Analysis

Fieldays significant economic contribution

Fieldays continues to contribute significantly to the regional and national economy, according to the recent Economic Impact Report conducted by Dr Warren Hughes of the New Zealand Institute for Business Research at the University of Waikato. An impressive $549M in sales revenue for New Zealand firms was generated by the event with $183M going into the Waikato region alone. This national sales revenue figure is an increase of over $50M from last year’s figures. Based on the official event attendance figures for 2019 of 128,747, it shows that each person though the gate contributes around $4,200 to the economy. New Zealand National Fieldays Society General Manager of Commercial Nick Dromgool speaks of the fantastic results shown in this year’s Economic Impact Report. “It’s really encouraging to see such great numbers in terms of economic contribution, employment and GDP from this year’s Economic Impact Report of Fieldays. We heard from several of our bigger exhibitors that this was a good year for them so it’s great to have this backed up by the numbers,” says Dromgool. The report states that over 2,000 full-year jobs have been sustained in the New Zealand economy from the 2019 event with almost 900 jobs sustained specifically in the Waikato region. Another impressive figure from the report was that $247M of additional GDP was generated for the New Zealand economy which is an increase of $21M from 2018. $80M was also added to Waikato’s GDP. The event also proved hugely beneficial to the Waikato region with it estimated that every gate entry resulted in $312 in direct spending in the Waikato hospitality sectors including accommodation, restaurants, bars and retail trade. The estimated brand value of Fieldays continues to rise with it being estimated conservatively at $610M following the 2019 event. This is a promising increase of […]

Robust science and partnerships crucial for freshwater

DairyNZ’s submission on the proposed Essential Freshwater package identifies the solutions needed to deliver lasting improvements for water quality and ecosystem health in New Zealand, while protecting our economy. Healthy and swimmable waterways are important to all New Zealanders, including dairy farmers, who share the same aspirations to protect our rivers, lakes and wetlands. “DairyNZ supports targeted efforts to halt further degradation of our freshwater resources, together with improved farming practices which we know will lead to meaningful outcomes,” said DairyNZ strategy and investment leader, Dr David Burger. “Under the Essential Freshwater proposal, there are policies we do and don’t support. Those we don’t support are due to a lack of robust supporting science linking the proposed policy to water quality outcomes, and we believe there are better ways to achieve similar results. “Our economic impact analysis indicates these policies we don’t support could have a very significant impact on New Zealand’s GDP and export income. Addressing New Zealand’s water quality challenges also requires a collaborative approach that goes beyond simply focusing on nutrients such as nitrogen. “We are also concerned that the Essential Freshwater package is not underpinned by a comprehensive economic assessment of impacts on the dairy sector or the broader economy, given dairy makes up nearly one-third of New Zealand’s exported goods and provides 46,000 jobs.” DairyNZ is proposing an alternative to manage ecosystem health, based on strengthening existing standards for nitrogen toxicity to further protect sensitive indigenous species. “Our current scientific understanding and economic modelling indicates this is a more pragmatic way to achieve similar environmental outcomes at less cost to the economy and communities,” said Dr Burger. “The Government and dairy farmers can work together to deliver lasting water quality gains at a more rapid pace, and at significantly less socio-economic cost than some of the current proposals.” Dr Burger said their organisation’s submission spans key elements which will deliver for freshwater – in particular, ensuring changes are based on robust science and partnerships across government, industry and community, and will deliver enduring outcomes. “We all have a shared vision. As […]

Climate explained: regenerative farming can help grow food with less impact

Troy Baisden Professor and Chair in Lake and Freshwater Sciences, University of Waikato Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz I would like to know to what extent regenerative agriculture practices could play a role in reducing carbon emissions and producing food, including meat, in the future. From what I have read it seems to offer much, but I am curious about how much difference it would make if all our farmers moved to this kind of land management practice. Or even most of them. – a question from Virginia To identify and quantify the potential of regenerative agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we first must define what it means. If regenerative practices maintain or improve production, and reduce wasteful losses on the farm, then the answer tends to be yes. But to what degree is it better, and can we verify this yet? Let’s first define how regenerative farming differs from other ways of farming. For example, North Americans listening to environmentally conscious media would be likely to define most of New Zealand pastoral agriculture systems as regenerative, when compared to the tilled fields of crops they see across most of their continent. If milk and meat-producing animals are not farmed on pasture, farmers must grow grains to feed them and transport the fodder to the animals, often over long distances. It’s hard to miss that the transport is inefficient, but easier to miss that nutrients excreted by the animals as manure or urine can’t go back to the land that fed them. Healthy soils Returning nutrients to the land really matters because these build up soil and grow […]

