July 16, 2025 • 37 mins
Jamie Mackay talks to Bruce Weir, Amber Brador, Chris Hipkins, Abbi Ayre, Peter Newbold, and Chris Russell.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckuae.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thanks to Brent.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're specialist in John Deere construction equipment.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Get a New Zealand Welcome to the Country. I'm Jamie
McKay shows. Brought to you by Brent. Apparently Fleetwood Mac's
self titled album Fleetwood Mac is fifty years old today.
Good music doesn't die, does it? Anyhow? On the show today,
we're going to give away five grand very very shortly.
(00:46):
It is the announcement of the winner of the twenty
twenty five Rabobank Good Deeds Competition, with Bruce ware waiting
on hold along with our winner and more about that
in the Tech Chris Hipkins Labour's leader, Bipartisan politics, it's
a good thing. What about a grand coalition? Would that
(01:07):
be a good thing? Labor and National. We're going to
ask a miss Month's farmstrong farmer, Abby Air. You're going
to enjoy her bubbly character, dairy farmer In Reeft and
Peter Newbold on the state of the rural real estate market.
Did you realize and I should know this that dairy
farms have only increased in value by two thousand dollars
(01:31):
per hectare over the past decade. Not much capital gain there.
I wouldn't even keep up with inflation. Chris Russell's Ourrosie correspondent.
He watched sunny Bill versus Paul Gallon last night. We'll
have a look at that at a prominent farmer sent
to jail in Australia for flouting or for water fraud. Basically,
(01:53):
if you haven't caught up on the big news, food
inflation running rampant, up four point six per cent in
the year to June, the largest rate increase since late
twenty twenty three. Not good for the inflation numbers. Not
good for interest rates. Are rising fruit and vegetable prices.
I guess that seasonal you would expect that, and put
(02:16):
together with already elevated pricing for dairy and meat products
and we have got food prices going up four point
six percent in the past year. And the other one
is the changes numerous changes to the starting in fact,
the whole all Black squad ten changes in the starting fifteen.
Brodie Roupe McAllister is going to make his debut off
(02:38):
the bench. But in the starting fifteen. We'll tell you
more about this a bit later in there, only ethand Group,
Patrick Tuipolotu, Barbian Holland, Ardie Savilla and Ricco Yuanni survive
or are in there from last week's starting fifteen Scott
I was going to say, Scott Barrett, I've got Scott
(02:59):
Barrett on the brain and let's try Scott robertson ringing
the changes there, giving everyone as promised a game and
talking about Scott Barrett, We're going to give you a
chance also to go fishing with him, you and a mate,
and we're going to lay everything on for you courtesy
of Kywalker. He is of course their brand ambassador. But
up next, we're giving away five thousand dollars from a bank.
(03:22):
Does it get any better? This is one of my
(03:42):
favorite jobs on the country, giving away money, especially other
people's money. In this case Rabobanks five thousand dollars worth
plus a day's labor plus someone from the country's going
to help. It might be me. If there's a good
golf course anywhere near the winner of the twenty twenty
five Rabobank Good Deeds Competition, Bruce, where's the GM for
country Banking? Bruce? Where are we heading to?
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Good afternoon?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Jamie?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Yes, The twenty twenty five Good Deeds winner is the
rural based Colleton School northeast of Fielding in the mono
or two.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Well, I know plenty of good golf courses in and
around Palmerston North, so it might be me going up there.
But here's the question, what do I have to do?
Do I have to get on the end of a shovel?
Is this going to be too much like hard work?
Let's ask the spokesperson for the cole Itton Primary School
and Braider Amber, what are you up to? What are
you going to use your five thousand dollars in all
the labor to do?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Hello, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
Yes, we are going to move our bike track. So
we had to unfortunately cut the end of our bike
track off to put in a brand new septic field.
And so we're moving the bike track and putting back
in a rugby field.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well I read that on the copy brief. Well, what
the hell's a septic field?
Speaker 6 (04:57):
The new modern septic systems have to have big drainage
fields for all the pipes, and unfortunately it takes up
a whole lot more room than the old system.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
So is that you like your forty field? Your hockey
field all gone? Is it because of a septic system?
Speaker 6 (05:11):
Yep, there's just not enough room there anymore. So the
ministry has fortunately allowed us to buy a little bit
of the paddit next door. So we're moving everything around
and going to do a big enhancement of the outside
area and put the field back in.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, I'm pleased to hear that, because kids need plenty
of space and the rural kids are used to it.
What's the connection with the bike track amber?
Speaker 6 (05:34):
So the fundraising committee put the butt track in quite
a long time ago now, but we had to chop
the end off it to put the septic field in,
so it's not usable anymore. Anyway, We're going to shift
it to a completely different place on the school grounds
and where it is now will be part of the
new field.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And what will it cost to make this new bike track?
This is I assume is not going to pay for
the whole lot.
Speaker 6 (05:58):
No, but the labor and the money are definitely going
to help. No, it's going to cost quite a lot
of money to do the full outdoor enhancement as sort
of probably around five hundred thousand dollars. But we've been
fundraising hard and we'll hopefully get a few more grants
like this one, which is going to go a long way.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I'm not much chop on a spade, but I'm good
on a barbecue tongk. But one man who's very good
on a spade because he works out every morning is
Bruce Ware, the GM for Country Banking. He'll be there, Bruce, Yeah, I'll.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Plan to be Jamie. I try not to miss those sessions.
But I know that our local team lead Brian Henderson,
really looking forward to this project, and I know they've
got plenty of energy, so I'm sure Amber, and congratulations
by the way, I'm sure you'll work them hard for
up for it.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
We will do. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
We really appreciate it well.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Amber, thank you very much. Looking forward to catching up
with you. I'm assuming this is going to happen at
the end of this year when the weather is a
wee bit better. What's it like in the manner or two?
Speaker 6 (06:56):
At the moment, very sulky. You will not want to
be on a wheelbarrow the moment.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, I wouldn't want to be on a septic field
at the moment either. I'm a bit frightened by those.
Don't even start me on open Classrooms. Hey Bruce Ware
and Amber Brader, Congratulations to the coll it And School
for getting the five thousand dollars and the day's labor
from the team at Rabobank to do your new community project. Bruce,
from over well over one hundred entries, this is a
(07:21):
very good one.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yes, a fantastic one, and like you, Jamie, we really
look forward to this.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
Time of the year.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
But I can assure you I'm glad I was not
on the on the judging panel was over one hundred
or so. We're the entries that the judging panel had
to work hard to clump with this one.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
We'll be running it again next year, The Rabobank Good
Deeds Competition, Amber Bruce, thanks for your time. Congratulations, Thank
you very much.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Thanks Shane.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
What a great promotion it is and we will be
running it again next year. The Rabobank Good Deeds Competition
five grand plus a day's labor from the Rabobank provide
about thirty people. We provide one. It's either going to
be me or you, Michelle Watt. I'm not quite sure
which one, depends how it fits into my golf and calendar.
(08:07):
You wandered into my office just before midday, as you do.
And you said, look, the music theme today is Fleetwood Mac.
They're celebrating it's their fiftieth birthday. I immediately took fifty
off twenty twenty five and went back to nineteen seventy five,
and I said, bollocks, Michelle, and I was right. You
were wrong. Well, of course I was right. Your Mike's
(08:28):
slot on all right, reply, yeah, well you're worse than Groundswell.
Bryce McKenzie, Bryce, I keep mistaking him for Bryce Lawrence.
Different people. One's a referee and one's a is he
an activist? Anyhow? Bryce is a good block Western Otago
dairy farmer. He's been chewing my ear as well. He's
(08:48):
on the show tomorrow. None too pleased about the flat
that Groundswell's copying for saying we should get out of
the Paris Agreement. But no not. They're more than fifty
years old because before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie nixt joined,
they had a guy called Peter Green in there, I think,
with Mick Fleetwood, and they had an instrumental called Albatross.
Speaker 8 (09:10):
That's right, nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
To see there you go, right, accept your apology you're
spreading fake goo. No you didn't. You're spreading fake news
here on the country. And I'm getting confused between Scott
Robertson and Scott Barrett. No, Scott Barrett obviously and the
All Black team he's out for the series Farbi and Holland. Gee,
he's going well, I think him, him and Sam Darry.
