September 7, 2026 • 6 mins
One of New Zealand’s leading primary sector academics explains why nostalgia for past farming practises ignores modern realities.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Her name is Dr Jacqueline Roweth, one of our leading
primary sector academics. She's kind enough fortnightly to write a
wonderful column for us, and I'm going to read out
your opening paragraph, Jacqueline, because I love it. In childhood,
the summers were longer, the days were hotter, the waters
were sparklier, and the ice cream was cheaper. And you
go on to write, the latter is probably true, the
(00:22):
first three not so much. The term is rosy retrospection,
the rose-tinted spectacle phenomenon. And I like looking back at
life through rose-tinted spectacles, Jacqueline. It's one of the pleasures
of getting older.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Of course it is. And we love the childhood and
indeed some of the teens and indeed the specific good
points about when we were adults. But that is the point.
We just get rid of the bad memories. And apparently
this is the whole thing about childbirth, which I have
not been through. But why do people scream in agony
(00:57):
and then have another one? Because the bad bits are
screened out in one's memory at the joy of the
baby or the joy of the ice cream, sparkly waters
and hotter days.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Probably explains why I still play golf. You're suggesting that
farming is also a subject to rosy, Retrospection. The good
old days when we didn't need nitrogen fertilizers.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes. And we had horse-drawn carts and everything took very
much longer and all of those sorts of things. And
food insecurity was rife. We can remember that. Remember why
we've got an Irish cop on every street corner in
New York? The potato famine. We can go right back
through history and say food insecurity was huge. We don't
(01:47):
have that nearly as much now. I know that people
say we're food insecure in New Zealand, but actually they
don't know what it meant in terms of what it
used to be 100 years ago. And a lot of
our technologies, our understanding of chemicals has enabled food to
be more available globally. I thank the farmers every day
(02:11):
for that. That old thought, you should thank a farmer
five times a day. And breakfast, lunch, tea and all
the other bits in between.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Well, that's a morning and afternoon tea thrown in there,
isn't it? That's an old-fashioned notion as well. Hey, Jacqueline,
I note from your column that you were an interested viewer, spectator,
as was I, to the Q & A rural debate.
And honestly, I thought, heaven help us if a centre-left
government takes power. Or not heaven help us, heaven help
(02:44):
the farmers and the small businesses of this country.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
They've got no idea.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
No, it was distressing to see that there were, in fact,
all parties are throwing out lollies, sweeties in a way
that sort of dotted around without grasping the central issue
of New Zealand's economic development and its economic foundation is agriculture.
This government has been trying to enable the farmers to
(03:12):
get on and do good food production. And good food
production keeps our economy flowing, because it's the export economy,
and also provides food for New Zealanders directly and indirectly
through the income. So some of the things that were
being spouted on Sunday were really worrying. Oh, a wonderful one.
(03:33):
Farmers can get more money for their products If they
don't use agrochemicals, if they're organic, for instance, which is true,
but they don't get a higher income because the yield
is down. And if the yield is down, then that
means prices will go up for the consumer because there's
less of it. So you can't have cheap food and
(03:56):
no agrochemicals. And anything espousing that is not supported by science, economics, finance, anything,
just not supported.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Unfortunately, Jo Luxton, and I like Jo as a person,
I keep saying this, it's almost as though I'm justifying
my criticism here, but she has almost been useless in
terms of coming out with ag policy. Still nothing, or
not anything I've seen from the Labour Party. Steve Abel,
who is reasonably eloquent to give him his dues, the
(04:29):
Green Party ag spokesperson, some of the commentary around the
debate is was that he'd killed it. The only thing
Steve managed to kill was the prospects of prosperous farming.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So we go back to, unless you actually understand the
issue that you're dealing with, And sadly, there's an awful
lot of policy arts type degrees in the groups, the
ministries that advise our politicians. And if you actually understand it,
you can't get through to the policy creation that will
(05:04):
enable the discipline, in this case farming, that you're talking about.
And what you and I have discussed before, there are
so few people with an ag science degree or some
sort of agricultural background actually in Parliament. And people who
live in rural areas don't always understand what's going on.
But people who have been farming do understand. We've got
(05:24):
ministers who have been farming who actually understand the issues
with income and assets and the difference between assets and
cash flow, which I don't think is understood by all politicians.
And the ability to actually invest to ensure a vibrant business.
And the vibrant business is what we need for New Zealand,
(05:45):
not just because of the export economy, but because of
the next generation. If you have a vibrant business, somebody
wants to buy it or inherit it. And if it's
not vibrant, it's child abuse when your son or daughter
or grandchild or whatever says, what on earth do I
do now? Because all you've got is debt.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
You can read all about it on our website, thecountry.co.nz Dr.
Jacqueline Raworth, thanks as always for your contribution and your time.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Lovely to talk, Jamie. Glad you're back. Sorry about the bug.
