October 23, 2025 • 7 mins
The Biosecurity, Food Safety and Associate Agriculture has travelled to Chile to represent New Zealand at the World Dairy Summit. Today, we find him in Uruguay, having also passed through Argentina.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Some people get all the good jobs, and this man's
got one of them. He is representing in New Zealand
at the World Dairy Summit. His name is Andrew Hoggard,
of course, former president of Federated Farmers these days Associate
Egg and Biosecurity Minister. Hey, Andrew, are we getting a
value out of our tax buyer's money from you? Or
is this just the junket?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
No? No, you're getting your money's worth. Look, I've basically
spoke at the World Dairy Summit really pushed obviously trying
to encourage people to come next year to the World
Dairy Summit, which has been held in Auckland. And you know,
if we can, the more people we can get will
come from all over the world down to New Zealand
for a summit guarantee they're going to stay an extra
(00:43):
week and do some sight scene in New Zealand. So
the more we can get, the better. But have also
been talking to I guess ministerial counterparts in both Chile
yesterday in Argentina and Bonas Yeris and today in Uruguay.
Monte in fact actually just opened a New Zealand serum
(01:05):
facility in Montevideou with the Uruguayan president. So yeah, he
was a photo of me cutting the ribbon with him.
So it's been a good tour certainly. Talked about a
lot of things we have in common, and I think
it's a part of the world that we should be
(01:26):
doing a lot more talking with because there's a lot
of commonality in our farming systems and some of the
challenges the rest of the world wants to throw our way,
they're quite good allows in my view.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Do you know a guy by the name of Mark Townsend.
I think he was a founding director of Fonterra.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, yes, I do know Mark quite well. Well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
In twenty twelve, Mark and I took a group of
farmers to South America to see an all blacks test
in Bonos Aires. But we also spent a lot of
time in Chile, south of Santiago, where the I think
it's on the same latitude as your home patch of
Manor Tu and it was just so aerily similar to
(02:10):
New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, they had this poster up at the World Dairy
Summit of cows standing in front of snow capped mountain.
There was obviously shot in Chile down the South. But
if you showed that photo to anyone in New Zealand
and said when do you think this is, they would
have gone, oh, that's Mount Taranakis. That's obviously in Taranniki.
(02:35):
The land looks very similar and the farming system is
very similar.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
What sort of commonalities I think that's a word. What
sort of commonalities have we got with the South Americans
when it comes to dairying.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, I think they're obviously big on pasture, but well
they're moving more towards pasture based because you know, they've
got the pasture, they've got the land, as you mentioned,
similar temperate climate. So you know, part of the discussions
that I had certainly had yesterday was with representatives who
are busy trying to sell New Zealand agritech into South America, Argentina,
(03:14):
Uruguay and Chile. So there's probably a really I think
there's something we can build on to get for New
Zealand agritech, really get more of that being exported and
used in South America, for sure. But yeah, I was
on a farm this morning and you know, I could
see components in the cow shed that was the same
(03:36):
as mine, And you know, talking about milking times and
all the rest of it same as me. Yeah, so
there is a lot of similarity and there's probably a
lot of benefits to us in terms of doing more
business with South America.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
They obviously share the same concerns as we do over
a greenhouse scas emissions, especially methane from ruminants.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes, they do and know this. I just had a
meeting with my Uruguayan counterparts. They're the only country in
the world to have a split gas in DC, and obviously,
a couple of weeks ago, in part as part of
the methane announcement that we as a government did, we
said would be investigating a split gas approach for our NDC.
(04:22):
So it was good to be able to talk to
them about that and understand how they do it, and
quite frankly, it sounded much more sensible than what we've
got at home. So certainly reinforced my view that split
gas NDC makes a hell of a lot of sense.
And certainly, you know Argentina also where you know that
(04:45):
they're similar of a similar mind in terms of you know,
it makes no sense to be reducing their production. They
want to maintain it, they want to do better, but
just reducing it makes very little sense. So you know,
I think we've got a couple of alloys over here
in terms of having that argument with those countries around
(05:07):
the world that say, oh we just you know, shouldn't
be farming and farm less and all the rest of
it and want to have absolute reductions.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Hey, just to finish on, I love the big cities
of the world. It's a real thrill and a bit
of a pleasure really if you're lucky enough to go
and visit them. I thought Santiago, the capital of Chile,
was a wonderfully attractive city. Bonas Ares I found a
wee bit underwhelming. There's by memory a picture of Eva
of Varon on Eva paran should I say, on one
(05:35):
of the buildings, and a big spike in the main street.
Other than that, a bit underwhelming. I mean, what did
you make of the cities you've been in?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So Santiago, big city, I mean having the fact that
you've got the Andes right behind it, you know. I
when people are in the Canterbury Plains and they look
up the Southern Elks and they feel you know, you
look at that this through and you think, oh that'ssive.
Go remember the Andes are basically twice as tall as
(06:04):
Mount cock so you can imagine how impressive that view
that vista is. Santiago, Yeah, it seemed to be very
modern city and looks quite buzzing. Yeah, one of these
areas was it's interesting. I only got to spend a
little bit of time there. Did look a bit run down.
