with an ex IRA soldier, or in the small village pub decorated with British flags. These people are moving on as best they can but it doesn't mean resentments have died. The division and lack of trust in each other remains as does the brutal facts of the province's bloody history.

So this week's latest tragedy was the bubble that threatened to pop at any time but it can not be allowed to derail the process. The killing of two British soldiers can not be over-reacted too - troop levels must be contained because it was the troops arrival in Northern Ireland all those years ago that sparked the biggest IRA draft in history and it will again.

I do find it incredibly sad that the same army base I saw in Antrim, tranquil and without the massive armed presence of the past, has been chosen by the Real IRA to shatter the peace. The base was more than a British army base, it was a symbol of how far the people had come. That soldiers were walking out the gate to get pizza without an armed presence spoke volumes for where the process was at. This would not have even been considered as soldiers hunkered down each night, fearful in their bases, at the height of the troubles.

This then, and the luring and killing of a policeman by the Continuity IRA is in danger of becoming a flash point. Protestant guerrilla groups will be wanting to react and the people will bring out those old divisions that never lay forgotten.

You only have to read comments on discussion boards on the Internet to know that there is a new young breed of disenchanted youth in Northern Ireland who are carrying burning hatreds. Sometimes it makes you shiver to read their opinions of each other, and you realise how fragile the entire process is.

But the real problem is this - the people of Northern Ireland don't have an identity. They are still drawn across the old battle lines. The friends I made told me quickly and clearly that they were either British or Irish. No-one said they were of Northern Ireland descent. And it makes me afraid that they can't proudly identify with being of one origin as we can as New Zealanders.

There has to be an overriding identity if they are ever to escape the divisions of the past and if they are to shut down these terrorist splinter groups.

Otherwise there will be a new generation filled with their parents' hatreds and it will begin all over again.

Here is a fascinating post on Anderson Cooper's CNN blog written by an anonymous former British intelligence officer who got inside the IRA:

"It is sad that over the past few days we have had terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland that have claimed the lives of two young, unarmed soldiers, injuring another two and injuring two pizza delivery men. Then today we hear the news that a police officer has lost his life in another terrorist attack in Armagh County.
I have watched as some “security experts” have commented on TV, and given their opinions, some of which I can only describe as utter BS.
As a person who has had inside knowledge of a terrorist organization and the thinking of some of the people involved in some of Northern Ireland’s most horrific acts, I think there is much more to come.
Indeed for the past few years I have been telling journalists what I believed what was happening behind the scenes. The answer from the honest journalists was “editors won’t print stories about Northern Ireland, as it might damage the peace process.”
Well, while they were sleeping, and the government was dismantling the security apparatus put in place to please Sinn Feinn and to give them a foothold, others in the Republican family were gathering intelligence, buying guns, recruiting new volunteers, and doing dry runs.
We have heard Sinn Feinn and others condemning these “micro groups,” saying that they have no support in the community, and “these are the same sound bites” that the provisional IRA had been hearing for over twenty years.
They did not listen, what makes you think that republican groups will listen now? And another thing, the Provisional IRA — the mainstream governing successor to the original IRA — didn’t have that much support in the community either.
People like Willie Frazer, who founded Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) to represent victims of IRA violence, and some politicians have voiced concern over the years that Government was acting two fast and prematurely in dismantling the security apparatus.
Yes, there were problems with the UDR (the Northern Ireland police) and others. But there is nothing in place now. The Chief Constable is the chief of a police force, yet he now finds himself in a war against a small army of fanatics, ordinary policing will not work on its own.
Let’s wake up and smell the coffee."

Are environmental concerns a higher priority than producing the food itself?