Government- work with farmers to reduce emissions: ETS is not the answer

DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is urging the Government to work with agricultural groups to drive real behaviour change on farm, instead of imposing a broad-based tax. Sector organisations have put forward an alternative Primary Sector Climate Change Commitment- He Waka Eke Noa – to build an enduring farm-level emission reduction framework to help the rural sector reduce its footprint. “We want to play our part and take action. That’s why we have put forward a credible five-year work plan with clear and measurable actions, outcomes and timeframes” Dr Mackle says. “Our proposed plan is a collective initiative across multiple agricultural sectors, and includes rolling out Farm Environment Plans for all farms by 2025 to ensure every farmer knows their emissions footprint, where on farm those emissions are coming from, and what they can do to manage them”. Having reliable data is important so that a farmer can make decisions and trade-offs factoring in resilience, profitability, and all the business decisions that need to be weighed up. “We are asking the Government to partner with the agricultural sector to develop and deliver targeted programmes of action and coordinate efforts to reduce emissions. We strongly believe that working in partnership is the best approach to deliver real change” Dr Mackle added. “DairyNZ does not support a levy on farmers in the ETS at processor level because it won’t drive the behaviour change to reduce emissions. “It will take money out of farmers pockets at a time when it would be better invested on-farm to prepare for and start the process of managing emissions. “Safeguarding the environment and maintaining a sustainable and competitive dairy sector is very important to our farmers, customers, and consumers. “Farmers care about the environment and are continuously refining their farm systems to improve environmental outcomes. “The […]

Farmers being hit hard by policy and regulation changes

A capital crunch is starting to impact farmers with banks increasingly cagey about lending to dairy and the sheep and beef sectors, which is putting huge pressure on the industry, according to Findex’s Head of Agribusiness, Hayden Dillon. Dillon noted things are looking okay externally. The macro story for our safe, efficiently produced protein is still very strong, evidenced by good commodity prices. But there are three domestically-sourced drivers which have converged to create significant difficulties for farmers, particularly those with high levels of debt or who are seeking capital to grow. The first reason is changes from the Overseas Investment Office. Dillon explains “The changes have had an impact on the value and demand of land meaning we do not have the foreign capital coming in for the largest part of our farming business, being sheep, beef and dairy and our productive assets there. This has had a flow on effect, being a lack of capital into the market, halting the domino effect of down-stream, farm sales taking place, and the obvious decrease in confidence meaning the largest farms just cannot sell, as they have no market, externally, or domestically as the banks have closed to these borrowers.” The second reason is the collection of various government polices and statements surrounding legislative changes. Dillon expands, “there are the unknowns around the Emissions Trading Scheme and the impacts and costs that could be associated with that, in conjunction with increased regulation and compliance as farmers are already working through their environmental plans, while also struggling to retain and attract staff, as visas are becoming harder to secure, and a longer process. These all have impact on the value of the farms as they directly affect productivity and cash flows.” Lastly, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) approach is […]

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Alliance Group distributes over $4.5 million in loyalty payments to shareholders

Alliance Group has underlined its commitment to rewarding loyal shareholders with a $4.5 million distribution to farmers. The quarterly loyalty payments have been made to the co-operative’s Platinum and Gold shareholders who supply 100 per cent of their livestock to Alliance. The latest payment brings the total amount distributed so far this season to $13.5 million. “We are New Zealand’s only 100 per cent farmer-owned major red meat cooperative and our farmers tell us they value their ownership,” says Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor. “We reward their investment by ensuring that they are at the heart of every decision we make and recognise their consistent and committed supply with our loyalty payments. “Every cent the co-operative makes in profits is delivered back to farmers or re-invested into the business to continue to improve our operational efficiency and ultimately lift returns to our farmer shareholders.” Under the loyalty payments programme, farmers are paid an additional 10 cents per kilogram for each lamb, six cents/kg for a sheep, 8.5 cents/kg for cattle and 10 cents/kg for deer. Last season, Alliance paid out $14.6 million in loyalty payments to shareholders. Farmer shareholders also receive a range of other benefits above the price on the day including yield contracts, priority processing and free store stock facilitation.

Digital transformation driving change in key industries

Digital transformation (DX) is permeating every vertical market, and industries are looking to evolve to better align with their customers’ changing requirements. The result is the development and integration of cutting edge technologies and a change of methodology to improve processes, according to Y Soft. Adam O’Neill, managing director, Y Soft, Australia and New Zealand, said, “DX is radically changing how organisations operate and is shaking up industries at speed. Organisations are increasingly launching initiatives to expand or build digital capabilities to deliver business efficiency or increase top-line revenue growth.” According to the 15 industries surveyed as part of the Gartner 2018 CIO Agenda Industry Insights report, 47 per cent of CEOs are being challenged to make progress in digital business, and 56 per cent of respondents reported that digital improvements have already improved their overall profits. The 2018 edition of The Hackett Group’s annual key issues study, The CIO Agenda: Driving Value from Transformation, found that the use of virtual assistants, chatbots and other cognitive technologies is anticipated to grow at least five-fold in overall adoption rates over the next few years. Unsurprisingly, 74 per cent of companies are expecting DX to disrupt their industry and 82 per cent expect it to fundamentally change the operating model of their business. Adam O’Neill said, “These findings show that every industry is either already participating in or ready to join in with digital transformation. This seismic impact prediction calls for immediate action, and many companies have already begun their DX journeys and are automating and streamlining business processes by investing in artificial intelligence (AI), specifically machine learning.” Digital transformation is already having a significant impact on four vertical industries: Legal. Traditionally, the pace of digital change within the legal industry has been slow, with the legal profession resisting many of […]