(06:27):
Montevideo is very colonial in terms of its layout, so
it's quite you know, yeah, sort of. I remember as
a kid watching the old movie Battle of the River Plate,
which is obviously that's right where it happened, and you know,
the New Zealand Navy was involved in that, so yeah,
(06:49):
it sort of was pretty cool. I like being able
to go to places where where some histories happened. So yeah,
finding Montevideo quite interesting, just been around and seeing it all.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
All right, Andrew Hoggart out of South America. You're a
guy today. Thank you very much for your time. Safe
travels home, no worries, well not not just
Some people get all the good jobs, and this man's
got one of them. He is representing in New Zealand
at the World Dairy Summit. His name is Andrew Hoggard,
of course, former president of Federated Farmers these days Associate
Egg and Biosecurity Minister. Hey, Andrew, are we getting a
value out of our tax buyer's money from you? Or
is this just the junket?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
No? No, you're getting your money's worth. Look, I've basically
spoke at the World Dairy Summit really pushed obviously trying
to encourage people to come next year to the World
Dairy Summit, which has been held in Auckland. And you know,
if we can, the more people we can get will
come from all over the world down to New Zealand
for a summit guarantee they're going to stay an extra
(00:43):
week and do some sight scene in New Zealand. So
the more we can get, the better. But have also
been talking to I guess ministerial counterparts in both Chile
yesterday in Argentina and Bonas Yeris and today in Uruguay.
Monte in fact actually just opened a New Zealand serum
(01:05):
facility in Montevideou with the Uruguayan president. So yeah, he
was a photo of me cutting the ribbon with him.
So it's been a good tour certainly. Talked about a
lot of things we have in common, and I think
it's a part of the world that we should be
(01:26):
doing a lot more talking with because there's a lot
of commonality in our farming systems and some of the
challenges the rest of the world wants to throw our way,
they're quite good allows in my view.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Do you know a guy by the name of Mark Townsend.
I think he was a founding director of Fonterra.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yes, yes, I do know Mark quite well. Well.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
In twenty twelve, Mark and I took a group of
farmers to South America to see an all blacks test
in Bonos Aires. But we also spent a lot of
time in Chile, south of Santiago, where the I think
it's on the same latitude as your home patch of
Manor Tu and it was just so aerily similar to
(02:10):
New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, they had this poster up at the World Dairy
Summit of cows standing in front of snow capped mountain.
There was obviously shot in Chile down the South. But
if you showed that photo to anyone in New Zealand
and said when do you think this is, they would
have gone, oh, that's Mount Taranakis. That's obviously in Taranniki.
(02:35):
The land looks very similar and the farming system is
very similar.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
What sort of commonalities I think that's a word. What
sort of commonalities have we got with the South Americans
when it comes to dairying.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, I think they're obviously big on pasture, but well
they're moving more towards pasture based because you know, they've
got the pasture, they've got the land, as you mentioned,
similar temperate climate. So you know, part of the discussions
that I had certainly had yesterday was with representatives who
are busy trying to sell New Zealand agritech into South America, Argentina,
(03:14):
Uruguay and Chile. So there's probably a really I think
there's something we can build on to get for New
Zealand agritech, really get more of that being exported and
used in South America, for sure. But yeah, I was
on a farm this morning and you know, I could
see components in the cow shed that was the same
(03:36):
as mine, And you know, talking about milking times and
all the rest of it same as me. Yeah, so
there is a lot of similarity and there's probably a
lot of benefits to us in terms of doing more
business with South America.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
They obviously share the same concerns as we do over
a greenhouse scas emissions, especially methane from ruminants.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes, they do and know this. I just had a
meeting with my Uruguayan counterparts. They're the only country in
the world to have a split gas in DC, and obviously,
a couple of weeks ago, in part as part of
the methane announcement that we as a government did, we
said would be investigating a split gas approach for our NDC.
(04:22):
So it was good to be able to talk to
them about that and understand how they do it, and
quite frankly, it sounded much more sensible than what we've
got at home. So certainly reinforced my view that split
gas NDC makes a hell of a lot of sense.
And certainly, you know Argentina also where you know that
(04:45):
they're similar of a similar mind in terms of you know,
it makes no sense to be reducing their production. They
want to maintain it, they want to do better, but
just reducing it makes very little sense. So you know,
I think we've got a couple of alloys over here
in terms of having that argument with those countries around
(05:07):
the world that say, oh we just you know, shouldn't
be farming and farm less and all the rest of
it and want to have absolute reductions.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Hey, just to finish on, I love the big cities
of the world. It's a real thrill and a bit
of a pleasure really if you're lucky enough to go
and visit them. I thought Santiago, the capital of Chile,
was a wonderfully attractive city. Bonas Ares I found a
wee bit underwhelming. There's by memory a picture of Eva
of Varon on Eva paran should I say, on one
(05:35):
of the buildings, and a big spike in the main street.
Other than that, a bit underwhelming. I mean, what did
you make of the cities you've been in?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So Santiago, big city, I mean having the fact that
you've got the Andes right behind it, you know. I
when people are in the Canterbury Plains and they look
up the Southern Elks and they feel you know, you
look at that this through and you think, oh that'ssive.
Go remember the Andes are basically twice as tall as
(06:04):
Mount cock so you can imagine how impressive that view
that vista is. Santiago, Yeah, it seemed to be very
modern city and looks quite buzzing. Yeah, one of these
areas was it's interesting. I only got to spend a
little bit of time there. Did look a bit run down.
(06:27):
Montevideo is very colonial in terms of its layout, so
it's quite you know, yeah, sort of. I remember as
a kid watching the old movie Battle of the River Plate,
which is obviously that's right where it happened, and you know,
the New Zealand Navy was involved in that, so yeah,
(06:49):
it sort of was pretty cool. I like being able
to go to places where where some histories happened. So yeah,
finding Montevideo quite interesting, just been around and seeing it all.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
All right, Andrew Hoggart out of South America. You're a
guy today. Thank you very much for your time. Safe
travels home, no worries, well not not just
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