The Country - September 2020

Issue 7 | Monday, 21 September 2020

THE

COUNTRY The ‘farming smarter, not harder’ issue ‘Fitbit for water’ looks to improve water quality

Could increased agritech uptake affect our future labour requirements?

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COUNTRY

Issue 7 | 3

Editorial

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hile New Zealand has a strong overseas reputation for our farming expertise and food production systems, we aren’t widely recognised for our agritech capabilities or the value our technology can deliver.

There is a potential for agritech to not only transform the primary sector towards higher productivity but also help New Zealand farmers tell a better food story.

The agritech sector has a significant role in the economy, particularly in the export sector, where it contributes approximately $1.5 billion to New Zealand’s goods exports and has the potential to grow significantly.

However, on the home front, better uptake of agritech across New Zealand farms could be worth $17 billion, says new report Aotearoa Agritech Unleashed, from an estimated $9.8 billion increase in output and an estimated $7.3 billion increase in exports.

The government has allocated $11.4 million in funding to increase agritech uptake and to help the sector grow.

My question is: if the government funded or subsidised agritech, such as the River Watch water quality monitoring unit covered in this issue, for farmers, councils, and other catchment groups instead of increasing compliance regimes, then could the outcome that we all want – better water quality – be achieved sooner?

Nikki Verbeet

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Improving water quality with ‘Fitbit for your water’

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‘Ethical’ milk: Can we sell dairy milk to vegans?

THE 4 | Issue 7

COUNTRY

Working smarter, not harder New Zealand’s drive for innovation in the agrarian sector has not gone unnoticed on the world stage and it is essential, says Jacquelline Rowarth, that investment in R&D continues and regulations are both fit for purpose and flexible.

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n 2017, New Zealand was identified as ‘The model for farms of the future’.

The Economics Review (New York University) published an article by Taber Brown, now a finance analyst, stating that in New Zealand the agrarian sector is as sexy as the financial sector.

He stated: “New Zealand, although geographically small, and often overlooked, humbly boasts one of the most efficient and productive industries. It’s an industry that’s, arguably, more essential than finance and manufacturing, and of paramount importance given our burgeoning global population. This industry is agriculture.”

The analogy with a sexy finance sector reflects his background (possibly only a finance person would regard the financial sector as sexy), but the words should stir the hearts of all New Zealanders – and Covid-19 has shown that they are true.

manufacturing and construction firms say that in some cases compliance is taking up half of the time of people at management level.

In the primary sector, data are scarce but stories numerous. The Southland winter grazing debate is just one – pay for resource consent or put that money into something positive for the environment?

The big issue of bureaucracy

The big issue, however, is how fighting and complying with bureaucracy has a negative effect on innovation, which in turn can have implications for productivity and economic growth. It is economic growth that enables environmental protection.

Matt Ridley, British journalist and businessman, made this clear in a recent article on the Genetic Literacy Project.

Competition drives innovation “Why is the wolf population increasing, the lion decreasing, and the tiger now holding its own? The answer is simple: Taber Brown went on to explain that while the governments of most developed countries subsidise their farmers and growers, wolves live in rich countries, lions in poor countries, and By investing in New Zealand the removal of subsidies in the 1980s created tigers in middle-income countries.” innovative new and efficient farming and livestock methods.

Various analyses, such as the Yale University time, energy and Developments enabled New Zealand farmers and growers Environmental Performance Index and OECD, resources, they have not only to survive, but also to compete on a national scale. show that New Zealand has much better economic “This is a perfect example of how competition drives performance than predicted from income. This reflects created one of the most innovation,” he said. “Innovation is the key to a prosperous the fact that the primary sector is doing everything it efficient agricultural economy.” can to continue being the best in the world, using smart Part of New Zealand’s success has been specialisation in economies in the approaches based on R&D. the pastoral agriculture that fits with the climate, environment, world.” resources and knowledge.

The key to success “By investing time, energy and resources, they have created In some cases, environmental regulations have provided one of the most efficient agricultural economies in the world.” a nudge in the right direction, and farmers and growers have Brown also highlighted the role of innovation and R&D in agriembraced the challenge.

The key to further success, not just in technology, describing it as a pinnacle of the industry.

New Zealand but globally, is ensuring that investment in R&D continues, and Despite offshore approval, and the ongoing desirability of products from milk regulations are both fit for purpose and flexible. powder to honey and kiwifruit, the general feeling from New Zealand society seems still to be that farmers and growers should do better.

When regulators design regulations which minimise the compliance burden Analysis suggests they do so all the time. Not just with the value that is while maximising the probability that innovation will enable compliance, added before the farm, orchard or market-garden gate, but because of the success follows. US research has shown that this approach gives flexibility productivity gains that are reported every year by StatsNZ. The uptake of which allows the firm and market to decide the optimal path to implementation. technology and precision agriculture has been phenomenal.

