Unloved and Unwanted

By BASHAM, Laura

They may drive our economy, but do we love our farmers and their fellow food producers enough? Laura Basham reports. —————- —- KEY DRIVERS Horticulture – $325m Forestry – $306m Seafood – $268m Tourism – $134m Pastoral – $106m Nelson region total GDP: $3.2 billion Nelson region jobs Industry Job count 2006 % change since 2001 Retail 5340 +21 Ag/Forestry/Fishing 4944 -16 Manufacturing 4842 +8 Prop/Bus services 4269 +43 Health/Comm services 3738 +25 Education 2688 +13 Construction 2532 +43 Hospitality 2328 +17 Source: Department of Labour ——————–

Look across Tasman Bay from Nelson and see the beautiful snowcapped mountains – and smoke billowing from a burnoff.

What do you think?

A: “What awful pollution”, or,

B: “There is an enterprising orchardist pulling out his old apple variety and putting in a new one to earn our region and country export dollars.”

Those two different points of view are an example of a clash of urban and rural values.

It’s a clash that some on the rural side are feeling raw about. Most prominently, at the recent Federated Farmers’ national conference, the outgoing federation president, Charlie Pedersen, delivered a passing shot at those he thought disregarded and even marginalised the contribution farming made to New Zealand.

Pedersen said that at every mealtime New Zealanders should “thank God for the producers”.

“And when they sit down after their meal and watch their large flat-screen, once again they could say ‘thank God for the exporters’ because without them this proud little nation would be the largest Third World country in the South Pacific and the standard of living would reflect that,” he said.

One who is unlikely to do that is Sunday Star Times columnist Chris Trotter who last week described “cockies” as “selfish, insular and possessed of an indefatigable sense of moral superiority over everyone whose front door looks out upon a street instead of a paddock”.

Whether unloved or insular, cockies are still the backbone of the New Zealand economy.

Agriculture directly contributes about 5 percent of the New Zealand gross domestic product, which might not look significant. However, Federated Farmers says that indirectly, including downstream processing and services to agriculture, it contributes more like 17 percent.

Over half of New Zealand’s merchandise exports by value are derived from agricultural products, and 6 percent of employment is in agriculture – but again this is higher if downstream processing and services to agriculture are included.

Treasury statistics suggest that productivity in agriculture is far outstripping productivity in the rest of economy, so agriculture is becoming more important to the New Zealand economy.

In Nelson, food producers make a more significant contribution to the region’s total economy of $3.2 billion GDP.

Food producers figure prominently in the region’s five key economic drivers – horticulture, forestry, seafood, tourism and pastoral farming. Together these make up 31 percent of the region’s GDP.

Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency chief executive Bill Findlater says: “They are very significant for the region.

“If you look into world trends, food production will become more significant for the world and whilst at the moment some of our production may appear to be verging on commodity, long- term you would expect the value of food to significantly increase, and that’s something we shouldn’t lose sight of.”

Our food producers also provide lots of the jobs in this region.

Federated Farmers says while 6 percent of national employment is in agriculture, 15 percent of Nelson-Tasman’s employment is in agriculture.

Then again, a Labour Department regional report shows up a tell- tale trend, with retail employment increasing by 21 percent to 5340 jobs in the Nelson region, while agriculture, forestry and fishing jobs have dropped by 16 percent to 4944.

Shopping is now the No 1 Nelson-Tasman employer.

Food figures highly in every household’s shopping, and prices have come in for a lot of flak, particularly for that family favourite, a block of cheese.

Visiting Irish dairy farmer and businessman Mike Murphy spoke frankly to farmers at a recent DairyNZ seminar in Golden Bay when he said: “I think the New Zealand dairy industry has a great story to tell. I think you have made a horribly bad job of getting that across to the New Zealand community.”

Telling the story meant getting people to understand what the real situation was, he said. Dairying was the backbone of the New Zealand economy.

Figures released this week back that – dairying now accounts for 27 percent of the country’s export earnings.

Murphy told the Golden Bay farmers: “It is amazing to me, coming from a country where agriculture is appreciated because we are partly dependent on it, (that in) New Zealand, which is hugely more dependent on it, the population does not seem to appreciate the importance of agriculture and dairying in particular.

“That is your fault for not getting the message across. Great story to tell; you have made an absolute balls-up of it.”

Federated Farmers Golden Bay dairy section chairwoman Michelle Riley says the good story is on lots of fronts. Firstly, there is the economic one, with Fonterra dairy farmers in Golden Bay and Nelson contributing $83.6 million in milksolid payments.

