Respecting farmers’ need to be both flexible and adaptable goes a long way to encouraging progress.
Respecting farmers’ need to be both flexible and adaptable goes a long way to encouraging progress.
Opinion by Sally Dryland
Opinion
Flexibility or adaptability – I’m not sure how a farming operation can operate without both.
In recent years, much has been spoken about the number of regulatory changes expected of farmers - the last five years especially. To run a farming business, especially a small one, farmers need to maintain a degree of flexibility and yet also be adaptable for a few reasons.
One is Mother Nature. The recent cyclone has impacted many farming operations with the loss of sheep-proof fences, and to counter this, some have sold them or moved the sheep to secure paddocks and put cattle where fences are compromised. This means a single electric wire or two will hold the cattle in - an easy and quick short-term fix.
During a drought, a farmer may need to sell their breeding cattle. To recover, they have sometimes taken on dairy grazers when the grass has come away, meaning they haven’t had the capital expense of buying expensive stock at the same time others are also trying to replace their animals.
Sally Dryland says rural schemes assets have not been safeguarded as yet. Photo / Leanne Warr
The frustration arises when regulators try to say you’re not able to increase your cattle numbers or change animal type (i.e. beef to dairy, sheep to cattle) even though your overall stock units are not increasing. Farmers may need to change their stocking policies for a few genuine reasons.
Firstly, if we physically become more challenged - raising calves and shearing sheep are physically demanding roles, after all.
Currently, farm inflation is pushing 16 per cent - for many, fertiliser may not be going on at all this year as a way of saving money! The scary bit is that no one truly knows what impact this will have on next year’s production. In spring, a light application of urea may ensure enough feed for the animals as lambs and calves hit the ground and need the extra grass.
Another flexible farm input is environmental works, or in other words, retiring land to plant into trees. Until the hills stop moving and riverbanks stabilise, planting trees comes with a high degree of risk and cost. Many farmers will know the adage: ‘It’s easy to be green when you’re not in the red.’
However, adapting to new emissions targets is helped by the ability to experiment and adapt using different pasture species, as we have seen with the Tararua Plantain Project. It was great to see this local project recognised at the recent Primary Industry New Zealand Awards 2023.
Respecting farmers’ need to be both flexible and adaptable goes a long way to encouraging progress.
Locally here in the Tararua district, all our dairy farmers have farm plans and 85 per cent of our hill country farmers do as well. We’re not anti-farm plans, but what we would like to see is local plans being recognised rather than a one-size-fits-all approach from Government proposals. This is because they incur extra costs for certification and auditing.
Local farmers would much rather have this money spent on developing native plant areas and erosion control.
Planting while local Feds members front in Wellington - thanks, team.
From a Federated Farmers’ perspective, we are taking the time to have these conversations with those who might not appreciate farmers’ need for both flexibility and adaptability. Thanks to my local executive members Aaron, Adam, Tim, Thomas, Dave and Nic, who have been down in Wellington doing the mahi this week.