Fit for purpose and flexibility enable a win for all parties. With smart farmers and growers operating within fit-for-purpose and flexible regulations, New Change is happening Zealand could continue to be the model for food production in the future.

And while the rhetoric in some sectors is ‘farmers are too old to change’ the This month, UK farmers were invited to a webinar hosted by the Farmers’ evidence – the dairy boom including sheep and goat, expansion of kiwifruit Guardian.

The invitation blurb states: ‘Working smarter, not harder is the ethos and grapes, and uptake of precision irrigation and fertiliser application – of New Zealand farmers who treat food production as an expert profession, shows quite the opposite. leaning on data to drive results.

The changes have been supported by R&D, with ideas coming from people So how could you embrace the same ethos?’ all along the innovation value chain – from farmers and growers through rural Obviously, New Zealand farmers are showing the way. We can all feel proud. professionals and processors to marketers and consumers – some of whom are farmers and growers.

Dr Jacqueline Rowarth has an agricultural science degree, with honours in environmental But innovation is supressed by regulation and the cost of compliance in New agriculture, and a PhD in soil science. She has held professorial positions in pastoral Zealand is affecting the time available to imagine a different future. agriculture and agribusiness and is now a farmer-elected director of DairyNZ and Ravensdown. The analysis and conclusions above are her own. jsrowarth@gmail.com Last year the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research reported that

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THE 6 | Issue 7

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Pulling no punches Longer, medium and short-term labour supply – are we asking ourselves the right questions? No8HR’s Lee Astridge reports.

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s the scramble to find short-term solutions to the Covid-induced migrant workforce issue in New Zealand agribusiness keeps hitting home, the medium-term question is: how do we bridge the labour shortage gap over the next 10 years?

And after that, the real question is: how does agriculture position itself for a new normal with increased technology and reducing operational workforce needs?

The facts Research by McKinsey Global Institute looked at skills requirements globally and estimated that the introduction of automation and AI would significantly change the skills needed in the workforce (see sidebar tables with predictions 2016–2030).

It goes without saying that in New Zealand we will not be insulated from these trends and that the same global impacts will significantly change the shape of our rural workforce requirements in the future.

And the challenge McKinsey identified in their research is now less than 10 years away.

Global trend

in agriculture is not a new thing. In 1991 globally 44 percent of the working population was employed in agriculture, by 2018 this had declined to 28 percent.

Within this there is a huge variation between rich and poor countries, with only 1 percent of the workforce in the US working in the sector and poorer countries having up to 70 percent of their workforce still employed in the sector.

Information released by Statistica in July shows the proportion of people employed in the agricultural sector in New Zealand declining from 6.49 percent in 2009 to 5.66 percent in 2019.

For this season at least, look local, challenge your thinking, and value your good current team members for the prizefighters they are...

The decline in employment in agriculture is a global trend because a large proportion of work in the sector is classified within the physical and manual skills section of the McKinsey research.

Putting this into some historic context, the decline in employment

More technological skills needed

McKinsey’s research does what all good research does, it takes the obvious and gives us some facts and data to back it up. In summary, more technological skills are going to be needed, and fewer manual and physical skills.

New Zealand has a unique opportunity afforded by the Covid crisis to become a ‘brain gain’ destination, rather than enduring the ‘brain drain’ status we have traditionally experienced. Let’s not waste it – our future pensions depend on it.

Worth noting for the technology sceptics out there, is that the declining agricultural employment trend over the next 10 years will not be brought about by unheard-of technologies; it will be brought about by the technology we currently have becoming more attractive to businesses through either affordability or labour shortage necessity.

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Short- and medium-term shortage solutions Putting this all in context, there are two main ‘people’ challenges facing our agribusiness sector: ▪ a short-term operational labour gap (which will longer term likely be filled by technology) ▪ a medium to longer term higher competency / technology skills gap When faced with a challenge or crisis, people’s normal responses follow the grief cycle: denial, anger, depression, acceptance, reconstruction and acceptance.

Wherever you are on the curve about these two challenges, recognise it and know that moving through these stages and getting to acceptance and action is the only way your business, and our sector, will thrive.

Adopting a fail-fast mentality Typically, in business the smart thing to do is to get stuck in and grab the ‘low-hanging fruit’ opportunities. If you brainstorm (with good thinkers and not just the people who think the same as you), you will find there are lots of them.

The trick is to look, challenge ourselves to think differently and adopt a fail-fast mentality. Fail fast means taking action rather than saying things can’t be done, learning quickly when they don’t work and getting going with the next thing.

Quick evolution rather than revolution has always sat more comfortably with our sector’ our challenge is the pace with which we get onto the evolutionary wheel.

Low-hanging fruit examples include holding on to what you’ve got, accessing the unemployed, under-utilised NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) or those who want to be unemployed but will help you out (think retired farmer, neighbour, mum or dad, and, dare I suggest, kids… in short, the people who don’t necessarily want to, but will help out when you’re desperate).

