December 19, 2024 • 10 mins
In a long-held tradition on this show, a man who has worn many hats in Primary Sector PR - Fed Farmers, Wool Board, Seafood NZ, Forest Owners Assoc - names his Ag Person of the Year.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is a long hold tradition here on the country.
The artist formerly known as the Farming Show for this
man to have a say on the final day. His
name is Don Carson. If you're wondering where you've heard
that name before. He's worn many pr hats in the
rural sector, the primary sector, Federated Farmers, the Wall Board, Seafood,
New Zealand Forest Owners Association, the former voice of Midday
(00:24):
and Rural Report on National Radio. And it's Heyday and Don,
you're ag person of the Year.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Drum roll, Yeah, indeed, Well I've got to go through
the shortlist first. I mean, obviously the Smithfield closure, while
it was a local events, a national significance and so
Mark win there as chair of the Board and international
do because always on this good or bad for the
(00:51):
rural sector inside or outside of New Zealand. And so
the second one on my list is the day in
the Star. All the Europeans doing a swifty deal or
the French were distracted with that political crisis, opening up
the European market for cheap South American meat, which wild
at some stage have some effect on New Zim's trade
(01:13):
access into Europe, or at least the cost and trying
to make a profit when there's cheap meat flooding in there.
But the one I decided to eventually go for was
the free trade deal that was done by the government
with the Golf Cooperation Council in the Persian Gulf twenty
years in the making. So the pre statement said, well,
it was more like forty years, because I was on
(01:35):
delegations over there that long ago trying to open up
that golf market. Lucrative, small, not that much really at
the moment for New Zealand, not even though potentially up
to the grade of India, but India, for a number
of reasons, is not going to happen for a long time.
So in the meantime, the one that was opened was
(01:55):
the golf and the minister concerned the Agon Trade Minister
Todd mcley my money, the ag Person of the Year
for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, and he's been a warm favorite amongst all of
our correspondents. Before I let you go, you're sort of
semi retired now, but you still come up with hair
brain schemes. I remember a few years ago you suggesting
we needed to build a floating rugby stadium and tow
it round to the various cities where we could play
test matches. What's your latest hair brain scheme?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Ah?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I could talk about the Giant Cheap Project again,
which seems to be the subject of some of the
science cuts the government is doing. And that's one of
my royal gripes. No science advisor for the Prime Minister
not being appointed and if the government wants increased productivity,
most have fun some indulgent stuff there, but generally in
(02:45):
the primary sector where the funding for science has been
cut at is suicide, really stupid stuff and the government
needs to have a serious thing cutting funding for all
sorts of things, look at it seriously, but in the
science area madness. Yeah. And also while I'm grizzly, I
might as well add in the other one more time
to watch sport these days now I'm retired, but at
(03:08):
Lease Andrews in the Olympics and the sprint fantastic performance.
My highlight of the year. But the real grizzle I
have is Raisers still having Damien McKenzie Boden Barrett as
an option rather than being on the paddock together for
the full eighty minutes. The best one to two combination
of attacking rugby in the world, bar none and why
can't we have it?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, I think there's a guy called Will Jordan that
raiser wants to play at Fallback. But I'm not agreeing
to disagree because I love Bowden, Barrett and Damien McKenzie
as well. Hey, Don Carson, Todd mcclay's your ag Person
of the Thanks for your time today.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
I'll catch you.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Next year, Okay, look forward to it, Jamie.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Thank you, Don twenty seven after twelve years with the country,
brought to you by Brandt.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Michelle's wandered in here.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
We had one thousand dollars worth of Rabobank cash to
give away to the charity of your choice. And the chooser,
if that's the correct terminology, was David Stevens from the
White Cuto.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Who did he pick, Michelle? He picked a Camp Quality.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Now. Camp Quality organize camps for children living with cancer
and they have them across the country in New Zealand,
so a great choice.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Camp Quality is the only organization providing camps for children
with cancer. That's a tough pill to swallow at Christmas time,
isn't it. You know, cancers and citius at the best
of times. But in kids just damn awful. Okay, thank
you very much, Rabobank. Good on your David Stevens for
nominating camp Quality one hundred.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Did I say a hundred?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Multiply that by ten, David, A thousand dollars worth of
cash is going to camp Quality because of your generous nomination.