It was interesting to hear Australian farm production specialist Barney Foran's predictions for NZ agriculture including his dire warning that we need to lead the world in environmental production or be forced out of business within 20 years.
Doomsday predictions for Kiwi agriculture are nothing new. For the past decade sustainability, traceability and consumer preference have been our mantras - but come on, is it really as important as Foran is saying?
There is a simple equation here that always seems to be missed out when it comes to these high brow apocalypse seminars;
Fact 1: The world and its people must eat.
Fact 2: There is not enough food to go around and this problem is expected to be exacerbated further in the next 20 years.
Fact 3: With so much land being given over to the latest fads in bio-technology, food production world-wide is falling while demand is rising.
The Dominion Post reported Foran predicts that within a decade, meat will be marketed on its greenhouse gas emissions as well as water quality, biodiversity assets and cultural values.
"Tomorrow's meat enterprises will focus on product quality first, backed up by measured and low environmental impacts, austere production chains, avoidance of most chemicals and heavy metals and making farmed landscapes waterwise, biodiverse and beautiful."
But I'm not so sure that this is the way it is heading and even if it did go this far I think NZ farmers are in a good place to meet these qualifications. Okay, so we're not perfect but at the end of the day we are pretty damn good compared to some of these Eastern block countries dumping masses of low quality polluted meat on to the market (think Romania).
Foran went on to say that to ensure farming systems remained financially viable a "trimming of lifestyle expectation may be required along with debt reduction, less energy and chemicals, and developing flocks and herds that do the work themselves."
But if we did that wouldn't we end up like our British counterparts, un-viable, un-economical - all the 'un' words you can think of? Cutting back on production is not the answer, nor is as Foran seems to be suggesting, smaller flocks to suit the greenies along with hand-outs from the Government for being good little children when we choose to use the horse and plough rather than the mean ole' direct drill.
Sometimes I think these so called 'experts' really don't have a clue. Their philosophy is so far removed from the reality...
I would be interested to hear your views on this.

Banks need to stop shafting farmers

Good on Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson for speaking out about the banks' appallingly high interest rates.

Farmers will have been sickened by the cuts offered to small home owners and other businesses while their own banks have made little to no significant cuts to their overdraft and mortgage rates.

The irony being that economists are lauding the potential of economic recovery coming from the rural hinterlands as they hope we expand and grow our operations. This is all good news for the banks so you would think they would move quickly to invigorate more growth - alas this has not been the case.

And what has been the reason for their sloth like grasp of interest rates? None other than greed. Shifting banks is a complicated exercise and one many farmers are loath to take on but you have to ask yourself if this wouldn't change if there was more competition in the market and if farmers were more willing to vote with their feet.

For too long the banking sector has been complacent about its rural clientele - yet relying on the sector to prop up its bottom line.

But as Nicolson suggests, enough is enough, and even the most loyal of clients will prove fickle if their bottom line is compromised by the inadequacy of their bankers.

The great urban-rural divide down under and on top!

So you thought we were the only country stuck with this ever growing resentment between the big smoke and rural industry?
While we may have been struggling to assert our prominence as an industry into the hearts and minds of Aucklanders (like John I don't give a stuff about the rest of New Zealand Banks) and politicians, the recession has helped agriculture to 'show off' its wares once more with economists stating it is us that will lead New Zealand out of recession and the news that Marac Finance is looking to regional New Zealand (yes you heard correctly) for economic growth and opportunity.

No such luck in England however. Read these comments from Farmer's Weekly blogger David Richardson:

"According to today's Daily Telegraph an un-named, but by implication, influential senior economic adviser to Gordon Brown told him the City of London was the only really important engine of the British economy and that "the rest of the country can be turned over to tourism".
Admittedly this advice was said to have been given sometime before the fall of Northern Rock. I should also point out that the expose has come from the UK National Defence Association which particularly deplored the fact that defence was looking at a £15bill shortfall in funding and that it was bracketed by the said economist alongside manufacturing and virtually all other industries.
There was no mention of agriculture or food in the report. But doesn't its content sound familiar? Our industry has suffered from the same kind of attitude. Government policy towards it, delivered through DEFRA, has sidelined us. Food and farming were branded unimportant. Tourism and a pretty environment were given top priority. You could just imagine that same economist telling Gordon Brown to let farming go hang and import most of our food. It is entirely consistent with what happened to defence.
And where has that advice to rely wholly on the City got us? I don't need to give an answer. It is transparently obvious to us all. And it confirms what dangerous people some economists are. Governments should sack them all and go back to legislating with common sense. But they've been listening to economists for so long they have probably lost the ability to think for themselves. Sometimes I pull out my hair in despair. And if you've seen my photograph you will realise where that leads."

In the words of our most famous export - Fred Dagg, "We don't know how lucky we are!"

Protectionist measures could sink world trade by 8%

World Trade Organisation director-general Pascal Lamy gave some serious warnings in an interview with Brian Fallow in the NZ Herald this morning.