COUNTRY Short term, success comes best when looking close to home for these wins and of the options above, we’re seeing people have the most success with accessing the under-utilised labour force and those in the ‘will help because we can’ categories.

Successful strategies Strategies gaining traction centre around changing the job constructs to suit the potential employee and finding a price point where people will consider the work.

In North Otago over the past few years one farmer has developed a Facebook community, actively connecting with as many local people as possible.

When two migrant workers couldn’t get back in to New Zealand, they advertised on their Facebook page for new team members based on an ‘hours to suit you’ model and quoting an attractive hourly rate.

They had 85 applicants, 15 of whom were ‘suitable.’

As a result, whilst their FTE (full-time equivalent) workforce hasn’t increased, they now have a team of 15, not nine, and haven’t missed a productivity and efficiency beat.

In Canterbury one dairy farming business has broken their working day into three ‘shifts’ and team members select their shifts in advance.

They found that within a 5km radius of their farm gate there were 12 additional potential team members willing to take on shifts when it suited them. These were people working part-time in town looking to do more hours, people with caregiving responsibilities who couldn’t work full time, and partners of people working on neighbouring properties.

What’s different about these two examples from much mainstream thinking is the methods they are using to engage and access the under-utilised labour pool and the ways in which they are giving work choices to potential team members.

In both examples, the potential team member is being treated like the scarce resource they are and is considered the ‘customer’ by these businesses.

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Shifts in thinking The drawback of such activities is the management input and organisation required. For a long time now, much of the rural sector has relied on the ‘pay them a salary and it doesn’t matter how long they work, it won’t cost me more’ mentality.

Changes to health and safety legislation managed to get some shift in thinking in some parts of the sector around these things, but I suspect Covid-19 and government migrant policy will require these shifts to continue, and that’s a good thing.

Accessing these new sectors of the workforce is going to require us to be better managers and leaders as the complexity of variable work patterns – actually caring about people’s lives outside of work and getting productive and efficient performance from increasing numbers of team members – becomes fundamental and material to the success and sustainability of our businesses.

It will take time for the sector to actually attract people from towns or for people in towns to be forced, by circumstance, to move from their urban roots (and the jury is out on whether this will actually happen without government intervention).

And, whilst the government has provided, and may continue to provide, some short-term migrant worker relief, this too has its downsides and isn’t a long-term solution whilst the spectre of significant unemployment and under-utilisation hangs over the country.

So for this season at least, look local, challenge your thinking, value your good current team members for the prizefighters they are, and get used to the increased complexity it is going to take to resource and manage your team for sustainable and productive performance.

Lee Astridge is one of the founders and principal consultants for recruitment specialists No8HR. She is passionate about helping agri-business owners maximise their personal and business performance through effective ‘people’ strategies.

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Catching the next wave With technology playing an increasing role across the farming industry, Generation Next is helping the next generation of sheep and beef farming leaders learn how to use it more effectively as part of a wider focus on their futures.

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orty motivated young farmers gathered for two days at three different South Island locations in August as part of Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) Generation Next programme.

The professional development programme, aimed at young and aspiring sheep and beef farmers, is held over six months every year, with participants gathering for either one or two days every three months for the workshops or modules.

In addition to a focus on technology and genetics, topics covered include understanding the farm business, decision-making skills, managing mental health and wellbeing and insight into the industry’s overall goals and objectives.

June–November programme The annual programme starts in June with a one-day focus-on-finances workshop, while the two-day August workshop centres on understanding technology and genetics within the industry.

The final workshop in November gives the farmers an understanding of the processing industry and the marketing of their products.

It’s made a huge Over two days in August difference; I’m seeing this year, 20 participants from Canterbury heard from subject a different way of matter experts such as B+LNZ’s doing things on top of beef genetics specialist Anna Boyd and sheep geneticist Annie what managers have O’Connell, as well as tech-savvy farmers. They also went on a field already taught me. trip and visited the Lincoln University Johnson Memorial lab looking at the sheep scanning facility and the use of radio frequency sheep identification systems.

The attendees included farm managers, stock managers and shepherds, several of whom had chosen to go farming from careers in other industries. Among the careers these young farmers had left behind were landscape architecture, engineering, horticulture and vet nursing.

Why attend?

Stock manager Michael Bolton says he saw the course advertised on Facebook and applied because he believes the sheep and beef sector lacked passionate young people to take it into the future.

Katrina McMillan, who is now milking sheep after having worked in the horticultural industry, saw Generation Next as a chance to grow her skills and develop her resource network.

For several it was an opportunity to grow their knowledge base and upskill on the use of technology in all aspects of the industry.

Issac Allan is a junior block manager on Glenrock Station and had gone farming after completing an engineering course at Aoraki polytech. He says while he was always going to go farming, he was encouraged by his parents to have an alternative career to fall back on.

For Issac, Generation Next has been very valuable.

“It’s made a huge difference; I’m seeing a different way of doing things on top of what managers have already taught me.”