Up next, it's the final Farmer Panel for the year
Stu Duncan and Stuelo.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
The Farmer Panel with cortev Agraciens enriching waves for generations
to come.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Our final Farmer Panel for twenty twenty four the two
Stew's Stue Duncan and the many A Toto Stu Low
and North Canterbury. Both of them were getting pretty dry.
We're hearing reports of good rain, especially in parts of
the North Island. Stu Low, I'll go to you in
North Canterbury. How are you fearing?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know, we're getting a good wedding rain as we speak.
Jamie for City odd Mills on Monday and me and
I think the probably haven't turned the corner, but it's
just stretching. Well, it's certainly giving green feed in winder
crofts that we've got on the ground for next year's
giving them a boost at the moment, it's really good.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, with the promise of a bit more on the
forecast Stu Duncan and the Mania Toto. You're a bit
more inland, there will that easterly stuff come in.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And get you.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
We just had a weaver of drizzle now coming in
and there's a bit in the forecast. Hopefully we get
ten or twenty mills. Anyway you're going, and we're at
the same we're really dry and stockwater was running out
with a lot of the creeks were just adding to
dry up. So it's a bit tricky, but yeah, definitely
it's come easily and low cloud and drizzle now and
hopefully it just rolls bay for a couple of days
(06:16):
and we'll get twenty to thirty mile out of it before.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
We ask you for your respective ag Persons of the year, too, low,
how's your farming you have been and I know the
answer challenging.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, we're well through my lambs now. Obviously a lamb
a bit earlier than the other shoe, so you were
well well through and the money stayed pretty much the
same all the way through, which is unheard of some
toddming farming. It's still around the eight dollar mart, which
is great, the beef price of anything that's snuck up
for prime beef so on well through mckill there as well.
(06:48):
So the tail end of the year returns wise has
been really really good. Yeah, but challenging sort of autumn
winter as far as just like a moisture. But yeah,
that's been rectified a weaver at the moment, so you know,
it's it's going to probably finish finishing a good in
a good way, hopefully, Stu.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Stu low Off got with me, of course, what do
you do for the rest of the summer spray the
gorse and then go on holiday for two months?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Uh you Well, I've actually got a knee off in
the new year, so I'm sort of weound things down
because of that. So but yeah, probably on the bike
and trying to keep f and get furt.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, well good on you, and that the the knee
injury will be an old war wound from your rugby days.
You should be sending the ends.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Are you a bill for this?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
No, actually I think it's more farming related actually, so
it's just just wearing tear. So yeah, and a half
knee so hopefully alleviate a bit of pain and so
I can get back around the golf course.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Maybe good on you, Stu Duncan. What about you? How's
your farming here been?