Wrapping up Fieldays 2019

Fieldays 2019 was officially opened on Wednesday 12 June by the Rt. Hon. Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand National Fieldays Society President Peter Carr with 128,747 visitors coming through the gates over the four event days. During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of the strength of our primary industry and its importance to New Zealanders and Society CEO Peter Nation spoke of the role Fieldays plays within it. “We as an event take our role very seriously in staging a platform that educates and supports those within the industry while attracting opportunities for trade with international visitors,” said Nation. Over 180 volunteers help make the event a success, along with hardworking staff, supportive sponsors and partners, and the 1,067 valued exhibitors that spanned across 1,559 sites throughout the event. Around 25,000 people came through the Fieldays Health and Wellbeing hub where some important conversations were had around all aspects of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health and wellbeing. People were encouraged to get moles checked, sugar levels tested, general health inspected and to reach out and touch base with friends, family and neighbours who may be isolated in rural communities and could do with a chat. Northland boy Lewis Nichols won the title of Fieldays Rural Catch from 2019, impressing judges and sponsors with his skills in several of the challenges. While he walked away with over $20K in prizes, his most valued experience was the connections he made with the other contestants throughout the competition. 41 schools attended with over 860 students in their final school years completing the programme within the Fieldays Careers and Education hub. The students were introduced to the plethora of careers on offer in our thriving primary industry. The Fieldays International Business Centre was a hive of activity throughout […]

Energy efficiency on the land

-Edgar Ludwig, consulting engineer for energy efficiency Efficient use of fossil fuel and electricity will help farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the energy bill. While fossil fuel is mainly used for the vehicle fleet, electricity is used for running equipment such as milk processing and feed processing. Each farm is different and there is no general data available to gain sufficient understanding about their specific energy use and emission. This makes it hard for farmers to identify detailed saving opportunities and take actions. Particularly on milk processing where there are a variety of opportunities which should be addressed. Such as: Adequately sizing and locating equipment such as coolers, compressors and condensers. Optimising the operation for equipment such as pumps for vacuum, milk and water. Insulating tanks and recovering the heat from the refrigeration side to generate hot water. Operating the lighting with energy efficient bulbs, natural lighting. Deploying of renewable energy sources such as solar PV. The New Zealand government and the advisory sector provide practical advice and funding to help the agriculture economy to reduce their impact on climate change. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority EECA provides a wide range of self-assessment tools to map the energy efficiency, the achievable savings and compare against other dairy farms across New Zealand. More details are provided in their web site. https://www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/tools/dairy-farm-energy-efficiency-tool. The Energy Management Association New Zealand EMANZ provides a directory of specialist for conducting detailed energy surveys in accordance to industrial standards. The outcome of such an energy survey will include: Analysis of current energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Analysis of the farming benchmark and tariff structure. A plan to measure and manage the energy users. A business case for each opportunity to make a decision on the investment. An action plan. More details are provided […]

Adding value to the farm business through good health and safety

This profile is part of a seven-part series from WorkSafe sharing the health and safety approaches taken by the grand finalists of the 2019 FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition. During the next seven weeks we will be sharing a profile and short video about each of the finalists and how they incorporate health and safety into their work, from a dairy farm manager to a veterinarian. FMG Young Farmer of the Year grand finalist James Robertson gained first-hand experience of the impact an injury can have on a farm business when his father suffered an accident. “He was kicked by a cow and broke his thumb,” says James, who grew up on his family’s dairy farm near Mystery Creek. “I think I’d been a bit oblivious to health and safety as a young person but I really saw the implications an injury has on the business. He wasn’t able to work in the cattle shed for a few weeks. Having a key person not able to do that put a lot of pressure on everyone else.” James, who won the 2019 FMG Young Farmer Northern regional final, has a Bachelor of AgriCommerce from Massey University in Palmerston North. He was very active in the university’s Young Farmers organisation and says that helping organise health and safety for club events gave him a new perspective. “It wasn’t just if we were going on farm for a practical farming day, but also for things like social events. It made me very aware of the importance of identifying the risks and planning how to mitigate them,” he says. “That’s a huge thing. We were a big group, we did not want anyone to get hurt and there are implications for your organisation if someone does get hurt. There’s the human perspective and […]

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