Jamie Mackay: The Country host on Southland farmers calling for wild ducks to be labelled as pests

Southern farmers are in a flap about wild ducks, calling for the mallard breed to be designated pests so they can be killed throughout the year.

Southland’s Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick said an explosion of ducks is causing big problems as they are munching through crops.

Herrick said farmers asked the local Fish and Game for permission to cull the problem ducks but were turned down and told they could only shoot to scare them.

The Country's Jamie Mackay unpacks this latest stoush.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jamie McKay hosted The Countries with Me tonight. Hi Jamie,
good Ryan. Now this stoush, if that's what you call
it between fed farmers, fish and game in Southland, it's
all getting a bit much. I saw yesterday there was
claims of or was it this morning, claims of bullying,
all sorts going on here.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Yeah, well this claims claims and counter claims. I describe
it as high noon at the Ok Corral, and the
ducks aren't the only thing that might not get or
that might get shot down there. Metaphorically of course, Ryan,
I cover my backside on that one. So look basically
like fed farmers and fish and game have been at

(00:39):
war for quite a while. A couple of years ago
they were encouraging farmers not to let anglers through their properties,
and now they're fighting over what Southern President of Federated
Farmers Chasin Herrick described as that farmers down there have
had an absolute guts full of fish and games, anti

(01:01):
farming rhetoric and activism. So what he's suggesting, or what
their latest campaign is, they want to see the duck
shooters or the duck hunters to be more politically correct
by their game bird licenses from regions working constructively with farmers,
and he threw out Hawks Bay and Greater Wellington as
an example. Now Jason's saying they get five thousand hunters

(01:23):
coming down to Southland for the duck shooting weekend first
Saturday in May, and being a Southland and myself Ryan
and owning a duck pond down there, I know exactly
what it's like. And Jason saying it's part of our
cultural identity. If all these people buy their licenses out
of the region, it will take a fair chunk of
money away from Southland fishing game. Now the twenty five

(01:47):
twenty twenty five game bird licenses are on sale now
they'll cost you one hundred and thirteen dollars, and Jason
Herrick saying he's not asking shooters not to buy license,
just buy them from another region. Now he's also saying
south and fishing game have been unnecessarily obstructive in so
many areas, like opposing farmers from removing gravel that's built

(02:10):
up to dangerous levels and rivers, and obviously when they
flood it makes it even worse. Now, also coming to
the party is the new Hunting and Fishing Minister and
the New South Island Minister James Meagher, who's calling for
a de escalation intentions. He's saying relations have become strained

(02:30):
and that farmers and fishing game should work happily together. Also,
tension has escalated over the duck population down in Southam.
They had a very wet spring, great survival rates and
there's literally an explosion in the mallard population. They're an
introduced species, they're described or they are a pest for

(02:50):
especially cropping farmers, and they're munching through those crops at
the moment. So they're saying fishing game need to think
very carefully about doing something about this, such as introducing
perhaps a summer autumn shooting season. Other areas have done
it in the past to try and reduce that population.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Interesting. Okay, now you've spoken to Keith Woodford about Fonterra's
plans to sell mainland today. What's he had to say.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well, Professor Keith Woodford one of the sharpest minds in
New Zealand agriculture. Look, he's saying there's a couple of options.
One is just to sell it hole as Bowlus to
an offshore entity, a marketing an international dairy marketer. The
other one is to have an IPO, an initial public
offering in New Zealand, and he's suggesting Fonterra could still

(03:39):
hold a minority shareholding in this public company, perhaps thirty percent.
He says the IPO option under Fonterra's preferred title of
Mainland gives all New Zealanders a potential stake in the
dairy industry. This would allow Fonterra to retain a window
to what's happening at consumer level now. Obviously an IPO

(03:59):
is more complex and a straight out sale, but he's
suggesting the likes of the National Superfund or ACC could
take a cornerstone investment in this and then give Kiwis
the opportunity to buy a steak in the New Zealand
airy industry. Professor Keith Woodford said, it's part of our
national DNA on which we all depend. So who knows

(04:20):
you might be able to get a chunk of Fonterra
through this mainland entity at the Cloaks.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
I think would take a bit of that, wouldn't we. Jamie,
thank you. Jamie mckaye hosted the Country with Us tonight.
For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drave.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
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