{"id":30874,"date":"2018-03-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/guy-closing-strait-a-pipedream\/"},"modified":"2018-03-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T11:00:00","slug":"guy-closing-strait-a-pipedream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/guy-closing-strait-a-pipedream\/","title":{"rendered":"Guy: Closing Strait a pipedream"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The Government is considering declaring the North Island free of the disease but has yet to say if that means closing Cook Strait to cattle movements.<\/p>\n

Any eradication for M bovis free status must be aimed at the whole of NZ, Guy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to think officials are focused on the response \u2013 making the whole of NZ Mb-free rather than dreaming up a pipe-dream for the minister.<\/p>\n

Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O\u2019Connor said he has asked Primary Industries Ministry officials to explore the feasibility and implications of making the North Island Mycoplasma bovis free on the basis most infected properties were in the South Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sounds an interesting proposal but in reality the minister is clutching at straws,\u201d Guy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds quite ludicrous to me and I can\u2019t see how MPI will be able to come up with a practical solution, implement it, let alone enforce it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill it mean the end of Strait Shipping.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill it mean no more movement of semen and embryos between North and South?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of cattle are moved between the North and South Islands each week with the schedule price being higher in the North a key driver.<\/p>\n

Cows also cross the Strait for gypsy day and meat companies move stock, especially during drought.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get real here \u2013 it\u2019s a defeatist attitude to think we can have North Island free while letting it spread in the South Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guy said not knowing where the disease originated gave no assurance there would not be another outbreak if the response was to proceed with eradication.<\/p>\n

He had little confidence in the ministry\u2019s yet to be released Pathway Report.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like looking for a needle in a haystack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mounting costs of dealing with Mycoplasma bovis are causing a lot of angst among farmers, Federated Farmers dairy chairman Chris Lewis said.<\/p>\n

Feds strongly argues the cost must not fall on individuals caught with the disease.<\/p>\n

Government and industry have agreed on a $95 million package to move the response forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It includes funding of $85m for operational and compensation costs approved by Cabinet and $11.2m committed by industry bodies DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association.<\/p>\n

The industry funding is outside the Government Industry Agreement (GIA) framework.<\/p>\n

MPI estimates total operational costs of $35m and compensation liabilities of $60m will be required until a decision on whether to eradicate the disease is made, possibly in the next four weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no reason now why fair and equitable compensation cannot flow to those affected by this disease,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no excuses now, it\u2019s get on with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to put pressure on to ensure that money is well spent,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

While Feds had not yet formed policy around an M bovis-free North Island, member feedback favoured a temporary North-South movement control.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom across both dairy and meat and wool, farmers are seeing the big picture and they are telling us they like the idea of temporary movement control, excluding animals to the works,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers\u2019 rationale is that it has been done successfully in the good old days under Tb management movement control.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome farmers think it\u2019s feasible, some knock it back. We are still getting feedback and all ideas are going in the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the wait on compensation is taking its toll.<\/p>\n

The delay in paying claims is inexcusable, Wilma van Leeuwen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only are we unable to run our businesses, our people are going broke because their income is gone and compensation is not forthcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are farmers expected to survive and repopulate their farms when compensation is not happening in a timely manner?<\/p>\n

\u201cFarming businesses cannot live off thin air,\u201d van Leeuwen said.<\/p>\n

The self-labelled M bovis founders Mary and Sarel Potgieter fled the country last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mentally the strain had taken its toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo longer can we stand up. We have to get out and try and move on,\u201d Mary Potgieter said as the couple waited to board a plane bound for Perth.<\/p>\n

They had still not received any compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so frustrating, we feel so let down \u2013 it\u2019s just not god enough on MPI\u2019s part.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor said MPI had ramped up the response, provided the money needed to continue the response and is working through and paying compensation claims as fast as possible.<\/p>\n

That included fast-tracking payments and accepting multiple claims to ease cashflow.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Mycoplasma bovis-free North Island is the pipe-dream of a minister clutching at straws and deflecting from the real issues of the cattle disease response, National\u2019s agriculture spokesman Nathan Guy says.\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":30875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t