Category: Rural

Source: Radio New Zealand

Exporters of live animals by sea are feeling “not flash” about the government’s announcement it will not resume the trade this term.

On Wednesday, senior National MP Todd McClay told RNZ the party would not progress the move to reverse a ban on live animal exports by sea.

It followed an announcement by Associate Agriculture Minister responsible for animal welfare, Andrew Hoggard, that he did not expect the legislation to progress this side of November’s general election.

“While discussions are ongoing, Cabinet has not agreed any final decisions,” he said.

Nearly three years ago, the Labour-led government banned the trade worth around $374 million in 2022, after a ship en route to China capsized in 2020, killing 41 crew members – including 2 New Zealanders – and nearly 6000 cattle.

But during the last election, there was a push for the practice to resume. It featured in coalition agreements between National and Act and National and New Zealand First.

Since then, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) had been working with industry to create so-called gold standards for live exports.

Industry group Livestock Export NZ’s executive director, Glen Neal said it spent years working closely with MPI on developing the new standards.

But he said he believed Cabinet did not understand that the sector was also focussed on animal welfare.

“The decision leaves us grasping for what the future of the sector really is,” he said.

“We couldn’t agree more with the SPCA and others that this is about animal welfare, which is why we work so closely with MPI on new standards; on standards that New Zealanders could justifiably be proud of, that lined up with our reputation as a proud trading nation in agricultural products.”

He said government went quiet on it last year.

“This decision announced from Minister Hoggard, unfortunately comes as no surprise. We haven’t heard much for the last nine months on this,” he said.

“We elected this government on the back of many promises, but one of them did include reinstating the trade, and so three years of missing $300 million in New Zealand’s rural economies, it does leave you scratching your head about why.

“Three-hundred million dollars, the minister mentioned last night, that per year. That’s what we’re leaving on the table in terms of trade with countries like Indonesia.”

Neal said New Zealand helped contribute to growing Indonesia’s domestic dairy herd, and China wanted this too.

He said these markets wanted dairy cattle from New Zealand, and may look to countries with lower welfare standards to plug the gap.

“Effectively, this decision just postpones the introduction of those good standards, postpones New Zealand’s re-entry into this market.”

Industry group Livestock Export New Zealand represented firms involved with the trade, like farmers, stock agents, shipping companies and veterinarians.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The National Party has withdrawn its support for resuming live animal exports by sea.

Animal Welfare Minister Andrew Hoggard announced on Tuesday that the government would not get round to resuming the trade this term as there were more pressing matters.

The government vowed to reinstate the trade with a new gold standard of animal welfare, but after making it into ACT and National’s coalition agreement – the plan seemed to get lost in the cogs of Parliament.

Speaking to Midday Report Minister of Agriculture Todd McClay said his party had withdrawn support for reinstating the trade.

“It was a policy that the National [Party] had before the last election, and I put it forward as our agricultural spokesperson then, now as agricultural minister. But I was also very clear that we had to have a gold standard, and for animals to leave New Zealand, it had to be the highest level of animal welfare and animal husbandry that New Zealanders would expect.

“We are not convinced that that is possible and so we’ve said that we won’t support that anymore.”

Labour banned live exports by sea three years ago due to animal welfare concerns.

Before the ban the trade which was worth about $300 million a year saw cattle shipped to China to help build the dairy herd there.

McClay said if a case could be made where animal welfare could be guaranteed National would relook at it.

“But I don’t think that is possible so we’re not supporting it. It’s not something I think we’ll see any time soon.”

Green Party spokesperson Steve Abel said National and ACT should never have committed to reinstating exports.

“Look, I think that neither National nor ACT did the background work on establishing if they were committed to the principle of upholding the highest animal welfare standards, which is what New Zealanders expect.

“Can they resume this fundamentally cruel trade? There is no veterinary expert who independently states that that was ever possible. That answer should have been able to be got before the last election.”

Abel said he was glad the truth has come to light.

“This gold standard idea is a public relations exercise that has no substance in fact and the minister, it sounds like, has rightly pulled the pin on the plans to resume live exports at sea.”

Abel said the live animal export industry wassn’t one National should be bending over backwards for.

