NEWS
ANIMAL HEALTH
Couple put faith in raw milk to save farm. PAGE 16
Ensuring cows are ok to transport. PAGE 34
EAST C0AST FARMING EXPO Expo promises top-class speakers. PAGE 27
TO ALL FARMERS, FOR ALL FARMERS FEBRUARY 11, 2020: ISSUE 694
www.ruralnews.co.nz
Still got to eat!
IMPACT UNCLEAR PETER BURKE
PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
MEAT INDUSTRY Association (MIA) chair John Loughlin says despite the fears about the coronavirus, China still needs to eat. “It’s a question of how they will buy their food and how will the distribution channels will be affected,” he told Rural News. “As I am reading it, restaurant sales will be down and it’ll affect some product lines, but retail sales will continue and home delivery will boom. “Online sales in China are bigger than anywhere else in the world and I would guess that home delivery will be the way that people get their food with minimal contact with other people and
risk of infection.” Loughlin says, from a NZ perspective, it will depend to a large degree on the circumstances of the individual companies, who their partners are and what their channels to the consumer are. Meat processor Silver Fern Farms (SFF) says it’s closely monitoring the situation in China. Chief executive Simon Limmer told Rural News that businesses, ports
and government departments remain operating at restricted capacity. He says people are still under movement restrictions and in many cases cannot get to work, or back home, potentially for at least until February 9. “Road transport through to our customers, and from their facilities to retail outlets, is a potential pinch point. This will be having an impact on both retail supermarket and food service sales in restaurants. Though the extent
Harvest underway David Clark gets to work on a 6ha seed pea crop on Peter Reveley’s farm near Mount Somers. It was among the first harvesting jobs of what is expected to be a busy season for Clark, who is the Mid Canterbury provincial Federated Farmers president and runs a large and varied livestock and cropping business at nearby Valetta. Reveley was pleased with a yield well over 3t/ha, although the crop, planted in mid-September in an unirrigated paddock “could’ve done with a couple more showers.” Reveley praised Clark’s ability to get “every last pea” by always running in one direction, into the prevailing nor-wester and against the lie of the dry plants, whereas some contractors would take the short cut of running up and down. RURAL NEWS GROUP. – Stubble burn page 15
of this disruption is not yet known.” Limmer says SFF have resolved some early challenges in dealing with the coronavirus crisis – especially around balancing cold storage and processing capacity. He says by making some changes to their market mix, albeit at lower market returns, they have got back on track with processing volumes. Limmer says SFF has a good market split across TO PAGE 3
peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
IT’S STILL unclear just how much the outbreak of coronavirus in China will affect New Zealand exports to that country. China is NZ’s single largest market for our total primary exports and the number one for dairy, meat and wool, seafood and forestry. It is also high on the list for horticulture. While there is no formal ban on our exports to China, the fact that the country is in lockdown is creating problems with distributing goods with many workers staying at home or facing restricted movement to do their work. NZ Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has set up a special section on its website, which is regularly updated. It anticipates ongoing disruption to business for at least a fortnight, as Chinese local government agencies encourage staff to stay at home. Meanwhile, market analysts AgriHQ say farmers are being stuck with stock because factors beyond their control are conspiring against them. It says record high farmgate prices in November and early December prompted many farmers to hold stock for longer than usual. “Unfortunately, coronavirus came to a head when the market was expected to start picking up and consumption has collapsed.”
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