Prime Movers report: From the land to the world

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

Welcome to the latest Prime Movers, a special report to showcase some of New Zealand's best from land and sea.

The country is unique among developed nations for its reliance on pastoral and horticultural products, and wood and fish, for around 60 per cent of its export earnings.

It is the largest exporter of internationally traded dairy products, the world's biggest producer of lamb meat, its leading kiwifruit marketer, has the biggest farmed deer industry and an export apple industry consistently ranked the global leader.

In a country the size of Britain or Japan with a total land area of 27.1 million hectares, pastoral farming alone takes up nearly half with 13.5 million hectares, more than 80 per cent of the occupied land area.

Earlier this year, New Zealand Agritech, an umbrella group of agribusiness technology companies, released a publication which highlights the wealth of agricultural expertise that has grown from more than 150 years of landowners devising management systems to work with the soils, climate, plants, trees and animals for primary production.

Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said the thrust for innovation in the sector had been spurred by the need to compete against geographic isolation and trade protection policies in most of our major markets.

"This had led to the New Zealand agricultural technology industry being a market leader in areas such as fencing for grazing control, milk measurement, pasture cultivars and genetics.

"As well, farmers' strong do-it-yourself attitude has seen a steady stream of new agricultural inventions."

Agritech companies are now sharing the country's agricultural excellence with others worldwide, from Europe through Asia and Africa, to the Americas and Oceania.

The principles of low-input, sustainable pastoral and horticultural production are being adapted to a wide range of continental, temperate and even subtropical climates, Agritech said.

Farmers in other countries who wish to cut their machinery costs, fuel use, animal housing requirements and reliance on government subsidies have taken New Zealand products and services and used them successfully to revolutionise their farming.

We invite you to read on and discover some of the people behind the extraordinary achievements of our country's primary sector.