“Priceless” payback Launched in Southland in 2015 by B+LNZ’s local Extension Manager Olivia Ross, Generation Next has extended north and now covers all of the South Island.

Twenty applicants from each of the three South Island regions are selected every year and so far, there have been 95 graduates.

Olivia believes Generation Next’s success is due to it

being a technical programme for practical people while focusing on their goals and aspirations.

“The commitment is minimal and the payback for the time they invest is priceless. It’s been humbling to see the programme sell itself.”

Olivia says there has been interest in making the programme available throughout New Zealand and it will be available in the lower-eastern North Island in 2021.

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THE 10 | Issue 7

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Zero hour Simon Edwards reports on a subject that is top of mind for many farmers – do farm environmental efforts translate to bottom lines?

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arketers, environmental campaigners and politicians bent on more stringent regulations regularly tell us our primary produce export fortunes hinge on our ‘clean and green’ credentials.

But if farmers invest more in upping their game on the environmental front, will consumers pay more to cover those extra costs – and will any premiums reach farmers or be gobbled further up the supply chain?

The jury is still out on an answer, if two recent research papers are any guide.

‘Carbon zero’ test case We have an interesting test case right here in New Zealand, says Federated Farmers President Andrew Hoggard, with the launch by Fonterra last month of what it says is the first ‘carbon zero’ milk in the southern hemisphere.

The emissions footprint of New Zealand milk (0.8-0.9 carbon dioxideequivalent per kg of milk solids) is already well below the world average (2.5).

Fonterra has gone further by undertaking to offset any emissions involved with Simply Milk by buying certified carbon credits provided by Toitū Envirocare.

Simply Milk is now in the fridges of Foodstuffs supermarkets, costing around 62 cents more per two-litre bottle than a Value brand bottle on launch week.

Will Kiwi shoppers stump up more for that feeling they are doing the right thing for the planet?

“It’s going to be interesting to see how it unfolds,” says Andrew.

But first – those research papers.

With funding from the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge, researchers from AgResearch and Lincoln University last year delved into questions around on farm ‘credence attributes’ (translation: features of a farm product that cannot be perceived even after consumption, such as benefits for the environment, for animal welfare, etc.)

The group first conducted meta-analysis of 94 studies of consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium for dairy and red meat products. After running the data through a raft of processes to remove bias and uncertainty, the researchers predicted overseas customers were on average willing to pay 36 percent more for organic, 25 percent more for grass-fed and 24 percent more for ‘environmentally friendly’ products.

They went further, modelling changes to dairy farm systems and operations typical for Waikato and Southland to deliver three credence attributes – organic, carbon neutral and 100 percent pasture fed. Actions such as replacing or eliminating feed and fertiliser inputs, changing lactation length and pasture intake were modelled.

Taking into account those ‘willingness to pay more’ predictions, the greatest potential profitability gain is for organic (increase of 42-67 percent) and pasture-fed (increase of 36-49 percent).

Carbon-neutral products were shown to be 11-25 percent more profitable, but carbon-neutral dairy also had the greatest potential to reduce nitrogen leaching (-41 percent N reduction) and carbon footprint (-11 percent to -17 percent) if the farmer is able to use imported maize for 30 percent of the feed.

What’s important for international consumers?

Meanwhile, the results of a study by Nic Lees and Joshua Aboah of Lincoln University were published in April this year. They probed what quality cues are important for consumers internationally when they purchase meat.

Analysing the results of 47 recent research articles, they concluded the top 10 characteristics prioritised by purchasers were, in order: country of origin, food safety certification, price, production system, quality certification, fat content, organic label, animal welfare, feed use, and brand. Country of origin was by far the most important cue. Environmentally friendly labelling came in at No 14.

Dr Lees, who lectures in agribusiness management at Lincoln, says for the countries we export to “we need to provide consumers with a reason to choose our products rather than their locally produced beef or lamb”.

“Traditionally we have been able to compete by selling at a lower price.”

While the research showed that price is an important factor, there are other areas on which New Zealand can focus to compete.

For example, Dr Lees says, the fourth most important factor for consumers is the type of production system.

“New Zealand has an advantage here because of our natural, grass-fed farming systems. There is an opportunity to take greater advantage of this; however, this requires communicating these attributes directly to consumers.”

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Issue 7 | 11

Stated preferences vs actual

“I know as a farmer you can still have plenty of troubles with grass-fed in terms of animal welfare and the environment – they can all still occur. And The two researchers note in their paper there is room for a lot more work on this you can have indoors systems with better outcomes than grass-fed. But at a topic, and specifically there is a reliance on consumers’ stated preferences, gut, visceral level, many consumers draw that linkage between grass-fed and rather than what is revealed by their actual purchases. everything sustainable and great.

In other words, people may say what is important to them when “We don’t make enough of our animals being grass-fed. We do answering a survey, but does that closely correlate to what they have to get smarter about marketing.” pick up in the supermarket?

