In response to David Fisher's article on the desolation of Kaikohe (NZ Herald December 21).
In my time in Kaikohe we had a daily flight service to Auckland. We had a daily rail car service to Whangarei and back. We had a government Forest Service with nurseries and plantation management.
We had our own town milk supply farm and delivery service. We had a Maori Affairs farm management department that guided small Maori farms and tribal stations. We had a timber processor and a treatment plant. We had an export port at Opua. We had government encouraging farm settlement, banks visiting discussion groups to borrow more money — borrow more, produce more.
Along came Rogernomics. Exchange rate mishandled to disadvantage exporters and proven fertiliser subsidies cancelled. Newly developed land reverted. Interest rates up to 22 per cent. The newly settled farmers wiped out. The only way out was to give to forestry.
Local rural communities' numbers dwindled. A lot of land that went into trees should have stayed in traditional farming. Amalgamation of small dairy companies took out a lot of small suppliers, including Kaikohe's town milk supply. Farm machinery outlets disappeared.