Farmers will decide on the best levy proposal for them
Meat & Wool New Zealand (M) says farmers should view with caution the newspaper advertisement that asks them to wind-up M in favour of a plan for Research & Development only.
M Chairman, Mike Petersen says after wide consultation with farmers at over 60 meetings around the country, and from
nearly 900 written submissions and other market research, it’s clear that many farmers want their levies to fund a range
of other work alongside funding research for the sector.
Mr Petersen said the extensive consultation in the last three months had allowed M to develop a proposal from the grassroots up.
“Farmers have told us what activities they support and also where they want us to do better. We are now working at
putting the final proposal together, and we are confident that we have addressed many of the concerns expressed by
farmers in the consultation round.”
Farmers have been particularly vocal about the need for levies to fund M’s market access activities given the reliance on export markets that take over 90 percent of all our sheepmeat and
beef. Farmers are also very supportive of M’s work in partnership with other farmer representative organisations to ensure legislation and regulation does not
disadvantage sheep and beef farmers.
“Farmers are very aware of the impact of tariffs and other trade barriers on their returns, and they place great value
on our work alongside the government in securing better access to markets through Free Trade Agreements. In written
submissions 87 per cent of farmers said it was important for us to carry on working to reduce trade barriers and keep
the doors to our markets open.”
Mr Petersen said farmers would make up their own minds about the other proposal, outlined in the recent advertisement in
a farming paper.
“The advertisement refers to a new proposal being presented by a group of concerned farmers. However there are no names
attributed to the advertisement and clearly no alternative plan for farmers to judge. The levy rates mentioned there, at
15 cents for sheepmeat and $1 for beef, would only raise a total of $6.2 million. This would mean that sheep and beef
farmers would be the lowest investors in research out of any export sector in New Zealand.
“Essentially they are asking farmers to support one idea at the expense of the others that farmers have told us are
important. When farmers receive the final proposal from M in early August they will see we have spent considerable time building on our strengths and addressing the concerns
that farmers have raised in the recent round of farmer meetings.”
Mr Petersen says the challenge for an industry organisation is to try and present a proposal that takes into account the
wide range if views presented from around the country, and M is no different to other industry organisations in this regard.
“No farmer will agree with everything in the final proposal, but we are confident that we have accommodated the views of
the majority to ensure there is the continuity of investment that farmers have told us they support”.
ENDS