management
farm safety
They work for 365 days a year for nothing - the ultimate work force. page 26
A spate of accidents has put the issue of quad bike safety back on the agenda. page 6
Rural NEWS to all farmers, for all farmers
january 22, 2013: Issue 530
Lockwood Smith is off to London to take up a new role.
pages 10-11
www.ruralnews.co.nz
MPI takes leadership role p e te r bu r k e peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
The Ministry for Primary Industry is planning to raise the public profile of the primary sector this year and take on a wider promotional role than it’s done in the past. MPI Director General Wayne McNee told Rural News that this is part of move by the Ministry to take a ‘leadership’ role in the primary sector from now on. As part of this, MPI may make consider making submissions on regional council plans – a matter that farming leaders have been asking it to do for some time. McNee says some years ago MAF, as it was then, made a conscious decision not to submit on plans. The change of heart appears to be linked to the ructions that have arisen from Horizons Regional Council, which has drawn much criticism for its failure to accurately estimate the negative economic costs on farming of its controversial One Plan.
Work commissioned by MPI showed the One Plan would have significant negative impacts on farming on the region – a matter that Horizons still disputes. McNee says the Landcare report on the Horizons situation was commissioned before the Environment Court made its decision. He says it outlined a number of scenarios and one the Minister for Primary Industry David Carter highlighted as closest to the court decision.
“We have worked this through with ministers and other agencies and on a case-by-case basis if we consider it necessary, we will look to submit on the regional planning process,” McNee adds. He says the decision to submit on council plans is just one example of the new ‘leadership’ role MPI intends to take this year. “It’s not advocacy, but it is about us fronting the issues publicly in the media and within government circles.
It’s important for us not to call it advocacy because DOC has a legislative role for this and there is a lot of criticism of that role. Within government you’ve got to be seen to present a ‘fact or evidenced-based argument’, not just wave the flag and say ‘primary industries, primary industries’. You’ve got to front up to Treasury and ministers with the evidence,” he says. McNee believes MPI has a major role to play in helping the government achieve its growth targets.
Well-earned recognition Horowhenua commercial vegetable grower George Sue was one of only a handful of people from the primary sector to feature in the 2013 New Year’s Honours list. Seventy two year-old Sue, a second generation commercial grower, earned his Queens Service Medal (QSM) for his work as both an industry leader in the commercial growing sector, as well as his contribution to a wide range of community organisations. For more on George Sue and other rural/agribusiness sector awardees see page 4.
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off to see the queen
That’s what works out here.
Sheep farmers show the way Former Agriculture Minister and Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith says farmers have to be mindful of the need to farm sustainably and not damage the environment. But he says that has to be done in a scientific way. He believes too much thinking nowadays is not based sufficiently on sound science. “Sadly over the years, it’s my view, that some of the fundamentals of scientific methodology have not been inculcated sufficiently into students. I used to teach scientific method at university, and agricultural science is one of the great scientific traditions that has a very, strong basis in sound scientific methodology. Other fields of scientific endeavor, to me, don’t have quite that sound basis in scientific methodology. Smith is full of praise for the sheep industry, which over the years has become very efficient. He points to the huge increase in lambing percentages and notes that not so long ago getting 100% was good, whereas today the good farms are up over 150%. “If the rest of the economy had achieved what sheep farmers have achieved New Zealand would be one of the wealthiest countries in the world.” • Smith profile - pgs 10-11, 14