March 10, 2025 • 36 mins
Jamie Mackay talks to Wayne Langford, Peter Almond, Jerry Buttimer, Jo Luxton, Duncan Humm and Craig Hickman.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckue. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere machinery.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The buzz strive window, the team was hot and the
Crown was drive. The air was full of sound. I'm
in through the desert.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Name Get a New Zealand and Welcome to the Country.
It's brought to you by Brent. My name is Jamie McKay.
This is America Great Seventies band. A horse with no name.
While there's a horse in Mongolia called Stamina and it
was given to Winston when he was over there. And
our first guest on the show today, President of Federated Farmers,
Wayne Langford, was there as well. I wonder if he
(00:51):
got a horse. We're going to catch up. This is
a really interesting story. We've come across doctor where he's
an associate professor Peter Armond at Lincoln University. How to
get rid of CO two emissions or how to soak
up a bit of CO two? You put rock deposits
on pasture, but a basalt rock apparently sucks up all
(01:13):
the CO two? And climate change? What climate change? Will
talk about that? Joe Luxton's Labour's spokesperson for agriculture. Could
she be the next Minister of Agriculture? Do I have
to be nice to her? If Chippy Sleeps walks to
victory in twenty twenty six, the polls would indicate he's
in with a bit of a show. Earlier this morning,
I caught up with an Irish politician by the name
(01:34):
of Jerry Buttomer who was at the Rural Games over
the weekend with our agricultural ministers and Today's farmer Darren
Dairy and social media influencer panel Duncan Hum and Craig
Hickman dairy Man. But let's start it with Wayne Yolo
length and you only live once. You've been in Mongolia
(01:55):
with Winston tell us more.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Wayne, Yeah, Jerry, good to be here in You do
only live once. I got invited up to Mongolia for
a bit of a visit and ma'am, what an experience
and what a pretty amazing place that is up there.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I know a wee bit about Mongolia. I never been there,
been to child in China, which is next door, but
I know the Mongolian sharers have been coming over here.
In fact, I think Rabobank's been bringing them over for
the past few seasons teaching them how to share on
a handpiece because they used to share their sheep and
goats with scissors. Did you get any of that? Did
you see any of that?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I didn't see any of that. And the mainerism was
because it was still negative twenty one degrees when I
landed at the Atatair Airport, so very cold, and most
of the sheep had tucked up somewhere not wanting to
be shorn. But a classic example of how a New
Zealand can can help out a country like Mongolian and
have a bit of a relationship there because there are
(02:53):
some some big games to be made in their agriculture sector,
a sector that is really not really in com petision
with us, but something that we can help out of.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
The world's keshmire comes from Mongolia. Is a useful factoid
for you.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, we went to visit some of the leading keshmire
designers and processes there and that was a really interesting discussion. Interestingly,
they've got some of the same challenges that we do
around you know, the quality of their product, their emissions profiles,
and also around some of these anom activist groups, you know,
(03:28):
getting into what they're doing. So they shared some of
their concerns there, and then we talked about how we
could help along the way as well.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Now, as I said, haven't been to Mongolia, I've seen
a few Rambo movies. Looks a fairly barren sort of country.
I would have thought they would have been basically lower missions.
They're not. Are they intensive agriculture?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
No, very definitely not intensive agriculture. Know, you are still
very nomadic. You know, their grass really only growing for
forty five months of the year and the rest of
it that they remain quite tucked up and sheltered for
the rest of that time. And so we spent most
of our time around the capital city of El Lombarta,
which is pretty incredible to see just in itself. I mean,
(04:12):
I would have probably counted a hundred sky rise buildings
going up all at once. You know, it's in a
real boom vase and the country and the people are
working out how they keep up with it.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Really, how did you enjoy the Mongolian culture and food?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Beautiful, friendly, friendly people, which was fantastic. I mean I
think we were. I think you normally see that across
the world a lot less Russian than I thought a
much more kind of an Asian type dynamic, you know,
Toyota cars and this sort of thing, and more Western
type brands there. The kind of the Russian side that
stuck out was really in their in their language and
(04:51):
and and their pronunciation of some things. Yeah, every now
and then a little vetting as popped into popped them
into the conversation, which was which is interesting to hear.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
What was Winston doing there?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Winston was on a bit of a road I think
was with as far foreign if he is, uh had on.
