Don’t blame farmers for AgResearch cuts

Don’t blame farmers for AgResearch cuts

Blaming sheep farmers for the loss of 43 jobs at AgResearch is akin to blaming investors for the failure of a finance company. Instead, the focus needs to turn to the private sector to unlock new wool fibre uses.

“I think this is a tragedy for the research staff involved and for New Zealand It highlights a massive gulf between what is expected from research and what’s actually being put into the field,” says Don Nicolson, Federated Farmers President.

“But with the national flock less than half the peak of 70 million reached in 1982, research monies have simply followed this 28-year realignment. AgResearch is basing its business plan on where the sheep industry is, not where it once was.

"For wool to be on a par with 1980s returns, it ought to be a $2.8 billion export but now it’s down to just under $500 million. It’s simply wrong to blame farmers for pulling the wool levy when our returns have collapsed.

“That’s just like blaming ‘mum and dad’ investors for the failure of a finance company rather than finance company managers. We’ve paid the money but haven’t got the rewards.

“Yet I’m focussed on tomorrow. As a cross breed sheep farmer myself, I want to see mass market products developed that utilise wool fibre. Combining these products with a push by marketers of wool’s green credentials will boost our profitability.

“You cannot tell me there is nothing more that can be done with wool but we need private sector inventiveness to come forward and use wool fibre in completely new ways.

“Yet you do have to ask if the narrow functional specialisation of our crown research institutions (CRIs) may not have helped. The CRIs always seemed a textbook model suited to a much larger country than New Zealand’s economic make up.

“There’s absolutely no reason why Scion, for instance, shouldn’t be working with wool fibre as it does with wood fibre.

“That’s why we’re keen to talk about continuing research, using the $30 million pool in the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand. The investment returns from this sum should see some wool research continue but should focus on developing commercial products.

“Seeing genuine runs on the board will make farmers think anew about funding research. But there’s also a pressing need for ‘New Zealand Inc’ to invest three-percent of gross domestic product into research and development by 2029,” Mr Nicolson concluded.

ENDS

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