Cycling new options
Released 09 Jan 2012
Bruce Wills is the President of Federated Farmers and a version of this was printed in the Sunday Star Times
One of the funniest things about having a name like mine, is that some people can't help adding an ‘i' to my surname. Not that I mind the comparison with Bruce Willis, but I cringe when I do the same to other people. So I owe Country99TV's David Beatson an apology. It was an old fashioned mistake but perhaps shows that we're trying to do everything at a hundred miles an hour.
Even in this rush-rush world, New Zealand's farmers are famous for being adaptable. We've had to be because things change; just look at what you use your mobile phone for today, as opposed to just three years ago. Adaptation is the way farming has become stronger and with it, more economically important. What you can't adapt for is the unpredictable. Watching TVNZ's Back Benches, an audience member said the biggest challenge to New Zealand is the unforeseen. That person was dead right. 12-months ago today, the disastrous February earthquake was still weeks away and changed everything. If you want the agricultural equivalent, it is Psa in Kiwifruit and last decade, the arrival of the varroa mite in our honeybees. Then there is agriculture's sum of all fears; the disease ‘that dare not speak its name'.
As you know I am a sheep and beef farmer and my family adapted to changing economic times by going into tourism. Our farm, Trelinnoe, on the Napier-Taupo road, is also home to one of New Zealand's finest woodland gardens. It is better known overseas than locally and attracted European and American tourists during the season. With those economies in a poor way, tourism trade has dropped off but thankfully, the sheep and beef sector has picked up. Tourism can be fickle and I say that as an operator myself. Then again the New Zealand Cycle Trail project, or "Nga Haerenga," is something Federated Farmers supports. We believe it will help to open up new opportunities for farmers to adapt and diversify to changing times.
.
Because of the rural nature of the cycle trail, farmers have been directly involved by providing vital land access. Farmers and ratepayers have also been involved indirectly, by having some of their council rates redirected into local projects. Like I said, Federated Farmers views the cycle trail positively but we also have to represent legitimate farmer concerns about how the developing cycleways will operate. Take for example the trail being developed along State Highway 43, The Forgotten Highway. This is marketed as a 150 kilometre cycle over three days yet has only one toilet along the whole route. This creates a disease risk for livestock from human faeces being deposited onto farm pasture. While humans can catch diseases from livestock, the same can happen to livestock from human waste. We're also concerned about cyclist education when confronted with farm animals or agricultural vehicles sharing the road. Our concern is that it seems to be an accident just waiting to happen. It doesn't help when there is limited cell phone coverage or emergency services within the cycle trail range. None of these things I feel are insurmountable.
As Federated Farmers wants the cycle trail to succeed, we've raised our concerns with the New Zealand Cycle Trail. Like farming, we want the trail to become a world-wide success and we'll be working with officials to solve things. Hopefully it will help to open up new tourism markets; I can't wait to welcome cycling tourists to visit or stay at our farms.
For more information:
Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers President, 06 834 9704, 027 234 1516