“It’s a tiny cohort of particularly vested interests who want to reinstate this trade and the public don’t like it because New Zealanders do not want to see animals suffering.

“There should be no future for live exports in New Zealand and it’s a good thing if the National Party are committed to make sure it doesn’t come back.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Access to water, food production as a priority, and land use classifications are some of the issues primary sector groups are considering with the government’s proposed new resource management legislation.

Public hearings into the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill – which would replace the Resource Management Act – continued during the Environment Select Committee this week.

Primary sector groups generally supported the intent of resource management reform, but requested further changes to the drafts from the government.

The Environment Select Committee will consider all submissions before reporting back to Parliament by the end of June.

It said 2242 written submissions were publicly available, but the total number of submissions was confidential to the committee.

Wine

Water was a key issue for the country’s winemakers who warned that future access would likely become more difficult with climate change in a competitive market for users.

Wine vineyards covered around 44,000 hectares across Aotearoa, with the majority in Marlborough. The sector used water usually for irrigation, frost protection and then in winemaking.

New Zealand Winegrowers general manager for sustainability Dr Edwin Massey told the select committee on Monday, the RMA was no longer fit for purpose, as water became a more “scarce” resource.

“Certainly, water is absolutely critical for the success of our industry, largely along the east coast of both islands,” Massey said.

“And water is highly competitive.”

Massey said the sector prioritised efficient water use, and a market-based allocation, it opposed, could lock-up the resource.

“New Zealand is getting warmer and drier with less snow melt, and those east coast catchments are likely to, on long-term average, to have reduced access to clean, fresh water.

“So getting that allocation system right and basing that around incentivising sustainability, we feel is a great way to not only ensure export return, but also to protect the environment and its quality.”

Massey said wine companies metered their water use and reported back to the organisation to try to improve sustainability and efficiency of water use, under the Sustainable Winemaking scheme.

Group New Zealand Winegrowers represented 1400 commercial grape growers and wine companies.

Irrigators

Agricultural irrigators wanted the new resource management system to recognise the importance of food production and highlight their role as key infrastructure in its success.

Aotearoa has more than 900,000 hectares of irrigated agricultural land, mostly in Te Wai Pounamu/South Island.

These systems either stored rainfall when it was plentiful or extracted it from rivers and streams to feed crops during dry periods.

However, large-scale irrigation could impact river flows, degrade water quality from nutrient runoff, and cause soil issues.

Irrigation New Zealand represents around 5000 irrigators, irrigation schemes and farmers.

Chief executive Karen Williams told the Environment Select Committee on Monday, the proposed legislation replacing the RMA failed to highlight the role of natural resources in producing food.

“If irrigation and farming are framed primarily as environmental pressures, the system will regulate them mainly as activities to constrain,” she said.

“But when managed well, irrigated land strengthens food production, regional employment, and provides greater resilience to climate variability.”

Williams said water storage and distribution should be considered as long-life infrastructure in the legislation.

“So the decisions before this committee are very much about balance between protecting fresh water and enabling responsible use.”

But the Green Party’s agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel told the select committee, groundwater nitrate levels had significantly worsened since the advent of large-scale irrigation.

“Your industry is at the heart of some of our most chronic water contamination problems, particularly in Canterbury because big irrigation has driven dairy intensity,” he said.

“Isn’t your industry exactly the reason we need to constrain activities that could are going to chronically harm what is the collective commons, our freshwater?”

Williams said irrigation had enabled all sorts of agricultural land uses to evolve.

“Yes, it has enabled dairying, and the application of nutrients associated with any of those activities need to be carefully managed.”

The group said 90 percent of horticultural land was irrigated, 80 percent for arable, 40 percent sheep and beef, and 28 percent of dairy.

Livestock farming

Beef and Lamb New Zealand called for significant changes to the drafted legislation in its submission, arguing the wording in the legislation did not match the government’s own intent.

Chairperson Kate Acland said farmers could be worse off under the proposals, as setting and managing limits would likely see the need for more consents, not less.

“There are more onerous requirements on permitted activities,” she said.