Lamy was blunt - the stakes in the Doha trade talks have increased substantially as nations seek to protect their own economies. In layman's terms, it could be worse if it wasn't for Doha.

Lamy said we were 80% towards achieving the outcomes from that round but his organisation has also released information showing that if nations were to push the boundaries of present tariff levels, world trade could sink by up to 8%.

There are then two concerns:

1 As the squeeze gets tighter I think we can assume many will push those boundaries

2 This will lead to a deeper recession yet and if we don't think we're really in as much poo as other countries that will soon change.

And finally, I wholeheartedly agree with comments on http://homepaddock.wordpress.com/ about protectionism, considering the furore of Swazi last week and the complete farce the bailing out of Mascot Finance has become.

Here's what Ele Ludemann had to say:

"Protectionism comes in many forms, not just direct subsidies. Feel-good campaigns which encourage people to buy-local and outrage when local firms lose out to foreign competitors as happened last week when Swazi lost the contract to supply our Defence Force are protectionist too.
We can not expect others to open their borders to our produce if we shut our doors to theirs and we will pay a very high price if we give our trading partners an excuse to buy local themselves.
New Zealand has a lot to lose if short-term recession-busting measures result in subsidies and tariffs which will protect our competitors and reverse the painfully slow but steady progress towards global free trade.
But every other country will lose out in the long term too because the only fair trade is free trade."

PS - congrats to Ele for just completing her 2000th outstanding blog. If you haven't yet, get online and read her blog. It is quite simply superb!

Farmgirl talks to Farming Show

You can catch up with the latest from the blog on the Farming Show by going to www.farmingshow.com.

Change in consumer grocery spending

Further to the previous post there is some good news for UK farmers today with news that consumers are cutting back on buying ready made meals, instead favouring primary meat cuts as the recession hits their back pockets.

Having seen the mind boggling array of gourmet and fresh looking ready meals in the supermarkets in the UK, the need to make household savings may the best news the British farmer has had in years.

Ready made meals in the UK are not like what we have here in New Zealand. They are sophisticated and there are literally hundreds of meal varieties you can buy. And unlike the TV dinners of the past, many of these look pretty damn attractive. Gone are the brown peas and shrivelled sticks of carrot, in favour of beautifully blanched broccoli and delectable looking gourmet meat cuts.

Although expensive, these meals have been largely popular with the likes of London's working class, but have further served to alienate the customer from the source of the produce.

So this move away from these types of meals to more chilled red meat cuts (7% in 2008) is good news, and may-be even better news for New Zealand's long term lamb market prospects there.

And it seems Jamie Oliver's poultry crusade may be paying off with reports that free range poultry sales increased by 10% in the UK during 2008.

Need for 'big brother' in UK supermarkets

You have to feel for British livestock farmers with news that two UK supermarket giants - ASDA and Tescos - plan to slash grocery prices across their stores again, to meet the growing economic problems of their customers.

However, calls for a supermarket ombudsman by farmers may not be falling on deaf ears. As prices on meat products continue to drop to uneconomic levels, Britain is having to import more and more meat - which is not something the Government wants to encourage.

The feeling is that if the supermarkets continue to charge ridiculously low prices for food, farmers may get their wish - and not before time with ASDA offering three packs of fresh meat for just ten pounds, and 100 different frozen products for $1 pound each.

Last year Irish farmers named and shamed those supermarkets who were forcing them out of business with predatory pricing. At the time Irish pork producers were losing between 25 and 30 pounds per pig while supermarkets were discounting the price of pork by up to 50%. Chicken producers complained about two for one deals, as Tescos came out with a 1.99 pound bird. But it seems the supermarkets are back to their old tricks and only too happy to import low quality meat of dubious origin.

As I've said before in this column there is a great need to educate the British consumer on what they are eating and to encourage them to look after their health by buying meat that is produced to a higher standard.

But after watching a rerun of Jamie's school dinners I think, sadly, it may all be a little too late.

English needs to stop throwing toys out of cot

For goodness sakes...in the words of some undoubtedly great Kiwi orator, 'get over it Bill'.

Yesterday's report on ACC budget failings and whether the previous Labour government hid the deficit leading into the election was nothing more than a silly finger pointing exercise.