He'd been to a number of countries, had been Ouble
to Saudi raver into China, and then he came into
Mongoli to have some meetings theres as well, so I
was able to join him for dinner and then and then,
as you mentioned, he got a horse at the end
of the day, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
He didn't bring it home though that it's still over there, right.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
No, that's right now, left it over there. I think
it was released. I think Trump got one as well,
so it was released out into the fields with Trump's falls.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
The PR Department that Federated Farmers wanted me to ask
you about your visit to KFC.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Yeah, well, I do like to try international delicacies around
the world, and and so I made sure I visited
the local KFC, which I'll report back was was good.
They drive, they're checking out a lot more over then
it's greasy, which which I think is the only going
to work on a little bit. But it's half the
price of New Zealand and the dryer is my feedback
could give.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
From me, Well, let's stick with that dry theme. You're
when you're at home, which is hardly ever these days,
to be honest, when you're at home, you're you're a
farmer in the Nelson region. They're Golden Golden Bay, isn't
it your farmer's yep?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So let me have a look at my drought map.
While I do that, I'm going to ask you how
are you getting on? Because a lot of the North
Islands officially in drought now, and I know that the
top part of the South Island is also getting dry.
How are you fearing?
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah, well, I don't want to really say this too loudly,
but we're having a bit of a bit of a
dream summer to be fair. Yeah, we had some pretty
lucky rains and it's kept the grass growing. I'm sureing
my way through a summer crop which I potentially probably
don't need to use at the moment, So I know
that's not what many of your listeners will probably want
to hear. But acknowledge those that are in the drought
(06:54):
and some of the drut acknowledgements that the government's made
and the ability for that to open up the lucks
of or sport trust and some other the other help
from banking and that sort of thing that comes with it.
So yeah, it's certainly tough around some parts of the
country at the moment. Hoping that the days getting a
bit shorter and the night's getting a bit cooler, that
ultimately will grab a bit of rain and we'll move
(07:16):
back on track.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
In no time.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
What are you going to do with all your money
this year from your dairy farm? Ten dollars payout? News
yesterday that the earnings guidance has gone from well it's
gone from forty to sixty cents to fifty five to
seventy five cents and they pay sixty to eighty percent
for full year earnings. And I did some back of
the envelope maths on that one, yolo. So your full
(07:40):
dividend for the year could be anything from thirty three
to sixty cents. If it's at the top end of that,
that's a good top up on top of ten bucks.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Considering where we were there a few years ago. It's
a massive turnaround and a credit to Miles and the
team around what they're doing. It's a he of a
result probably to not to the way that they've done it.
You know, they've they've gone about it quiet land, just
got on and got their business done and focus focused
on the small things one of the time. So yeah, no,
(08:10):
we certainly certainly won't be saying no to that. I know,
missus linkord Is. It's got our hands on that already,
so so yeah, we'll be uh, we'll be enjoying that.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
But most of all, premire, Okay, there's the final question
for you and done duck for cover. As a Fonterra farmer,
are you happy that they're selling the consumer brands? Still
a bit of controversy around that.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Well, yeah, the way I describe it is, you know
there's farmers out there that keep the old cow that
that you know, that was the old pet cow, and
they keep her along just kind of sentimental sake and
you know, and but less not as worried about performance maybe.
And then there's the other farm that that you know,
col's a bit heavior earlier on and you know it's
(08:51):
all driven financially. And so there's the two sides of
the argument on the s which side you want to
sit in? But you know, having you know, we bring
it back to Mongolia. You know, we want to think
that all of our all of our product goes and
sits on the top shelf of a supermarket somewhere around
the world. And I don't necessarily know that that's the case.
You know, you know, Sorr, I know that's not the case.
(09:11):
You know, so much of our product now as in.
Speaker 7 (09:17):
The ingredient space.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
So you know, how much do we continue to invest
in those brands to keep them up to scratch and
to keep them competing with others. That's that's a challenging conversation.
So I was sitting on the fence, but I'm certainly
leaning one one way more than the other.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Now you've still got a bit of a pick it
up your backside. Length of President of Federated Farmer is
always good to catch.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Up on the country, always great cheer Jamie.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
There we go.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
What a character. The President of Federated Farmer's Wayne a
length that you only live once Onengali, a fascinating country.