Speaker 5 (07:53):
We've been pretty tough. Really, we were really dry. We
were good up to November last year got really dry
that affected to conceal rates and then we had a
horrid winter. Really we fed out more hay. I think
three thousand balls of hay we fed out this year
and use everything we had and including the grain, so
fed a lot out and then, like we've talked about before,
we got hammered in the rain and the snow. So
(08:15):
we'll be on thy fifteen hundred lambs down on our average,
but our crops we put a lot of crops in
or we just made a thousand bars of bails this
last week or ten days, so got lots of winter
feed in. And I've just been looking at the fire
bit looks outstanding and most of the kale and swedes
are up, so we've got a good start now. So
hopefully lambs like shoes got eight dollars and people have
(08:35):
been just starting to kill a wee few lambs and
the miniotato now and they've been healing really well, so
hopefully what the lambs we have got, we can pick
up the forty or fifty dollars on that, and the
cattle been really good. They've picked up in condition that
feeds come away for them. So hopefully we pull into
the next part. And there's a bit of demand for
store lambs as well, if you did have to sell
into them. And there's a lot of buyers around here
(08:56):
buy and store lambs just to make up some cash
flow that they've lost out in their lamb in They
seem to pretty general over the Minietola that the one's
well down, and then so that hopefully we come right
a bit. You know, Stulo has given us a bit
of hope because they've got rid of lamb you'll stayed up,
and that stayed up for us. So if we can
do the same follow one a couple of months after,
we'll be right too.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I hope it's Truelo, who's your egg person of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
You'll go on on Jacquelin Rowse theme. She can put
us down at all the farmers as her people of
the year. So I'd put all the people associated with
my farm, like the skinners, the crutching trailer boys, and
you know, contracts, years, stock agents, fat stock buyers and
track riders. All those fellows that you know, when they
(09:40):
turn up on time, everything runs smooth and just makes
your job so much better. So all the people that
you help speak with my situations are one man band
sort of thing. All those people that are just associated
that you just give them the thumbs up and thanks
and when they drive out the gate. So all those
sort of people, as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Oh that's a good shout out, you duncan.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Yeah, well I go. But finally that in the sense
that I think it's those young families and you know,
if you've been involved in sheep and beef, and I
know we've got a lot of young fairy farmers and
young families that start in the minnitartia and they'll be
involved with seating people probably the worst on eachill year
they're going to have in their lifetime. And they are
on the dog trials, they're liberating, they're running the bars
at the Rapier Club for the funerals, and they're on
(10:23):
the board of trustees and taking their kids to play
center in sports. So I think those young people that
are sticking with agriculture in pretty tough times and want
to make a real fist of it. Are going to
be fantastic leaders in the future because they're fantastic people now.
So I think all those young ones that feel that
they're not getting hurt and not getting to say though,
that they're the real inspiration the agriculture at the moment.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
All right, lads, thank you very much for your contribution
throughout twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
We'll catch you back next to you. Merry Christmas, very Christmas,
Jam and all your listeners
It is a long hold tradition here on the country.
The artist formerly known as the Farming Show for this
man to have a say on the final day. His
name is Don Carson. If you're wondering where you've heard
that name before. He's worn many pr hats in the
rural sector, the primary sector, Federated Farmers, the Wall Board, Seafood,
New Zealand Forest Owners Association, the former voice of Midday
(00:24):
and Rural Report on National Radio. And it's Heyday and Don,
you're ag person of the Year.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Drum roll, Yeah, indeed, Well I've got to go through
the shortlist first. I mean, obviously the Smithfield closure, while
it was a local events, a national significance and so
Mark win there as chair of the Board and international
do because always on this good or bad for the
(00:51):
rural sector inside or outside of New Zealand. And so
the second one on my list is the day in
the Star. All the Europeans doing a swifty deal or
the French were distracted with that political crisis, opening up
the European market for cheap South American meat, which wild
at some stage have some effect on New Zim's trade
(01:13):
access into Europe, or at least the cost and trying
to make a profit when there's cheap meat flooding in there.
But the one I decided to eventually go for was
the free trade deal that was done by the government
with the Golf Cooperation Council in the Persian Gulf twenty
years in the making. So the pre statement said, well,
it was more like forty years, because I was on
(01:35):
delegations over there that long ago trying to open up
that golf market. Lucrative, small, not that much really at
the moment for New Zealand, not even though potentially up
to the grade of India, but India, for a number
of reasons, is not going to happen for a long time.
