The rules of engagement: Keep it constructive

March 16, 2018
Column by Miles Anderson, Federated Farmers Meat & Wool Chairperson

There was sage advice for farmers from Beef + Lamb chairman James Parsons at Onetai Station’s recent field day: Engage constructively with the new government or risk being shut out.
“If we don’t, I think we will have a government that will lose patience with us, and will drive on and deliver a whole lot of election promises that don’t work for us,” James said.
That’s certainly the path Federated Farmers is treading – all-in public scraps more often than not backfire.  But it doesn’t mean we can’t forthrightly voice our misgivings – or straight out opposition – in the face of policy we disagree with.  As with our advocacy to regional and district councils, we muster our arguments based on experience, science, what is practical and what is affordable.
There were few quibbles from the farmers who made up at least half of the audience at this week’s 5^th Future Farms conference in Palmerston North when Wairarapa-based Labour list MP Kieran McAnulty spoke.  The Primary Production Select Committee member said the changing expectations and demands of consumers were intrinsically linked to environmental pressures.
His message, in essence, was that if New Zealand wants to maintain and grow its international markets for premium produce based on our ‘clean and green’ reputation, we have to walk the talk.  That’s even more important in the face of the disruption we’re facing from synthetic and plant-based meat and milk that has the potential to be produced cheaply and at scale, with low resource impacts.
“Sometimes these realities are uncomfortable and inconvenient.  But leaving it to the market alone lends itself to just slowly drifting along, allowing other producers to catch-up or overtake,” Kieran said.
Listing ways the new government was helping the ag sector, Kieran mentioned the reorganization of MPI, with more resources for biosecurity; sorting out the manuka honey definition; putting new dairy legislation up for scrutiny; and fees-free tertiary education – which would help just as many people heading into trades and practical training as those going to university.
One initiative that hadn’t gained much media attention was establishment of a Primary Sector Council.  Its aim is to “set a strategic direction, with strong participation and input from the primary sector, encompassing better environmental outcomes and looking at a collaborative sector plan.
“We need to learn from those adapting quickly, and creating more value.  Closing the gap between top performing farms and [lesser achievers] could result in improved productivity, and animal welfare, optimized use of resources and less impact on the wider environment.”
There was an announcement we hadn’t heard before.    The government is about to introduce a “rural proofing policy”.  Any policy being developed across all government portfolios is now required to specifically consider the impact on rural communities, and deliver answers on how those have been addressed when a proposal comes before the House.
Ag folk never miss an opportunity, and sure enough someone from the farming audience quickly asked whether “rural proofing” would also apply to regional and district councils.  To his credit, Kieran said he would take that idea to Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta to address as part of the current local government sector review.
But another question caused Kieran greater grief.  Feds member Grant McCallum from Maungaturoto asked him how taking money off farmers by including agriculture in the ETS would help the environment when it would mean farmers had less to spend on sustainability initiatives around their property.
The MP rather lamely said there wasn’t time to debate tax policy and while everyone could agree on the need for agriculture to be innovative and sustainable, “there will always be disagreement on the best way to get there.”
Clearly, there’s a lot more ‘constructive engagement’ ahead of us on that particular issue.