Up next, this is a fascinating story. So we're going
to combat climate change by putting rock onto a We're
doing a trial down and set Southland. Apparently are going
to chuck some rock on a pasture in the middle
(10:05):
of Southland and it's going to solve climate change. How
all that works? Next with doctor Peter Ahmond from Lincoln University.
You see a then do that honors. So we have
(10:27):
committed to being met zero by twenty fifty. How are
we going to get there? Well, Lincoln University has a
good idea. Rather than planting forests and reducing the amount
of productive farming land available, Lincoln University's rock weathering research
aims to absorb CO two while not inhibiting our agricultural production.
(10:49):
And they're going to do it by putting rock on pasture.
How does this work? Let's ask doctor Peter Ahmond, Associate
Professor of Soil and Physical Size Science. Should I say
at Lincoln and you're about to start a new trial
next week in Southland?
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Peter Good afternoon, Yes we are, Jamie, thanks for having
me on your program. Yes, we're starting our trial next
week and essentially what we're going to be doing is
applying crushed rock and crushed basalt source from a quarry
in Dunedin to pasture land in Utahuti in Southland, and
(11:27):
over the next few years measuring the amount of carbon
dioxide that is absorbed by the weathering of that material.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
So how do we know, I mean, there's obviously scientific
proof that weathering basalt rock reduces CO two emissions or
absorbed CO two. How does that work?
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Well, it is quite simple thing. Fortunately. It's when CO
two dissolves in water in the atmosphere, water, vapor and rain,
it produces an acid, carbonic acid, it's called it's the
same sort of acid that you get and soft drinks
and sparkling water, and it reacts with minerals within rocks,
(12:07):
and the carbon dioxide that's dissolved into the water ends
up remaining in the water as another chemical form called bicarbonate,
and the bicarbonate leaches off the land, accompanied by some
of the rock weathering products and ends up in the ocean.
Is a very long term and one hundred thousand year
(12:29):
store of carbon dioxide.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Is this like the silver bullet the Eldorado to fight
climate change? Potentially?
Speaker 6 (12:37):
No, No, it is just one tool in the toolbox.
Speaker 8 (12:41):
Really, it.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
Can probably We've done some of the numbers and I
think conservatively it might be able to pull about four
million tons of carbon dioxide or the atmosphere in New Zealand,
depending on how widespread it is. And that's you know,
that's in the context of a budget of something like
(13:04):
eighty million tons or I would say net sixty million
tons from New Zealand emission. So it's part of it's
part of the solution.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Will there be any pollution is shoes? You talk about
this stuff going into our waterways eventually being a carbon
sink in the ocean. There must be negatives to that.
Speaker 6 (13:21):
Potentially the best rock for this technology is volcanic rocks
like basalt. They're quite reactive, the minerals weather quickly and
this process is sped up relative if we used other
common rocks, say like gray wacky, which our mountains are
made out of. But yes, basalt can have some contaminants
(13:44):
like chromium and nickel in it, but generally the calculations
we show the bit. It's a long time before those
contaminants build up to any toxic levels and soils and
they're quite strongly fixed, so we don't expect them to
be leaching into our waterways.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
In terms of the trial on the Southland farm you
mentioned Otahuti, I know Southland reasonably, well, I'm the born
and bred Southlander. Well, it's got to be a dairy
farm around that area.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
No, it's actually a sheep farm.
Speaker 9 (14:17):
And we had.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
A research project on the farm previously and we were
looking specifically at the drainage network in the farm and
the quality of the water that was coming out of
the drains, and then we realized after we instrumented a
catchment had a lot of infrastructure in the ground that
there was the ideal set up to investigate in Haltthrock
(14:44):
weathering because one of the best ways of quantifying the
amount of CO two being sucked out of the atmosphere
is to look at the chemistry of the water coming
out of the landscape. So we had all the we
had tile drains monitored with flow meters and auto samplers
to take water and allow us to do the chemistry
(15:05):
on it. So that's why we stuck on this particular farm,
very co operative landowner and ideal set up for our experiments.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So this trial begins I think next week. How long
until you get some sort of meaningful data in terms
of a result.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
It's a really good question, and not one I can
give the answer to. It's really it's part of the experiment.
We've been monitoring the water now really solidly for a
year up to the point that we apply the rock,
and so we've got a good baseline, a very accurate baseline.