(09:33):
Imagine those two as your All blacklock and combination in
the future. But anyhow, if you want to go fishing
with Scott Barrett, all you need to do is go
to our website and register. So what have we got
for you? Flights, accommodation for you and a mate, a
couple of storm Force park is there, worth four or
five hundred bucks each, and we'll throw in two hundred
and fifty dollars of cash to cover any odd expenses
(09:57):
that might crop up. But we're going to feed and water.
But you can also by just entering this competition. You
go into the daily draw for a kiwaker storm Force Parker.
As I said, they're worth four or five hundred bucks.
They're brilliant, brilliant jackets. They were parkers that'd be ideal
(10:17):
for lamming or carving this season. Today's winner from yesterday's
show is Rebecca Smith from the mun Or two Wanganui region.
There you go, it's been a successful day for that
part of the country. Today on the Country, if you
want to win one of those storm Force parkers and
go in the drawer to go fishing with Scott Barrett
(10:38):
you and a mate. Go to our website. Sorry losing
my voice, Go to our website The Country dot co
dot nz and simply register. Up Next, Chippy Chris Sipkins
a Grand coalition bi partisan politics. Could it ever happened?
Speaker 9 (11:03):
And then you see here's the Labor Party leader Chris Hipkins,
who joins us monthly on the Country. Chris, am I
engager of becoming a Labor Party lackey having had two
of you on the show this week, Damien O'Connor on
Tuesday show, and I must say Damien spoke very sensibly
and we don't always agree Damien and I, but spoke
(11:23):
very sensibly about getting gravel out of our rivers. And
I want to talk to you about the Tasman flooding
situation and the bipartisan approach you and the NATS are
taking to funding future flood and climate victims.
Speaker 10 (11:37):
Well, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Look, we're a very sensible party, Jamie, so I'm very
pleased to hear that Damien's be paying sensible things on
your show. I don't know that I could ever call
you a Labor party lacky though. I mean, I can
always live in hope, but I'm not quite there. I'm
an optimist, but not that optimist.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
All right, Well, talk to me about bipartisan politics. To
be serious, there's not that big a difference in many
ways between Labor and national There's always been a talk
of a grand coalition, but never the Twains shall meet.
Do you think that would be a good idea.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I think it would be a terrible idea because ultimately
it would mean that the smaller parties would actually have
more power in that kind of scenario than they do now.
There has to be a competition between the two big
parties for democracy to be vibrant and to make sure
that the small parties don't have too much sway. I
think the problem with the current government is that Christopherluction's
(12:28):
basically let the small parties call all the shots. And
you know, under MMP you do have to compromise, but
you don't have to let minority parties who only got
eight percent of the vote get to determine the direction
of the country.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You're referring to what the ex Party or New Zealand first.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
There, Well, either of them to be frank, I mean,
you know, Christopher Luxon has basically taken a backseat to
both David C. Moore Entwoodston Peters in this government. They
seem to be the ones calling the shots.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Mind you, I could the boat put the boot on
the other foot and direct that back at you would
to party Mari and the Greens be calling the shot
if you get the treasury benches next year.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
No, absolutely not, you know, recognize that would have to
probably you know under EMMP you probably do have to
work with other parties. But there's a difference between making
some concessions to smaller parties in the MMP environment and
letting them run the country. And Christopher lex is basically
letting them run the country.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
At the moment, mind you, the smaller parties are getting
bigger and the bigger parties are getting smaller.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Well, I think it's too early to draw that conclusion yet.
I mean, National's voters shrinking, that's absolutely right, Labour's voters
going up so we're at that point in the political cycle,
early in the political cycle actually, where there's a sort
of a crossover between the two big parties, and so
you do sort of find the meeting in the middle
during that time, but that doesn't always stay that way. Generally,
(13:50):
one of the bigger parties will gain support heading into
the next election, and you know at the moment, Look,
Labour's the party that's gaining the support. Nationals the party
that's losing it.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Not If I look at the latest taxpayer Union Carrier poll,
National nearly thirty four percent, U thirty one point six percent.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, we've started at twenty six. So you know, overall,
if you look at the trend of polling in this
term of parliament, Labour's been going up, National has been
coming down. National started at thirty eight and they're crashing down.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Monngeur, you had fifty percent and twenty twenty you've come
a long way down.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
That's right. So I can tell you what happens when
a government starts losing supporting the way the National Party
are now, it doesn't end well for them.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Bipartisan politics, I'm a big fan of it, and I
think Labor and National have to get their heads together
at some stage and come to some agreement on the
age of eligibility for National Super. I'm like a dog
with a bone on this one, Chris Hipkins. But you're
you're not brave enough to move the age to sixty seven.
You're a bit like Winston.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
No.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I don't think that's true, Jamie. We do need to
make sure in New Zealand super annuation sustainable. But making
people who get to the age of sixty five and
who physically can't work anymore wait another two years before
they're allowed to retire, potentially to the point where they'll
never actually get to retire. That's not the way to
make superannuation sustainable. And so you know, I think the
National Party are taking a cheap option, which is all
(15:12):
very well for a bunch of wealthy people who sit
behind a desk all day. Not so good if you
actually work hard for a living fair.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Enough, but you could bring it in on a stage
sort of basis. You could take National Super earlier, but
at a lower rate if you were a manual laborer.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
No, I mean there are ways to make sure that
New Zealand superannuation is affordable and continues to be universal. Unfortunately,
the National Party seem to think that the way of
solving the issues around the affordability of New Zealand superannuation
is to punish working people carbon farming.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Has the government got it wrong on this? I call
it closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
They made an announcement in December of last year. It
hasn't halted at one bit.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It's taken far too long for them even to get
to the point where they're making an announcement. We said
before the LA selection that we think communities should have
the power to be able to stop conversions. Getting the
right tree in the right place has to be our goal.
You know, we shouldn't say that there should be no
trees on farms. In fact, many sheep and beef farmers
are doing some forestry as a compliment to the sheep
(16:16):
and beef farming, and that's working very well and I
don't want to stop them from doing that, But the
whole farm conversions isn't where we need to be going.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Hey, Chris Hipkin's good to catch up. We don't always agree,
but it's good to agree to disagree on occasions, and
we agree on a few things as well, thanks for
your time. Good to talk to you, Jamie twenty six
after twelve. Yes, some of your feedback coming in. You're
quite tough on chippy. I can't even read that one out,
(16:45):
Michelle talking about carbon farming. Here's one from Dean down
in Southland who's a bit of an activist himself in
a positive sort of way. He says, I'm sitting here
having lunch, listening to you guys and having to watch
a beauty full south and farm get planted and pine trees.
It's a disgrace. I agree with you. Dang. Here's another
(17:09):
chippy one. No, I won't do that one either. We'll
filter some of these during the break. But up next
are we going to go to a lovely part of
the country, one of my favorite little villages. It's probably
more than a village. Reefed and our farm Strong farmer
this month is abbiir. You're gonna love her story. She's
(17:31):
up next. Every month here on the country, our partners
at farm Strong put up a farm strong farmer for
us to have a yarn to. They're always interesting characters
with a great backstory. This month's farm Strong Farmer is
(17:55):
no exception. Her name is Abbiir. She's a dairy farmer
in reef Than along with her husband and Fricky. They've
got two young kids. And Abby, I'll come to your
backstory in a minute. But why do you think farm
Strong have picked you and puts you up this month?
Speaker 10 (18:09):
Great question?
Speaker 11 (18:10):
No, they just they seem to just keep asking me,
and I don't know why. I think I follow loosely
the five Ways to well being without even really knowing
I'm doing it.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Well, you're a bright and bubbly character. I know that
from just talking to you in the commercial break. What's
your background to becoming a dairy farmer in Reefton, which,
by the way, Abby, I think is one of the
prettiest little towns in this country.
Speaker 10 (18:36):
It is pretty cool.
Speaker 11 (18:38):
I was adamant we were not going to move here
before we came here, but now we're here, I love it.
I think I think more people should move to the coast.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Well, isn't like reef Than a we micro climate. You
miss a lot of the bad weather that you know.
