The Country 11/05/26: Vanessa Winning talks to Jamie Mackay

MPI’s Director On Farm Support talks NZDIA, the upcoming B+LNZ Out the Gate conference, and the two-speed primary sector.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Vanessa winning joints from MPI. Vanessa, I don't know what
your job is. Is your job a bit like Rowena's
at FMG. Are you sort of a corporate hugger? You
just go around to all these events and make an
appearance because you don't miss many bunfights. If you don't
mind me saying so.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
A corporate hugger, it's a nice way of putting it.
I do like the occasional hug so yeah, that's probably
for you.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
You were at the Dairy Industry Awards along with our
winners Stacey and Scott who we've spoken to already, and
Andrew and Grant, the farmer politicians. Huge crowd.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh, it was sold out, which is just brilliant, Like
it really is demonstrating how buoyant the dairy industry is
at the moment. It was such a great night.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Okay, Well that's in the rare vision mirror now, and
congratulations to all the winners on Saturday night in Rota Rua.
Where do you head next? Where's your next one fight? Vanessa?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hey, just before we do go on to the next time,
I just wanted to a shout out. I'm sure you've
already done that. But to Jim Vanderpol and his special
Industry Award that he got on Saturday night as well.
I think it really well deserved both Jim and so
up there and all the work that they've done for
the dairy industry. So that was pretty cool and pretty special.

(01:18):
And I don't know if you heard, but there's this
really cool new one where it's the first farm grant
in ASB gives I think it's a million dollars at
one percent interest for three years. It's to get you started,
which is wow, opportunity.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's a huge prize in terms of in terms of
dollar value.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well and also just it just gets you started. And
I just yeah, so so cool, so cool to see
the dairy industry back up there in lights again. It's
been you know, it's been a little while, and I
just think it's awesome to celebrate it.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, Grant McCallum actually gave Jim Vanderpole a good pat
on the back and Jim deserves it. A hell of
a nice bloke as well. The next one is the
out the Gate Conference. This is run by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah, so Beef and them have got their bag
and it's a big investment that they've put on here.
So out the gates running on the twentieth of May
in christ Church at the new Event Center. Yeah and
PI pretty big lineup of speakers, including of course my
boss Racement And again we're seeing a real celebration of

(02:25):
the red meat sector too, so pretty coolder to see
some buoyancy out there.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's a bit of a lead into the Biggie, the granddaddy,
the grandmother. I've got to be politically correct these days, Vanessa.
Of all rural award events, well, I suppose we've got
we've got the Young Farm We've got the Balance Farm
Environment Awards, We've got all sorts of ones. But the
primary industry awards run by Federated Farmers are probably the

(02:50):
pinnacle in some ways.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, I think because they've got them across all different
activities and sectors. So it is pretty cool. You know,
you're getting from not just one industry, you're actually getting
out across all the industries. So it is neat to
get celebration across everyone together. And they really are the
only ones that do it where it's not sector bisector.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, they run a really good show. Will barely unpack
the bags from field days of Vannessa. Then we've got
to jump on it. Well I have to jump on
a plane again, maybe not you up that end of
the country and head to the Primary Industry Awards. Looking
forward to that one. Hey, just a final comment from you,
and I guess this is in some ways stating the obvious.

(03:31):
But while we're celebrating the dairy industry, Kiwi fruits going
great guns at the moment. They've had a great season.
It looks like the marketing's going really well. Red meats
at an all time high, and that's fantastic. But we've got,
as you point out, the vegetable sector, the arable farmers,
especially the wine sector, and then I think forestry as well,

(03:55):
you could lump in there. So not everyone's doing really
well at the moment.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, I think. You know, there's a lot of cross
brushes profitability activity going on, and I guess that's where
on farm support of being able to come in and
do some extension support stuff. So you know, like like
what we talked about last time I was on the
radio with far around, you know, doing some resilience workshops
with there's Victoria cross winner. Just making sure I get

(04:24):
that right and you know, then we've got activity with
the wine sector. Part of the issue is that we
are just you know, we've got such great growing conditions
in New Zealand that we end up with almost like
an oversupply of production too, So you know, it's a
little bit of you know, really doing really well on

(04:47):
one side and then struggling and how do we support
them on the other. And this is where the integration
of farming, I think, Jamie, which is the future about
farming and we sing it a lot in the arable
sector right where you've got the red meat and arable
sectors working really closely together to make sure that they're
dovetailing into each other and when ones up ones down,

(05:08):
they're building that resilience in between the two of them.
So we're seeing more of that and people are getting
really smart around it. So profitability in the sectors something
that we focused on foreign farm support especially.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Hey Vanessa one and always good to catch up on
the country. We will see you at field. Does you
enjoy the out the gate conference Beef and lamb. That's
the next one up to the Batter's Box And what
a couple of weeks is it?

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah? There's a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Good on you. Thanks for your time, Vanessa, Thanks Jami,