Andrew points out that NZ-sourced farm produce already Back to the question of whether New Zealand farmers will commands a bit of a premium – perhaps $20 a tonne in the get the price premiums if the invest even more in credence global dairy trade. attributes, Feds President Andrew Hoggard is skeptical.

“But going harder and faster on carbon neutral and the “My take it is that we’ve already got world-leading At a gut, visceral level, like – is that going to drive more customer premium?” standards on all of this stuff. The World Society for the many consumers draw Prevention of Cruelty to Animals rates us No. 1 equal Why pay extra? with the UK on farmed animal welfare standards and that linkage between Regulating for higher standards makes that the expected legislation. Tick, already there. minimum. If customers know that’s the standard that has grass-fed and everything “Carbon footprint… again, we’re world-leading. In terms to be met anyway, why would they pay extra? of waterways and biodiversity, I know we make a big deal sustainable and great.

“That’s the risk we run. We increase our cost, but we of it here in New Zealand, and it is important to get it right, don’t increase our value.” but I can pull out photos of cows standing in creeks all over Andrew welcomes the Fonterra Simply Milk initiative. the world, and people in those overseas countries think it’s He thinks it would have been better if, rather than the Toitū a cool image, whereas in New Zealand that’s an invitation to a Envirocare carbon credits being split 50/50 between New firing squad.”

Zealand native forests and renewable energy initiatives in Fonterra export markets such as Bangladesh and India, they were used to Grass-fed marketing advantage purchase trees for planting on Kiwi dairy farms.

On Dr Lees’ point about our grass-fed marketing advantage, Andrew agrees. He “That would have been a great way of linking milk consumers and doing the was struck by a presentation at a World Dairy Summit from the animal welfare right thing with New Zealand dairy farmers. head of a big US dairy company.

“Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the carbon-zero label “Her take was that basically consumers equate grass-fed with everything influences purchases.” good. They’re not looking at any other details.

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I’ve checked the calves I bought are tagged and NAIT registered I received an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form from the seller I have recorded a movement in NAIT for the calves I bought – within 48 hours of them arriving I’ve updated the calves’ production type to beef – if brought in from a dairy farm.

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THE 12 | Issue 7

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Improving water quality with

‘Fitbit for your water’ River Watch is a water quality monitoring device that has the potential to be a game changer for farmers.

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this information can help management choices such as shifting stock and s the saying goes, ‘You can’t manage what you don’t measure’ and for many years farmers have measured and analysed grass, fertiliser use. milk, liveweights, productivity, cashflow, and profitability per cow “If it’s impacting water quality,” he says, “it will send an alert to your and per hectare – just to name a few. This has made New Zealand phone.” farmers arguably the best in the world.

Timely comments, given the newly announced freshwater regulations The way farmers have adopted and invested in new technology for and given that River Watch feeds into an outcome-focussed approach that farmers respect, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach. their farms has also put New Zealand farmers ahead of the pack – think dairy shed technology ranging from cup removers to milk Tackling the big questions monitoring, genetic gains, smart fertiliser applications and more...

River Watch also helps farmers tackle the big questions, Now there’s a new measurement that’s being described such as: “When can I farm on the paddocks next to the It’s affordable as ‘a Fitbit for your water’ to help put farmers in the driving river without having much impact on water quality?” and enough to do it seat for water quality and make the invisible – such as “I want to do some restoration – where do I start first?” nitrates – visible by measuring water quality. and you can do it in as well as providing valuable feedback to farmers of It could also help farmers with the food story we want to the effects of the good work that they are doing. real time and you can be able to tell overseas – one of having a positive impact “You’ll see steady fluctuations – basically on the environment. environmental respiration – then you’ll get a massive use that information to deluge of rain that will shift it and then you’ll see it come Real-time measurements get better product back to its natural rhythm,” says James.

River Watch is a water quality monitor that measures water “You’ll be able to locate and fix the source of potential premiums. quality in real time and sends it to your smart phone or your pollution or other disruptions to it. But also looking at that tablet. It tells farmers what’s happening in their water – streams, natural rhythm and thinking, ‘Is it actually within the threshold which supports life and is a healthy river?’ rivers and lakes.

“You’ll see incremental improvement as you protect riverbanks, plant “We’ve been going to the agricultural sector and saying that you can trees and use less fertilizer. Things like that build up over time as well. monitor your own work,” says James Muir, Chief Technical Officer for River “Levels of dissolved oxygen might change between the seasons. You can Watch. say that your river before was not very supportive of fish life, but now you’re “It’s affordable enough to do it and you can do it in real time and you can more likely to see eels and inanga swimming in the river. use that information to get better product premiums, proving that you’re “Giving people small nuggets of information like that is helpful.” having no impact or actually having a positive impact on water quality,

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AI catchment modelling River Watch uses Amazon Web Services’ artificial intelligence (AI) to predictively model what’s happening in a catchment, which effectively, he says, gives a voice to water that speaks your language and is easy to understand so you can focus on the outcomes.