And I'll get told off by coasters here that they
get Actually on the coast, you're inland and your your
prone believe it, And as I understand it to being
summer dry.
Speaker 11 (19:03):
Yeah, we actually had a really really dry summer here.
It was like the dry summer and fifty years. But
someone described it to me it's almost like Alexandra, Like
you can take the weather that's happening in Alexandra and
it'll be here in Refton as well.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, the winter fogs, Yeah that as well. Now I
know that your connection with farm Strong kind of is connected,
if that's the correct word around a shed shout you
and your husband, Hobby Fricky did for your neighboring farmers.
Tell me about that.
Speaker 11 (19:35):
Yeah, I guess I'd been in the back of our
head for a while and it was kind of like
a combination of a few ideas in terms of.
Speaker 10 (19:45):
We did. We called it a dry off party.
Speaker 11 (19:48):
Back then, but it was nothing really like that. We
just dropped a whole lot of pamphlets in our neighbors'
letterboxes because we'd never met them. This is when we're
in covid and and you had everyone around to the
cowshier and we're just all chatted, and I thought, oh,
that was a cool idea. And then somewhere when we
were in Dune, True, we had this really cool thing
where every Friday throughout carving we would go to somebody's
(20:11):
cowshed and just like have a beer or whatever and
catch up for the week. And that was like a
real nice way of knowing that everyone was going through
the same shit.
Speaker 10 (20:23):
And so I thought, oh, we talked about.
Speaker 11 (20:26):
Doing it last season, but we never got around to it.
And then I thought, shit, we've had a pretty hard
season here in Reefdon was like from the weirdest sort
of winter spring and twenty five years to the dry
summer and fifty and I thought, oh, well, let's just
pull everyone together and.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
Yeah, just basically have a really low key chat.
Speaker 11 (20:48):
And then I sort of mooted the idea about would
you guys be keen to like jump round some cowsheds
over over carving.
Speaker 10 (20:57):
So yeah, that's kind of where it came from.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I've lead quite a transient lifestyle in the dairy industry.
You mentioned Culverdin, done true Canterbury, North Otago, and then
back to the coast. Where did you come from?
Speaker 11 (21:09):
Originally I grew up in between Monaker and hardware. But
we've we've done a lot of this South Island. This
is the first.
Speaker 10 (21:17):
Time actually we've stayed. We're staying somewhere for three seasons.
Speaker 11 (21:20):
We did a lot of one season, one season, two seasons,
two seasons, and some of those like we're out of
our control, and some of those were decisions we made
to move on.
Speaker 10 (21:29):
So you're happy not to have to do Gypsy Day
this year.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
You've got a storied background. You told me that you
once worked on super yachts. In fact, you've moved one
from the Caribbean to Tonga. You were living the dream
where you're rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. It
must be a bit boring dairy farming and reef than
by comparison.
Speaker 10 (21:48):
Oh not quite. I didn't.
Speaker 11 (21:50):
I didn't make it to the souper yacht level. I
just did a yacht delivery on a safety foot yacht.
I wanted to work on souper yacht after doing my
three month stint on a sheep and beef farm, and
if I didn't have.
Speaker 10 (22:02):
A course to go so I probably would have stayed
working there. And then it was.
Speaker 11 (22:06):
Throughout that trip that I realized I was like, shit,
the food is not this is not normal food. Just
like little things like the eggs you were getting were
like these tiny, little eggs and they were like a
white shell and you're just pat act and then like
the bacon was probably like, I don't know, twenty thirty
centimeters by five and by the time you cooked it
(22:29):
it was like fifteen.
Speaker 10 (22:31):
By two, and you were like having.
Speaker 11 (22:33):
To drain the fat off the pan as you were
cooking it. And I was like, I know where foods
come from, and I want I want.
Speaker 10 (22:41):
To do that more and follow that journey. So that
was why I came back and started working on a
dairy farm.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Well, there you go. You've had a wonderful life story.
How's the season treating you. You'll just be getting ready
for carving, are you.
Speaker 10 (22:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (22:53):
I keep getting memories popping up of today's going to
be the first day of a calf.
Speaker 10 (22:58):
So I'm still waiting.
Speaker 11 (23:01):
But you're hoping for a wee bit of a dry
We've had had quite a lot of rain, considering we
had the dry summer and fifty years we've already had
over our half of annual year rainfall.
Speaker 7 (23:13):
That Yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Doubt, you've got a bit of the tail end of
that stuff that hit the Tasman Nelson region. But you've
got to count your blessings haven't you. Hey, it's been
lovely to chat to you, bubbly person, Abby, year out
of reefed, and good luck with the upcoming season. You
are our farmstrong farmer this month.
Speaker 10 (23:29):
All right? Thanks having me.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Thanks Abby. What a bubbly character she is. Twenty five
are away from one summer your tech you're tough on
Chippy out there? Seriously, Hopkins, I think they mean Hipkins
saying national rich pricks. You can't. You can't blame me
for using that horrible word on national radio because radio
(23:54):
nationally not national radio. I'll get in trouble for that
one as well, because Michael Cullen used it when referring
two members of the National Party. But this text goes
on to say how many business owners and real workers
are on the labor front bench. Probably not many. I
wouldn't think. What have we got chippy? Carmel Sepaloni, who's three?
(24:19):
Hang on, I'll turn your mic on. Sorry, But Barbara Edmonds,
she's a smart woman. I'll give her some credit. And
then we've got.
Speaker 8 (24:25):
Megan Woods, Dr Meghan Woods, Willie Jackson.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
They're both well trade unionists, academics, year typical labor. What
else have we got?
Speaker 8 (24:32):
Asia?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Verral medical background. Karen MacNulty, Honey, I'm not quite sure
how many of them have been business owners and run
the cut of themselves. There you go, Thanks for your texts.
Remember if you want to go fishing with Scott Barrett
and win a kiwaker storm Force Parker, go to our
(24:54):
website The Country dot co dot nz and register up.
Next Rural News and we'll update that All Blacks team
for you. Ten changes to the starting fifteen for the
tests this weekend in the trim. Welcome back to the
country coming up to twenty away from one. Here's the
(25:16):
latest and rural news to.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
The Country's world news with Cod Cadets, New Zealand's leading
right on lawn Bower brand. Visit steel Ford dot co
dot nzim for your local stockist.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
A proposal to cut agriculture courses at a Taranaki polytech
is being described by farmers as lunacy. It comes as
the dismantling of Tipukanger would see ten polytechs revert to
regional governments in January. Meanwhile, others, including the Western Institute
of Technology in Taranaki, would remain with Tipookanga and have
to prove their financial viability by mid twenty twenty six.
(25:48):
Part of that proposal involves scrapping its agricultural courses, which
Tutor Adrian DSi says was worrying as Taranaki was the
heart of New Zealand's dairy and farming industry and it's rural.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
News Ford with the mathco Kiwi to the bone since
nineteen oh four.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And as I said earlier, the All Black selectors have
rung the changes ten to the starting fifteen for Saturday's
third and final test. In the tron Ethander group. Fabian
Holland or Fabian I think they pronounce them, Patrick Tuwey,
Polo tu Ardie, Savirika Juanni the only players from the
from the last run on side. So we've got Samasoni
(26:25):
Takia who, Tyrol Loomac's Samma Penny Female Luke Jacobson coming
into the starting pack. The back line's got a bit
of a chief's ring about it. Promotions for Cortez Ratama,
Damien Mackenzie, Quintepie, Anton Lennart Brown, they're all chiefs. Severi
Reese is on one wing and Reuben Love is at fullback.
We expect also to see Brody McAllister to make his
(26:48):
all black STABU off the bench. Up next, what's your
farm worth? And how much capital gain have you made
in the past ten years? You might be surprised by
some of the numbers. Pete new Bold comes up with
how much is your farm worth monthly? Here on the
(27:11):
country we tell you. Peter Newbold's the GM of PGG
rights in real estate. He also runs the livestock division.
More about that later, But Peter dairy farm values over
the past decade. In fact, if we go back to
twenty fourteen, dairy farms were worth on average thirty six thousand,
seven hundred dollars per hectare then now only and I
(27:33):
say only worth thirty eight seven hundred dollars. So you've
had a capital gain in eleven years of just two
thousand dollars per heck there.
