Federated Farmers Dairy Chairman, Lachlan McKenzie

Rocky ride - In these turbulent financial times even the dairy industry is in for a rocky ride over the next year or so. Market indicators show there is a serious risk of further reduction in the forecast payout. Farmers will need to keep a close eye on costs.

Animal identification - Federated Farmers Dairy executive has been working hard to keep a lid on the growing list of compliance costs, the latest being the National Animal Identification and Traceability scheme. Believe it or not, this crazy notion of a database run by government, was supported by Dairy Companies of New Zealand (DCANZ) and DairyNZ. Ted Coates is the DairyNZ representative on the NAIT governance group and DCANZ is chaired by Earl Rattray. Federated Farmers has been in discussions with DairyNZ to express its concerns over the NAIT concept. The dairy industry has agreed that NAIT is not acceptable in its current form. The Federation's main concerns are:

• If biosecurity is the key driver to NAIT, then sheep and pigs have to be in from the start. They are not.
• NAIT says that market access is the key driver. Federated Farmers has found no information on any markets requiring NAIT or time frames for it. Our second assertion is that processors could make electronic identification a condition of supply if the market signalled this requirement.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry cost benefit analysis showed there are more costs to the scheme than benefits. Farmers are being asked to spend $1 to get 50cents back.

Federated Farmers' NAIT survey results showed over 80% (out of a total of about three hundred responses) did not support NAIT. Thank you to all who responded to this survey. You can still help by asking your company directors and DairyNZ directors to justify why they are spending your money. To me it is hardly achieving DairyNZ's goal of improved productivity and profitability.

Invitation to talk - I extend an open invitation to you to contact your Federated Farmers Dairy provincial representative, the executive or staff if you have any issues. Together we can make a difference.

Dairy Christmas - This is the last Dairy Alert for 2008 and so, in November, I need to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Do take some time off with the family and friends over the ‘silly season' to re-charge your batteries and think of your future.

Money in muck - There is good work on the environmental front being done by various Federated Farmers' regional representatives. One example is a field day initiated by Manawatu's Andrew Hoggard, who is also on the executive of Federated Farmers Dairy. The field day organised by farmers, for farmers, turned out to be a great recipe for success. Andrew and his team in Manawatu, plus DairyNZ and Fonterra, chose Massey's Number 4 Dairy Farm to show that there is money to be made out of muck. The one hundred farmers who attended also found out what sort of effluent storage was required for their own farm's soil type. Showcased was the Farm Enviro Walk tool, developed by DairyNZ. 

Walk the talk - If you have not done the Farm Enviro Walk on your farm, now is the time.  Contact DairyNZ by phoning 0800 4 324 7969 for a copy or you can order it here on line by going to www.dairynz.co.nz and clicking on ‘Publications and Tools'.  Walk your farm with a friend, armed with this tool, and take your staff with you so that they understand it too.  Then get your neighbour to do it.  It will highlight any weakness in your system and show what you are doing well.  Let's get all our effluent systems up to scratch before the regional council looks over the fence. 

Planning ahead - Federated Farmers Dairy, Fonterra and DairyNZ are working together to develop a clear set of desired principles in regional council policy statements. Regional policy statements are the top level policy objectives that councils set every 10 years.  As all council plans flow on from these objectives it is important councils get them right. The work will culminate in a ‘position paper‘ that will be presented to councils showing what the dairy industry thinks will be effective in terms of achieving the outcomes the council seeks as well as alternatives and likely economic costs. 

Feed back - Federated Farmers Dairy has been questioning farmers on their concerns for the industry. Results have not been fully collated and analysed but of significance are concerns over the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, increased farming costs, compliance costs, the state of the economy, staffing issues and Fonterra's capital structure. Federated Farmers Dairy has a clearer view of the core components farmers want in their co-op. It will push to maintain a strong co-op that is farmer controlled and will ensure that all possible options of securing sufficient capital while reducing redemption risk are investigated and reported back to farmers. It will also be pushing to keep compliance and red tape down. There are a few farmers who feel that they are not being consulted enough by Federated Farmers Dairy. It will endeavour to do better. 

Valuable vote - Voting has opened in the Fonterra director elections. Federated Farmers urges all Fonterra suppliers to vote. Don't let the big corporate voters out-weigh the little farmer, who has most to gain from strong leadership.  At the recent DairyNZ elections, only 17% of farmers voted. This represented 23% of milk supplied. With such a small voting turnout, your vote plays a significant role in the outcome. Fonterra farmers indicated in a recent survey by Federated Farmers Dairy that they value the co-op. Show it by getting the pen out and voting in the election now or you could loss the co-op. Voting closes 12noon on Tuesday November 25.

Bee friendly - Federated Farmers Bees is asking all dairy farmers to recognise the importance of the honeybee to their farming business. In particular, and because of the emphasis on reducing nitrogen in waterways, it is keen to promote an environmentally friendly alternative to increasing nitrogen in your pasture - get bees to pollinate and set the seed in your pasture clover.

While White Clover is a great source of nectar for the honeybee (provided the ground temperature is right), the primary benefit to the farming community is the nitrogen fixing attributes the bee brings to pasture clover. For many years this has been recognised as substantial added-value aspect of bees and farming, the bees' pollination services being traded for access to clover pasture and a possible honey crop.