“Taking the data and pairing that with other data such as geography, geology, rainfall and climate and developing predictive modelling around that – that’s the great thing we can do with Amazon Web Services,” says James.

River Watch works with some of New Zealand’s best water quality scientists to interpret the data.

“With farm environment plans and reporting,” says James, “the great thing about the software these days is you can write algorithms that will translate into practical explanations.

“The software will contextualise the information and that can be sent as a report, which you can check and click a button to, for example, send it to the council,” he says.

River Watch can therefore see what happened last time under certain conditions and predict what will happen next, which helps people make better farm management decisions.

Not ‘another job’ The last thing James wanted to do was add another job to a farmer’s list.

“I always wanted River Watch to be integrated into what farmers already use – so River Watch could become part of that reporting – although River Watch does have its own standalone software which comes free with the device. I’m not trying to be proprietary about it – this is about making change, not making millions.”

Issue 7 | 13

As well as partnering with Amazon Web Services, Callaghan Innovation, Spark and Vodafone, River Watch has also caught the attention of DairyNZ, Fonterra and Beef & Lamb.

“They’re all quite supportive of what we’re doing and we’re taking their advice. They’re very optimistic and can see how useful this could be in terms of reporting.

“It’s really taking away an extra job of environmental management and automating it. It makes it easy because it’s measuring water quality directly – rather than trying to measure something else and then model water quality from that – it’s giving you a really accurate idea of how land use is impacting water quality.

“At the moment I’m seeing out there all these brilliant approaches like physio-graphic modelling and satellite-imaging data. You can get some great information but none of it actually measures water quality. Unless you’ve got probes in the river, you can’t get that information.”

Built Kiwi-tough It’s certainly unique in New Zealand. In the world it’s unique in that it’s built Kiwi-tough in a fully enclosed case that’s made from recycled milk bottles to withstand floods and protect the sensors. James says you might need to check it only a couple of times a year.

“It was more seeing what other people weren’t doing and what they were missing. There was nothing like a plug and play device.”

River Watch is taking pre-orders at the moment and has been waiting on a tool to come into New Zealand to make the units that has been delayed due to Covid-19, but at this stage delivery looks likely to be November.

Back Your Regions. Back Your Future. Back New Zealand First.

For the last 3 years New Zealand First has used it’s vast experience to bring stability in Government to help overcome unforeseen crisis and tragedy. $3bn Provincial Growth Fund that is working to grow our primary industry, support business growth, address infrastructure gaps, fund training and employment initiatives and connect the regions to the cities and the rest of the world. $229million sustainable land use package to assist farmers and rural landowners as part of the solution for better environment outcomes.

Won exemptions for semi-automatic firearms for farmers for pest control and called on the Department of Conservation to work with hunters on Tahr control.

Stopped the Capital gains tax, no resource rentals or Water tax.

Invested in water storage infrastructure, retained Crown Investment in irrigation and responded to the 2020 Drought in Northland, Auckland and Waikato.

Provided balance to the Zero Carbon Act, introducing split emissions for biogenic methane and CO2, and a realistic 10% methane reduction target.

What comes next?

New Zealand First will: Continue to support agriculture training institutes like Telford Balclutha to train a world class agriculture workforce Make $100m available to Aquacorp to boost the aquaculture sector and bring new jobs to the regions Continue to ensure that government decision making is balanced and that regional New Zealand is given a fair go

@winstonpeters @nzfirst Authorised by E. Witehira, 251E Rawhiti Rd, RD4, Hikurangi, Northland, 0184

info@nzfirst.nz www.nzfirst.nz

Take in the views from the paddock gate.

Listen to Jamie, Ro & Lashes for the lay of the land every weekday from 12-1pm pm.

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THE 16 | Issue 7

COUNTRY

‘Ethical’ milk:

Can we sell dairy milk to vegans?

Nikki Verbeet reflects on the opportunities available to farmers when farming to a customer-focused strategy.

D

o you remember hearing the story of legs of lamb being sent to consumers in Asia where they only had tiny microwave ovens? The take-home message was that our customers are not as homogenous as our blue-top milk.

Less than 15 years ago ‘the customer’ wasn’t farmers’ chief consideration. It was up to the likes of Fonterra and Tatua to invest in research and development and create new products for different customers. Farmers could confidently leave it to the companies to ‘add value’ to what they had produced.

Now the demands (and opportunities) of the various customer segments have come to the farm gate. There are opportunities and freedom to farm to a customer-focused strategy and deliver different products to different customers based on how unique those customers are.

Since the Covid-19 lockdown began, we have seen many producers opting to sell direct to consumers, swiftly creating and upgrading their e-commerce platforms.

The fact that New Zealand’s dairy industry was built largely on the co-operative spirit meant that knowledge was (and still is) freely shared – as opposed to a purely commercial model in which information is jealously guarded.