So I'm hoping that we will be able to detect
(15:47):
the change. And I don't know. If I had to
put money on, I'd say within maybe within a couple
of years. If something's going to happen, we should be
seeing it by then.
Speaker 7 (15:57):
So there you go, A.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Field scale experiment putting crushed basalt rock on pastures to
reduce CO two emissions. Exciting. We'll keep an eye on
this one. Doctor Peter Armond out of Lincoln University, Associate
Professor of Soil and Physical Science, Thanks for your time
today in the country. I've learned something.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
It was a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Thank you, James, Thank you, Peter. It is twenty six
half the twelve you're with the Country. It's brought to
you by Brandt breaking news. One of the school lunch
providers has gone broke. Jeez, it only goes from bad
to worse for Prime Minister Luxe and he'll be on
the show. This is America, by the way, where Winston
(16:39):
is heading later this week. In fact, on Thursday, we're
going to catch him before he jumps on the plane
for his meeting with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
What a mess the States is in at the moment.
But up next from a United States of America to Ireland.
An Irish politician has been in the country. He was
at the rural game up and Over during the weekend.
(17:04):
Jerry Buttom is his name. I caught up with him
a weebit earlier this morning before the end of the hour.
Duncan Hum and Craig Hickman our Farmer panel and Joe Luxton.
Could she be the next Minister of Agriculture? Do we
have to be nice to her? That's all before the
end of the hour on the Country, you can swim
(17:34):
Rural Games in Palmerston, North up and over the weekend.
Rowena Duncan was there representing the country and she ran
into this guy. His name is Jerry Buttemer. He is
the Minister of State at the Department of Rural and
Community Development. That's a big title, isn't it. But he's
basically an Irish politician. He was there wandering around with
Mark Patterson, Todd McLay and Andrew Hoggard. Are welcome to
(17:57):
the country our radio show. Welcome to the country, Jerry,
what do you make of New Zealand agriculture.
Speaker 8 (18:03):
It's absolutely fantastic to be here, and thank you to
having on the program and congratulations to all involved in
the Rural Games and Saturday Sunday in Parmiston not We
had a fantastic time. It really made me feel at home.
It was a typical Irish agricultural source. We call them
a field day as well at home. And I suppose
for me as a city deveeller but grew up on
(18:25):
a farm with my grandparents' farm. It reinforces the common
and the similar value that we have with you and
the importance of parish and the in the importance of
country community and of our farming and an aguarian society.
And let me just give your listeners a small bit
of stupid statistics if I can, we have four point
(18:46):
five million acres hea acres of agricultural land, eight hundred
thousand hectarees of forestry, one hundred and thirty three thousand farms,
and you know, one hundred and seventy one thousand people
involved in in agriculture and the farming sector you know workforce.
So that just shows you the importance towards the farming
(19:06):
and the agri food sector. And it's great to be
here and you know, it's wonderful to have the reception
to engage with your three ministers last weekend and again
this week. It just shows you that we have a
lot of similarity as countries.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Irish farmers facing and I know the answer to this one,
but are they facing the same problems if you want,
regarding a missions profile, Because when it comes to agricultural nations,
you're one of the most similar ones to.
Speaker 8 (19:32):
Us, absolutely, and farmers are concerned about, you know, the
imposition as they see it in some cases on them
around climate change. And we spent the morning in Wellington
today with Fronterra just discussing many different issues around that.
But the NITROS directive in Europe is a big challenge
for our farmers who have embraced change, who have made
(19:55):
you know, farming different and in a globalized world, we
must look at how the sector can move forward in
a dynamic and innovative way, embracing change yet being true
to the values that farmers have in terms of the
quality of the product they care, they have for their animals,
and the pride they have in whether it's deeper sucker
(20:15):
or shape or tillage sector that we can make sure
that they are in a world that is you know,
looking to the challenges, accepting that we must embrace the
need to do things differently. And I will always make
the point and our government's policy is farmers cannot go green,
diff in the red. And that's why I think Ireland
(20:36):
and New Zealand have very similar attitudes, the very similar
ways of you know, walking the land together. We as
a country case huge pride about what we do, but
we also learn from you, for example, the whole area
of retention of young farmers and young people keeping farming
as a career. Very proud of the fact that you know,
Minister's Patterson hovered and maclay met with us and was
(21:01):
this week because it just shows the importance of strength
of partnerships.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Hey, Jerry, look, I could chat to you all day.
