Getting to grips with India’s needs and motivations is the first step to opening trade doors, New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE) says.
Hamish Marr has just returned from a 14-day trade mission to India and says he was struck by the scale – and potential – of farming there.
“After such a short visit, I’m not going to pretend I know the answers on how we should go about lifting trade between our two countries. The issues are complicated,” he says.
“But I firmly believe our first task is to show some respect for India’s culture and achievements, and understand their motivations.”
India is the world’s largest producer of milk and pulses, and the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnut, vegetables and fruit.
India doesn’t need us or our food output, he says, but we could look for ways to make ourselves valuable trading partners.
“Our scale versus theirs really struck me. Yes, we export a lot for the size of our country, but we’re a minnow in comparison,” Marr says.
“We have to be thinking about what New Zealand can do for India, because if we don’t, India will just swallow us up.”
European Union nations, where Marr visited before Christmas, also heavily subsidise agricultural production but in many respects “couldn’t be more different”. His impression is that the EU’s subsidies are about holding back food production.
The reason usually given is food security, but Marr believes it’s really about avoiding market gluts and a sharp focus on the environment.
“The politics of the day are really front and centre there.”
While subsidies in the EU and India distort markets, India’s are about trying to lift local production.
“I see a country with a lot of mouths to feed, a country where 65% of the population lives in rural areas, and one that can’t afford to have those people moving to cities.
“Their ambition is to make the life of these often subsistence farmers better, by introducing more technology and co-operatives.”
Marr says that’s where New Zealand could help: we have technology and production practices to share.
“Showing respect, building relationships and looking for value-adds for both countries is the way forward.
“We have plenty to offer India. For example, we can put the case that we offer a different kind of milk based on pasture that will be sought-after for some things. Our horticulture sector has R&D and varieties that are attractive to the Indian market.”
Marr, a fifth generation Canterbury arable farmer, a Nuffield Scholar and former Canterbury representative on the Federated Farmers Herbage Seed Sub-Section, was appointed SATE last July.
Even though it’s a government appointment, he’s not there to advocate the government’s view.
“The agricultural envoy is the independent voice of New Zealand farmers to our Government, overseas governments and our trading partners.
“Too often the farmers’ voice is missing in the room when discussions on trade are happening.
“I can speak independently of the politics of the day and with the farmers’ point of view overseas. I work alongside trade officials and often see opportunities or pitfalls that otherwise might be missed.”
Marr says he’s loving the role and learning plenty, with plenty more to learn.
“I’ve come to realise there are a lot of people in MPI and Foreign Affairs doing great work on our behalf on market access, border restrictions and the like.
“We wouldn’t get our product to market without them.”
He’s also seen for himself the growing emphasis that buyers and consumers of our meat and milk put on environmental credentials.
“Farmers who still roll their eyes at Fonterra’s Scope 3 emissions or Silver Fern Farms’ low-carbon supply chain ambitions need a reality check,” he says.
“Fonterra’s key customers have made some demands. Do we just say ‘No’ and risk them walking away?”
Marr says we’re a small nation but food producers overseas are keen to hear the New Zealand farmer perspective from him.
“I think many of them feel a bit nervous by our perceived production horsepower and the theory we’d flood their market if it was truly free trade.
“When they start defending the reasons for subsidies, I point out we reached peak cow several years ago and peak sheep long before that.”
Nevertheless, the words ‘Made in NZ’ carry a lot of weight, he says.
“We have a very, very good reputation for the quality of our goods, our environmental footprint, and for ‘what’s written on the box being what’s in the box’.”
Is a New Zealand farmer/All Blacks analogy fair?
“Well, the All Blacks are respected, and other teams fear them taking the field and running rampant.
“I think they do feel a bit daunted by our food production capacity despite our size.
So, the All Blacks comparison is there.
“It’s a better analogy than the cricket one at any rate,” he jokes.
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Feds news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