Who really cares at the end of the day whether the Cullen has-been gets slapped on the wrist...it's stupid school boy stuff and only serves to remind us of how petty the squabbling became between English and Cullen in the past nine years. English's need for revenge highlights a weakness in his character that he shouldn't be pandering too in these problematic times.

Because, apart from yesterday's aberration, English looks to be doing his best to rectify the deepening mess we seem to be sliding into. The news this week has been all bad, and English has aged before our very eyes since his government took power.

While Key gets to swan off and talk rubbish about an open trans-tasman flight path which will be unlikely to happen during his tenure as Prime Minister, English is left to struggle at home, almost a one man band, attempting to find a path to economic recovery with ten cent pieces rather than $100 notes.

The man is, in everything but name, our Prime Minister, while Key remains a figurehead, so who cares about who did what last election Bill?

Just keep your eyes locked firmly on the future and the rest will take care of itself.

David and Goliath shall meet

And round three is about to commence now...Keith Cooper is swaggering to the middle of the ring as Craig Norgate adjusts his bloodied mouth gear.

But wait...Norgate's coach is advising him not to yell so much during this round, to keep his cool, to bide his time, to avoid the killer punch.

Already it's been a mighty battle with round one easily going to Norgate, who punched with one hand into Cooper's short pockets and took with the other...but Cooper's mental alertness has given him stamina, he puffed up his chest and delivered an almighty right hook, in the style of Holyfield to nearly knock Norgate out...but Norgate held on, was able to stagger back to his corner to be cleaned up and freshened for the next round.

So, one all at this stage...and now a change in the boxing rules...the two are going to sit down, pat each other's heads, suck their thumbs and let the adjudicator do the talking. Where will round three go? It's anybody's guess, but Cooper has that competitive gleam in his eyes, his pucker is up, his beef chops look firmer...

How the wind changes.

How a year and a disgusting spell of wet weather can change everything...

This time last year arable farmers were finally seeing some upward adjustment to feed wheat prices as they climbed to $480 a tonne. After a decade of rising input costs with no corresponding inflationary adjustment to the price this was justice to many, but one year on and Farmgirl looks on to some big farms in the area that are rumoured to still have 5000 tonnes of milling and feed wheat on the ground, in danger of significant sprouting as the weather continues its vile wet track across the Canterbury province.

The milling wheat still to be harvested will be downgraded to feed quality and that means there could be a large surplus on the market - good news for dairy farmers, but yet again at the cost of their arable counterparts.

$320 to $380 a tonne seems to be where the price is sitting right now and that's not enough to encourage arable farmers to continue planting good tonnages.

Next year, yet again, it may all be very different.

Further update on sheep dog ban in meat works...

Following the news last week that Silver Fern Farms is planning to ban all sheep dogs from meat work yards at the request of UK supermarket giant Tescos, Farmgirl has been told that Canterbury Meat Packers have been doing the same thing in Mid Canterbury for some time.

However, the move was not without ongoing costs as yards had to be redesigned.

One wonders if shareholders will be happy if SFF has to spend money on redesigning their yards as Farmgirl hears that many are old and will be difficult to shuffle sheep through without the use of our canine friends.

How much is that likely to cost?

Investors strike it lucky in South Canterbury

It's hard to know how to feel about the taxpayer bail out of a failed South Canterbury finance company.
Almost certainly last year's hastily put together Government guarantee scheme was not designed to fix the woes of small finance lending institutions but this is indeed what it is being called upon to do.
Suddenly there is a very real possibility that this scheme could be relied upon more and more in the coming year by other such groups instead of the banks it was supposed to lend confidence too.
All this might be good news for Ma and Pa investor in the likes of South Canterbury but it raises serious and important questions about just how much thinking the Government did last October when it rushed to stop the panic enveloping New Zealand's banking sector.
It is all very well to try to secure such institutions but it is plain to see that the Government did not think of the longer term consequences and how much this could all end up paying the taxpayer.
Funny how we've all got used to shoring up big business in this country - think Air New Zealand and Tranz Rail - but we sure as hell are not used to dishing out the dosh to small time finance companies with 2000 or less investors.
A stitch in time doesn't just save nine it seems, a stitch in time will save the smallest financial lending institution regardless of its role in its own demise.
And that has to be a dangerously expensive mistake for every New Zealand taxpayer.