Geoff and Justine Ross's Country Calendar episode was criticised for being unrealistic. Photo / Supplied
Geoff and Justine Ross's Country Calendar episode was criticised for being unrealistic. Photo / Supplied
Opinion: As the dust settles on the controversial Country Calendar Lake Hawea episode, Dr Jacqueline Rowarth says it's time for Kiwis to get behind successful farmers - the same way we support our successful sports teams.
Geoff and Justine Ross are right. People pay for the story.
They were successful with vodka, and now with their enterprise at Lake Hawea Station, they've shown how to get the story out there.
Branding is everything, a picture paints a thousand words, and Country Calendar did a great job in creating discussion around the business.
The business is fashion, just like Icebreaker and Allbirds. People pay for fashion as part of personal branding and status. With the zero-carbon stamp, virtue signalling is also involved.
The question remains whether the same success can be achieved with food.
This is not a new goal; New Zealand has been trying to create its food story for over one hundred years (think Canterbury Lamb).
Sadly the main detractors seem to be New Zealanders tearing down the aspiration (which was for tourism) of 100% Pure NZ, as well as making constant negative statements about the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the primary production sector.
The animals create essential amino acids in protein in a form that humans can digest and use. They also provide dietary energy and minerals (e.g., iron and calcium) as well as many vitamins. There is research on it.
On much of the land devoted to pasture, growing anything else will create environmental impact through erosion, loss of soil carbon, and increased need for inputs such as fertiliser and irrigation.
Even on the Canterbury Plains, which often feature in the news because of concerns about agriculture, dairy production creates lower nitrogen losses, lower soil carbon loss and much more protein for humans than cropping.
Dr Coles makes it clear that dairy farming can feed more people with a lower impact than any other food system. And more cheaply.
Six cheese sandwiches meet daily essential amino acid, energy and fibre needs at about half the cost of the cheapest alternative – and the calculation was done for New Zealand supermarkets using the price of kilograms of cheese, butter and bread (noting that "mild" gives as many essential amino acids per bite as "tasty").
Despite this, New Zealanders in general and farmers, in particular, are being bombarded with more and more ideas about what else we should do – plant-based, regenerative, organic - all of which are getting away from New Zealand's comparative, and now competitive, sustainability advantage.
At the same time the government is pouring dollars into research to investigate these alternatives, even though at least some of the science has already been done and indeed, provided the foundation for advances.
The question must be asked if the investment in alternative production systems is at the expense of fine-tuning what we have already achieved and then enabling uptake of advances?
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Dr Jacqueline Rowarth on The Country below:
An important part of the value, not always acknowledged by New Zealanders, is the amount of protected land on farms, as well as restored wetlands and riparian plantings.
The investment has been significant and has been made in response to research showing that the environment will be improved by these activities.
Geoff Ross did an excellent job defending his operation against the feedback.
He explained that he was trying a different approach and is achieving a premium for the wool.
The interviewers didn't ask him about returns per hectare, which matter for most farmers (and their banks) more than the return per kilo of product, but he did acknowledge that he was in the fortunate position of being mortgage-free. His wealth was built on fashion, too.
Fashion is different from food. New Zealand's big challenge is to pursue the goal of creating the New Zealand story and capturing whatever premium is available for having free-range animals that are grass-based and producing fewer emissions per kilo of product than other countries can achieve.
While the story is developing, everybody has a role to play. Farmers can keep their records up to date. Marketers can explain the reality of least-impact, high-welfare production systems. Consumers can enjoy the product and buy local (check the label).
Naysayers can consider the alternatives… which are worse environmentally and economically.
And everybody can then get together to support the story. Kiwis unite to be "Team New Zealand" for sport.
It is time to play the same game for the economy.
- Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, Adjunct Professor Lincoln University, is a farmer-elected director of DairyNZ and Ravensdown, and a producer-appointed director of Deer Industry NZ. The analysis and conclusions above are her own. jsrowarth@gmail.com