However, it could also be argued that it encouraged a homogeneous approach (excuse the milk pun again) in which most farming was done the same way, irrespective of the uniqueness of your farm, your family, your team, your values and your end customer.

Now before my inbox is creaking at the seams with emails that say things like, ‘Bugger you, my cows are happy cows!’ and ‘Do you realise just how impractical these suggestions are?’, I’ll just file a wee disclaimer right here.

Some farmers may wish to supply product for a niche customer segment and some farmers may not, in the same way that not every farmer chooses to farm organically (and let’s face it, those thistles on organic farms don’t grub themselves!).

When is a vegan not a vegan?

So here goes – is it possible to sell dairy milk to vegans? The short answer is – it depends on what ‘type’ of vegan they are (see sidebar).

According to Claire Insley, media spokesperson for the Vegan Society of Aotearoa New Zealand, a strict vegan will not consume any animal products whatsoever.

“The people who are vegan for reason of animal ethics will on the whole simply not support any form of animal husbandry,” she says.

“As with any group of people you may find exceptions to this rule. But yes, if they consume animal products then they are vegetarian, not vegan.”

However, the Vegan Society does not require people to declare they are vegans according to their strict definition when they join. They also don’t currently survey their members on the reasons they have become vegan.

What it comes down to is how individuals define their own eating habits and how rigid they are at self-enforcing them.

Ethical choices, and food choices, are very personal. What people identify as, and what they actually eat, can be two different things. Much like ‘I have every intention of going to the gym’ but the reality can be quite different.

Many people enjoy eating vegan meals but, far from identifying as strict vegans, also love eating meat.

What is ethical milk?

It’s worth noting that there isn’t a universally agreed definition of what ‘ethical milk’ is. It’s a moving feast, so to speak, which consumers define according to their own individual preferences influenced by taste, social and cultural factors, status, economic cost, accessibility, marketing, stress/mood, health, education etc.

According to Glen Herud, Founder of Happy Cow Milk Co, New Zealand doesn’t really do ‘direct to consumer’ and it’s hard for farmers

It’s about finding out who you want to sell to and just giving them what they want.”

to engage, because there’s no mechanism in place for them to get direct feedback from the customer.

This is something his company is seeking to help farmers with.

“Farmers are going to get all that customer feedback from social so they can change their practice based on that. So, when I communicate, I’m communicating to those people who buy my milk, and the thing that gets them excited is often the very thing that makes dairy farmers upset.

“So yes, it’s about finding out who you want to sell to and just giving them what they want.”

Is ethical milk worth pursuing for farmers?

Sales of products with sustainable attributes now make up 22 percent of total store sales and the sustainable product market could hit $150 billion in US by 2021, according to a 2019 Neilsen report.

“Consumer choice has never been greater.

Supermarkets sell around 40,000 more products than they did 20 years ago” says Jeremy Hill, Chief Science & Technology Officer for Fonterra.

“We know this [ethical products category] is fast growing across a range of segments from millennials to seniors. It’s also a trend that’s not just limited to affluent markets – it’s fast occurring in emerging markets, where sustainability and ethics relate to quality of product and supports trust.”

Jeremy considers that there is a real win-win opportunity.

“We’re among the most sustainable, and we’re competitive because our cows are fed on grass grown in open pastures, whereas other countries might be barn based. With climate change, our farmers will need to continue to innovate as they’ve been doing for decades.”

THE

He points to the example of Owl Farm, near Hamilton, which over the last two years has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent and lifted operating profit by 14 percent.

He contends that they’ve shown it’s possible to reduce emissions and keep their business profitable.

Practical considerations According to a report by CGS, more than onethird of consumers are happy to pay 25 percent extra for more sustainable products (www.cgsinc. com/en/infographics/CGS-Survey-RevealsSustainability-Is-Driving-Demand-and-CustomerLoyalty).

However, from a practical point of view if you want to supply ‘ethical’ milk to a segment of consumers, who don’t like the way calves are separated from cows for example, it can require a system change.

Glen Herud says he started not separating cows and calves for practical reasons: he simply didn’t have the calf sheds/feeders and didn’t want the cost of outlaying for them, plus he was saving on the labour cost.

“First off, you don’t have to separate calves from their mothers – so there’s one job you don’t have to do,” he says.

“With the current system, you separate a cow – you go and milk it, put the milk in the vat, and then take the calf feeder, fill it up with that milk from the vat and then feed the calf. You can’t run a seasonal supply where you’ve got 80 percent of your herd calving within four weeks. It just doesn’t work.

“You spread the calving out so you have four to five calves per month. You’ve only ever got a handful of calves running around at any given time, so you just leave them. You tag the calf when it’s born and when it’s getting too big you take it away.

COUNTRY “So yes, it is probably drinking a lot of milk and there probably is a production loss, but there’s a saving when you’re not paying labour to separate cows, to feed calves, and the infrastructure to house calves.”

Who decides what ‘ethical milk’ is?