So in the meantime, the one that was opened was
(01:55):
the golf and the minister concerned the Agon Trade Minister
Todd mcley my money, the ag Person of the Year
for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, and he's been a warm favorite amongst all of
our correspondents. Before I let you go, you're sort of
semi retired now, but you still come up with hair
brain schemes. I remember a few years ago you suggesting
we needed to build a floating rugby stadium and tow
it round to the various cities where we could play
test matches. What's your latest hair brain scheme?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Ah?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I could talk about the Giant Cheap Project again,
which seems to be the subject of some of the
science cuts the government is doing. And that's one of
my royal gripes. No science advisor for the Prime Minister
not being appointed and if the government wants increased productivity,
most have fun some indulgent stuff there, but generally in
(02:45):
the primary sector where the funding for science has been
cut at is suicide, really stupid stuff and the government
needs to have a serious thing cutting funding for all
sorts of things, look at it seriously, but in the
science area madness. Yeah. And also while I'm grizzly, I
might as well add in the other one more time
to watch sport these days now I'm retired, but at
(03:08):
Lease Andrews in the Olympics and the sprint fantastic performance.
My highlight of the year. But the real grizzle I
have is Raisers still having Damien McKenzie Boden Barrett as
an option rather than being on the paddock together for
the full eighty minutes. The best one to two combination
of attacking rugby in the world, bar none and why
can't we have it?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, I think there's a guy called Will Jordan that
raiser wants to play at Fallback. But I'm not agreeing
to disagree because I love Bowden, Barrett and Damien McKenzie
as well. Hey, Don Carson, Todd mcclay's your ag Person
of the Thanks for your time today.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
I'll catch you.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Next year, Okay, look forward to it, Jamie.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Thank you, Don twenty seven after twelve years with the country,
brought to you by Brandt.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Michelle's wandered in here.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
We had one thousand dollars worth of Rabobank cash to
give away to the charity of your choice. And the chooser,
if that's the correct terminology, was David Stevens from the
White Cuto.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Who did he pick, Michelle? He picked a Camp Quality.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Now. Camp Quality organize camps for children living with cancer
and they have them across the country in New Zealand,
so a great choice.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Camp Quality is the only organization providing camps for children
with cancer. That's a tough pill to swallow at Christmas time,
isn't it. You know, cancers and citius at the best
of times. But in kids just damn awful. Okay, thank
you very much, Rabobank. Good on your David Stevens for
nominating camp Quality one hundred.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Did I say a hundred?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Multiply that by ten, David, A thousand dollars worth of
cash is going to camp Quality because of your generous nomination.
Up next, it's the final Farmer Panel for the year
Stu Duncan and Stuelo.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
The Farmer Panel with cortev Agraciens enriching waves for generations
to come.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Our final Farmer Panel for twenty twenty four the two
Stew's Stue Duncan and the many A Toto Stu Low
and North Canterbury. Both of them were getting pretty dry.
We're hearing reports of good rain, especially in parts of
the North Island. Stu Low, I'll go to you in
North Canterbury. How are you fearing?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know, we're getting a good wedding rain as we speak.
Jamie for City odd Mills on Monday and me and
I think the probably haven't turned the corner, but it's
just stretching. Well, it's certainly giving green feed in winder
crofts that we've got on the ground for next year's
giving them a boost at the moment, it's really good.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, with the promise of a bit more on the
forecast Stu Duncan and the Mania Toto. You're a bit
more inland, there will that easterly stuff come in.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And get you.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
We just had a weaver of drizzle now coming in
and there's a bit in the forecast. Hopefully we get
ten or twenty mills. Anyway you're going, and we're at
the same we're really dry and stockwater was running out
with a lot of the creeks were just adding to
dry up. So it's a bit tricky, but yeah, definitely
it's come easily and low cloud and drizzle now and
hopefully it just rolls bay for a couple of days
(06:16):
and we'll get twenty to thirty mile out of it before.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
We ask you for your respective ag Persons of the year, too, low,
how's your farming you have been and I know the
answer challenging.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah, we're well through my lambs now. Obviously a lamb
a bit earlier than the other shoe, so you were
well well through and the money stayed pretty much the
same all the way through, which is unheard of some
toddming farming. It's still around the eight dollar mart, which
is great, the beef price of anything that's snuck up
for prime beef so on well through mckill there as well.
