I recently attended the first of the government’s woolshed meetings, held just south of Masterton with ministers Todd McClay and Mark Patterson. The government is planning up to 30 such meetings around the country.
Andrew Hoggard was due there as well but was in Wellington with the Biosecurity Awards.
More than 100 locals attended, all with an interest in what the coalition government is planning for agriculture and the provinces.
There’s a lot of confusion in farming currently as on one hand the government has strongly signalled its intention to reform while on the other some councils are maintaining their outdated and increasingly irrelevant jackbooted approach.
The rules are changing and councils need to acknowledge that and change with them.
The woolshed meeting came on the heels of the announcement from Climate Change Minister Simon Watts and Agriculture Minister McClay concerning the government’s methane review, where it wants science to rule over ideology.
That’s a major step forward from the previous He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) exercise, where – while its formation prevented agriculture being put into the Emissions Trading Scheme and the split gas approach was finally acknowledged – nothing much else actually happened. We had the then chair of Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the current chair of Dairy NZ in endless meetings behind closed doors in Wellington, and that seemed to be it.
The government is spoilt for choice regarding qualified NZ scientists for its independent panel. Dr Andrew Reisinger is well qualified as deputy director, (international) of the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. Dr Harry Clark is an internationally recognised authority on the issue. Professors Jacqueline Rowarth and David Frame would also have much to contribute. Watts said that “the independent review [will] hopefully put to bed, for now, the debate about how potent this gas is and how it contributes to climate change”.
Realistically, I don’t think it will completely shut down criticism whatever it says, as the anti-farming lobby will never be quiet and/or rational.
While the government is having a scientifically based evaluation of GHGs, the Climate Change Commission is about to embark on a long public consultation on the issues and its preferred outcomes. That sounds to me like an expanded HWEN. Give me science any time.
Getting back to the woolshed meeting, McClay told us that National campaigned on getting Wellington out of farming and the coalition is going to do just that. That the rural economy is the most important part of the NZ economy and needs fewer rules and regulations.
He explained that in the previous five years over 20 regulations were imposed on farming and they all came with a cost. Farmers are spending too much time filling in forms.
The coalition government’s aim is to bring trust back into farming and that means fewer rules and regulations. It wants simpler forms that farmers can fill in themselves instead of having to spend money on expensive consultants.
The intention is to get the most cost-effective way of meeting objectives.
McClay also spoke about trade, specifically the European Union agreement, which he described as “a high-quality trade deal”.
He concluded by telling the meeting that “we have the most experienced agriculture team that Parliament has ever seen. We have four people from three parties all working hard together.”
I’d certainly agree that they have the most experienced agricultural team ever and as well as the ministers there are some excellent farmer MPs.
He was followed by Rural Communities Minister Patterson from NZ First. He is a South Otago farmer in his own right and was president of Otago Federated Farmers.
In a wide-ranging talk he started with the perennial problem of low wool prices. He was positive about the future of wool, saying” “We must get hill country farming back on track.”
As associate minister of regional development he is also committed to water storage. Water storage has been an emotive issue in the past, generating a lot more heat than light.
Currently, opposition from the likes of Forest and Bird is gearing up but, as Patterson explained, “the fast-tracking legislation is now law and water storage is part of that”.
I found that reassuring as for Wairarapa to thrive both now and into the future, water storage is a must-have. It is the same for the rest of the country, particularly the east coast.
Patterson went on to tell the meeting that “the Regional Infrastructure Fund is there and available for projects like water storage so we need to get the show on the road”.
Both ministers spoke for around 10 minutes and then took questions, which were wide ranging but relevant. They gave the distinct impression they were both well on top of their portfolios.
And I can’t wait for the day Wellington is totally out of farming.
