Fonterra forecast extremely troubling for Government trying to go forward...

Well it couldn't have got worse for the Government, one day out from Bill English's carefully constructed first budget. Fonterra has announced a forecast payout for 2009/10 of $4.55, down from $5.10 per kg for this season.

This is serious, regardless of whether the final pay-out is lifted somewhat. Farmgirl understands that there are already many Canterbury dairy farmers on their knees and has been told that anything $5.00 or under could spell mortgagee sales for many that have expanded in previous seasons.

Retailers in agricultural servicing towns like Ashburton have been reporting a drop off in sales across the board, and this will have many retailers reeling. The affects will be large and long term.

The consumer/producer divide Farmgirl has been blogging on over the past few months is about to be narrowed considerably as the general public begins to understand that dairy farmer fortunes are their own fortunes as well.

Carbon Tax suicide to kiwi farmers...

Thank God for that queer species from overseas we like to call an 'expert'. It's the only thing that can guarantee the media's interest. Take for instance the Bain trial where UK 'experts' are taking their fair share of column space, because God forbid we should listen to our own.

It's a very Kiwi way of looking at things. So, let's hope the visit last week from the US Hudson Institute of global food issues director Dennis Avery, might wake the Government up to the lunacy that is carbon taxes.

That a National Government is even considering continuing on down that path is a real betrayal to the nation's farmers who have always supported them.

Avery is an expert on global warming and subscribes to the theory that the world is in a perpetual warming, cooling down cycle.

No matter what your own thoughts are on global warming it is important to understand that a consensus has not been reached by the 'experts' on if it is real or not. And if they can't reach an agreement, why the heck are we still jumping on this emission bandwagon that will devastate our economy.

Avery was blunt and he sure needed to be.

"Do not let them send you out of business. Don't go quietly. Not only will [a carbon tax] kill you, it will kill the entire economy of New Zealand," he warned, saying that as the world birth rate rose, so too would demand for products New Zealand specialises in, particularly high-value foods like lamb, beef, cheese and non-fat dried milk.
However, an emissions tax was likely to render New Zealand uncompetitive in the market.
"New Zealand has wonderful grassland, but guess who else has wonderful grassland? Countries like Argentina, who have more grassland than New Zealand and aren't carrying a carbon yoke around their necks, will be the beneficiary. What is New Zealand going to use to buy its imports if it is not selling lamb and beef? You don't make anything else."
Mr Avery went on to say he didn't have a time line for how quickly New Zealand would destroy its economic base through use of a carbon tax, but "things in this world happen a lot faster than they used to".

Principles are all very fine, except for when they might cripple your country. Like Obama's comedown on subsidies to US dairy farmers, sometimes you have to know when to quit having 'fine moral ideals' and have to face up to the hard truth. Now is that time for this Government.

Sight of water going out to sea sickening

In Canterbury at present you can drive to almost any of the major rivers and weep at the volumes of water cascading its way out to sea - wasted.

On the subject of water storage nothing ever gets past the chit chat and good intentions so Farmgirl is hopeful that Bill English's newly announced National Infrastructure Board might actually cut the bull in favour of getting some powerful teeth into the subject of water storage dams.

Homepaddock is right when she says the line-up on the board is impressive. (See http://homepaddock.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/rod-carr-to-chair-infrastructure-board/)

But will they deliver?

The RMA still seems like a major stumbling block in any new infrastructure issue (Central Water Plains) - a problem this Government promised to sort out but it really is time for there to be more than just promises and fancy titles.

We have the water, just not the nous to use it.

Freedom Farms pork co-founder distasteful in selling his fellow farmers down the road...

If there is one thing Farmgirl abhors more than any other, it is when a fellow farmer decides to sell the rest down the road to prop up his own business.

Never was this shown as clearly as when Freedom Farms co-founder Gregor Fyfe decided to use the blatant hype surrounding the so called 'sow pig crate cruelty' this last week as fodder to promote himself and his business through letters to the editor that were surprisingly published in a number of newspaper publications.