Love that Irish accent. By the way, looking forward to
Saint Patty's Day on Monday. I know you've got another
meeting to run to and Wellington. Thanks for some of
your time. Thanks for fronting up at the Rural Games.
They tell me you were a bit of a hit
with the fans.
Speaker 8 (21:19):
Good well, can I just say it was a fantastic
event and as we see our Benettina follow the glare
happy send Patia.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
To all of your listeners.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
I was only dure on Maurie screamingum others.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, I caught up with Jerry Weave it earlier this morning.
I had no idea what that last, but meant it
was something to do with Saint Patrick's Day. Anyhow, it
was good to catch up with them. Some of your
feedback coming in and I remiss of me not to
ask Dr Peter Armand this question, Robbie. You're such a
sharp you're one of the sharpest knights on the drawer. Robbie,
(21:52):
how many kilograms of rock the heck there would you
need to spread for this trial. We'll try and find
that out before the end of the air, Michelle's gone
to chase them down. He's not looking that enthusiastic about
the job, but it's your job. Before the end of
the air, a ring up Professor Armond and find out
that answer. Here's another one, Jamie, So pasture competes with
(22:13):
crushed rock crackpot idea to cope with the crackpot approach
to climate change, says Don, he's a good one. What
about research looking into how much CO two pasture absorbs.
It's called photosynthesis and that is a very fair point.
And we talked about that last week. Didn't we soil
(22:36):
and grass sequester carbon. Farmers a carbon positive. They're not
climate vandals. Okay. Up next to the latest and rural
news and sports news before the end of the hour
Joe Luxton and our Farmer panel. A dairy farmer, a
deer farmer, and they're both social media media influences. Duncan Hummond,
(22:57):
Craig Dairyman Hickman.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Podcast.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh, turn your headphones down, Welcome back, Welcome the very sensitive,
Welcome back to the country. Thank goodness for Irish translators.
Morgan Green from Northern South and Veterinary Services. Thanks for listening. Morgan,
and thanks for translating the last bit that Jerry Buttamer
(23:30):
said and Galic obviously meant, may we be alive this
time next year. Thank you well, Thank you Morgan, and
thank you Jerry for those kind words. Here's Michelle with
the latest and Rural News, The.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Country's world news with cob Canet New Zealand's leading right
on lawn Bower brands a steel for dot co dot
NC for your local stockist.
Speaker 10 (23:55):
Opportunities to perform dental procedures are opening wide for vet nurses.
Associate Agricultural Minister Andrew Hoggart is changing the rules to
let skilled vet nurses do dental work on cats and
dogs from April tenth. He says the practice was allowed
before twenty twenty one, but changed by the last government.
Hoggard says it will free up vets to focus on
(24:15):
other patients, meaning faster treatments and better animal health and
that your rural news. You can find more at the Country,
dot Co, dot nzet.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Sport with an Athco Kiwi to the Bone. Since nineteen oh.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Four, franchise Globe trotters Fin Allen, Jimmy Nisham and Tim
Seiffert will return to the black Caps for the home
T twenty series against Pakistan starting on Sunday. Looking forward
to that. The All Whites have made just one change
to their squad for the final stage of the Oceania
qualifiers for next year's Football World Cup. Defender Finn Sermon
(24:51):
won't feature after the recently earning a starting spot with
Major League Soccer side the Portland Timbers. His spot is
claimed by Auckland FA se Ford, Jesse Randall and Newcastle
have pulled level with fifth fifth placed Manchester City and
Football's Premier League after a one nil win at west Ham.
(25:14):
That is your sports news. Up next, Joe Luxton. Could
she be the next Minister of Agriculture?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
You're going to go?
Speaker 6 (25:30):
Did she?
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Recasts of the.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Joe Luxton as Labour's agriculture spokesperson. Joe, I better be
nice to you because the way the polls are going,
Chippy might sleep walk to victory and you might be
the next Minister of Agriculture.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
You're always nice to me. I don't think there's a
time when you haven't been nice to me. But the polls,
ye are they are at the stage looking nothing good
for us, But you know there's still a heck of
a lot of work to do in I think it's
just a signal from the country that they're not actually
happy with what the current government is doing. They've said
that they will have a laser sharp focus on the
(26:14):
cost of living for people, and I just don't think
that people are feeling that in their back pocket yet.