“The lack of appropriate guard-rails on the exercise of ministerial and council powers in many areas and the lack of requirement to consider costs and benefits could result in significant economic impacts.”

Acland said freshwater health was incredibly important to farmers, rural communities and the country.

“We need to get the framework for managing this right. Changes to the legislation are necessary but I’m confident we can get to an enduring framework that’s practical and achievable.”

She said the drafted legislation lacked detail on how freshwater farm plans and other assurance programmes might fit into the consenting picture.

Federated Farmers too was concerned about compliance requirements and red tape for farmers.

Spokesperson Mark Hooper said a major concern was that, as currently written, instead of a farm plan replacing the need for a resource consent, a farm may need both.

“We see a risk of farmers facing more red tape under the Natural Environment Act than they presently do under the RMA,” he said.

“There are too many ambiguous, principle-based clauses in the two bills, which is likely to see continued expensive, time-consuming and litigious decision making.”

It raised concerns that the same farming activity might fall between the two Acts leading to more complicated and costly compliance processes.

It did not support a market-based water allocation system nor a levy.

Pork industry group, NZPork said it urged the government to ensure permitted activity rules enabled farmers to operate without unnecessary red tape.

Horticulture

Horticulture New Zealand renewed its calls for commercial vegetable production to be enabled in the new legislation, rather than hindered as it argued some growers faced now.

Some growers in areas like Waikato and Horizons regions have struggled to get consents, due to local, regional rules.

Chief executive Kate Scott told the Environment Select Committee last week, a clearer national direction for securing the supply of domestic production of fruit and vegetables was needed.

She said the government could create goals of either enabling the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables or making it an activity of national significance.

“The way these sections are drafted would mean that most horticultural activities would require a restricted discretionary or discretionary consent, even where growers are making environmental improvements,” she said.

“This is worse than the status quo, particularly for orchardists who do have a very minimal effect on freshwater quality.”

Scott said it was concerned permitted activities under the new system appeared to be more expensive for consent holders, than the status quo.

Horticulture New Zealand did not support the introduction of market-based water allocation, neither did New Zealand Winegrowers nor the Canterbury Regional Council.

It said the approach would allocate resources to the highest bidder or highest value user.

However, the Environmental Defence Society demanded changes to the drafts due to what it called significant weaknesses in the legislation.

It said regulatory relief risked undermining environmental protection, environmental limits lacked clarity, public participation would be stripped away and a narrow scope of planning.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Farmers are getting nervous about the rising cost of fuel and fertiliser with the impact already being felt on farm.

The conflict in the Middle East has pushed up the price of oil which has been reflected in the price at the pump in New Zealand.

While the spot price of urea has jumped since the war began – retail prices in New Zealand had remained stable as the big fertiliser companies assured farmers they had enough product to cover the busy autumn period.

Federated Farmers arable chair David Birkett said for arable farmers it was a double whammy as they used a lot of fertiliser to grow crops and then diesel in their harvesters.

“At the moment we’re busy in the middle of harvest, so we’re using combine harvesters and a large machine that will use about a thousand litres of fuel a day.

“Then there’s trucks and tractors on top of that – so if we see an increase in price of $1 or even 50 cents a litre that’s $2000 to $4000 extra a day.”

Birkett said farmers were already feeling the pinch of rising fuel prices but were eagerly watching to see what would happen to the price and supply of fertiliser.

“The key word at the moment is uncertainty because we don’t know how long this is going to go on for, we know there is enough supply in the country for autumn, I guess for us it depends if the war continues how this will hit us in the spring.”

He said farmers were starting to hear from their fertiliser suppliers but were nervous about two things, the price and supply.

“There have been shortages before and farmers can use different products, they normally are more expensive but we have never got to the point where we’ve run out of fertiliser.

“Farmers should start planning ahead – talk with their fertiliser companies to give them an idea of what demand will be like come spring time.”

Fertiliser company Ballance Agri-Nutrients said it did not know what impact the escalation would have on price.

Chief executive Kelvin Wickham said the company had already seen significant price increases leading into this conflict and given this latest escalation and the market’s reaction it anticipated more.