(06:48):
So the tail end of the year returns wise has
been really really good. Yeah, but challenging sort of autumn
winter as far as just like a moisture. But yeah,
that's been rectified a weaver at the moment, so you know,
it's it's going to probably finish finishing a good in
a good way, hopefully, Stu.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Stu low Off got with me, of course, what do
you do for the rest of the summer spray the
gorse and then go on holiday for two months?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Uh you Well, I've actually got a knee off in
the new year, so I'm sort of weound things down
because of that. So but yeah, probably on the bike
and trying to keep f and get furt.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, well good on you, and that the the knee
injury will be an old war wound from your rugby days.
You should be sending the ends.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Are you a bill for this?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
No, actually I think it's more farming related actually, so
it's just just wearing tear. So yeah, and a half
knee so hopefully alleviate a bit of pain and so
I can get back around the golf course.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Maybe good on you, Stu Duncan. What about you? How's
your farming here been?
Speaker 5 (07:53):
We've been pretty tough. Really, we were really dry. We
were good up to November last year got really dry
that affected to conceal rates and then we had a
horrid winter. Really we fed out more hay. I think
three thousand balls of hay we fed out this year
and use everything we had and including the grain, so
fed a lot out and then, like we've talked about before,
we got hammered in the rain and the snow. So
(08:15):
we'll be on thy fifteen hundred lambs down on our average,
but our crops we put a lot of crops in
or we just made a thousand bars of bails this
last week or ten days, so got lots of winter
feed in. And I've just been looking at the fire
bit looks outstanding and most of the kale and swedes
are up, so we've got a good start now. So
hopefully lambs like shoes got eight dollars and people have
(08:35):
been just starting to kill a wee few lambs and
the miniotato now and they've been healing really well, so
hopefully what the lambs we have got, we can pick
up the forty or fifty dollars on that, and the
cattle been really good. They've picked up in condition that
feeds come away for them. So hopefully we pull into
the next part. And there's a bit of demand for
store lambs as well, if you did have to sell
into them. And there's a lot of buyers around here
(08:56):
buy and store lambs just to make up some cash
flow that they've lost out in their lamb in They
seem to pretty general over the Minietola that the one's
well down, and then so that hopefully we come right
a bit. You know, Stulo has given us a bit
of hope because they've got rid of lamb you'll stayed up,
and that stayed up for us. So if we can
do the same follow one a couple of months after,
we'll be right too.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I hope it's Truelo, who's your egg person of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
You'll go on on Jacquelin Rowse theme. She can put
us down at all the farmers as her people of
the year. So I'd put all the people associated with
my farm, like the skinners, the crutching trailer boys, and
you know, contracts, years, stock agents, fat stock buyers and
track riders. All those fellows that you know, when they
(09:40):
turn up on time, everything runs smooth and just makes
your job so much better. So all the people that
you help speak with my situations are one man band
sort of thing. All those people that are just associated
that you just give them the thumbs up and thanks
and when they drive out the gate. So all those
sort of people, as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Oh that's a good shout out, you duncan.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Yeah, well I go. But finally that in the sense
that I think it's those young families and you know,
if you've been involved in sheep and beef, and I
know we've got a lot of young fairy farmers and
young families that start in the minnitartia and they'll be
involved with seating people probably the worst on eachill year
they're going to have in their lifetime. And they are
on the dog trials, they're liberating, they're running the bars
at the Rapier Club for the funerals, and they're on
(10:23):
the board of trustees and taking their kids to play
center in sports. So I think those young people that
are sticking with agriculture in pretty tough times and want
to make a real fist of it. Are going to
be fantastic leaders in the future because they're fantastic people now.
So I think all those young ones that feel that
they're not getting hurt and not getting to say though,
that they're the real inspiration the agriculture at the moment.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
All right, lads, thank you very much for your contribution
throughout twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
We'll catch you back next to you. Merry Christmas, very Christmas,
Jam and all your listeners
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