In them Fyfe said:

"Mike King's expose of intensive pig farming in New Zealand on Sunday (TV One) last night was sickening, but brilliant.
It must've taken a huge amount of courage for Mike to admit that he was wrong to put his name to the NZ Pork Industry Board without first investigating the way the majority of pigs are reared in this country.
Thanks to the efforts of Safe to enlighten him, Mike has now seen the extent of the suffering that many of the pigs living here endure on a daily basis.
And, to his credit, he was so appalled by the conditions (in particular the use of sow stalls), that he felt compelled to tell the rest of the country about it.
Happily for Mike and the rest of us pork lovers, there is an alternative. Many pigs are now being farmed without those crates and fattening pens and there are a growing number of free-range pork products available in specialty stores and supermarkets nationwide.
If you want your pork to come from happy pigs, the answer is simple. Check the label. If it doesn't say free range or free farmed then chances are it's not."

Firstly Farmgirl questions why newspapers would run such a blatant commercial advertisement disguised as a letter in the first place? Fyfe must have been rubbing his hands together gleefully at the free publicity he received.

Again and again in the farming community we see industries diluted by the lack of combined strength among farmers. It happens in the arable industry when farmers succumb to ridiculous wheat contract prices like they are at present and Fyfe has shown when the going gets tough in the pork industry, he bails and promotes himself which in Farmgirl's opinion is the lowest a man can go.

Okay, if he had advised that his product was free range and that consumers had a choice, that would have been alright, but to boot the poor pig farmers in the North Island while they're down by commenting sarcastically on their practices is just unacceptable.

But you know what - this money grabbing betrayer won the week. In supermarkets Farmgirl viewed this very morning in Canterbury, shelves that were normally full of expensive Freedom Farm bacon are near empty.

Farmgirl even bought some bacon from them today as well as many others to test whether their product is worth it's hefty $10.00 for 300grams.

In another irony Farmgirl questioned her local butcher this morning who informed her that they had sold 'astronomical' amounts of pork this week but that people still hadn't asked where it had come from, they just assumed that if it came from the butcher it wouldn't have been in a sow crate.

He thought the issue was crazy and said that most pork farmers have to separate out their sows in stalls for short periods of time to protect them even on so called 'free range farms'.

One thing is certain, there are three identities that benefited from this last week financially, Mike King, S.A.F.E and of course Freedom Farms.

Hope the bacon doesn't taste too bitter in your mouth Gregor...

SFF boss smart in getting PGG to help pay for Rissington...

It's just a little too much of a co-incidence...Keith Cooper and Silver Fern Farms takes PGG Wrightson to the cleaners after Norgate reneged on a merger deal but says the livestock company are still the preferred option for an integrated supply chain partnership option.

Now SFF has cosied up to Rissington in a new deal by merging livestock and marketing staff from the North Island genetics company into SFF, to provide advice and knowledge to lamb suppliers wanting to produce lamb to SFF's contract specifications. In short Rissington will take the place of PGG Wrightson.

The two companies have had a working relationship for several years, with SFF processing lambs for Rissington Marks and Spencer contracts so you have to wonder if SFF was really interested in seeing through a deal with PGG in the first place.

And the $25 million pay-out settlement from PGG would come as a handy deposit on the new acquisition wouldn't it?

As Farmgirl has said before, Keith Cooper is one of the shrewdest CEO's in the country. Perhaps the Pork Board should entice him to jump ship...

Ode to Mike King - This little piggy went to market

This little piggy went to market,

This little piggy took his cash home,

This little piggy ate roast pork,

Then full of tucker -

This little piggy started to roam,

Then this little piggy went...

"Wee wee wee" all the way home

And dipped his snout into S.A.F.E's cashbox...

Give the money back Mike.