“Upcoming shipments are mostly subject to pricing at time of shipment, as a commodity, fertiliser pricing experiences movements similar to the imported oil market.”

He also encouraged farmers to plan ahead: “Thinking ahead and creating a plan early will help us make sure we have what they need, when they need it.

“The uncertainty caused by the situation in the Middle East highlights how critical local resilience is for New Zealand. In an increasingly uncertain global environment, secure access to fertiliser matters for farmers and for the wider economy.”

Wickham said for Ballance’s Kapuni gas to urea plant it continued to be active in the gas market.

“We’re becoming more assured about the likelihood of securing longer-term supply. Our priority remains very much on maintaining locally manufactured nutrients as part of the nutrient supply mix and preserving future options.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Meat company ANZCO is working to get shipments of beef caught up in the Middle East conflict back to New Zealand to sell on the domestic market.

General manager of sales and marketing Rick Walker said shipments of premium beef cuts that were on the way to Dubai have been parked by shipping companies in various ports.

“We only had a handful of containers on route to Dubai so our exposure is very small compared to some other meat companies but we are now in the process of figuring out what the best alternative is for those containers is – whether we bring them home or we find another market for them.

“It depends on the product and what its end use was going to be, but a lot of it will come back to New Zealand.”

Walker said some of the beef has specific Arabic labelling which would make it difficult to transfer it into other markets.

“So it’s probably easier to bring it back to New Zealand, we can find homes for it here in the domestic market. There’s good demand here, so that’s probably the easiest answer for us at the moment.”

Walker said the containers are chilled so the meat has a shelf life of about 120 days.

“It’s important to remember we are only a week into dealing with this – so we do have time but at the same time we are not going to wait, we want to make decisions pretty quickly.”

So with shipments of meat bound for the Middle East possibly returning to New Zealand – could consumers be in for cheaper cuts? Walker doesn’t think so.

“I think that’s a big step to take, it will depend again on what cuts are coming back, are they chilled? Are they frozen? Every company will then have to make its decision on frozen product. Do you bring it back into inventory and then make a decision what to do with it from there in terms of other export opportunities?

“So in theory, more supply in New Zealand provides the opportunity for lower prices, but it’s hard to see that really playing out at any level that’s going to be material in the short term, particularly when we’ve got very tight livestock numbers here in New Zealand at the moment and very high livestock prices.”

Walker said demand for red meat around the world is high – so going forward any product that would have gone to the Middle East can go to other markets like the US and Asia.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

WorkSafe is mostly content with the health and safety of hundreds of orchards it visited late last year, but warns some farmers are still making risky decisions on farm.

Agriculture remained one of the most dangerous industries in Aotearoa, accounting for around [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regional/279795/man-crushed-by-tractor-in-bay-of-plenty

30 percent of injuries at work.]

The workplace health and safety regulator said it did not issue fines during its compliance campaign when it visited just under 660 horticultural businesses nationwide throughout July to September, but a number of infringement notices.

It said hazardous chemicals management was the most significant area of concern, followed by machinery safety issues and working in and around vehicles.

Inspectors said improvements around chemical management were required at just under 40 percent of the assessments.

Project lead, Carl Baker said many failed to have adequate hazardous chemicals inventories or safety data sheets in place that were required.

He said their main concerns were the administrative controls.

“Any business is meant to keep a list of the chemicals they have in their workplace, the quantities,” he said.

“The inventory is designed to help obviously the companies, but also emergency services when they turn on up, so they know what they’re facing.

“We found a high percentage of businesses out there didn’t have that in place.”

Baker said safety data sheets helped give workers an understanding of possible harm from chemicals and precautions that should be in place for their use, like protective personal equipment.

Eighteen percent of assessments found machinery safety issues, and 15 percent had issues of working in and around vehicles, usually around the use of helmets.

Baker said inspectors noticed an ongoing trend of unguarded power take-off shafts between the tractor to its implement.

“There’s a guard that goes around that because that spins at such a high revolution it creates a risk of people if you get in contact with it of getting in entanglement.

“That’s a really straight-forward fix. All they do is have to put a guard or cover over the top of it. But it’s one of the deadliest hazards that we probably would face on a farm is that unguarded PTO.”