So it's just a signal that people aren't happy with
what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yeah, I think they've got eighteen months to turn the
economy around and that will ultimately be the decider. Look,
if you are going to be hypothetically the next Minister
of Agriculture, Joe, where's your egg egg policy? I've seen
nothing from you. No.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
You remind me of a child that sits in the
back seat saying, Mom, Dad, are we there yet? Are
we there yet? And the reason I say that is
you are all the time. I'm not sure that you
were there.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Well, you could come up with some egg policy, Joe.
You could come up with some egg policy and shut
me out.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Don't think that you were that hard care with the
nets when they were in his opposition. But if you
head happen to listen to Chris's State of the Nation's speech,
I'm sure. You were glued to that on Friday, saying
that you will hear some policy announcements from us in
the second half of this year and so you're just
(27:14):
going to have to be patient and wait and see. Jamie.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Maybe the best policy for the Labor parties just to
shut up and do nothing.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
No, absolutely not, you know, definitely not.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Okay, Joe Chippy's a bit of a centrist and well,
you know, there's a few people on the Labor Party
I like, I could, I had a pinch, I could
live with the Labor government, I think, But really do
I want to be governed by Tapathi Maori and the
Greens minus James Shaw.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
The thing with the elections, it's not just going to
be act to you, Jamie.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
No, but on one vote. I'm just saying you and
I probably reflect a lot of people in rural New Zealand.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
I think there's a couple of things, you know. I
think the Say of the Nation speech that Chris gave
on Friday, they have a really clear indication and I
hope that some listeners, you know, will take camp for
it from it. When he said that when we are
next in government, we will look at the policies and
things that are in place, and just because they were
(28:13):
put in place by a previous government doesn't mean we'll
throw them. If they are working for the electorate, then
why would we. So I hope that you know, your
listeners take some comfort in it that we wouldn't just
come in and scrap everything and throw it out something
for the sake of it. And I would just encourage
people if they have concerns around who might form coalition,
well then just vote for labor.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
All right, let's move on the gene tech bill. You've
been speaking out against that, Joe Luxton. Then this is
quite a tough one because a lot of people are
sitting on the fence on this one. There's definite benefits
and it's buyer beware on the other side.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Yeah, I'm not actually against the bill per se. I mean,
I definitely think it's time, you know, we heard the
conversation as a country around it. The concerns that I've
been hearing from an agricultural sect who have been mostly
around the lack of financial scrutiny. You know, who's going
to be the cost of what are people going to
(29:09):
have to pay to prove that they are not using
ge you know, when they want to sell their product,
is it going to have trade implications? And there's just
a really huge consume that there just hasn't been enough
analysis or consultation done prior. And I know that some
of the larger stakeholder reps into the organizations they asked
(29:31):
for it to just be extended a little bit longer,
so there was an opportunity force some more consultation and
the chair of the select committee declined that.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Just finally you've moved. You've moved from mid Canterbury effectively
where you were the local MP up until twenty twenty three,
to Gisbone. You've gone home.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Yeah, I've gone home. I grew up in Gazie and
such a beautiful place and we don't have any children
living at home more so we just made the decision that,
you know, we'll go home and spend a bit of
time there and a change of scenery and it's just
a beautiful place and why wouldn't you want to be there?
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Are you going to stand in the East Coast electorate
against National's Dana Dana I think that's how she says it, Kirkpatrick.
She's a strong local candidate.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Yeah, well, our party goes through a process to choose candidates.
You know, when the time comes in, you and I
will certainly be putting my hat in the ring to
hopefully be chosen. There's a successful candidate to go into
the twenty twenty sixth selection here, well.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Wait with bated breath for that one, all right, Joe
Luxton always good to catch up. We don't always agree,
but thanks for fronting up and I do enjoy your
company on the country.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Hey, thank you Gamy.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
And we're looking at all the life there.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
We'll plan okay, wrapping the country with the farmer panel
once a day farmer. One's a dairy farmer. What's the
dairy farmer going to do with all his money this year?
And they're both social media influencers Duncan Hum from n
Z Farming Facebook page and Craig Dairyman Hickman, star of
the Small Stage and YouTube. Is that about right for you?
