Become a green
Released 27 Nov 2011
Bruce Wills is the President of Federated Farmers and published in the Sunday Star Times on 27 November 2011
It is now the morning after the night before and the coalition game is underway. In 1996 it took seven weeks before we had a government. That the world didn't come crashing down seems to have spooked our politicians into negotiating faster. Whatever happens politically from here on in, the sun will still rise and grass will continue to grow.
In the real world, sheep farmers are one group with good reasons to smile. Meat returns are up, wool prices are up and we can easily sell everything we produce. This year, 1.7 million more lambs are on our farms than last year. So long as rustlers don't get them this season could be a blinder. While the news is great we mustn't forget that 2011 is the second smallest lamb ‘crop' in 55 years. The root cause for this being farm conversions due to low profitability as well as storms and drought. The shame is that if we had more animals right now we'd export the lot. More exports, more income and more jobs equal more public services.
Since the sheep industry seems to be off the bottom hit in 2008, the only way is up and not only for sheep and beef. Up is the general direction for almost all types of farming and it's not just Federated Farmers saying this. ANZ Bank has put $60 million where its mouth is. It launched a package to assist young farmers onto the first rung of farming. It's a package which screams, ‘go farming'.
When you've got banks like the ANZ saying farming is the future, that's notable. When the ANZ says we need more farmers, it's time for young Kiwis, their parents and career advisors to sit up and take note.
I don't for a moment think the banks are doing this out of altruism or nostalgia for 1950's New Zealand. The banks know the future of New Zealand lies in food and fibre from our farms, in research labs creating added value and factories pumping those products out. The world is crying out for our food and fibre and the human race isn't getting smaller. In the year to October, six of our top ten exports all came from the agricultural sector worth $24 billion. Our top three exports, dairy, meat and wood, have all grown by double digits but the star turn is wool. While a shadow of its former self, a 33 percent increase in export value means wool could be on the greatest comeback since Winston Churchill.
The big banks all know we need new blood on-farm if we are to continue this success story. That's an open invitation for you to google ‘Go Dairy', ‘Get Ahead' and ‘AgITO', or for that matter, Massey and Lincoln Universities. You can become a farmer as easily from Parnell as you can from Palmerston.
As we're doing a lot environmentally, agriculture is our greenest clean tech industry. It's green because our farms are largely self-sustaining biological systems. It's clean tech, because that's how we're producing more food and fibre from fewer animals. Sure we have some rat bags, but if we acted like we're sometimes made out to be, New Zealand would be a wasteland. To get more people into farming demands a big change in rhetoric from politicians. Effluent fieldays may not be as media friendly as paddling down a river but it's real work in progress. Young people deserve to know that farming is more than dollars and cents; it's how you become a real green.
For more information:
Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers President, 06 834 9704, 027 234 1516