Her name is Dr Jacqueline Roweth, one of our leading
primary sector academics. She's kind enough fortnightly to write a
wonderful column for us, and I'm going to read out
your opening paragraph, Jacqueline, because I love it. In childhood,
the summers were longer, the days were hotter, the waters
were sparklier, and the ice cream was cheaper. And you
go on to write, the latter is probably true, the
(00:22):
first three not so much. The term is rosy retrospection,
the rose-tinted spectacle phenomenon. And I like looking back at
life through rose-tinted spectacles, Jacqueline. It's one of the pleasures
of getting older.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Of course it is. And we love the childhood and
indeed some of the teens and indeed the specific good
points about when we were adults. But that is the point.
We just get rid of the bad memories. And apparently
this is the whole thing about childbirth, which I have
not been through. But why do people scream in agony
(00:57):
and then have another one? Because the bad bits are
screened out in one's memory at the joy of the
baby or the joy of the ice cream, sparkly waters
and hotter days.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Probably explains why I still play golf. You're suggesting that
farming is also a subject to rosy, Retrospection. The good
old days when we didn't need nitrogen fertilizers.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yes. And we had horse-drawn carts and everything took very
much longer and all of those sorts of things. And
food insecurity was rife. We can remember that. Remember why
we've got an Irish cop on every street corner in
New York? The potato famine. We can go right back
through history and say food insecurity was huge. We don't
(01:47):
have that nearly as much now. I know that people
say we're food insecure in New Zealand, but actually they
don't know what it meant in terms of what it
used to be 100 years ago. And a lot of
our technologies, our understanding of chemicals has enabled food to
be more available globally. I thank the farmers every day
(02:11):
for that. That old thought, you should thank a farmer
five times a day. And breakfast, lunch, tea and all
the other bits in between.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Well, that's a morning and afternoon tea thrown in there,
isn't it? That's an old-fashioned notion as well. Hey, Jacqueline,
I note from your column that you were an interested viewer, spectator,
as was I, to the Q & A rural debate.
And honestly, I thought, heaven help us if a centre-left
government takes power. Or not heaven help us, heaven help
(02:44):
the farmers and the small businesses of this country.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
They've got no idea.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
No, it was distressing to see that there were, in fact,
all parties are throwing out lollies, sweeties in a way
that sort of dotted around without grasping the central issue
of New Zealand's economic development and its economic foundation is agriculture.
This government has been trying to enable the farmers to
(03:12):
get on and do good food production. And good food
production keeps our economy flowing, because it's the export economy,
and also provides food for New Zealanders directly and indirectly
through the income. So some of the things that were
being spouted on Sunday were really worrying. Oh, a wonderful one.
(03:33):
Farmers can get more money for their products If they
don't use agrochemicals, if they're organic, for instance, which is true,
but they don't get a higher income because the yield
is down. And if the yield is down, then that
means prices will go up for the consumer because there's
less of it. So you can't have cheap food and
(03:56):
no agrochemicals. And anything espousing that is not supported by science, economics, finance, anything,
just not supported.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Unfortunately, Jo Luxton, and I like Jo as a person,
I keep saying this, it's almost as though I'm justifying
my criticism here, but she has almost been useless in
terms of coming out with ag policy. Still nothing, or
not anything I've seen from the Labour Party. Steve Abel,
who is reasonably eloquent to give him his dues, the
(04:29):
Green Party ag spokesperson, some of the commentary around the
debate is was that he'd killed it. The only thing
Steve managed to kill was the prospects of prosperous farming.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So we go back to, unless you actually understand the
issue that you're dealing with, And sadly, there's an awful
lot of policy arts type degrees in the groups, the
ministries that advise our politicians. And if you actually understand it,
you can't get through to the policy creation that will
(05:04):
enable the discipline, in this case farming, that you're talking about.
And what you and I have discussed before, there are
so few people with an ag science degree or some
sort of agricultural background actually in Parliament. And people who
live in rural areas don't always understand what's going on.
But people who have been farming do understand. We've got
(05:24):
ministers who have been farming who actually understand the issues
with income and assets and the difference between assets and
cash flow, which I don't think is understood by all politicians.
And the ability to actually invest to ensure a vibrant business.
And the vibrant business is what we need for New Zealand,
(05:45):
not just because of the export economy, but because of
the next generation. If you have a vibrant business, somebody
wants to buy it or inherit it. And if it's
not vibrant, it's child abuse when your son or daughter
or grandchild or whatever says, what on earth do I
do now? Because all you've got is debt.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
You can read all about it on our website, thecountry.co.nz Dr.
Jacqueline Raworth, thanks as always for your contribution and your time.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Lovely to talk, Jamie. Glad you're back. Sorry about the bug.
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