Speaker 7 (27:44):
Yeh know, it's interesting when you look at the numbers, Jamie,
and so, yeah, that tells a story. I do think
this coming year we'll see a little bit of movement up.
How much I'm not sure, but there is definitely demand
out there. I think. The other interesting if you go
back to two fourteen, you know, you know there was
four billion of rural sales and one and a half
(28:05):
of dairy and then everything dropped off the cliff to
where you know, two nineteen were about two point six billion.
But interesting, in this last year that's gone, we were
back up around two point nine and nearly a billion
and dairy. So there's definitely a trend there heading up,
and I actually think over the next twelve months we'll
(28:26):
see it move on beyond three billion and head up
maybe to where it was. So I think there's a
there's plenty of movement out there, and I think it's
good for the industry.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
The median price for rural land has fared a wee
bit better. This is across the board obviously, just over
twenty thousand dollars per HEC there in twenty fourteen. We
fast forward to last year. In fact, it's only ten years,
isn't it twenty twenty four that's twenty six two hundred,
so a bit more gain there. But I think the
(28:56):
takeo message out of all this is that farming farmers
have got their head around the reason you buy a farm.
It's not for capital gain, it's for yield.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
Yeah, you're correct there, And look, there are occasions where
people over the years have made some significant capital games.
But I think if you're coming into a farm today,
really you've got to look at the return and not
what it may be worth in five or six or
whatever year's time. So yeah, that's the key thing now
people are looking at yield, not capital gains.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Are you seeing genuine interest in terms of numbers for
dairy farm sales? That's part one of the question. And
then well, I keep my powder dry weeb bit on
this one, but I want to talk about dairy conversions,
but let's go with the number of transactions.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
Yeah, look, definitely there's been more interest. We've already got
things taking place in the winter, which is we haven't
seen for a number of years. There's a lot of
activity building for I think it'll be late winter. I
think a lot of properties will come onto the market
late winter early spring in all category. But definitely there's
(30:01):
interest in dairy. The challenge will be willly be enough
to meet the demand out there, But definitely it started earlier,
which is good. And I think even if you look
at the sheep and beef sector as well, again a
lot taking place there. And the other interesting thing We've
talked about it over the years, but definitely we're seeing
(30:23):
now succession and farmers retiring, etc. Coming into play, So
that's something we need to watch over the next six months.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
What about the conversions, I'm hearing all sorts of different
numbers up to thirty or forty having a crack, you're
suggesting the number might only be single digits.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
Yeah, there's a lot of pub talk out there in
that space. I think the fair thing at the moment,
there's a lot of I guess, individuals and entities going
through the process and looking at it. But from what
I understand, it's not as simple as you think, and
there's a lot of cost involved. So I think the
numbers at the moment as I see it, a sort
of that single digit Will it gain momentum, Yes, but
(31:06):
to what number I'm just not really one hundred percent
sure at this point. And there'll be a number that
go through the process and may may not convert, but
users a feature to sell their properties in the future, it'll.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Probably be very lot cheaper to buy an existing operation.
Speaker 7 (31:20):
Well, that was an interesting comment that was made to
me the other day. You know there's properties out there
where you know you can gain production, increase production, and
maybe that's a better option.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Hey, your final word on horticulture. We know that Kiwi
fruit design are real high at the moment. Are we
seeing that come through?
Speaker 6 (31:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (31:38):
Just starting. I was actually looking at some numbers the
other day. Definitely activity is grown, and I think we'll
see a lot of interest as we move into Christmas,
which is the time when activity takes place. So yes,
it's on the move. Will it get to those heady
days value wise, I'm not sure, but definitely values are
(31:58):
up and there's more to.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, two million dollars per canopy? Heck there. I think
one property went for That might have been a bit
of an inflated price, but that is truly keyw we
for it gold.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Yeah, well that's right.
Speaker 7 (32:10):
And if you look at the projections out in that industry,
they look really strong, so you know, probably when you
look at it like that, it's probably not a big deal,
mind Jeet.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
The projections are also very good for dairy and for
red meat, So onwards it upwards. There you go. How
much your farm is worth this month? We'll catch you
next month.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
Yeah, thanks, Jomie, have a good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Actually, just before I go, I did mention the fact
that you ran the livestock division just want to get
a plug in for the ise CARF and rural scheme,
which you and I are both involved with. Yeah, if
you want to be in with that, Peter, you just
need to talk to your local PGG rights and stock
agents and they'll point you in the right direction. Thanks
for your support on that, Yeah, no.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
Problem with all, Jamie, and you know it's a great
cause and look we're fully behind it and anything you
can do out there to help us, we'd be happy with.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
He's our Rossie correspondent Chris Russell lots to chat about today,
but I want to start with the big story of
the day across the Tasman. It was last night's big story.
Didn't stay up and watch it after my bedtime on
a school night. But Gallon versus Sonny Bell. Chris, I
know you watched it. What a good scrap well in
terms of the lead up anyhow, Yeah it was.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
And sort of I was about to say old dog
versus young Gold, but he's not that young, you know, SBW.
But certainly you know it was an interesting fight, split decision.
I thought that if it went to the full length,
but Gallan may well get up on points, you know,
if sunny Bill was going to win, that he needed
to knock him out early and that didn't happen. And
(33:42):
the thing that's surprised I think the experts here, of
which I wouldn't classify myself as one, but the experts
were saying that the judges probably scored the body punching
techniques of Gallon much higher than a lot of them
would have. They didn't really put as much under that,
but clearly judges thought they counted and rather than the
(34:04):
good clean you know, uppercuts and so on, that sunny
Bill should have got in and didn't. So anyway, at
the end of the day, split decision, they shook hands
at the end. I hope that goal pulls out of this. Now.
I listened to him commentating on rugby league a lot,
and he's a good commentator. He needs to just say, okay,
the body's getting too old now forty four.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I think he's officially done that. Yeah, I'm like you.
I enjoys his commentary around rugby league. Right, let's get
onto farming. A prominent cotton farmer has been sent to
jail for nine years for water saving fraud.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Yeah, so this is an interesting story and obviously not
good for his family. But you know, people sort of
haven't sort of saw a lot of this with politics
and the Murray Darling scheme, you know, his politics, and
therefore farmers that sort of scrap around the edges of
it shouldn't be penalized. Well, this guy took advantage of
a whole lot of incentives the government book out for
(35:00):
doing the irrigation schemes up in the headwaters of the
Murray Darling system in southern Queensland in order to improve
water efficiency the idea of being able to put more
water into the environment. So there were a lot of
schemes about and you could get a down payment up
front of up to seven hundred and fifty thousand when
you started one of these schemes once is approved. He
had a whole bunch of them approved. But then he
(35:21):
got involved in also, and I don't have to say
allegedly anymore because it's now been proven, you know, creating
false invoices for things that were done, or changing invoices
so that they looked as though they were to do
with that scheme. And we got to about eight million
dollars and the judges said, okay, we need an example
here so he's been sent to jail for nine years,
(35:41):
with a minimum of three and a half years. This
is a guy who was a real leader in the industry,
John Norman, and he was seen as they've been, you know,
the future of cotton farming. He controlled about eighteen thousand
hectares of land, so quite big stories and he's off
to jail now. And I think people will say, well, Okay,
this water thing is serious. We can't go rigging the
(36:04):
gates and thinking we can just get around the scheme
of playing lip service to it. And that's a good
thing because the city population needs to be sure that
while we're arguing that more water should be going to
be usefully used rather than wasted. On the other hand,
neither can you cheat the system and basically become a criminal.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And water is a very precious commodity in Australia. New
South Wales farmers are in a green drought. Australia great
place to holiday. I wouldn't want to farm there. Chris
Chris Russall are from Australia the other side of the ditch.
Thanks for the time, good luck and that first Lions
test this weekend. You might need it.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Jamie get on you Chris and talking about Foddy. If
you want to go fishing with Scott Barrett's and Kywalker,
go to our website The Country dot co dot z catch.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
All the latest from the land. It's The Country Podcast
with Jamie McKay thanks to Brent starkest of the leading
agriculture brands.