Who are the real villans - sorting out the porkers

This from the Dominion Post this morning:

Consumers angry at the way pigs are farmed can force changes to the industry but they had better be prepared to pay more for their pork.
Alan Pearson, owner of Harringtons Small Goods, said many consumers did not put their money where their mouths were when they bought their meat.
"If giving animals a more natural way of life is really important to people, then they need to be prepared to pay for it and not just pay lip service.
"There is no doubt that farmers are commercial they respond to the market. If the market turns around, the industry will change."
Mr Pearson, who also runs an agri-business consultancy and exports free-range pork to Singapore, said free-range could cost more than $3 a kilogram more than pork raised in a more intensive operation.
Raising free-range pigs was more expensive because of several factors, including higher piglet mortality rates from exposure to the elements.
"There is absolutely no doubt that free-range pork is a wonderful product but it's a lot more costly to produce.
"The price resistance is still a factor. [Consumers] get to the supermarket and they buy the cheapest bacon they can find."
He said most farmers were responsible and put the welfare of their animals ahead of profit.
"Farmers are human beings, they like to do the best job they can. Most farmers have an empathy with animals, or they wouldn't be farming."

Hear hear!

And so say all of us...

Farmgirl on Radio New Zealand talking about pork...

Farmgirl had the chance to speak about the current furore on the pork industry this afternoon on Radio New Zealand. To hear her comments go to: http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/aft/2009/05/19/the_panel_part_2 and go to about half way through to hear her interview.

Federated Farmers versus Sex Pistol rocker

Who would have thought it gov? Johnny Rotten, the teeth gnashing, spitting, torn punk rocker who hailed anarchy in the UK has a softer side - in fact the gnarled grizzled face Sex Pistol front man likes his butter - British only apparently.

It's a bit of a comedown for his fans though ain't it? God save the Queen and her fascist regime has now become God save our cows and the products of their bowels.

You see Rotten has become the face of a new British butter advertising campaign that extols the virtue of butter made from only British milk - not like that Kiwi stuff, he reckons.

But he didn't count on Federated Farmers Dairy Vice President Willy Leferink wading into battle.

According to Farmers Weekly UK Leferink has invited Rotten see for himself the way cows are kept down under.

“Never mind the butter, it’s the quality of the milk what counts,” Willy says. “While all milk may contain the same basic properties, Kiwi cows are in a league of their own.
“Grazing outdoors on GM-free grass and natural winter feed makes for happy cows and fantastic-quality milk.”
European Union tariffs were the only barriers holding back sales of New Zealand’s Anchor butter in the UK, he said.
“While I’d like to think of dairy farmers as being the rock stars of the New Zealand economy, I’d be pleased to host that old punk rocker, John Lydon, on my farm.
“Perhaps Mr Lydon could use some of the money he got paid for endorsing the British brand to pay for his flight down under.”
Only hand-crafted but expensive British butter matched New Zealand butter for quality, Mr Leferink claimed.
“New Zealand’s climate and quality pasture means we are in an agricultural sweet spot. British consumers literally taste freedom when they eat New Zealand butter.”
Dairy Crest’s butter advertising campaign featuring Mr Lydon sent sales of English Country Life soaring when it aired on TV screens across Britain.
The commercial reminded shoppers that the butter was made with 100% British milk unlike other brands from New Zealand and Denmark.
It was being supported by a website encouraging people to sign a pledge that they were "proud to buy British".

You can watch one of the ads here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mSE-Iy_tFY

King should give money back

It's laughable how devoutly Mike King denied having any knowledge of the pig industry and its practices on Close Up last night but may-be it's a sign of the times and something that Farmgirl has been blogging over for some time - the growing gap between producers and consumers.

In this case however, the wounded pork industry has never attempted to hide that there are still sow stalls in this country. Pork Industry Board chairman Chris Trengrove should be applauded not vilified by two henchmen as he was last night. What they don't tell you on that current affairs programme is that Chris has been advocating for change for some years and has steadfastly stuck to the cause of helping the industry get past these practices and has been succeeding.

Farmgirl feels the need to explain the financial difficulties the pork industry has faced over the past decade once again. To be frank the industry nearly went belly up because Canadian pork in particular was being imported into our supermarkets at cut down prices. How were they able to get the pork so cheap when you take into account transport costs? - by producing the pork in far more intensive and disgusting systems then this country has ever had.

This has nearly forced all our pork farmers out of business as consumers have been only too happy to buy cheaper pork, no matter the animal welfare standards and no matter the level of hormones etc in the meat.

