Green is colour of export dollars

By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK

Green is the colour of the moment, with AgResearch and Meat New Zealand holding a series of farmer meetings around the country to highlight organic sheep and beef farming - one of the fastest-growing food sectors in the world.

The meetings this week coincide with the entry to Parliament of the Green Party with its organic farming policies.

Green MP Ian Ewen-Street established an organic sheep and beef farm in Marlborough eight years ago.

He says growers are often deterred by the length of time organic land certification takes. Agencies such as Bio-Gro will certify land as chemical-free only after three years.

Most growers cannot afford to leave their properties out of production for that long, he says.

The Greens want to introduce a mortgage security programme which would guarantee growers' mortgages during organic conversion, even if they could not afford repayments.

"The Government has not been prepared to look at it in the past; they've been focused on big business.

"I think if farmers have some sort of mortgage guarantee it will really encourage them to get into organics."

Meat Board director John McCarthy, who helped to organise the meetings, believes there is huge potential for growth in chemical-free farming in the New Zealand, with European sales for organic beef and dairy products estimated to reach $1 billion by 2001.

Palmerston North-based AgResearch grasslands scientist Alec Mackay, who specialises in organic farming research, says there is a growing interest in organics, but farmers are often constrained by a lack of industry information.

"We've dallied about in organics for the past decade, and I suppose these meetings are about having a serious look at it."

Through the meetings Meat NZ and AgResearch want to sign up 20 North Island and 20 South Island sheep and beef farmers to take part in a 12-month paper exercise mapping out a plan to convert their farms into organic operations.

Mr Mackay says the study will identify the risks and implications of converting to organics, such as financial issues and management of internal parasites in young stock.

Meat NZ plans to compile the results and make them available to other growers considering organic sheep and beef farming.

"Let's get out of commodities and into a market where people are prepared to pay a premium. That's where New Zealand's future is."

There are about 700 certified organic meat and vegetable growers in New Zealand at present who sell their produce to companies such as Heinz Wattie for further processing.

A small quantity of raw organic produce is also sold overseas, earning the country more than $7 million a year in export returns.

The AgResearch-Meat NZ meetings begin in central Hawkes Bay today at 7.30 pm at the Waipukurau Civic. Other North Island farmers are invited to attend a 7.30 pm meeting at the Pirates Rugby Clubrooms tomorrow in Taihape.

A South Island-based meeting will be held at 7.30 pm in Waimate on Thursday at the Waimate School Hall.