“It’s not just the dairy cheque, it is how much flows through into the economy,” she says.

That includes employment and people are now seeing clear career pathways in dairying, she says.

The other side is the environmental work being done.

“Every single farm has put energy and effort into improving their environmental practices and that trend is going to continue,” she says.

“There are some detractors who say it is not enough or it is not fast enough but you have to go at the pace the work can be done and the finances available to pay for it .”

The pipfruit industry is also a significant driver in the Nelson economy, employing 600 permanent staff, providing 5600 seasonal jobs and earning $200 million in export and local sales.

However, Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Peter Beaven says that contribution is easily forgotten.

“I think it’s the same in all agricultural sectors. The vast bulk of people now live in urban communities.

“Go back a generation and everybody had an uncle who lived on the farm and you’d visit and become familiar with land use patterns. That’s long since gone.”

The divide between town and country is now considerable and yet there is no doubt that primary industries are the drivers of our exports, he says.

The major problem it causes growers is getting the Government to understand the need to invest in the primary sector, he says.

“This Labour Government has got good at that in the last couple of years but for a number before that it did not.”

The second problem is attracting good staff.

“We need capable, innovative people. We have all sorts of problems recruiting people in management roles, export, infrastructure and science.

“HortResearch is producing good, innovative science and two- thirds of their people come from offshore. It is a sad indictment on our lack of understanding of the importance,” Beaven said.

He criticises the fact that college students can no longer sit hortscience as a scholarship subject. “That is completely the wrong direction. It is pretty obvious we will wither and die at the vine if we don’t get these people.”

He concludes food producers in the pipfruit industry are “unloved and unnoticed”.

In the sheep and beef industry, farmers feel isolated, says Federated Farmers Nelson meat and fibre section chairman Gavin O’Donnell.

Sheep and beef farmers have struggled over the last few years with low returns and increasing costs.

They feel isolated not only from the urban community but also from dairy farmers.

“Stuck on our own, not getting anywhere much,” says O’Donnell.

Many people do not realise how marginal farming is, he says.

Yet globally there is an increasing food shortage. Meeting the demand will require farming intensification, and O’Donnell sees an ongoing dilemma in competing land uses.

Sprawling rural-residential development, expanding dairy farms, horticulture and viticulture are all wanting land.

He is watching with interest the demand for arable land in other parts of the country, such as Biodiesel NZ, nearly 90 percent owned by state coal company Solid Energy, which is aiming to have 20,000ha of land planted in canola in three years.

Horticulture is another sector feeling the land squeeze.

Nelson grower John Ewers has 8.4ha of glasshouses growing capsicums, tomatoes and cucumbers and 100ha of fields growing green leaf vegetables.

Motorists driving by on the Appleby highway usually have no idea of the scale of the operation which employs between 90 and 115 permanent staff and sells its produce nationwide, with 40 percent going to Nelson.

“A lot of people do not realise what is involved with the production of fruit and vegetables.

“It appears in the supermarket, it is always there, but there is a considerable effort required to get it there all year round,” he says.

One of the biggest factors is to be able to sustain production, to be able to carry on in the same property and continue the same produce, he says.

He has no grumbles against urban residents. Rather, he thinks about costs and what they have to pay for produce.

“Where we are now, with extreme rising costs, they are paying a lot more.

“If you are paying $5 or $6 a cauliflower, can that continue? I think it must be very hard for some,” says Ewers.

Fertiliser, labour and freight are his skyrocketing costs, and sometimes he loses thousands of dollars a week.

“At the moment inputs are greater to growing tomatoes than the return,” he says.

Yet he does not feel unloved.

“I am happy. Growing vegetables is my life and I would not be here if I was not happy doing it.”

One man who straddles both the rural and urban communities is Tasman District Mayor Richard Kempthorne, who lived on an Appleby orchard for 21 years and has lived in Richmond for seven years.

He says: “I value our productive soils and will work to ensure these will not be threatened by urban sprawl.”

He reckons there is a reasonable understanding from urban residents of rural activities but acknowledges there are sometimes tensions that have to be managed.

That contentious issue of smoke from rural fires is one he is very aware of.

“If an orchard is changing varieties, pulling out trees and putting in another lot, they have to be able to burn that block they just pulled out.

“The question is how can they be encouraged to burn effectively so there is minimal smoke.

“Some people living in urban areas do not want anybody to have fires, but we have to support our rural activities.”

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(c) 2008 Nelson Mail, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.