He said another issue around vehicles was the lack of seatbelts being used on side-by-sides.

“We did identify a bit of a trend out there that the seatbelt was being plugged in behind the back. So the farmers were bypassing that safety feature,” he said.

“As we know with side-by-sides, just like a vehicle on the road, a seatbelt is designed to make you obviously safe in an instant.”

Horticulture New Zealand helped connect WorkSafe with growers the regulator said it previously had limited access to.

Chief executive Kate Scott said any injury was one too many, and it was using data like from these visits to better understand the causes of on-orchard injuries and develop training tools and solutions.

“The findings show where guidance and practical tools can make a real difference,” said Scott.

“We’re using data to better understand the causes of injury and develop training and tools that address risks such as sprains, cuts, machinery, weather exposure, and hazardous substances.”

There were 16 work-related deaths in agriculture throughout 2024, though the most common type was associated with injuries from livestock.

WorkSafe was set to report back about its health and safety sector compliance, next for sheep, beef and dairy farms it visited between October and December.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Supply pressure and buying interest saw dairy prices continue their climb at the latest Global Dairy Trade auction overnight.

The average price rose 5.7 percent overnight to US$4301 (NZ$7299) a tonne.

It was the fifth consecutive auction where prices have risen since the start of the year and followed a 3.6 percent rise at the previous one.

The New Zealand exchange’s head of dairy insights Cristina Alvarado said even though milk production has been high in the key global regions the volume on offer at the event was down.

She said Fonterra was the company with one of the biggest offerings, but New Zealand was now heading toward the end of its milking season.

“New Zealand’s milk production curve is now firmly in seasonal decline, and forward offer volumes through March to May indicate further easing,” she said.

“At the same time, growing domestic protein demand in the United States and new cheese capacity not yet operating at full utilisation are absorbing milk locally.”

She said with the tightness of product in the US demand was higher for certain products, particularly skim milk and butter.

“We’ve seen a pattern in this last year of more buying what you need rather than building large stocks.”

The important whole-milk powder price, which influences farmer payouts, rose 4.5 percent to US$3863 a tonne.

There were price gains across the board too with skim milk powder up 9.1 percent, along with butter up 6.1 percent, mozzarella 7.9 percent and cheddar 4.3 percent.

The regions which bought most of the product were North and South Asia, however, Alvarado said in terms of percentage buying there was an increase from those in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“With ongoing geopolitical tensions affecting Middle Eastern logistics and trade lanes, and in the absence of recent Algerian tenders in the region, it is notable that EMEA [Europe, the Middle East and Africa] participation strengthened rather than retreated.”

Alvarado said the Middle East was a “significant” and “growing” market for New Zealand – among our top three buyers.

“It’s definitely a key region and we would hope that despite everything going on and as we saw at the auction today they’re still buying product, even more so.”

While the conflict had brought “some logistics challenges”, she said it presented a competitive advantage for New Zealand in getting supply to its key buyers in Asia over other competitors in Europe.

Alvarado expected prices to remain steady with continued prices increases, though possibly at lesser rates.

“I don’t really see them dropping as there is a need for product and from our end we are heading towards the end of our season.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Ravensdown says it has enough fertiliser in the country or on the way to cover autumn – so any price impacts due to the war in the Middle East won’t be felt immediately.

The Middle East is a significant player in fertiliser trade with about 40 percent of nitrogen fertilisers coming from the region.

It’s also a major producer of liquid natural gas which is used to manufacture fertilisers.

Ravensdown chief operating officer Mike Whitty said fertiliser prices will rise due to the conflict but by how much and for how long is not known.

“We saw last year in June when there was conflict with Israel, the US and Iran that prices for energy and nitrogen increased reasonably rapidly, by about 15 percent, but then they came down just as fast about two weeks later – so it really depends how long this conflict is going to continue for really.

“We are expecting a significant spike in prices, we are watching the price daily and everyone is waiting to see what happens in the straight because a lot of the worlds fertiliser trade travels through there.”

Whitty said farmers shouldn’t panic.

“The important thing is we have enough fertiliser in the country or on the water coming here to cover all our autumn needs, so it won’t be an issue until later in the year but that’s only if the conflict continues.”

