Between the lines: Cheesier grins all around

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

Ches and Dale have made a timely return.

The boys from down on the farm have re-emerged larger than life to elevate a cheese brand.

Better yet, these much-mimicked cartoon characters are gentle reminders to country and city folk alike of plenty that is good across New Zealand. Just ask any traveller who has become teary over the jingle-cum-national anthem or has happily belted it out in a foreign pub.

And when it comes to cheering events, the new National Bank figures showing that rural New Zealand is enjoying an export-driven bout of prosperity was a welcome one.

The knowledge that it would take a farmer spendup to cause the good times to trickle through to the cities, but that the flow would reverse in a couple of years, was a salutary lesson on the interdependence of rural and urban sectors.

While many believe that town and country are growing further apart, a survey released last week suggests there is also much commonality of thought.

The Affco-sponsored research examined both urban and rural views on the economy, its future, politics and the vexed question of genetic modification.

Many opinions bridged the divide.

The two sectors were matched on negative views. Though rural New Zealanders were first to doubt the economic direction the country is taking, they and their urban counterparts were equally pessimistic about the future.

Perhaps naturally, rural people were much more bullish about prospects for agriculture, but both groups expected interest rates to go up, unemployment to worsen and personal and family living standards to suffer.

They agreed that tourism was likely to be the most important sector for New Zealand's economic future over the next 10 to 20 years.

However, the farmers among the rural dwellers narrowly ranked agriculture's prospects ahead of tourism .

Three-quarters of the survey - farmers included - were convinced that the future of agriculture lay with organic, rather than genetically modified, production.

But the same number acknowledged that there had not been a reasoned and well-informed debate on genetic engineering, perhaps suggesting that their views were a gut reaction and their minds were really still open on the issue.

It is possible, too, that the views reflect an awareness of market realities.

The meat industry allows growth hormones in stock but strictly monitors the products to ensure this meat only goes to markets where it is acceptable - for example, the US, where most meat is already produced with hormones.

The dairy industry has no truck with a hormone that would boost milk production because it knows it is unacceptable to many markets.

All New Zealanders probably know which side their bread is buttered, or if they are Ches and Dale, which side to spread the cheddar.