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckuae.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thanks to Brent.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're specialist in John Deere construction equipment.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Get a New Zealand Welcome to the Country. I'm Jamie
McKay shows. Brought to you by Brent. Apparently Fleetwood Mac's
self titled album Fleetwood Mac is fifty years old today.
Good music doesn't die, does it? Anyhow? On the show today,
we're going to give away five grand very very shortly.
(00:46):
It is the announcement of the winner of the twenty
twenty five Rabobank Good Deeds Competition, with Bruce ware waiting
on hold along with our winner and more about that
in the Tech Chris Hipkins Labour's leader, Bipartisan politics, it's
a good thing. What about a grand coalition? Would that
(01:07):
be a good thing? Labor and National. We're going to
ask a miss Month's farmstrong farmer, Abby Air. You're going
to enjoy her bubbly character, dairy farmer In Reeft and
Peter Newbold on the state of the rural real estate market.
Did you realize and I should know this that dairy
farms have only increased in value by two thousand dollars
(01:31):
per hectare over the past decade. Not much capital gain there.
I wouldn't even keep up with inflation. Chris Russell's Ourrosie correspondent.
He watched sunny Bill versus Paul Gallon last night. We'll
have a look at that at a prominent farmer sent
to jail in Australia for flouting or for water fraud. Basically,
(01:53):
if you haven't caught up on the big news, food
inflation running rampant, up four point six per cent in
the year to June, the largest rate increase since late
twenty twenty three. Not good for the inflation numbers. Not
good for interest rates. Are rising fruit and vegetable prices.
I guess that seasonal you would expect that, and put
(02:16):
together with already elevated pricing for dairy and meat products
and we have got food prices going up four point
six percent in the past year. And the other one
is the changes numerous changes to the starting in fact,
the whole all Black squad ten changes in the starting fifteen.
Brodie Roupe McAllister is going to make his debut off
(02:38):
the bench. But in the starting fifteen. We'll tell you
more about this a bit later in there, only ethand Group,
Patrick Tuipolotu, Barbian Holland, Ardie Savilla and Ricco Yuanni survive
or are in there from last week's starting fifteen Scott
I was going to say, Scott Barrett, I've got Scott
(02:59):
Barrett on the brain and let's try Scott robertson ringing
the changes there, giving everyone as promised a game and
talking about Scott Barrett, We're going to give you a
chance also to go fishing with him, you and a mate,
and we're going to lay everything on for you courtesy
of Kywalker. He is of course their brand ambassador. But
up next, we're giving away five thousand dollars from a bank.
(03:22):
Does it get any better? This is one of my
(03:42):
favorite jobs on the country, giving away money, especially other
people's money. In this case Rabobanks five thousand dollars worth
plus a day's labor plus someone from the country's going
to help. It might be me. If there's a good
golf course anywhere near the winner of the twenty twenty
five Rabobank Good Deeds Competition, Bruce, where's the GM for
country Banking? Bruce? Where are we heading to?
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Good afternoon?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Jamie?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Yes, The twenty twenty five Good Deeds winner is the
rural based Colleton School northeast of Fielding in the mono
or two.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Well, I know plenty of good golf courses in and
around Palmerston North, so it might be me going up there.
But here's the question, what do I have to do?
Do I have to get on the end of a shovel?
Is this going to be too much like hard work?
Let's ask the spokesperson for the cole Itton Primary School
and Braider Amber, what are you up to? What are
you going to use your five thousand dollars in all
the labor to do?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Hello, thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
Yes, we are going to move our bike track. So
we had to unfortunately cut the end of our bike
track off to put in a brand new septic field.
And so we're moving the bike track and putting back
in a rugby field.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well I read that on the copy brief. Well, what
the hell's a septic field?
Speaker 6 (04:57):
The new modern septic systems have to have big drainage
fields for all the pipes, and unfortunately it takes up
a whole lot more room than the old system.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
So is that you like your forty field? Your hockey
field all gone? Is it because of a septic system?
Speaker 6 (05:11):
Yep, there's just not enough room there anymore. So the
ministry has fortunately allowed us to buy a little bit
of the paddit next door. So we're moving everything around
and going to do a big enhancement of the outside
area and put the field back in.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, I'm pleased to hear that, because kids need plenty
of space and the rural kids are used to it.
What's the connection with the bike track amber?
Speaker 6 (05:34):
So the fundraising committee put the butt track in quite
a long time ago now, but we had to chop
the end off it to put the septic field in,
so it's not usable anymore. Anyway, We're going to shift
it to a completely different place on the school grounds
and where it is now will be part of the
new field.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And what will it cost to make this new bike track?
This is I assume is not going to pay for
the whole lot.
Speaker 6 (05:58):
No, but the labor and the money are definitely going
to help. No, it's going to cost quite a lot
of money to do the full outdoor enhancement as sort
of probably around five hundred thousand dollars. But we've been
fundraising hard and we'll hopefully get a few more grants
like this one, which is going to go a long way.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I'm not much chop on a spade, but I'm good
on a barbecue tongk. But one man who's very good
on a spade because he works out every morning is
Bruce Ware, the GM for Country Banking. He'll be there, Bruce, Yeah, I'll.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Plan to be Jamie. I try not to miss those sessions.
But I know that our local team lead Brian Henderson,
really looking forward to this project, and I know they've
got plenty of energy, so I'm sure Amber, and congratulations
by the way, I'm sure you'll work them hard for
up for it.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
We will do. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
We really appreciate it well.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Amber, thank you very much. Looking forward to catching up
with you. I'm assuming this is going to happen at
the end of this year when the weather is a
wee bit better. What's it like in the manner or two?
Speaker 6 (06:56):
At the moment, very sulky. You will not want to
be on a wheelbarrow the moment.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, I wouldn't want to be on a septic field
at the moment either. I'm a bit frightened by those.
Don't even start me on open Classrooms. Hey Bruce Ware
and Amber Brader, Congratulations to the coll it And School
for getting the five thousand dollars and the day's labor
from the team at Rabobank to do your new community project. Bruce,
from over well over one hundred entries, this is a
(07:21):
very good one.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yes, a fantastic one, and like you, Jamie, we really
look forward to this.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
Time of the year.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
But I can assure you I'm glad I was not
on the on the judging panel was over one hundred
or so. We're the entries that the judging panel had
to work hard to clump with this one.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
We'll be running it again next year, The Rabobank Good
Deeds Competition, Amber Bruce, thanks for your time. Congratulations, Thank
you very much.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Thanks Shane.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
What a great promotion it is and we will be
running it again next year. The Rabobank Good Deeds Competition
five grand plus a day's labor from the Rabobank provide
about thirty people. We provide one. It's either going to
be me or you, Michelle Watt. I'm not quite sure
which one, depends how it fits into my golf and calendar.
(08:07):
You wandered into my office just before midday, as you do.
And you said, look, the music theme today is Fleetwood Mac.
They're celebrating it's their fiftieth birthday. I immediately took fifty
off twenty twenty five and went back to nineteen seventy five,
and I said, bollocks, Michelle, and I was right. You
were wrong. Well, of course I was right. Your Mike's
(08:28):
slot on all right, reply, yeah, well you're worse than Groundswell.
Bryce McKenzie, Bryce, I keep mistaking him for Bryce Lawrence.
Different people. One's a referee and one's a is he
an activist? Anyhow? Bryce is a good block Western Otago
dairy farmer. He's been chewing my ear as well. He's
(08:48):
on the show tomorrow. None too pleased about the flat
that Groundswell's copying for saying we should get out of
the Paris Agreement. But no not. They're more than fifty
years old because before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie nixt joined,
they had a guy called Peter Green in there, I think,
with Mick Fleetwood, and they had an instrumental called Albatross.
Speaker 8 (09:10):
That's right, nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
To see there you go, right, accept your apology you're
spreading fake goo. No you didn't. You're spreading fake news
here on the country. And I'm getting confused between Scott
Robertson and Scott Barrett. No, Scott Barrett obviously and the
All Black team he's out for the series Farbi and Holland. Gee,
he's going well, I think him, him and Sam Darry.