However, changes to farming practice, clover root weevil, clover flea and other pests combined with the increased use of nitrogen application, has meant diminishing quantities of flowering clover for bees and accordingly a reduction in natural nitrogen fixation. Adding insult to injury is the arrival of the Varroa Mite which has killed off the feral honeybee pollination in many areas and with it the "free" seed setting services that these feral bees provided.

From the farm view point, the practice of completely removing shelter belts and hedges which traditionally provided benefits to bee trafficking and bee pollen nutrition, as they undertook their pollination responsibilities, are now lost in many instances.

To make your farm more bee friendly consider the following:

• Don't disregard a clover base in your pasture; good management and practice will reduce the requirement for nitrogen application.
• For farmers using irrigators, only irrigate from dusk to dawn when bee foraging has stopped and pollination activities have ceased, as bees die through chill when they encounter irrigation during their pollination activities
• Shelter belts are important as bees fly along these in strong winds - they provide a flight path between hive, crop, and pollen producing sources. Instead of removing completely, prune heights to below pivot irrigation working height.
• Use pollen producing trees and shrubs (for example tree lucerne) when planting your riparian margins.

Call your local beekeeper and he or she will be only too keen to assist or for more information contact the chairman of Federated Farmers Bees, John Hartnell, jhartnell@fedfarm.org.nz, phone 021 578 754.

Dairy Awards open - Entries have now opened in the 2009 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. The award incorporates three competitions: New Zealand Sharemilker of the Year, Farm Manager of the Year and Dairy Trainee of the Year. The awards are structured to enable people to progress as a person progresses through the dairy industry - from farm worker to farm manager to sharemilker and ultimately farm ownership. It encourages best practice and the sharing of excellence and also identifies and promotes the dairy industry's future leaders. Federated Farmers recognises leaders in the sharemilking industry by sponsoring one of the awards, the Federated Farmers' Leadership Award, at both the regional and the national level. Sharemilkers, farm managers and dairy trainees first enter the awards in one of 12 regional competitions and entries are being accepted now.  For information and enrolment forms, see www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz. You will find the launch dates of the competitions in your area, as well as other key dates and contact details for your regional convener. Entries close in early January.

Leadership courses - There are places available on the leadership courses run by Federated Farmers.

Level one, Getting Your Feet Wet Leadership Course, is on 27, 28 November in Wellington. Members are introduced to the Federation's structure and resources. Through presentations by industry experts and politicians, participants learn about agricultural politics, advocacy and lobbying.  Plan for succession in your province, call 0800 327 646 to enroll.

Level two, Advanced Leadership Skills Leadership Course, is on 2, 3 December, also in Wellington. This course focuses on public speaking, managing meetings, dealing with media and practical aspects of agricultural leadership in the provinces. This course can help farmers be better prepared for the leadership role that being involved in Federated Farmers demands. Some of you will probably already have had to face the press or field questions from your community about the dairy industry. How did you handle them?  Could you have done better? For those of you who have done the Level one course, extend yourself and enroll 0800 327 646.

Federated Farmers Dairy Council - The next Council meeting for Federated Farmers Dairy will be held on 25 and 26 February, in Hamilton. There will be a day of indoor meetings followed be a field day, where delegates will look at a working farm, concentrating on environmental aspects of dairy farming. More details are coming your way next month.

Recycling waste - Are you recycling your agrichemical containers using Agrecovery? Federated Farmers is one of Agrecovery Foundation's trustees and it is pleased to see that the rural recycling programme now provides 50 collection sites nationwide, from Winton in the South Island to Kaitaia in the North. The sites provide growers, farmers, and other primary industry chemical users an easy and environmentally safe way to dispose of their unwanted plastic containers.  Providing a sustainable solution to the long standing problem of used container disposal on farms is an important issue, both for the industry and the country. Last year Agrecovery collected an estimated 80,000 plastic agrichemical containers from farms and orchards. For further details on Agrecovery, your nearest collection site and eligible products phone, 0800 247 326, email: info@agrecovery.co.nz or visit: www.agrecovery.co.nz.

Special discounts - To find out more about special discounts for members call 0800 327 646 or login to the members' area for special discounts.

Contracts and agreements - Members can purchase Federated Farmers contracts and agreements at a discounted rate. Order agreements or other products by visiting the Federated Farmers' website or call 0800 327 646.

Contact Federated Farmers on 0800 327 646.

Staff contacts
Policy adviser - Ann Thompson, 0800 327 646, 04 494 9191, athompson@fedfarm.org.nz

Executive contacts
Chairman - Lachlan McKenzie, 07 332 3440, 021 382 442, lmckenzie@fedfarm.org.nz
Vice-chairman - Willy Leferink, 03 307 2666, 021 796 037, legro@orcon.net.nz
Vice-chairman - John Bluett, 07 825 9709, azz@xtra.co.nz
Executive - Robin Barkla, barkla@xtra.co.nz  
Executive - Andrew Hoggard, ajhoggard@clear.net.nz
Executive - Jeff Bolstad, jkbolstad@xtra.co.nz