Another complicating factor in fertiliser trade at the moment is China another major producer of nitrogen is not exporting – every now and then it stops sending product offshore in order to protect domestic supply.

Whitty said Ravensdown is well versed in dealing with geo-politics and has solid relationships with suppliers.

He said there are other options to source nitrogen fertiliser if the Middle East war is prolonged – including Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and some countries in Africa.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning some of the images in this article may be distressing for some people.

More than 31,000 New Zealanders want an independent “Commissioner for Animals” to improve animal welfare for companion and farmed animals.

A petition launched by a group of animal protection organisations was taken to Parliament on Tuesday calling on the Government to establish the parliamentary commissioner role.

Proponents said animal welfare offences like abuse or neglect were being under-reported or even permitted under sector regulations in Aotearoa under the Government’s current system.

At present, the Ministry for Primary Industries enforced animal welfare laws, particularly with production animals, and could pursue prosecutions for offenders.

In addition, there was the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) which advised the Agriculture Minister responsible for animal welfare, Andrew Hoggard, and also the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee (NAEAC).

MPI provided funding to SPCA for some of its mahi too.

But a collective of 21 animal protection organisations – including SAFE, Greenpeace, HUHA, World Animal Protection and more – wanted the Commissioner role to be created to address concerns about the independence of these government bodies, which it argued was hurting welfare outcomes for animals.

Theroetically, this Commissioner would operate like a watchdog, similar to the Ombudsman or the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

SAFE chief executive, Debra Ashton said the animal welfare system for both companion and production animals was broken, poorly resourced and lacked enforcement – so independent oversight was urgently needed.

“I think that staff at MPI do the best that they can. But the system that we have currently means that their priority is to increase productivity and to increase exports,” she said.

“So when financial and profitability are your priorities, animal welfare considerations are going to come secondary.

“A Commissioner for Animals would have a goal of ensuring animal welfare and making sure that we can have a better system that works for animals.”

Ashton said examples of welfare standards being overlooked in the interest of productivity, included the continued use of farrowing crates for mother pigs, and cages or barns for hens.

She said welfare regulation for production animals was being shaped by farming industries that profitted from using animals.

The case for an Animals Commissioner was explored in depth by the Animal Law Association in its December report, written by Alison Vaughan, who was now the senior scientific officer at SPCA.

The report said while MPI had policies to manage individual conflicts of interest, they did not address structural conflicts between its economic export growth and animal welfare goals, excluded by Public Service guidelines.

“Overall, MPI’s incompatible economic and animal welfare goals are in direct conflict with one another. It seems impossible to pursue economic growth without some negative impact on the welfare of animals,” it read.

“That is not to say MPI does not care about animal welfare; but its structure prevents it from giving both goals equal priority.”

But MPI’s director of compliance and response, Glen Burrell said it was committed to ensuring animal welfare and had a strong system to take action when required.

“The ministry looks at approximately 3,000 animal welfare cases each year, identified through proactive visits (either on farm or at places like sale yards), our 200 vets at meat works around the country, and public complaints,” he said.

Its animal welfare workforce included more than 50 inspectors, including managers who could act as inspectors, across a number of different teams.

For lower level offending, it issued 584 infringement notices during the 2024/25 financial year, and so far 369 were issued this financial year (25/26).

Investigations by inspectors could also lead to prosecutions for more serious offending.

The Green party’s animal welfare spokesperson Steve Abel accepted the petition on Tuesday.

He said the Greens had wanted for some years now to establish a Commissioner for Animals to independently monitor and advocate for animal rights.

A survey run by SAFE in September found that 85 percent of the 1000 New Zealand adults who responded were concerned the Animal Welfare Act requirements were not always upheld.

Ninety-eight percent also believed it was important to protect animals from cruelty and neglect.

Other members of the Commissioner for Animals Alliance included Animal Evac, Chained Dog Awareness, Companion Animals NZ, Goat Welfare NZ, Greyhound Protection League NZ, Māui & Hector’s Dolphins Defenders, New Zealand Animal Law Association, NZAVS and World Animal Protection.

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