(09:33):
Imagine those two as your All blacklock and combination in
the future. But anyhow, if you want to go fishing
with Scott Barrett, all you need to do is go
to our website and register. So what have we got
for you? Flights, accommodation for you and a mate, a
couple of storm Force park is there, worth four or
five hundred bucks each, and we'll throw in two hundred
and fifty dollars of cash to cover any odd expenses
(09:57):
that might crop up. But we're going to feed and water.
But you can also by just entering this competition. You
go into the daily draw for a kiwaker storm Force Parker.
As I said, they're worth four or five hundred bucks.
They're brilliant, brilliant jackets. They were parkers that'd be ideal
(10:17):
for lamming or carving this season. Today's winner from yesterday's
show is Rebecca Smith from the mun Or two Wanganui region.
There you go, it's been a successful day for that
part of the country. Today on the Country, if you
want to win one of those storm Force parkers and
go in the drawer to go fishing with Scott Barrett
(10:38):
you and a mate. Go to our website. Sorry losing
my voice, Go to our website The Country dot co
dot nz and simply register. Up Next, Chippy Chris Sipkins
a Grand coalition bi partisan politics. Could it ever happened?
Speaker 9 (11:03):
And then you see here's the Labor Party leader Chris Hipkins,
who joins us monthly on the Country. Chris, am I
engager of becoming a Labor Party lackey having had two
of you on the show this week, Damien O'Connor on
Tuesday show, and I must say Damien spoke very sensibly
and we don't always agree Damien and I, but spoke
(11:23):
very sensibly about getting gravel out of our rivers. And
I want to talk to you about the Tasman flooding
situation and the bipartisan approach you and the NATS are
taking to funding future flood and climate victims.
Speaker 10 (11:37):
Well, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Look, we're a very sensible party, Jamie, so I'm very
pleased to hear that Damien's be paying sensible things on
your show. I don't know that I could ever call
you a Labor party lacky though. I mean, I can
always live in hope, but I'm not quite there. I'm
an optimist, but not that optimist.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
All right, Well, talk to me about bipartisan politics. To
be serious, there's not that big a difference in many
ways between Labor and national There's always been a talk
of a grand coalition, but never the Twains shall meet.
Do you think that would be a good idea.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I think it would be a terrible idea because ultimately
it would mean that the smaller parties would actually have
more power in that kind of scenario than they do now.
There has to be a competition between the two big
parties for democracy to be vibrant and to make sure
that the small parties don't have too much sway. I
think the problem with the current government is that Christopherluction's
(12:28):
basically let the small parties call all the shots. And
you know, under MMP you do have to compromise, but
you don't have to let minority parties who only got
eight percent of the vote get to determine the direction
of the country.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You're referring to what the ex Party or New Zealand first.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
There, Well, either of them to be frank, I mean,
you know, Christopher Luxon has basically taken a backseat to
both David C. Moore Entwoodston Peters in this government. They
seem to be the ones calling the shots.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Mind you, I could the boat put the boot on
the other foot and direct that back at you would
to party Mari and the Greens be calling the shot
if you get the treasury benches next year.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
No, absolutely not, you know, recognize that would have to
probably you know under EMMP you probably do have to
work with other parties. But there's a difference between making
some concessions to smaller parties in the MMP environment and
letting them run the country. And Christopher lex is basically
letting them run the country.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
At the moment, mind you, the smaller parties are getting
bigger and the bigger parties are getting smaller.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Well, I think it's too early to draw that conclusion yet.
I mean, National's voters shrinking, that's absolutely right, Labour's voters
going up so we're at that point in the political cycle,
early in the political cycle actually, where there's a sort
of a crossover between the two big parties, and so
you do sort of find the meeting in the middle
during that time, but that doesn't always stay that way. Generally,
(13:50):
one of the bigger parties will gain support heading into
the next election, and you know at the moment, Look,
Labour's the party that's gaining the support. Nationals the party
that's losing it.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Not If I look at the latest taxpayer Union Carrier poll,
National nearly thirty four percent, U thirty one point six percent.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, we've started at twenty six. So you know, overall,
if you look at the trend of polling in this
term of parliament, Labour's been going up, National has been
coming down. National started at thirty eight and they're crashing down.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Monngeur, you had fifty percent and twenty twenty you've come
a long way down.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
That's right. So I can tell you what happens when
a government starts losing supporting the way the National Party
are now, it doesn't end well for them.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Bipartisan politics, I'm a big fan of it, and I
think Labor and National have to get their heads together
at some stage and come to some agreement on the
age of eligibility for National Super. I'm like a dog
with a bone on this one, Chris Hipkins. But you're
you're not brave enough to move the age to sixty seven.
You're a bit like Winston.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
No.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I don't think that's true, Jamie. We do need to
make sure in New Zealand super annuation sustainable. But making
people who get to the age of sixty five and
who physically can't work anymore wait another two years before
they're allowed to retire, potentially to the point where they'll
never actually get to retire. That's not the way to
make superannuation sustainable. And so you know, I think the
National Party are taking a cheap option, which is all
(15:12):
very well for a bunch of wealthy people who sit
behind a desk all day. Not so good if you
actually work hard for a living fair.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Enough, but you could bring it in on a stage
sort of basis. You could take National Super earlier, but
at a lower rate if you were a manual laborer.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
No, I mean there are ways to make sure that
New Zealand superannuation is affordable and continues to be universal. Unfortunately,
the National Party seem to think that the way of
solving the issues around the affordability of New Zealand superannuation
is to punish working people carbon farming.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Has the government got it wrong on this? I call
it closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
They made an announcement in December of last year. It
hasn't halted at one bit.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It's taken far too long for them even to get
to the point where they're making an announcement. We said
before the LA selection that we think communities should have
the power to be able to stop conversions. Getting the
right tree in the right place has to be our goal.
You know, we shouldn't say that there should be no
trees on farms. In fact, many sheep and beef farmers
are doing some forestry as a compliment to the sheep
(16:16):
and beef farming, and that's working very well and I
don't want to stop them from doing that, But the
whole farm conversions isn't where we need to be going.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Hey, Chris Hipkin's good to catch up. We don't always agree,
but it's good to agree to disagree on occasions, and
we agree on a few things as well, thanks for
your time. Good to talk to you, Jamie twenty six
after twelve. Yes, some of your feedback coming in. You're
quite tough on chippy. I can't even read that one out,
(16:45):
Michelle talking about carbon farming. Here's one from Dean down
in Southland who's a bit of an activist himself in
a positive sort of way. He says, I'm sitting here
having lunch, listening to you guys and having to watch
a beauty full south and farm get planted and pine trees.
It's a disgrace. I agree with you. Dang. Here's another
(17:09):
chippy one. No, I won't do that one either. We'll
filter some of these during the break. But up next
are we going to go to a lovely part of
the country, one of my favorite little villages. It's probably
more than a village. Reefed and our farm Strong farmer
this month is abbiir. You're gonna love her story. She's
(17:31):
up next. Every month here on the country, our partners
at farm Strong put up a farm strong farmer for
us to have a yarn to. They're always interesting characters
with a great backstory. This month's farm Strong Farmer is
(17:55):
no exception. Her name is Abbiir. She's a dairy farmer
in reef Than along with her husband and Fricky. They've
got two young kids. And Abby, I'll come to your
backstory in a minute. But why do you think farm
Strong have picked you and puts you up this month?
Speaker 10 (18:09):
Great question?
Speaker 11 (18:10):
No, they just they seem to just keep asking me,
and I don't know why. I think I follow loosely
the five Ways to well being without even really knowing
I'm doing it.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Well, you're a bright and bubbly character. I know that
from just talking to you in the commercial break. What's
your background to becoming a dairy farmer in Reefton, which,
by the way, Abby, I think is one of the
prettiest little towns in this country.
Speaker 10 (18:36):
It is pretty cool.
Speaker 11 (18:38):
I was adamant we were not going to move here
before we came here, but now we're here, I love it.
I think I think more people should move to the coast.
That's great.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Well, isn't like reef Than a we micro climate. You
miss a lot of the bad weather that you know.
And I'll get told off by coasters here that they
get Actually on the coast, you're inland and your your
prone believe it, And as I understand it to being
summer dry.