To expect that all pork farmers will now release their piggy wiggies onto some hallowed green paddock is ridiculous and hypocritical for the following reasons:

1 The price of imported pork means free range operations are not viable unless the consumer

pays a heck of a lot more as they can not produce as many pigs or fatten as quickly.

2 Free range pork is still a niche market - for the wealthy.

3 Some breeds of pigs are particularly aggressive towards one another. Why didn't King show

the results of sows attacking one another? - it's far more gruesome then the footage shown the

other night.

So it seems the NZ consumer has to make their minds up. And herein lies the problem. Our generation more than any other lives in a world where meat is relatively cheap. Where once, having a roast chicken was a looked forward delicacy, it has now become a cheap commodity on the family plate that can be served up every night.

As New Zealanders we expect meat on our plate but once upon a time pork used to be a treat, as was bacon, to be savoured and enjoyed. Now we expect to have it whenever we get the craving.

May-be we need to change our habits?

Farmgirl has recently changed her chicken consumption and now orders $32 fully free ranged chicken from Southland. It is expensive especially with households living on an ever decreasing budget these days, but chicken in Farmgirl's household has now become a rarity and a tasty one at that. It is eaten once every fortnight and every part of the chicken is used for stocks, soups etc. This is one way we can support our pork farmers. Another is by refusing to buy imported pork.

King's hypocrisy won't help the industry - in fact a negative reaction could send our pork farmers under and then we would have to rely on the rubbish that is imported from overseas.

It's up to us.

And if King truly believes in what he's saying and is not trying to pull some publicity stunt to help his career, he should donate all his previous earnings from the Pork Board to S.A.F.E but as the saying goes, pigs might fly...

Mike King as guilty as all consumers for sow crates in pork industry and should share in responsibility

It was hard core stuff on Sunday tonight. Mike King, a former advocate for New Zealand pork and mouthpiece for industry ads has jumped ship and attacked farmers for the use of sow stalls. Emotive footage and unbalanced reporting followed and not one pork farmer who uses the stalls was allowed to give a reason as to why the practice occurs.

In her agricultural journalism career Farmgirl has followed intensely the plight of the nation's pig farmers and has some sympathy for their situation. To portray the farmers as the common enemy is an injustice that ignorant mouthpieces like King would never understand.

If he did his background research he might understand that he and every other consumer of bacon or pork in this country are just as culpable for sow crate farming as the farmer themselves.

Farmgirl would like to know if these 'het up' consumers check their overseas pork that has flooded our supermarkets. If they did they might realise that the bacon they purchase is also farmed in the same way - through crates. If you ban them in New Zealand you have to ban all imports from overseas - a situation most pig farmers in NZ would rejoice about.

Let's get one thing straight right now - pig farmers don't like the practice, they want to change but there is no economically viable way forward for them to do so as long as cheap imported pork continues to flood in.

There will be a huge public outcry over the footage shot on Sunday, but Farmgirl wonders how many will change their spending habits and instead buy free range NZ pork to support the industry. If everyone did change the pork farmers would have the support to do the same.

Farmgirl is sick and tired of celebrities jumping on the bandwagon of something they do not really understand, and something they themselves have forced farmers to do. And it's laughable that King says he didn't know this was going on when he signed his contract with the Pork Board - what rot - this issue has been around for a long time.

The pleasing aspects to the situation is that most pig farmers are trying to break free of the system - and Farmgirl has seen some stunning results in the form of Eco Sheds etc, but it takes cashflow. If King and his cronies are so upset why don't they get on the box and encourage people to buy the more expensive option as Jamie Oliver did successfully with his recent chicken campaign.

Unlike King, Jamie took the time to explain why farmers do what they do and put much of the onus back on consumers.

Farmgirl back next week with a few juicy posts

Farmgirl wants to apologise for lack of blogging recently. The set up of a new business has enforced a silent blog for two weeks but she will be back next week from Monday and is pleased to say that she has HEAPS of juicy posts to write about.

See you back here on Monday!