Issue 7 | 17

people in town who say, “I don’t mind you giving a cow an injection if there’s no little baby calf that’s going to die.”

However, the New Zealand Veterinary Association does not support hormone use. Hormones are considered a risk to animal welfare and run contrary to conditions of trade imposed by several of New Zealand’s major trading partners. Some animal welfare concerns can conflict with other animal welfare concerns.

Farmers can’t be the ones to define what ethical is – it comes down to what individual consumers think is ethical. However, it is up to individual Falling in love with your local farmer farmers to decide whether they want to farm for Glen openly admits he’s had a rocky ride to getting these consumer segments.

Happy Cow Milk Co. up and running, Some consumers think it’s great that “I’ve done everything I can to actually calves stay with their mothers but fail at this business and it just seems others think that that’s not ethical to refuse to die. The level of because the calves still go to commitment from people out The future get slaughtered at two years there just proves how much of age; and yet others think of farming is they want this, like I get fan you can’t utilise an animal mail like you wouldn’t believe. changing; the priorities for anything at all. One It’s just people who say ‘I just thing is clear: you can’t of the world are shifting found out about you and this please everyone. just the most wonderful fast and there is a massive isthing.

Other options include I thought I could never dairy farmers using sexed focus on optimum drink milk again’. semen so a cow only “We want our milk to be environmental, animal produces a heifer calf or reasonably priced, so that’s using emerging science why it’s taken so long to launch. and human health.” to ‘edit’ a cow’s genes, so it We’re getting everything in place produces only female offspring. to make it so we can produce it just There’s also an example of a as efficiently and distribute it and sell it at farm in the US farming according the same price [as normal milk]. to Ayurvedic principles. They artificially “We wanted to go to market and say ‘if you want inseminate so that they kill no stock on farm. to buy milk in a reusable package, that’s produced Basically, if it’s born there it has to live there until ethically (whatever that is) and actually it comes from it dies. (www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvg98x/theyour local farmer, here’s Bruce and Karen’ – why who -w wants-tto-m make-m milk-ffor-v vegansdairy-ffarmer-w would you not buy from them?” v26n4) Glen says that farmers generally are really proud of You can even take it a step further and give their operations and they want to show people. cows hormone treatment to start lactating without “The people we’ve got lined up are just hanging even having a calf. out to show what they do. People are going to fall in Glen says he wrote an article last year love with their local farmer and hopefully their farmer about giving cows’ hormone treatment to start is going to make a few changes.” lactating and many farmers thought the idea was Nikki Verbeet is Commercial Manager for NZME and a former horrendous, However, he says, there are many dairy farmer.

Types of vegans 1. Ethical ▪ People have concerns around animal exploitation.

2. Plant-based ▪ Predominantly for health reasons or to lose weight.

▪ Choosing the label ‘plant-based’ as they continue to use animal products such as leather, silk and honey.

▪ It is possible to eat a very unhealthy vegan diet (Oreos, Pringles, noodles are all vegan, for example), but plant-based diets take this one step further eliminating processed foods altogether with a focus on ‘clean eating’.

3. Raw ▪ Won’t eat anything cooked or heated up.

▪ Diet mainly of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains.

▪ For health reasons but sometimes spiritual reasons (looking to recreate a ‘new Eden’).

4. HCLF (High carb, low fat) ▪ HCLF in the form of fruit, vegetables, grains and as little fat as possible.

▪ Healthy fats such as avocados, seeds and nuts but eaten in smaller amounts.

5. Environmentally conscious ▪ Concerned about meat and dairy putting pressure on the environment.

▪ Concerned about deforestation, e.g. in the Amazon rainforest.

▪ Greenhouse gases, carbon footprint and impacts on the environment.

NAIT checklist for bulls Selling or leasing service bulls?

Buying or leasing service bulls?

All my bulls are correctly tagged and NAIT registered

I’ve confirmed with the bull provider that the bulls are tagged

at my NAIT location

and NAIT registered

I’ve completed a pre-movement TB test*

I received an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form from

* If you’re not sure, check with OSPRI if you need a pre-movement TB test.

the bull provider

I’ve filled out an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form and a Declaration to Livestock Transporter (DLT) form When the bulls leave: I’ve recorded a sending movement in NAIT – within 48 hours of them leaving When the leased bulls return: I’ve recorded (or confirmed) a receiving movement in NAIT – within 48 hours of them arriving

When the bulls arrive: I’ve recorded (or confirmed) a receiving movement in NAIT for the bulls I bought/leased – within 48 hours of them arriving When the leased bulls leave my farm: I’ve recorded a sending movement in NAIT – within 48 hours of them leaving* * If you’re sending to the works, they will record the movement for you.

Make sure you record your NAIT location number on the ASD form.

Failure to comply with NAIT obligations may result in fines or prosecution issued by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Need help? Call OSPRI on 0800 482 463 NAIT is an OSPRI programme

info@ospri.co.nz | ospri.co.nz

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