Speaker 11 (19:03):
Yeah, we actually had a really really dry summer here.
It was like the dry summer and fifty years. But
someone described it to me it's almost like Alexandra, Like
you can take the weather that's happening in Alexandra and
it'll be here in Refton as well.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Yeah, the winter fogs, Yeah that as well. Now I
know that your connection with farm Strong kind of is connected,
if that's the correct word around a shed shout you
and your husband, Hobby Fricky did for your neighboring farmers.
Tell me about that.
Speaker 11 (19:35):
Yeah, I guess I'd been in the back of our
head for a while and it was kind of like
a combination of a few ideas in terms of.
Speaker 10 (19:45):
We did. We called it a dry off party.
Speaker 11 (19:48):
Back then, but it was nothing really like that. We
just dropped a whole lot of pamphlets in our neighbors'
letterboxes because we'd never met them. This is when we're
in covid and and you had everyone around to the
cowshier and we're just all chatted, and I thought, oh,
that was a cool idea. And then somewhere when we
were in Dune, True, we had this really cool thing
where every Friday throughout carving we would go to somebody's
(20:11):
cowshed and just like have a beer or whatever and
catch up for the week. And that was like a
real nice way of knowing that everyone was going through
the same shit.
Speaker 10 (20:23):
And so I thought, oh, we talked about.
Speaker 11 (20:26):
Doing it last season, but we never got around to it.
And then I thought, shit, we've had a pretty hard
season here in Reefdon was like from the weirdest sort
of winter spring and twenty five years to the dry
summer and fifty and I thought, oh, well, let's just
pull everyone together and.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
Yeah, just basically have a really low key chat.
Speaker 11 (20:48):
And then I sort of mooted the idea about would
you guys be keen to like jump round some cowsheds
over over carving.
Speaker 10 (20:57):
So yeah, that's kind of where it came from.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
I've lead quite a transient lifestyle in the dairy industry.
You mentioned Culverdin, done true Canterbury, North Otago, and then
back to the coast. Where did you come from?
Speaker 11 (21:09):
Originally I grew up in between Monaker and hardware. But
we've we've done a lot of this South Island. This
is the first.
Speaker 10 (21:17):
Time actually we've stayed. We're staying somewhere for three seasons.
Speaker 11 (21:20):
We did a lot of one season, one season, two seasons,
two seasons, and some of those like we're out of
our control, and some of those were decisions we made
to move on.
Speaker 10 (21:29):
So you're happy not to have to do Gypsy Day
this year.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
You've got a storied background. You told me that you
once worked on super yachts. In fact, you've moved one
from the Caribbean to Tonga. You were living the dream
where you're rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous. It
must be a bit boring dairy farming and reef than
by comparison.
Speaker 10 (21:48):
Oh not quite. I didn't.
Speaker 11 (21:50):
I didn't make it to the souper yacht level. I
just did a yacht delivery on a safety foot yacht.
I wanted to work on souper yacht after doing my
three month stint on a sheep and beef farm, and
if I didn't have.
Speaker 10 (22:02):
A course to go so I probably would have stayed
working there. And then it was.
Speaker 11 (22:06):
Throughout that trip that I realized I was like, shit,
the food is not this is not normal food. Just
like little things like the eggs you were getting were
like these tiny, little eggs and they were like a
white shell and you're just pat act and then like
the bacon was probably like, I don't know, twenty thirty
centimeters by five and by the time you cooked it
(22:29):
it was like fifteen.
Speaker 10 (22:31):
By two, and you were like having.
Speaker 11 (22:33):
To drain the fat off the pan as you were
cooking it. And I was like, I know where foods
come from, and I want I want.
Speaker 10 (22:41):
To do that more and follow that journey. So that
was why I came back and started working on a
dairy farm.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Well, there you go. You've had a wonderful life story.
How's the season treating you. You'll just be getting ready
for carving, are you.
Speaker 10 (22:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 11 (22:53):
I keep getting memories popping up of today's going to
be the first day of a calf.
Speaker 10 (22:58):
So I'm still waiting.
Speaker 11 (23:01):
But you're hoping for a wee bit of a dry
We've had had quite a lot of rain, considering we
had the dry summer and fifty years we've already had
over our half of annual year rainfall.
Speaker 7 (23:13):
That Yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Doubt, you've got a bit of the tail end of
that stuff that hit the Tasman Nelson region. But you've
got to count your blessings haven't you. Hey, it's been
lovely to chat to you, bubbly person, Abby, year out
of reefed, and good luck with the upcoming season. You
are our farmstrong farmer this month.
Speaker 10 (23:29):
All right? Thanks having me.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Thanks Abby. What a bubbly character she is. Twenty five
are away from one summer your tech you're tough on
Chippy out there? Seriously, Hopkins, I think they mean Hipkins
saying national rich pricks. You can't. You can't blame me
for using that horrible word on national radio because radio
(23:54):
nationally not national radio. I'll get in trouble for that
one as well, because Michael Cullen used it when referring
two members of the National Party. But this text goes
on to say how many business owners and real workers
are on the labor front bench. Probably not many. I
wouldn't think. What have we got chippy? Carmel Sepaloni, who's three?
(24:19):
Hang on, I'll turn your mic on. Sorry, But Barbara Edmonds,
she's a smart woman. I'll give her some credit. And
then we've got.
Speaker 8 (24:25):
Megan Woods, Dr Meghan Woods, Willie Jackson.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
They're both well trade unionists, academics, year typical labor. What
else have we got?
Speaker 8 (24:32):
Asia?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Verral medical background. Karen MacNulty, Honey, I'm not quite sure
how many of them have been business owners and run
the cut of themselves. There you go, Thanks for your texts.
Remember if you want to go fishing with Scott Barrett
and win a kiwaker storm Force Parker, go to our
(24:54):
website The Country dot co dot nz and register up.
Next Rural News and we'll update that All Blacks team
for you. Ten changes to the starting fifteen for the
tests this weekend in the trim. Welcome back to the
country coming up to twenty away from one. Here's the
(25:16):
latest and rural news to.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
The Country's world news with Cod Cadets, New Zealand's leading
right on lawn Bower brand. Visit steel Ford dot co
dot nzim for your local stockist.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
A proposal to cut agriculture courses at a Taranaki polytech
is being described by farmers as lunacy. It comes as
the dismantling of Tipukanger would see ten polytechs revert to
regional governments in January. Meanwhile, others, including the Western Institute
of Technology in Taranaki, would remain with Tipookanga and have
to prove their financial viability by mid twenty twenty six.
(25:48):
Part of that proposal involves scrapping its agricultural courses, which
Tutor Adrian DSi says was worrying as Taranaki was the
heart of New Zealand's dairy and farming industry and it's rural.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
News Ford with the mathco Kiwi to the bone since
nineteen oh four.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
And as I said earlier, the All Black selectors have
rung the changes ten to the starting fifteen for Saturday's
third and final test. In the tron Ethander group. Fabian
Holland or Fabian I think they pronounce them, Patrick Tuwey,
Polo tu Ardie, Savirika Juanni the only players from the
from the last run on side. So we've got Samasoni
(26:25):
Takia who, Tyrol Loomac's Samma Penny Female Luke Jacobson coming
into the starting pack. The back line's got a bit
of a chief's ring about it. Promotions for Cortez Ratama,
Damien Mackenzie, Quintepie, Anton Lennart Brown, they're all chiefs. Severi
Reese is on one wing and Reuben Love is at fullback.
We expect also to see Brody McAllister to make his
(26:48):
all black STABU off the bench. Up next, what's your
farm worth? And how much capital gain have you made
in the past ten years? You might be surprised by
some of the numbers. Pete new Bold comes up with
how much is your farm worth monthly? Here on the
(27:11):
country we tell you. Peter Newbold's the GM of PGG
rights in real estate. He also runs the livestock division.
More about that later, But Peter dairy farm values over
the past decade. In fact, if we go back to
twenty fourteen, dairy farms were worth on average thirty six thousand,
seven hundred dollars per hectare then now only and I
(27:33):
say only worth thirty eight seven hundred dollars. So you've
had a capital gain in eleven years of just two
thousand dollars per heck there.
