Source: Radio New Zealand
NZPork has previously warned that local producers were struggling against a flood of lower-welfare imports. 123RF
Farmers are renewing calls for the Government to enforce the same animal welfare standards that local pig farmers face on imported pork.
A group of farmers, pork producers and advocates wrote to the Prime Minister and government ministers this week, calling for a “level playing field” among locally-produced and imported product.
The pork industry has wanted this for years now, with industry group NZPork warning that local producers were struggling against a flood of lower-welfare imports.
NZPork estimated that more than 63 percent of pork consumed in Aotearoa came from countries like United States, Spain, Germany and Canada.
In some of these countries, farmers still used sow stalls (narrow cages for pregnant pigs) which New Zealand banned, and had smaller space requirements or longer periods allowed for sows in farrowing crates (that have just given birth to protect the piglets).
It came after last year’s controversial move by the Government to allow farmers a decade grace period before enforcing stricter welfare regulations.
Waikato dairy farmer Walt Cavendish was about to transition his Matamata farming operation into free range pork farming.
He signed the letter addressed to the Government, having said farmers, consumers and the animals deserve high welfare standards.
“New Zealand led the way in 1999 with the Animal Welfare Act. It was a world leading piece of legislation,” he said.
“We made quite a clear decision as a country that animal welfare matters. And we seem to have gone down the road of insisting on that for our farmers, but not insisting that for our imports.”
“For these family farming families, they’re trying to compete with product that would just not be allowed to be farmed here.”
Cavendish had met with officials on the matter previously, and said New Zealand could legally enforce what was called a public morals exemption on importers
“The biggest argument that’s put is the trade implications.
“They’re just so nervous about it.
“Everyone keeps using the trade argument.”
But he said it would be unlikely that those exporting nations would take retaliatory action in response, considering the New Zealand market’s small scale.
“It’s just an argument to try and stop this going further, and that’s why I’m quite firm that the public morals exemption is our best way forward.
“And realistically, with such a low amount of the export from these countries, that they’re hardly going to worry about it.”
He believed people’s fears that pork prices would go up even further if we ditched imports was a “false narrative”, as the national pig herd would likely increase to meet demand.
“Because ultimately, you would be able to produce more, so the cost of production would go down.
“We don’t really feel that the price will go through the roof at all, and there are examples that Animal Policy International have done in their research, where we’re talking peanuts, you know, very little. We’re talking cents, not dollars, in relation to the price adjustment per kilogram of pork.”
But he acknowledged it was a significant concern for cash-strapped consumers, though many of them were passionate about animal welfare.
“One of the big things I get from people that comment to me is their fear of the price going up, because they can’t even now afford a lot of the meat products on the shelf.
Trade minister Todd McClay said if New Zealand introduced requirements based on our methods of production, this could potentially undermine our efforts to prevent other countries from applying unjustified measures that could impact negatively on our agricultural exports.
“Last year animal product exports worth $42 billion reached plates around the globe, making up more than half of our total goods exports.”
“New Zealand is a global leader in farmed animal welfare standards, which underpin our trade reputation and the high quality of our global exports.”
McClay said New Zealand works with other countries to improve animal welfare standards through our membership in the World Organisation for Animal Health and through bilateral collaboration.
“It is important to recognise that different countries have different production systems. Approaches to caring for animals are adapted to local conditions and applying the same standard can sometimes result in different welfare outcomes.”
Food and Agriculture Organization’s latest statistics show New Zealand imported more than 47,000 tonnes of pork in 2023.
The “Fair for Farmers” campaign was launched at the Northland Fieldays in Dargaville today that ran into Saturday.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand