March 4, 2025 • 38 mins
Jamie Mackay talks to Christopher Luxon, Emma Brodie, Emma Higgins, and Gordon Rennie.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere construction equipment.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, birds need be and us needs whiskey. Boys like
me need girls like you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Just fishing in the dark needs needy green under that
pale moon.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Sweet team needs a sister and smart.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good afternoon, a New Zealand. Welcome to the Country, brought
to you by Brain. This is Luke Bryan. His manager
apparently bought John Keyes helicopter. We haven't got John Key
on the show today, but earlier this morning I caught
up with our Prime Minister Chris Luxon. Of course, the
big story out there is Trump and the tariffs, so
(00:53):
we're going to face agg tariffs from April to second Now.
Lots of you have been texting in and we love
your feedback on five double oh nine, good, bad, and ugly.
And we've had some ugly feedback recently about safe playing
commercials on this radio station around this show. So we're
(01:15):
going to chat to Emma Brody and I'm going to
take this safe campaigner to task over what I think
are their mud farming ambush attack ads. Emma Higgins here's
a good news story for your Rabobanks senior AG analyst
having a look at that GDT auction overnight now it
was down zero point five percent. Was actually a really
good result. We'll tell you why. Plus in their Q
(01:37):
one Dairy quarterly report, which is going to hit the
books the bookshelves tomorrow, they've made a new revision of
their milk price forecast. We'll tell you all about that.
And yesterday on yesterday's show, we got a nice text
and from a guy by the name of Gordon Rennie,
a Scottish farmer agronomous journalist who's been visiting New Zealand
(02:00):
for fifty years. Some really interesting commentary from him. Hopefully
we can get him on before the end of the
app But we're going to kick it off with Trump
and tariffs and sandwich gate with the PM.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Curtains blit's need lucking boots.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Need in bad Wednesdays on the Country, the PM kicks
off the show. I was going to kick off with
sandwich Gate. I'm coming back to that one because they're
bigger fish to fry. Prime Minister around the world. G
it's getting messy with Trump and his tariffs in Ukraine,
you name it.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Well, look, I mean I saw the announcement yesterday or
preach from President Trump around agricultural tariffs. But the question
for US is we need to see the detail. Is
it specific, is it universal to all countries? We actually
had quite a balanced trade arrangement or relation a management
between both US and New Zealand. But look, we instructed
(02:55):
our officials several weeks ago to engage with the administration
on agricultural tariffs. And of course, you know I'm an
engaged I would gage directly with President Trump if we
see any of our agricultural traders at risk. But look,
we need to see the detail first. You know, often
there's a pronouncement on social media, and it's important we
actually see the detail and actually what does gets implemented.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Finally, Okay, hypothetically he chucks the terrify on I don't know,
ten percent on April the second, do we put a
reciprocal terror on us stuff?
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Yeah, Look, I'm not going to speculate on that because
I genuinely you know, you know, I spend every day
giving a running commentary on pronouncements from the new government.
You know, the reality is I need to make sure
that actually see the detail, and then we actually respond
properly with that, because, as I said, you know, we
actually have a very balanced trade relationship, particularly in agriculture
(03:47):
and actually a lot of agricultural products. Remember we have
you know, even to take beef. You know, it actually
helps their market because we have a different quality of
beef product and they've got to hang a lot of
hamburgers that's held to Americans. You know, this tarifying ends
up hurting them ultimately. And so let's just see exactly
what gets implemented. As I said, our officials, we instructed
(04:08):
them probably four or five weeks ago, engage with the
government and over there on this particular issue, and let's
just see where it all gets to. Having said all that,
we're ready to respond with an intervention from myself to
make the case for why we would not feel.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
It would be fair.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
The other thing I'd just say is in a universal setting,
obviously it gets applied to everybody. It's about our relative
competitiveness and what is a very very large market. And
so you know how it's applied, whether it's specific to
certain countries, whether it's universally applied across all.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Countries, that kind of matters.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
To sort of see how it shakes down.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Are you an unlucky prime minister? Every time you seem
to come up with a good news story or a
good news news trade deal, you get swamped by other
bad news.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I'm talking about your trip to Vietnam that was highly successful,
was it not?
Speaker 5 (04:58):
It was great?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
It was really really good.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
I mean we you know, just for your listeners. You know,
Vietnam's like the fourteenth largest trading partner. It's the fastest
growing economy in our region. It's been growing at five
to six percent every year for twenty five years. It's
about to start growing at seven to nine percent. It
will genuinely become sort of a Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea
type economy. And they're moving from low income to middle
(05:21):
income and off it was a high income. But man,
they love New Zealand products and so this trip was
actually quite interesting because it was a big focus on education.
In fact, that's a really big focus for Vietnam. They
do an incredible job on educating their own people. They've
got a university that started in ten seventy six, so
they've just really it's embedded in their culture about educate educate, educate.
(05:42):
But it was a big for showcase on our traditional
food and beverage and you know number one and dairy,
but I think you know we're number two, just behind
the Americans on Apple's for example. There's still huge opportunity
in red meat there. So it was a real traditional
you know, let's make sure they understand the quality of
our and produce and as they get from low income
(06:02):
to middle income, they want better quality food. And so
I did everything, Jamie, I did everything I could to
sell on New Zealand products and services from our great farmers.
Shamelessly war hats, I hate snails. I did whatever it
took to try and make sure we could sell for
some things. And we had a really good business delegation
representing the sector as well, So it was really awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
It was a really great group.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Okay, Sandwich Gate not a mile away. But just before
we do a four year term for Parliament National super
at sixty seven, two quick fixes for the New Zealand economy,
do you agree?
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Yeah, Look, I mean the benefit of you personally. Look,
I'm in favor of a four year term. We've got
a bill that actually is an act which is going
to get a chance to go before the SELEC Committee.
That will also be a chance for all the parties
to sort of say is that the right approach or
is there a simpler approach and they can look at
all of that but the other pieces. Yeah, and that's
(06:58):
ultimately we would get to. But right now, the New
Zealand people want me focused every day on not four
year terms, but actually on fixing the economy and making
sure we deal with the cost of living on National
super as you know, that's very much our policy. You know,
I think you know people are aging well, quality of
life is going up, the living longer, WHI should race
the retirement age of sixty seven. Having said that, you've
(07:20):
got New Zealand first, who are diametrically opposed and also
the Labor Party. So those are things that we just
have not been able to agree in the coalition. For sure.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Well, hey, Winston's agent quite well, do you have to
wait till well, yeah, he pops off of the perch.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Do you will you make the case that about it?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
But I've tried to.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
I think it makes real sense.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
I mean, as we said before the election, you know,
it's you know everyone, you know, our living standard that
has gone up. People are working longer, they are actually
healthier at the same age to say their parents were
or their grandparents were. And many other countries, frankly around
the world have sixty seven some I'm even getting close
to the seventy. Yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense,
(08:01):
but that's not something that politically has been agreed between
different parties.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Sandwich gate, make a marmite sandwich and put an apple
in the bag, did you guys workshop? This is this
as a result of a focus group. And I say
that because Nikola Willis said exactly the same thing this
time a week ago when she was filling in for
you on this show while you were doing God's work
in Vietnam.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
No we all, no, no, no, we didn't. That's what I
got for my lunch. And we had a chat about
what did you act to have for lunches and stuff,
and everyone had had the slightly different ones, but I had,
you know, I was just I was every day as
a cheese and my m sandwich with an apple. Occasionally
Mum would makes baking it, which in a so on
into a little lunch box. And once a term I
(08:47):
think I'd allowed to go buy a pie and chocolate
Zapp and my custom square and that was it. So
I just my point's pretty simple, which is that, yeah,
I think parents should be feeding their own kids. I'd
rather sty didn't have to do so it should be
frankly a parental responsibility. But lot, the reality is, Jamie,
we do have kids that are coming to school with
(09:07):
no lunch. I'm not willing to go hungry because if
the research shows if they're not learning, if they're not
learning them, they're not failing in school unploughted, not welfare
and limited option. So yep, some of the school lunches
aren't scratched. Davis was across the issue. I've got every confidence,
go go get sorted. But you know, if you're if
you're unhappy with it, frankly, you know, making my night
(09:30):
sandwich and duck and on the bag.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Hey, is this the dynamic, new hard hitting Crystopher Luxen
was saying, is this the real Christopher Luxeon standing up? Please?
Are no more dancing on a pin over? Andrew Bailey?
You know you got a workshop and then you're going
to go hard at it.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Well, no, I just think this is I think you know,
that's what I believe. But I mean to say on
the dry daily saying, look, yep, answered the question from
hosking better. But the point is also I had an
individual who had just resigned and given up a mess
significant decided, a tough one, very emotional one, and the
last thing is someone piling on and that was my
(10:05):
you know the reason why my answer in the way.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
That I did.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Yep, could have answered better, should have answered it better.
But look, yeah, the bottom line is we've got a
lot to focus on, and we're a government that is
just trying to drive every single day to get things
sorted to give the mess that we've inhered. So yep,
it's it's hard and it's tough, and there's lots for
us to do, but that's what we're focused on.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Is that focusing on or focusing grouping on anyhow, Look,
I'm being cheeky there and I should RecA.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
I know you want to make that point, but we
don't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You don't do focus groups.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
No.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
No, we got back on track because that just came
out of a conversation I have on my team. So
that's how start happened.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Good on you. Look, I really appreciate your time on
the country. Thank you for you mate, that's true. Seventeen
after twelve, You're worth the country, Luke Bryan the musical
scene today, some of your feedback, we're going to get
some more of it, and just a tick and we'll
tell you why, and just a tick as well. But
here's one. Did the Vietnamese ask about our carbon footprint
and threat us if we don't bankrupt ourselves following the
(11:03):
suicidal Paris accord? Latest virtue signings? Was that signings or
signals anyhow? Thank you? Texter. Also tell us what you
had in your sandwiches sandwiches when you were at school.
I was cheese and marmite or like cold meat. Very quickly, Michelle,
(11:23):
because I've got to go to this next interview because
I'm all fired up. What did you have in your sandwiches?
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Honey sandwiches?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That's not what you told me before the show. You
said you had chocolate chip sandwiches. Rod, that's unhealthy. That
wouldn't pass the tick up approval. Well, no, no, I
can't up next, right, So what's happened here on the
country For the past week or so, we've been broadcasting
(11:51):
safe ads. It's not my fault. I wouldn't have a
bar of it. But they've been happening. They've been ambushing
or mark ambushing attack ads around our show. So up next,
safe campaigner Emma Brody. What she got to say in
her defense? That's up next, Sweating needs it. I'm a
(12:18):
bud trumman.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
What's anyboy can do?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
The things aren't?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Can pucking well home crosses.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Let's stop your ham Hey baby, am a trimmin.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So this from the text line in recent days complaint.
For the second day in a row, you've been broadcasting
safe anti farming ads. Please take appropriate action. That's Chris
from the Whitehado. Hi guys, get rid of the safe
ad playing in your show, Breaks, Dirty Buggers, Jamie, What
the hell is it with safe advertising about mud farming
(12:53):
leading up to the start of your show? Chris from
Central Otago, Well, it's beyond my control. If I had
my way, we wouldn't be playing these safe mud farming ads.
But we have to buy law now to add some
balance to this conversation of invited Emma Brody, a safe
campaigner onto the show. She knows we've received lots of
(13:14):
complaints about her mud farming ads. Emma, I want to
start with this is this just plane out ambush marketing
from you guys?
Speaker 7 (13:22):
It's safe, Hi, Cure Jamie, thanks for having us on
to have this chat. We are running these ads because
we have serious concerns about animals who are still suffering
the consequences of being confined and mud and their own
wasteful months on end every single winter. And I do
want to make it clear that we're not trying to
attack farmers or paint them all with the same brush.
(13:45):
We know that many farmers genuinely care about doing the
right thing and preventing harm. But the issue is that
mud farming or winter grazing is inherently high risk.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Okay, Emma, where are you based? By the way, are
you in Wellington?
Speaker 7 (14:00):
I'm based up in Auckland, Auckland?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Okay. When was the last time you spent a winter
in Southland? Can I ask you that? Have you been
out and shifted a swede break in Southland? Do you
understand how winter grazing works?
Speaker 7 (14:13):
Yeah? Absolutely, I mean although I am based in Auckland,
every single winter we receive hundreds of messages and images
and videos of animals suffering in winter grazing systems, and
so we believe that something needs to be done here
for both the sake of animals and for farmers as well.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
So if you want to get animals through a winter,
especially at the bottom end of the country, how do
you propose the farmers feed them if not on winter crops.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Well, I'm sure there are plenty of farmers out there
who are listening who do use better systems over winter,
and it would be great to keep this discourse going
with your listeners about how we can better protect animals
over winter and innovative solutions from those who are doing
the right thing. But we do need more.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But but Emma, hang on, ninety nine percent of farmers
in Southland, and I probably know a lot more about
this than you because I'm a born and bred Southland,
I was a sheep farmer, I've got an interest in
a dairy farm now. I spend a lot of time
in Southend and I can tell you hand on heart,
ninety nine percent of the farmers in Southland or in
southern New Zealand where they're wintering on winter feed crops,
(15:20):
are doing a good job.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
I totally acknowledge that some farmers are absolutely doing a
good job.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
O no, no, no, no, no, not some, an, Emma, not some,
I said ninety nine percent, you're just cherry picking. Are
the bad one percent is do you do the same
for people in towns who aren't feeding their cats and
dogs properly?
Speaker 7 (15:40):
Well, we feel that all animals have a right to
sufficient care and protection, and based on the well documented
evidence of harm on mud farms, that isn't what we're seeing.
And MPI are well aware of these risks. I'm sure
you know all about their task force and Action Group
who five years ago calls for the immediate prevent of
animals giving birth and mud avoidable deaths in adverse weather,
(16:04):
and the ability for animals to lie comfortably on a
dry substrate. And five years later, these are still an
issue that we see.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Year on year, Emma, what do you think happens to
animals that are living outdoors in their natural environment in
winter when it rains. Do you think an elephant in
the jungle and Africa doesn't create mud?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Well exactly.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
So that's kind of the point, is that these systems
are sort of designed to fail. Animals don't have the
ability to access shelter in these conditions or take themself
the way to dry land in adverse weather, the system
is failing by design.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You realize that animals that are grazing on pastures, for instance,
in a Southland winter can still get muddy even though
they're shifted every day. If it hoses down with rain
for want of a better word, stock will get muddy.
Sometimes farmers shift them two and three times a day
to mitigate it.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
And that is the kind of thing we want to
be seeing, but it isn't the reality on self and
mud farms at the moment. And we know that weather
events are becoming more and more unpredictables that prevent animals
from ending up in the conditions that we're seeing every year.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So how many examples and I know that you're very
good at cherry picking examples, but how many examples have
you got at safe of bad wintering practice in the
likes of Southland? Have you got hundreds?
Speaker 7 (17:29):
We have got hundreds of images and videos from across
sal flind as well as Canterbury and in the Cargo,
all across the southern regions. But we know it's not
isolated to there either, and we know that regulatory bodies
step in when conditions become extreme in this sort of
reactive enforcement model. But we know that these aren't isolated
(17:51):
cases of abuse. This is a system wide issue.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Emma. Be honest, you'd be happier if farmers weren't farming
animals at all.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
We're here to advocate for animals and ensure that their
rights under the law are upheld. They have a right
to shelter, a right to express normal patterns of behavior,
and it isn't what we're seeing on New Zealand mud farms.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
But if you're farming animals outside in a pastoral system,
it is not always possible, even with perfect or best management,
that every day during the winter an animal will have
access to shelter. You realize, in the case of sheep,
they have something called wool, which nature designed to keep
them warm in the winter.
Speaker 7 (18:32):
Yeah, of course, but we're seeing a case where animals
routinely their right to shelter is routinely ignored.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
OK. So you and I are probably going to agree
to disagree on this one. But what's a safe way forward?
No bad pun intended so that you guys will get
off the backs of farmers. I don't mind your picking
on the bad one percent. Fill your boots there, get
stuck them. But every section of society has a bad
(19:04):
apple or the bad one percent, and I think you're
focusing in on them and ignoring the good work done
by the other ninety nine percent.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
Well, again, I want to make it clear we're not
trying to paint everyone with the same brush. We think
that farmers will agree with us that mud farming is
not just bad for animals, it's bad for public trust
in our farming sector. It's bad for our global reputation
for sustainable and ethical farming practices, and we should work
together to find a better way forward for both animals
(19:33):
and farmers.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Emma Brody campaigner, it's safe. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 7 (19:37):
I think thanks Jamie warm.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You twenty nine after twelve. Well, the text machine has
blown up. Its officially blown up. We're just looking to
at some of your texts to see if we can
read any out while we go through the filtering process.
New Zealand, and you're dead on the text is the
numerous texts who said stop calling a mud farming. Going
(20:02):
back to the sandwiches, here's a good text. The lefties
will never understand school lunches. How could they be expected
to when they've always been one slice of bread short
of a sandwich and I'm sure he won't mind me
quoting him here, but this is a good one, Sir
David Fagan. Through Pupe Primary and Pupuugh College, I had
(20:22):
marmite sandwiches every day. Nothing else didn't do me any harm.
No it didn't, David. You grew into a fine strapping
man and the world's greatest sharer off the back of
your marmite sandwiches. Up next, rural news and sports news.
We're going to try and we're going to try and
filter filter some of your comments on Emma Brody. But
(20:43):
good honor at least for fronting up fucking com growth.
It's after Welcome back to the country. It's brought to
you by Brent very shortly Michelle with the latest and
rural news. We'll have a look at sports news for
you as well. But up in Auckland. Over the past
few weeks, Rowena is teamed up with Beef and Lamb
(21:06):
New Zealand for a special four part podcast series looking
at the key aspects of their livestock internal parasite program.
The final episode is now live on the country's podcast feed.
Now we all know that internal parasites and drench resistance
are serious threats to livestock production. So to wrap the series,
Rose once again joined by principal scientists doctor Kara Brosnahan,
(21:31):
they look at targeted selective treatment, things like only treating
animals that really need drenching, thus reducing the amount of
drench used and subsequently saving money. Row and Kara cover
off a pilot study looking at this and what some
of their findings were. It's definitely worth the listen as
this issue isn't going away anytime soon. The podcast called
(21:52):
Insights on Parasites and as I mentioned, you'll find it
on the Country's podcast stream or wherever you get your
pots us The links up on our Facebook page. Yeah.
Great series by Row and Beef and Lamb New Zealand. Right, Okay,
here's a text that's typical for Emma, the safe Lady,
(22:13):
if she's wanting to engage with farmers and have a
conversation calling it mud farming, puts the heckels up straight away.
Show some respect Emma and front up and you may
get a conversation with farmers. That's very typical. In fact,
it's not typical. Most of the texts are much worse
than that. Here's Michelle with Rural.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
News, the country's world news with Cod Cadet, New Zealand's
leading right on lawn Bower brand. Visit steel Ford dot
Cot dot Z for your local stoggist.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
Farmer Farms of New Zealand has confirmed and will continue
to supply Sinlay milk in the South Island. The state
owned farmer operates forty four dairy farms across the country,
half of which supply Fonterra Cooperative Group. The others are
split across independent processes including Sinlay and Marka. And that's
Rural News. You can find more at the Country.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Right Michelle, turn my headphones up too much. You go
and find the text we can read out about the
safe lady. Yeah, okay, thank you for the feedback. We
will try and get to it. He's sport.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Sport were then Afco Kiwi to the bone since nineteen.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Oh four, and we're a bit short on time. There's
only one sports news story today. Black Caps cricket coach
Gary Stead expects South Africa to remain unaffected by a
scheduled detour ahead of tonight's Champions Trophy semifinal in Lahore.
The Proteas took a jaunt to do Bai in case
they had to play India in the Semis, while the
(23:35):
black Caps went there to actually play a match before returning.
So not much sleep for me tonight ten o'clock semifinal
and the cricket looking forward to that after the break.
The other well, I think it was a good news story,
the global dairy trade auction result down zero point five
but a good result. Will tell you more next with
Emma Higgins about a nun brown good global Dairy Trade
(24:00):
auction result overnight, even though it went down zero point
five percent. We're going to talk about that with Emma Higgins,
a Rabobank Senior agg analyst, and also about her latest offering,
the Q one Global Dairy Quarterly Report, and we'll get
the drum roll ready for Emma's new milk forecast price
(24:21):
for this season. But before we do that, Emma talk
to me about the GDT auction. I reckon that was
a good result. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
I think the same Jamie as well. So yeah, sure
that index moved back lower by half a percent. Sure,
but on picking some of those results, we actually saw
some glimmers of optimism when we look at skim Milk powner,
which lifted by something similar and we're now looking at
two thousand, seven hundred or just above that you restills
per ton for skim. So that's glimmers of optimism. But
(24:52):
actually again when we also look through the numbers, butter
prices reached a new cord once again. And I think
last time I was we were talking about a couple
of months ago or a couple of weeks ago, the
fact that butter prices had had new records, and now
what seems to have happened overnight is the average butter
price is now sitting above US seven five hundred bucks
(25:13):
a ton, which according to my calculations, looks like another record.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Has been had.
Speaker 7 (25:19):
So those two.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Factors around skim and butter have helped to stop what
could have been a poorer performance overall. So I'm taking that,
in some total as a positive result for our New
Zealand farmers.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
This auction obviously was after you'd completed your Q one
Global Dairy Quarterly Report. Would it have changed anything?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
No, I think it underpins what we are talking about.
So and Micoll lead with it first, Jam because they
know you're going to ask me what checkening were aim
at price forecast? So we are moving it up in
line to wear Fonterra sitting now at tim Bucks before
when we reset our four cars at the end of
last year, we had a nine dollars seventy milk price
(26:04):
forecast which was sitting slightly higher than where Fonterira was
at that point in time. So we were expecting to
see some upside come through and I think we've obviously
seen that in terms of some of the volatility upwards,
which has been good for New Zealand farmers, and so
we are in line with Fonterira. I think if we
take a step back, there's a lot happening. There's a
lot of volatility out there, there's a lot of uncertainty
(26:26):
in global markets. We think that on the supply side,
we think that modest growth is set to emerge across
this year and into next year as well, and that's
because most farmers are making money now. Sentiment is probably
the highest here in New Zealand, but elsewhere in the
likes of the US and parts of the EU, and
(26:47):
then also in Brazil as well, we're seeing healthier margins
and we think that's going to translate into more milk supply.
If we look across onto the demand side. We are
expecting to see an improvement come out of our major
exporting region, China through importing region China. But ultimately we're
still cautiously optimistic around what might happen there over the
(27:10):
coming weeks and months, just because there's still some challenges
within some of the aspects that we look at that
comes to demand within China, and that's why we're sitting
still at ten dollars. There's a lot that can happen
between now and the end of the season though, and
we have seen in the past that when China jumps
into the market, prices can searge. And the watching point
(27:33):
to that, Jamie, is that milk supply in China is
turning around and potentially turning around quite quickly.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So what about our domestic production here, because we know,
particularly the North Island's getting very dry. At ten dollars,
you can afford to buy supplementary feed, poke it in
one end of the cow and outcomes some milk from
the other end. It's a wonderful mathematical equation. As Trump
would say, it's a beautiful thing. It is a great
and wonderful thing. Well come back to from but are
(28:01):
we going to see milk production fall off in this country.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Look, I think there is a risk of that. We
know that certain parts of the country haven't received meaningful
rain in the last three while, and we've just seen
some drought declarations being made more recently in parts of
the Northland. So there is a risk of that happening
if farmers look to conserve cow condition and basically try
(28:26):
and draw the line and ensure that they heard is
in a really good shape for the new season. The
risk on the flip side, obviously, is what you've just
talked about, where economics do support perhaps some looking to
pump a little bit more feed into the system to
get them through. So I think it's a risk. For now,
we are expecting to see milk production land somewhere between
(28:48):
two and a half and three percent for the full season,
which is a really good result for the twenty four
to twenty five season. And the great part of that
is that the market is still absorbing all this extra
milk production.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Okay, I was just going to finish on Trump and
ask you what you think about him and as tariffs,
But literally, we have no idea.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Look, we're getting headlines every day, right we wake up
and there's something new that's coming out of the United
States which is quite frankly exhausting. I think obviously it's
a watching piece here right because what I'm in particular
watching for Jamie is what might happen with interest rates,
because I think that's the big one, and that's something
(29:29):
that we can actually delve into a little bit more
because we know that the US Federal Reserve has mentioned
that it will take its time potentially on the next
interest rate decision, and that could have bearing for what
happens here in New Zealand as well. So that's really
the focal point for me in the short term because
obviously the cost of funds is important piece for our
(29:51):
dairy farmers and.
Speaker 7 (29:52):
For agriculture as well.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
So yeah, a lot of headlines coming out very quickly
constantly as well. It is a moving fea and we'll
do our best to keep ourselves updated on this, but
for now, interest rate for the biggest one for us.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
A moving feast or a dog's breakfast. I'll let you decide.
Emma Higgins, thank you very much for your time as
always on the country and well done. I'm getting the
ten bucks. Thanks Jamie, thank you m a qught her
away from one. Up next, We've got a lovely text
yesterday from Gordon Rennie from Scotland. All about it up
next on the Country. I'm a country Man. Got a
(30:31):
really interesting text on yesterday's show by a Scottish farmer
and journalists by the name of Gordon Rennie. He's in
New Zealand for six weeks. Gordon said, I'm a British
farmer and a Nuffield scholar. UK consumers want one thing,
low prices for all food. Look at the rise of Audi,
(30:51):
the German discount store and he's talking about net zero
is nowhere near the mines of the vast majority of
consumers and a cost of living crisis. And Gordon, I
guess you're reflecting what a lot of people are saying.
So a Scottish farmer is of a similar ilk to
their New Zealand counterparts when it comes to us.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeap the very big similarity in the Scottish farmers. You know,
farmers have one objective is to produce food that's in
our DNA and to produce food efficiently. We still get
subsidies in Scotland, so I must say we're probably not
quite as efficient as you can't new chaps down here,
(31:31):
but we do get you know, we have a lot
of government intervention help it telling us to set aside
bit's the ground, do some regenerative farming, which comes at
a cost. But unfortunately these extra costs are not returned
as at the farmgate price because the big, the big
(31:54):
supermarkets in Britain, they're under pressure to keep prices down.
So we may do lots of good thing for the
climate change, but we very seldom get rewarded.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Now, the problem with that the UK has got is
that you're not food sufficient. I think you are only
only produced just over fifty percent of the food consumed
in the UK. So therefore you've got an issue to
start with. You actually want farmers to get credits, and
this is a bit of a bugbear of mine, get
credits for everything on their farm that sequesters carbon. And
(32:27):
we're not only talking vegetation, we're talking grass and we're
talking soil. You want farmers to measure soil carbon.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I want farmers in New Zealand. I'm very passionate about that.
We have Professor David Polson from often Stead Research speaking
to us in Dundee about one year ago, and in
relation to New Zealand, I asked them a direct question,
what's sequestrates the most carbon one hector of pine trees
(32:59):
or one hector of productive grass. And this is a
world expert. There is no difference. So I feel that
farmers in New Zealand grass will be sequestrated. There's only
one single way we can remove carbon from the atmosphere,
and it's called photosynthesis. So grass is fantastic, and grass
(33:20):
not only reducing the carbon. We produce food from grass.
So it's really important that New Zealand farmers are valued
of what they're doing. And trees, you cannot eat trees.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
My friend talk to me about soil sequestor and carbon right.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Well, what happens is there's only one mechanism in the
world that is for the synthesis. Well, no, by plants breathe,
we absorb carbon dioxide and that that carbon, the oxide
is produced into the grass that she eat and it
also goes into the roots and into the soil building
up humanus and organic matter. And over time organic matter
(33:59):
starts to build up and are not zero point one
percent increase in so organic matter will secreate an extra
nine tons per hectare of carbon dioxide. So farming is
the solution, not the problem. We have the solution to
climate change, and.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That solution is more farming. Does it therefore follow golden
renny from Scotland that we need more ruminants rising those pastures.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yes, absolutely, and you know the world, every single country,
New Zealand, this part of agreement is using the wrong
matrix for measuring methane. Meetings are short lived twelve year gas.
It's not really a true greenhouse gas. And we have
to get politicians to realize that grass is the most
fantastic crop. Ruminants eat grass, and ruminants produce food. So
(34:51):
in Britain, yes, we're only sixty percent self sufficient and
the British government doesn't seem to have food production in
its DNA, but we all have to eat. There's going
to be a population of nine billion people and it's
really important that we understand the value of grass and
other crops in the role for sequestrating carbon.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
So you yourself, you're an agronomist, you're an outgrower, you're
a journalist, obviously a farmer. You've been a kN Afield
scholar thirty years ago. You've been coming here to New Zealand,
Gordon Renny for fifty years. What brought you over here?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It's a long story, but as a younger man and
I'd heard so many wonderful stories about New Zealanders. And
when I was a young kid doing geography, the mister
Newton toook pictures of all that, you know, all the
red stuff, the British stuff, and one day we have
a day's the Decanterbury Plains. It's one of the greatest plain,
(35:50):
the greatest places in the world for growing food. And
I just decided New Zealander's great people, lots of Scottish connections,
county planes. I've been coming here ever since. I didn't
know anybody fifty years ago, and I was given kindness,
hospitality and often a draft. What's not to like?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Okay, the Canterary plans great cereal or crop growing area,
no doubt about it. But when it comes to growing
your favorite crop, oats, I'm going to go into bet
for my home province of Southland. That's what I had
a Kromota mill down there, the Sergeant Dan Kromota mill
and gore because Southland grows the best oats in the world.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
I totally agree it. Actually it hurts me to say
I'm being Scottish. It's a national crop, but Southland Ottago.
The needing as a Gaelic name for Edinburgh as you know,
and the Guardown family who are great friends of mine.
I go down there every year. I speak to the
oat producers group. No one grows better oats than that area.
(36:58):
It's a fantastic area, natural reinfall, super people. Probably I
have to trap myself so for this is the best
area in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
There we go. I'll take that. Hey, Gordon, Rennie, lovely
to catch up. Thank you for listening to the show,
thanks for texting in yesterday, and I haven't got time
to go through. A wonderful story. But you were the
inspiration for Jeremy Clarkson's Clarkson's Farm due to a young
guy who worked for you who ended up working for
top Gear and was a bit of an inspiration for
(37:30):
Clarkson's farm. Another story for another day. It's been great
catching up. You enjoy the rest of your stay in
God's own New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Thank you very much, my friends.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Okay, wrapping the country, remember to head to our website
The Country dot co dot nz. To win tickets for
two to the Hort New Zealand two day conference. The
gala dinner, we're going to throw in flights and accommodation.
Time for a quick final text from my most woke
of friends, referee Bryce Lawrence, who said, Emma one, Jamie zero.
(38:05):
I don't know about that one, Bryce, but thanks for listening.
It's good to have a labor voting union loving teacher,
former teacher listening to the show. We'll catch you back tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Game to the Things are catch all the latest from
the land. It's the Country Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks
to Brent, You're specialist in John Deere machinery.
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere construction equipment.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, birds need be and us needs whiskey. Boys like
me need girls like you.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Just fishing in the dark needs needy green under that
pale moon.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Sweet team needs a sister and smart.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good afternoon, a New Zealand. Welcome to the Country, brought
to you by Brain. This is Luke Bryan. His manager
apparently bought John Keyes helicopter. We haven't got John Key
on the show today, but earlier this morning I caught
up with our Prime Minister Chris Luxon. Of course, the
big story out there is Trump and the tariffs, so
(00:53):
we're going to face agg tariffs from April to second Now.
Lots of you have been texting in and we love
your feedback on five double oh nine, good, bad, and ugly.
And we've had some ugly feedback recently about safe playing
commercials on this radio station around this show. So we're
(01:15):
going to chat to Emma Brody and I'm going to
take this safe campaigner to task over what I think
are their mud farming ambush attack ads. Emma Higgins here's
a good news story for your Rabobanks senior AG analyst
having a look at that GDT auction overnight now it
was down zero point five percent. Was actually a really
good result. We'll tell you why. Plus in their Q
(01:37):
one Dairy quarterly report, which is going to hit the
books the bookshelves tomorrow, they've made a new revision of
their milk price forecast. We'll tell you all about that.
And yesterday on yesterday's show, we got a nice text
and from a guy by the name of Gordon Rennie,
a Scottish farmer agronomous journalist who's been visiting New Zealand
(02:00):
for fifty years. Some really interesting commentary from him. Hopefully
we can get him on before the end of the
app But we're going to kick it off with Trump
and tariffs and sandwich gate with the PM.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Curtains blit's need lucking boots.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Need in bad Wednesdays on the Country, the PM kicks
off the show. I was going to kick off with
sandwich Gate. I'm coming back to that one because they're
bigger fish to fry. Prime Minister around the world. G
it's getting messy with Trump and his tariffs in Ukraine,
you name it.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Well, look, I mean I saw the announcement yesterday or
preach from President Trump around agricultural tariffs. But the question
for US is we need to see the detail. Is
it specific, is it universal to all countries? We actually
had quite a balanced trade arrangement or relation a management
between both US and New Zealand. But look, we instructed
(02:55):
our officials several weeks ago to engage with the administration
on agricultural tariffs. And of course, you know I'm an
engaged I would gage directly with President Trump if we
see any of our agricultural traders at risk. But look,
we need to see the detail first. You know, often
there's a pronouncement on social media, and it's important we
actually see the detail and actually what does gets implemented.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Finally, Okay, hypothetically he chucks the terrify on I don't know,
ten percent on April the second, do we put a
reciprocal terror on us stuff?
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Yeah, Look, I'm not going to speculate on that because
I genuinely you know, you know, I spend every day
giving a running commentary on pronouncements from the new government.
You know, the reality is I need to make sure
that actually see the detail, and then we actually respond
properly with that, because, as I said, you know, we
actually have a very balanced trade relationship, particularly in agriculture
(03:47):
and actually a lot of agricultural products. Remember we have
you know, even to take beef. You know, it actually
helps their market because we have a different quality of
beef product and they've got to hang a lot of
hamburgers that's held to Americans. You know, this tarifying ends
up hurting them ultimately. And so let's just see exactly
what gets implemented. As I said, our officials, we instructed
(04:08):
them probably four or five weeks ago, engage with the
government and over there on this particular issue, and let's
just see where it all gets to. Having said all that,
we're ready to respond with an intervention from myself to
make the case for why we would not feel.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
It would be fair.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
The other thing I'd just say is in a universal setting,
obviously it gets applied to everybody. It's about our relative
competitiveness and what is a very very large market. And
so you know how it's applied, whether it's specific to
certain countries, whether it's universally applied across all.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Countries, that kind of matters.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
To sort of see how it shakes down.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Are you an unlucky prime minister? Every time you seem
to come up with a good news story or a
good news news trade deal, you get swamped by other
bad news.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I'm talking about your trip to Vietnam that was highly successful,
was it not?
Speaker 5 (04:58):
It was great?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
It was really really good.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
I mean we you know, just for your listeners. You know,
Vietnam's like the fourteenth largest trading partner. It's the fastest
growing economy in our region. It's been growing at five
to six percent every year for twenty five years. It's
about to start growing at seven to nine percent. It
will genuinely become sort of a Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea
type economy. And they're moving from low income to middle
(05:21):
income and off it was a high income. But man,
they love New Zealand products and so this trip was
actually quite interesting because it was a big focus on education.
In fact, that's a really big focus for Vietnam. They
do an incredible job on educating their own people. They've
got a university that started in ten seventy six, so
they've just really it's embedded in their culture about educate educate, educate.
(05:42):
But it was a big for showcase on our traditional
food and beverage and you know number one and dairy,
but I think you know we're number two, just behind
the Americans on Apple's for example. There's still huge opportunity
in red meat there. So it was a real traditional
you know, let's make sure they understand the quality of
our and produce and as they get from low income
(06:02):
to middle income, they want better quality food. And so
I did everything, Jamie, I did everything I could to
sell on New Zealand products and services from our great farmers.
Shamelessly war hats, I hate snails. I did whatever it
took to try and make sure we could sell for
some things. And we had a really good business delegation
representing the sector as well, So it was really awesome.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
It was a really great group.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Okay, Sandwich Gate not a mile away. But just before
we do a four year term for Parliament National super
at sixty seven, two quick fixes for the New Zealand economy,
do you agree?
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Yeah, Look, I mean the benefit of you personally. Look,
I'm in favor of a four year term. We've got
a bill that actually is an act which is going
to get a chance to go before the SELEC Committee.
That will also be a chance for all the parties
to sort of say is that the right approach or
is there a simpler approach and they can look at
all of that but the other pieces. Yeah, and that's
(06:58):
ultimately we would get to. But right now, the New
Zealand people want me focused every day on not four
year terms, but actually on fixing the economy and making
sure we deal with the cost of living on National
super as you know, that's very much our policy. You know,
I think you know people are aging well, quality of
life is going up, the living longer, WHI should race
the retirement age of sixty seven. Having said that, you've
(07:20):
got New Zealand first, who are diametrically opposed and also
the Labor Party. So those are things that we just
have not been able to agree in the coalition. For sure.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Well, hey, Winston's agent quite well, do you have to
wait till well, yeah, he pops off of the perch.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Do you will you make the case that about it?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
But I've tried to.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
I think it makes real sense.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
I mean, as we said before the election, you know,
it's you know everyone, you know, our living standard that
has gone up. People are working longer, they are actually
healthier at the same age to say their parents were
or their grandparents were. And many other countries, frankly around
the world have sixty seven some I'm even getting close
to the seventy. Yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense,
(08:01):
but that's not something that politically has been agreed between
different parties.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Sandwich gate, make a marmite sandwich and put an apple
in the bag, did you guys workshop? This is this
as a result of a focus group. And I say
that because Nikola Willis said exactly the same thing this
time a week ago when she was filling in for
you on this show while you were doing God's work
in Vietnam.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
No we all, no, no, no, we didn't. That's what I
got for my lunch. And we had a chat about
what did you act to have for lunches and stuff,
and everyone had had the slightly different ones, but I had,
you know, I was just I was every day as
a cheese and my m sandwich with an apple. Occasionally
Mum would makes baking it, which in a so on
into a little lunch box. And once a term I
(08:47):
think I'd allowed to go buy a pie and chocolate
Zapp and my custom square and that was it. So
I just my point's pretty simple, which is that, yeah,
I think parents should be feeding their own kids. I'd
rather sty didn't have to do so it should be
frankly a parental responsibility. But lot, the reality is, Jamie,
we do have kids that are coming to school with
(09:07):
no lunch. I'm not willing to go hungry because if
the research shows if they're not learning, if they're not
learning them, they're not failing in school unploughted, not welfare
and limited option. So yep, some of the school lunches
aren't scratched. Davis was across the issue. I've got every confidence,
go go get sorted. But you know, if you're if
you're unhappy with it, frankly, you know, making my night
(09:30):
sandwich and duck and on the bag.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Hey, is this the dynamic, new hard hitting Crystopher Luxen
was saying, is this the real Christopher Luxeon standing up? Please?
Are no more dancing on a pin over? Andrew Bailey?
You know you got a workshop and then you're going
to go hard at it.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Well, no, I just think this is I think you know,
that's what I believe. But I mean to say on
the dry daily saying, look, yep, answered the question from
hosking better. But the point is also I had an
individual who had just resigned and given up a mess
significant decided, a tough one, very emotional one, and the
last thing is someone piling on and that was my
(10:05):
you know the reason why my answer in the way.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
That I did.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Yep, could have answered better, should have answered it better.
But look, yeah, the bottom line is we've got a
lot to focus on, and we're a government that is
just trying to drive every single day to get things
sorted to give the mess that we've inhered. So yep,
it's it's hard and it's tough, and there's lots for
us to do, but that's what we're focused on.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Is that focusing on or focusing grouping on anyhow, Look,
I'm being cheeky there and I should RecA.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
I know you want to make that point, but we
don't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You don't do focus groups.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
No.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
No, we got back on track because that just came
out of a conversation I have on my team. So
that's how start happened.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Good on you. Look, I really appreciate your time on
the country. Thank you for you mate, that's true. Seventeen
after twelve, You're worth the country, Luke Bryan the musical
scene today, some of your feedback, we're going to get
some more of it, and just a tick and we'll
tell you why, and just a tick as well. But
here's one. Did the Vietnamese ask about our carbon footprint
and threat us if we don't bankrupt ourselves following the
(11:03):
suicidal Paris accord? Latest virtue signings? Was that signings or
signals anyhow? Thank you? Texter. Also tell us what you
had in your sandwiches sandwiches when you were at school.
I was cheese and marmite or like cold meat. Very quickly, Michelle,
(11:23):
because I've got to go to this next interview because
I'm all fired up. What did you have in your sandwiches?
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Honey sandwiches?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That's not what you told me before the show. You
said you had chocolate chip sandwiches. Rod, that's unhealthy. That
wouldn't pass the tick up approval. Well, no, no, I
can't up next, right, So what's happened here on the
country For the past week or so, we've been broadcasting
(11:51):
safe ads. It's not my fault. I wouldn't have a
bar of it. But they've been happening. They've been ambushing
or mark ambushing attack ads around our show. So up next,
safe campaigner Emma Brody. What she got to say in
her defense? That's up next, Sweating needs it. I'm a
(12:18):
bud trumman.
Speaker 5 (12:20):
What's anyboy can do?
Speaker 4 (12:22):
The things aren't?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Can pucking well home crosses.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Let's stop your ham Hey baby, am a trimmin.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So this from the text line in recent days complaint.
For the second day in a row, you've been broadcasting
safe anti farming ads. Please take appropriate action. That's Chris
from the Whitehado. Hi guys, get rid of the safe
ad playing in your show, Breaks, Dirty Buggers, Jamie, What
the hell is it with safe advertising about mud farming
(12:53):
leading up to the start of your show? Chris from
Central Otago, Well, it's beyond my control. If I had
my way, we wouldn't be playing these safe mud farming ads.
But we have to buy law now to add some
balance to this conversation of invited Emma Brody, a safe
campaigner onto the show. She knows we've received lots of
(13:14):
complaints about her mud farming ads. Emma, I want to
start with this is this just plane out ambush marketing
from you guys?
Speaker 7 (13:22):
It's safe, Hi, Cure Jamie, thanks for having us on
to have this chat. We are running these ads because
we have serious concerns about animals who are still suffering
the consequences of being confined and mud and their own
wasteful months on end every single winter. And I do
want to make it clear that we're not trying to
attack farmers or paint them all with the same brush.
(13:45):
We know that many farmers genuinely care about doing the
right thing and preventing harm. But the issue is that
mud farming or winter grazing is inherently high risk.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Okay, Emma, where are you based? By the way, are
you in Wellington?
Speaker 7 (14:00):
I'm based up in Auckland, Auckland?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Okay. When was the last time you spent a winter
in Southland? Can I ask you that? Have you been
out and shifted a swede break in Southland? Do you
understand how winter grazing works?
Speaker 7 (14:13):
Yeah? Absolutely, I mean although I am based in Auckland,
every single winter we receive hundreds of messages and images
and videos of animals suffering in winter grazing systems, and
so we believe that something needs to be done here
for both the sake of animals and for farmers as well.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
So if you want to get animals through a winter,
especially at the bottom end of the country, how do
you propose the farmers feed them if not on winter crops.
Speaker 7 (14:40):
Well, I'm sure there are plenty of farmers out there
who are listening who do use better systems over winter,
and it would be great to keep this discourse going
with your listeners about how we can better protect animals
over winter and innovative solutions from those who are doing
the right thing. But we do need more.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But but Emma, hang on, ninety nine percent of farmers
in Southland, and I probably know a lot more about
this than you because I'm a born and bred Southland,
I was a sheep farmer, I've got an interest in
a dairy farm now. I spend a lot of time
in Southend and I can tell you hand on heart,
ninety nine percent of the farmers in Southland or in
southern New Zealand where they're wintering on winter feed crops,
(15:20):
are doing a good job.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
I totally acknowledge that some farmers are absolutely doing a
good job.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
O no, no, no, no, no, not some, an, Emma, not some,
I said ninety nine percent, you're just cherry picking. Are
the bad one percent is do you do the same
for people in towns who aren't feeding their cats and
dogs properly?
Speaker 7 (15:40):
Well, we feel that all animals have a right to
sufficient care and protection, and based on the well documented
evidence of harm on mud farms, that isn't what we're seeing.
And MPI are well aware of these risks. I'm sure
you know all about their task force and Action Group
who five years ago calls for the immediate prevent of
animals giving birth and mud avoidable deaths in adverse weather,
(16:04):
and the ability for animals to lie comfortably on a
dry substrate. And five years later, these are still an
issue that we see.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Year on year, Emma, what do you think happens to
animals that are living outdoors in their natural environment in
winter when it rains. Do you think an elephant in
the jungle and Africa doesn't create mud?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Well exactly.
Speaker 7 (16:28):
So that's kind of the point, is that these systems
are sort of designed to fail. Animals don't have the
ability to access shelter in these conditions or take themself
the way to dry land in adverse weather, the system
is failing by design.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
You realize that animals that are grazing on pastures, for instance,
in a Southland winter can still get muddy even though
they're shifted every day. If it hoses down with rain
for want of a better word, stock will get muddy.
Sometimes farmers shift them two and three times a day
to mitigate it.
Speaker 7 (17:00):
And that is the kind of thing we want to
be seeing, but it isn't the reality on self and
mud farms at the moment. And we know that weather
events are becoming more and more unpredictables that prevent animals
from ending up in the conditions that we're seeing every year.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So how many examples and I know that you're very
good at cherry picking examples, but how many examples have
you got at safe of bad wintering practice in the
likes of Southland? Have you got hundreds?
Speaker 7 (17:29):
We have got hundreds of images and videos from across
sal flind as well as Canterbury and in the Cargo,
all across the southern regions. But we know it's not
isolated to there either, and we know that regulatory bodies
step in when conditions become extreme in this sort of
reactive enforcement model. But we know that these aren't isolated
(17:51):
cases of abuse. This is a system wide issue.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Emma. Be honest, you'd be happier if farmers weren't farming
animals at all.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
We're here to advocate for animals and ensure that their
rights under the law are upheld. They have a right
to shelter, a right to express normal patterns of behavior,
and it isn't what we're seeing on New Zealand mud farms.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
But if you're farming animals outside in a pastoral system,
it is not always possible, even with perfect or best management,
that every day during the winter an animal will have
access to shelter. You realize, in the case of sheep,
they have something called wool, which nature designed to keep
them warm in the winter.
Speaker 7 (18:32):
Yeah, of course, but we're seeing a case where animals
routinely their right to shelter is routinely ignored.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
OK. So you and I are probably going to agree
to disagree on this one. But what's a safe way forward?
No bad pun intended so that you guys will get
off the backs of farmers. I don't mind your picking
on the bad one percent. Fill your boots there, get
stuck them. But every section of society has a bad
(19:04):
apple or the bad one percent, and I think you're
focusing in on them and ignoring the good work done
by the other ninety nine percent.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
Well, again, I want to make it clear we're not
trying to paint everyone with the same brush. We think
that farmers will agree with us that mud farming is
not just bad for animals, it's bad for public trust
in our farming sector. It's bad for our global reputation
for sustainable and ethical farming practices, and we should work
together to find a better way forward for both animals
(19:33):
and farmers.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Emma Brody campaigner, it's safe. Thanks for your time.
Speaker 7 (19:37):
I think thanks Jamie warm.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You twenty nine after twelve. Well, the text machine has
blown up. Its officially blown up. We're just looking to
at some of your texts to see if we can
read any out while we go through the filtering process.
New Zealand, and you're dead on the text is the
numerous texts who said stop calling a mud farming. Going
(20:02):
back to the sandwiches, here's a good text. The lefties
will never understand school lunches. How could they be expected
to when they've always been one slice of bread short
of a sandwich and I'm sure he won't mind me
quoting him here, but this is a good one, Sir
David Fagan. Through Pupe Primary and Pupuugh College, I had
(20:22):
marmite sandwiches every day. Nothing else didn't do me any harm.
No it didn't, David. You grew into a fine strapping
man and the world's greatest sharer off the back of
your marmite sandwiches. Up next, rural news and sports news.
We're going to try and we're going to try and
filter filter some of your comments on Emma Brody. But
(20:43):
good honor at least for fronting up fucking com growth.
It's after Welcome back to the country. It's brought to
you by Brent very shortly Michelle with the latest and
rural news. We'll have a look at sports news for
you as well. But up in Auckland. Over the past
few weeks, Rowena is teamed up with Beef and Lamb
(21:06):
New Zealand for a special four part podcast series looking
at the key aspects of their livestock internal parasite program.
The final episode is now live on the country's podcast feed.
Now we all know that internal parasites and drench resistance
are serious threats to livestock production. So to wrap the series,
Rose once again joined by principal scientists doctor Kara Brosnahan,
(21:31):
they look at targeted selective treatment, things like only treating
animals that really need drenching, thus reducing the amount of
drench used and subsequently saving money. Row and Kara cover
off a pilot study looking at this and what some
of their findings were. It's definitely worth the listen as
this issue isn't going away anytime soon. The podcast called
(21:52):
Insights on Parasites and as I mentioned, you'll find it
on the Country's podcast stream or wherever you get your
pots us The links up on our Facebook page. Yeah.
Great series by Row and Beef and Lamb New Zealand. Right, Okay,
here's a text that's typical for Emma, the safe Lady,
(22:13):
if she's wanting to engage with farmers and have a
conversation calling it mud farming, puts the heckels up straight away.
Show some respect Emma and front up and you may
get a conversation with farmers. That's very typical. In fact,
it's not typical. Most of the texts are much worse
than that. Here's Michelle with Rural.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
News, the country's world news with Cod Cadet, New Zealand's
leading right on lawn Bower brand. Visit steel Ford dot
Cot dot Z for your local stoggist.
Speaker 6 (22:41):
Farmer Farms of New Zealand has confirmed and will continue
to supply Sinlay milk in the South Island. The state
owned farmer operates forty four dairy farms across the country,
half of which supply Fonterra Cooperative Group. The others are
split across independent processes including Sinlay and Marka. And that's
Rural News. You can find more at the Country.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Right Michelle, turn my headphones up too much. You go
and find the text we can read out about the
safe lady. Yeah, okay, thank you for the feedback. We
will try and get to it. He's sport.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Sport were then Afco Kiwi to the bone since nineteen.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Oh four, and we're a bit short on time. There's
only one sports news story today. Black Caps cricket coach
Gary Stead expects South Africa to remain unaffected by a
scheduled detour ahead of tonight's Champions Trophy semifinal in Lahore.
The Proteas took a jaunt to do Bai in case
they had to play India in the Semis, while the
(23:35):
black Caps went there to actually play a match before returning.
So not much sleep for me tonight ten o'clock semifinal
and the cricket looking forward to that after the break.
The other well, I think it was a good news story,
the global dairy trade auction result down zero point five
but a good result. Will tell you more next with
Emma Higgins about a nun brown good global Dairy Trade
(24:00):
auction result overnight, even though it went down zero point
five percent. We're going to talk about that with Emma Higgins,
a Rabobank Senior agg analyst, and also about her latest offering,
the Q one Global Dairy Quarterly Report, and we'll get
the drum roll ready for Emma's new milk forecast price
(24:21):
for this season. But before we do that, Emma talk
to me about the GDT auction. I reckon that was
a good result. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
I think the same Jamie as well. So yeah, sure
that index moved back lower by half a percent. Sure,
but on picking some of those results, we actually saw
some glimmers of optimism when we look at skim Milk powner,
which lifted by something similar and we're now looking at
two thousand, seven hundred or just above that you restills
per ton for skim. So that's glimmers of optimism. But
(24:52):
actually again when we also look through the numbers, butter
prices reached a new cord once again. And I think
last time I was we were talking about a couple
of months ago or a couple of weeks ago, the
fact that butter prices had had new records, and now
what seems to have happened overnight is the average butter
price is now sitting above US seven five hundred bucks
(25:13):
a ton, which according to my calculations, looks like another record.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Has been had.
Speaker 7 (25:19):
So those two.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Factors around skim and butter have helped to stop what
could have been a poorer performance overall. So I'm taking that,
in some total as a positive result for our New
Zealand farmers.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
This auction obviously was after you'd completed your Q one
Global Dairy Quarterly Report. Would it have changed anything?
Speaker 3 (25:42):
No, I think it underpins what we are talking about.
So and Micoll lead with it first, Jam because they
know you're going to ask me what checkening were aim
at price forecast? So we are moving it up in
line to wear Fonterra sitting now at tim Bucks before
when we reset our four cars at the end of
last year, we had a nine dollars seventy milk price
(26:04):
forecast which was sitting slightly higher than where Fonterira was
at that point in time. So we were expecting to
see some upside come through and I think we've obviously
seen that in terms of some of the volatility upwards,
which has been good for New Zealand farmers, and so
we are in line with Fonterira. I think if we
take a step back, there's a lot happening. There's a
lot of volatility out there, there's a lot of uncertainty
(26:26):
in global markets. We think that on the supply side,
we think that modest growth is set to emerge across
this year and into next year as well, and that's
because most farmers are making money now. Sentiment is probably
the highest here in New Zealand, but elsewhere in the
likes of the US and parts of the EU, and
(26:47):
then also in Brazil as well, we're seeing healthier margins
and we think that's going to translate into more milk supply.
If we look across onto the demand side. We are
expecting to see an improvement come out of our major
exporting region, China through importing region China. But ultimately we're
still cautiously optimistic around what might happen there over the
(27:10):
coming weeks and months, just because there's still some challenges
within some of the aspects that we look at that
comes to demand within China, and that's why we're sitting
still at ten dollars. There's a lot that can happen
between now and the end of the season though, and
we have seen in the past that when China jumps
into the market, prices can searge. And the watching point
(27:33):
to that, Jamie, is that milk supply in China is
turning around and potentially turning around quite quickly.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So what about our domestic production here, because we know,
particularly the North Island's getting very dry. At ten dollars,
you can afford to buy supplementary feed, poke it in
one end of the cow and outcomes some milk from
the other end. It's a wonderful mathematical equation. As Trump
would say, it's a beautiful thing. It is a great
and wonderful thing. Well come back to from but are
(28:01):
we going to see milk production fall off in this country.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Look, I think there is a risk of that. We
know that certain parts of the country haven't received meaningful
rain in the last three while, and we've just seen
some drought declarations being made more recently in parts of
the Northland. So there is a risk of that happening
if farmers look to conserve cow condition and basically try
(28:26):
and draw the line and ensure that they heard is
in a really good shape for the new season. The
risk on the flip side, obviously, is what you've just
talked about, where economics do support perhaps some looking to
pump a little bit more feed into the system to
get them through. So I think it's a risk. For now,
we are expecting to see milk production land somewhere between
(28:48):
two and a half and three percent for the full season,
which is a really good result for the twenty four
to twenty five season. And the great part of that
is that the market is still absorbing all this extra
milk production.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Okay, I was just going to finish on Trump and
ask you what you think about him and as tariffs,
But literally, we have no idea.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Look, we're getting headlines every day, right we wake up
and there's something new that's coming out of the United
States which is quite frankly exhausting. I think obviously it's
a watching piece here right because what I'm in particular
watching for Jamie is what might happen with interest rates,
because I think that's the big one, and that's something
(29:29):
that we can actually delve into a little bit more
because we know that the US Federal Reserve has mentioned
that it will take its time potentially on the next
interest rate decision, and that could have bearing for what
happens here in New Zealand as well. So that's really
the focal point for me in the short term because
obviously the cost of funds is important piece for our
(29:51):
dairy farmers and.
Speaker 7 (29:52):
For agriculture as well.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
So yeah, a lot of headlines coming out very quickly
constantly as well. It is a moving fea and we'll
do our best to keep ourselves updated on this, but
for now, interest rate for the biggest one for us.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
A moving feast or a dog's breakfast. I'll let you decide.
Emma Higgins, thank you very much for your time as
always on the country and well done. I'm getting the
ten bucks. Thanks Jamie, thank you m a qught her
away from one. Up next, We've got a lovely text
yesterday from Gordon Rennie from Scotland. All about it up
next on the Country. I'm a country Man. Got a
(30:31):
really interesting text on yesterday's show by a Scottish farmer
and journalists by the name of Gordon Rennie. He's in
New Zealand for six weeks. Gordon said, I'm a British
farmer and a Nuffield scholar. UK consumers want one thing,
low prices for all food. Look at the rise of Audi,
(30:51):
the German discount store and he's talking about net zero
is nowhere near the mines of the vast majority of
consumers and a cost of living crisis. And Gordon, I
guess you're reflecting what a lot of people are saying.
So a Scottish farmer is of a similar ilk to
their New Zealand counterparts when it comes to us.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeap the very big similarity in the Scottish farmers. You know,
farmers have one objective is to produce food that's in
our DNA and to produce food efficiently. We still get
subsidies in Scotland, so I must say we're probably not
quite as efficient as you can't new chaps down here,
(31:31):
but we do get you know, we have a lot
of government intervention help it telling us to set aside
bit's the ground, do some regenerative farming, which comes at
a cost. But unfortunately these extra costs are not returned
as at the farmgate price because the big, the big
(31:54):
supermarkets in Britain, they're under pressure to keep prices down.
So we may do lots of good thing for the
climate change, but we very seldom get rewarded.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Now, the problem with that the UK has got is
that you're not food sufficient. I think you are only
only produced just over fifty percent of the food consumed
in the UK. So therefore you've got an issue to
start with. You actually want farmers to get credits, and
this is a bit of a bugbear of mine, get
credits for everything on their farm that sequesters carbon. And
(32:27):
we're not only talking vegetation, we're talking grass and we're
talking soil. You want farmers to measure soil carbon.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
I want farmers in New Zealand. I'm very passionate about that.
We have Professor David Polson from often Stead Research speaking
to us in Dundee about one year ago, and in
relation to New Zealand, I asked them a direct question,
what's sequestrates the most carbon one hector of pine trees
(32:59):
or one hector of productive grass. And this is a
world expert. There is no difference. So I feel that
farmers in New Zealand grass will be sequestrated. There's only
one single way we can remove carbon from the atmosphere,
and it's called photosynthesis. So grass is fantastic, and grass
(33:20):
not only reducing the carbon. We produce food from grass.
So it's really important that New Zealand farmers are valued
of what they're doing. And trees, you cannot eat trees.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
My friend talk to me about soil sequestor and carbon right.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Well, what happens is there's only one mechanism in the
world that is for the synthesis. Well, no, by plants breathe,
we absorb carbon dioxide and that that carbon, the oxide
is produced into the grass that she eat and it
also goes into the roots and into the soil building
up humanus and organic matter. And over time organic matter
(33:59):
starts to build up and are not zero point one
percent increase in so organic matter will secreate an extra
nine tons per hectare of carbon dioxide. So farming is
the solution, not the problem. We have the solution to
climate change, and.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That solution is more farming. Does it therefore follow golden
renny from Scotland that we need more ruminants rising those pastures.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yes, absolutely, and you know the world, every single country,
New Zealand, this part of agreement is using the wrong
matrix for measuring methane. Meetings are short lived twelve year gas.
It's not really a true greenhouse gas. And we have
to get politicians to realize that grass is the most
fantastic crop. Ruminants eat grass, and ruminants produce food. So
(34:51):
in Britain, yes, we're only sixty percent self sufficient and
the British government doesn't seem to have food production in
its DNA, but we all have to eat. There's going
to be a population of nine billion people and it's
really important that we understand the value of grass and
other crops in the role for sequestrating carbon.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
So you yourself, you're an agronomist, you're an outgrower, you're
a journalist, obviously a farmer. You've been a kN Afield
scholar thirty years ago. You've been coming here to New Zealand,
Gordon Renny for fifty years. What brought you over here?
Speaker 4 (35:27):
It's a long story, but as a younger man and
I'd heard so many wonderful stories about New Zealanders. And
when I was a young kid doing geography, the mister
Newton toook pictures of all that, you know, all the
red stuff, the British stuff, and one day we have
a day's the Decanterbury Plains. It's one of the greatest plain,
(35:50):
the greatest places in the world for growing food. And
I just decided New Zealander's great people, lots of Scottish connections,
county planes. I've been coming here ever since. I didn't
know anybody fifty years ago, and I was given kindness,
hospitality and often a draft. What's not to like?
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Okay, the Canterary plans great cereal or crop growing area,
no doubt about it. But when it comes to growing
your favorite crop, oats, I'm going to go into bet
for my home province of Southland. That's what I had
a Kromota mill down there, the Sergeant Dan Kromota mill
and gore because Southland grows the best oats in the world.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
I totally agree it. Actually it hurts me to say
I'm being Scottish. It's a national crop, but Southland Ottago.
The needing as a Gaelic name for Edinburgh as you know,
and the Guardown family who are great friends of mine.
I go down there every year. I speak to the
oat producers group. No one grows better oats than that area.
(36:58):
It's a fantastic area, natural reinfall, super people. Probably I
have to trap myself so for this is the best
area in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
There we go. I'll take that. Hey, Gordon, Rennie, lovely
to catch up. Thank you for listening to the show,
thanks for texting in yesterday, and I haven't got time
to go through. A wonderful story. But you were the
inspiration for Jeremy Clarkson's Clarkson's Farm due to a young
guy who worked for you who ended up working for
top Gear and was a bit of an inspiration for
(37:30):
Clarkson's farm. Another story for another day. It's been great
catching up. You enjoy the rest of your stay in
God's own New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Thank you very much, my friends.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Okay, wrapping the country, remember to head to our website
The Country dot co dot nz. To win tickets for
two to the Hort New Zealand two day conference. The
gala dinner, we're going to throw in flights and accommodation.
Time for a quick final text from my most woke
of friends, referee Bryce Lawrence, who said, Emma one, Jamie zero.
(38:05):
I don't know about that one, Bryce, but thanks for listening.
It's good to have a labor voting union loving teacher,
former teacher listening to the show. We'll catch you back tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Game to the Things are catch all the latest from
the land. It's the Country Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks
to Brent, You're specialist in John Deere machinery.
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