Friday, March 29, 2024

EDITORIAL: Keep producing the best food

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It’s been a strange couple of months, weather-wise.
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Spring has refused to surrender to summer and the wind is driving everyone crazy. I spent more time sitting by the fire than swimming over Christmas and New Year. Summer appears to be a tale of two halves with the east very dry and the west very wet.

Here in Manawatu the grass is still growing and everything’s a lovely shade of green. With the constant spring-like wind and the rain I’m not sure it’s optimum farming weather, though. Of course Northland, Hawke’s Bay and North Canterbury are very dry and farming there is challenging.

As I write the country is being blasted by wind and rain though the dry south has copped the wind and not the rain. Here’s hoping Northland gets a good drenching.

The winds of change are blowing through the United States and Donald Trump will have taken the oath and been sworn in as president by now. Global markets seem optimistic about his leadership plans, with growth in investment and jobs predicted. His aversion to global trade and plans to close the US border are making the rest of the world edgy.

With Brexit in motion there will be changes aplenty for exporters in the near future, though the New Zealand Government seems positive after a recent trip through the United Kingdom and Europe.

Interestingly, a front-page story in an English language Chinese newspaper last week outlined the Chinese government’s plans to embrace global trade, to fill the void created by an inward-looking US. It also wanted to lead the way in clean energy, something the rest of the world will applaud.

While the world is changing, what shouldn’t change here is our commitment to producing the best food we can. There are people out there who want to buy high-quality meat, dairy and fruit and ours is the best going. As long as we continue this, we’ll be sure to find a market for our exports, wherever it may be.

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