Speaker 7 (27:44):
Yeh know, it's interesting when you look at the numbers, Jamie,
and so, yeah, that tells a story. I do think
this coming year we'll see a little bit of movement up.
How much I'm not sure, but there is definitely demand
out there. I think. The other interesting if you go
back to two fourteen, you know, you know there was
four billion of rural sales and one and a half
(28:05):
of dairy and then everything dropped off the cliff to
where you know, two nineteen were about two point six billion.
But interesting, in this last year that's gone, we were
back up around two point nine and nearly a billion
and dairy. So there's definitely a trend there heading up,
and I actually think over the next twelve months we'll
(28:26):
see it move on beyond three billion and head up
maybe to where it was. So I think there's a
there's plenty of movement out there, and I think it's
good for the industry.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
The median price for rural land has fared a wee
bit better. This is across the board obviously, just over
twenty thousand dollars per HEC there in twenty fourteen. We
fast forward to last year. In fact, it's only ten years,
isn't it twenty twenty four that's twenty six two hundred,
so a bit more gain there. But I think the
(28:56):
takeo message out of all this is that farming farmers
have got their head around the reason you buy a farm.
It's not for capital gain, it's for yield.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
Yeah, you're correct there, And look, there are occasions where
people over the years have made some significant capital games.
But I think if you're coming into a farm today,
really you've got to look at the return and not
what it may be worth in five or six or
whatever year's time. So yeah, that's the key thing now
people are looking at yield, not capital gains.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Are you seeing genuine interest in terms of numbers for
dairy farm sales? That's part one of the question. And
then well, I keep my powder dry weeb bit on
this one, but I want to talk about dairy conversions,
but let's go with the number of transactions.
Speaker 7 (29:40):
Yeah, look, definitely there's been more interest. We've already got
things taking place in the winter, which is we haven't
seen for a number of years. There's a lot of
activity building for I think it'll be late winter. I
think a lot of properties will come onto the market
late winter early spring in all category. But definitely there's
(30:01):
interest in dairy. The challenge will be willly be enough
to meet the demand out there, But definitely it started earlier,
which is good. And I think even if you look
at the sheep and beef sector as well, again a
lot taking place there. And the other interesting thing We've
talked about it over the years, but definitely we're seeing
(30:23):
now succession and farmers retiring, etc. Coming into play, So
that's something we need to watch over the next six months.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
What about the conversions, I'm hearing all sorts of different
numbers up to thirty or forty having a crack, you're
suggesting the number might only be single digits.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
Yeah, there's a lot of pub talk out there in
that space. I think the fair thing at the moment,
there's a lot of I guess, individuals and entities going
through the process and looking at it. But from what
I understand, it's not as simple as you think, and
there's a lot of cost involved. So I think the
numbers at the moment as I see it, a sort
of that single digit Will it gain momentum, Yes, but
(31:06):
to what number I'm just not really one hundred percent
sure at this point. And there'll be a number that
go through the process and may may not convert, but
users a feature to sell their properties in the future, it'll.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Probably be very lot cheaper to buy an existing operation.
Speaker 7 (31:20):
Well, that was an interesting comment that was made to
me the other day. You know there's properties out there
where you know you can gain production, increase production, and
maybe that's a better option.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Hey, your final word on horticulture. We know that Kiwi
fruit design are real high at the moment. Are we
seeing that come through?
Speaker 6 (31:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (31:38):
Just starting. I was actually looking at some numbers the
other day. Definitely activity is grown, and I think we'll
see a lot of interest as we move into Christmas,
which is the time when activity takes place. So yes,
it's on the move. Will it get to those heady
days value wise, I'm not sure, but definitely values are
(31:58):
up and there's more to.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah, two million dollars per canopy? Heck there. I think
one property went for That might have been a bit
of an inflated price, but that is truly keyw we
for it gold.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Yeah, well that's right.
Speaker 7 (32:10):
And if you look at the projections out in that industry,
they look really strong, so you know, probably when you
look at it like that, it's probably not a big deal,
mind Jeet.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
The projections are also very good for dairy and for
red meat, So onwards it upwards. There you go. How
much your farm is worth this month? We'll catch you
next month.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
Yeah, thanks, Jomie, have a good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Actually, just before I go, I did mention the fact
that you ran the livestock division just want to get
a plug in for the ise CARF and rural scheme,
which you and I are both involved with. Yeah, if
you want to be in with that, Peter, you just
need to talk to your local PGG rights and stock
agents and they'll point you in the right direction. Thanks
for your support on that, Yeah, no.
Speaker 7 (32:49):
Problem with all, Jamie, and you know it's a great
cause and look we're fully behind it and anything you
can do out there to help us, we'd be happy with.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
He's our Rossie correspondent Chris Russell lots to chat about today,
but I want to start with the big story of
the day across the Tasman. It was last night's big story.
Didn't stay up and watch it after my bedtime on
a school night. But Gallon versus Sonny Bell. Chris, I
know you watched it. What a good scrap well in
terms of the lead up anyhow, Yeah it was.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
And sort of I was about to say old dog
versus young Gold, but he's not that young, you know, SBW.
But certainly you know it was an interesting fight, split decision.
I thought that if it went to the full length,
but Gallan may well get up on points, you know,
if sunny Bill was going to win, that he needed
to knock him out early and that didn't happen. And
(33:42):
the thing that's surprised I think the experts here, of
which I wouldn't classify myself as one, but the experts
were saying that the judges probably scored the body punching
techniques of Gallon much higher than a lot of them
would have. They didn't really put as much under that,
but clearly judges thought they counted and rather than the
(34:04):
good clean you know, uppercuts and so on, that sunny
Bill should have got in and didn't. So anyway, at
the end of the day, split decision, they shook hands
at the end. I hope that goal pulls out of this. Now.
I listened to him commentating on rugby league a lot,
and he's a good commentator. He needs to just say, okay,
the body's getting too old now forty four.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I think he's officially done that. Yeah, I'm like you.
I enjoys his commentary around rugby league. Right, let's get
onto farming. A prominent cotton farmer has been sent to
jail for nine years for water saving fraud.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Yeah, so this is an interesting story and obviously not
good for his family. But you know, people sort of
haven't sort of saw a lot of this with politics
and the Murray Darling scheme, you know, his politics, and
therefore farmers that sort of scrap around the edges of
it shouldn't be penalized. Well, this guy took advantage of
a whole lot of incentives the government book out for
(35:00):
doing the irrigation schemes up in the headwaters of the
Murray Darling system in southern Queensland in order to improve
water efficiency the idea of being able to put more
water into the environment. So there were a lot of
schemes about and you could get a down payment up
front of up to seven hundred and fifty thousand when
you started one of these schemes once is approved. He
had a whole bunch of them approved. But then he
(35:21):
got involved in also, and I don't have to say
allegedly anymore because it's now been proven, you know, creating
false invoices for things that were done, or changing invoices
so that they looked as though they were to do
with that scheme. And we got to about eight million
dollars and the judges said, okay, we need an example
here so he's been sent to jail for nine years,
(35:41):
with a minimum of three and a half years. This
is a guy who was a real leader in the industry,
John Norman, and he was seen as they've been, you know,
the future of cotton farming. He controlled about eighteen thousand
hectares of land, so quite big stories and he's off
to jail now. And I think people will say, well, Okay,
this water thing is serious. We can't go rigging the
(36:04):
gates and thinking we can just get around the scheme
of playing lip service to it. And that's a good
thing because the city population needs to be sure that
while we're arguing that more water should be going to
be usefully used rather than wasted. On the other hand,
neither can you cheat the system and basically become a criminal.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And water is a very precious commodity in Australia. New
South Wales farmers are in a green drought. Australia great
place to holiday. I wouldn't want to farm there. Chris
Chris Russall are from Australia the other side of the ditch.
Thanks for the time, good luck and that first Lions
test this weekend. You might need it.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Jamie get on you Chris and talking about Foddy. If
you want to go fishing with Scott Barrett's and Kywalker,
go to our website The Country dot co dot z catch.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
All the latest from the land. It's The Country Podcast
with Jamie McKay thanks to Brent starkest of the leading
agriculture brands.
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