(31:17):
Dairy man?
Speaker 9 (31:19):
TikTok, I'm not oktok.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Sorry, well TikTok? Is TikTok the most effective channel? Because
I'm a bit dumb when it comes to social media?
Michelle does all that for us? Is that the most
effective medium or media to reach the rural community on.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
THEE. They do seem to be plenty of farmers on
there there. There are a lot of new dealanders on there.
It's certainly more effective than than Twitter is now.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Well Twitter used to have a great rural community. I'm
still lot and I'm probably well behind the times, but
I still I still am informed by a lot of
the commentary on there. What do you reckon? Duncan hum?
Of course you'll go to bat for Facebook?
Speaker 7 (32:02):
Well, I guess like Instagram is proviously my favorite of
the lot, to be honest, and you don't really get
into TikTok much. But and yeah, I don't mind Twitter
at all either. Actually, you know, like you say, for
some pretty smart roosters from the New Zealand rural community
in there that are still having some good conversations. So yeah,
(32:23):
it can't go wrong.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Now you've been putting in the putting the boat into
our beloved prime minister on the NZED Farming Facebook page.
Speaker 7 (32:30):
Well, someone's got to keep the mines, don't they.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
So what you threw it up there? Should he be replaced?
What was the answer you got?
Speaker 7 (32:39):
I think it was the few people that were still
a bit stunned at the thought of the prospect, and
a few that thought that was quite a threatening thing
to suggest, because somehow that would make us have a
labor lead government next. But yeah, on the whole, Yeah,
there's definitely an apetite to change.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
History would suggest if you place replace later before an
election or all. Bit, we're eighteen months, twenty months out
whatever from an election, you will lose the election.
Speaker 7 (33:08):
I think as National keep going the way they're going
to based on the mood of the people, that's probably
what we'll get.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
So what are you finding on social media? Craig Hickman.
Speaker 9 (33:21):
A lot of the satisfaction with the mainly the Coalition
government to be their David Seymour seems to be propping
a lot of flat and while I am no Winston
Peters fanboy, I was pretty impressed with the diplomacy with
which he handled the Chinese warships off our coast. So yeah,
(33:43):
most of the satisfaction I'm seeing and hearing about the
Coalition government keeps tends to stem from act rather than
National themselves.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Yeah, and I think Winston acted very decisively around Phil Goff.
No messing around it all. Okay, So back to farming here.
Dearie man, what are you going to do with all
your money this year? Ten dollars payout? Are your dividends
going to be somewhere between thirty three and sixty cents?
It's getting up there, and it's tax paid.
Speaker 9 (34:08):
Apparently we're not the only sector I've Beef prices are
holding up well above spring levels. I spent my empty
heapers off to the cell.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:20):
I actually I had a freezing steer hanging around. I've
seen Tamoga a couple of weeks ago, early old freezing
steer two and a half thousand dollars zing. Complain about
beef prices like that?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Can you are you going to convert the deer farm
to a beef farm? Duncan hum, Well, we might.
Speaker 7 (34:37):
Be in an expansion mode slightly soon, but some some
beef in the system would be quite good. But I
think we'll stick with the deer on the whole.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Well, the prospects for beef, and we had Gen Cochran
from Rabobank on the show yesterday, are looking good for
the next three to four years.
Speaker 9 (34:53):
It's not a bad bet, fantastic. I'm looking looking forward
to seeing a contract from my beef cabs. We will
be certainly holding out for top dollar for those.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Also on yesterday's show, we had Dave Williams. I don't
know if you guys know him, Mid Canterbury mixed cropping farmer.
You guys are both based in mid Canterbury. Obviously pastoral
farmers like you guys are having a great season. Not
so good for the arable and cropping farmers who are
trying to get trying to ripen crops for harvest.
Speaker 9 (35:23):
Yeah, very nas you flow on effect, because we need
both guys to get their crops off and get their
green feeding so I can send my cows somewhere for
the winter.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:33):
And Duncan Yeah, no, definitely, Yeah, No, certainly a lot
of people grinding away doing the hard yards, trying to
get some stuff in silos and I guess the big
one like getting straw baled and all those sorts of
things that yeah, like Craig says, yeah, just that knock
on effects for winter feed and whatnot as well. Yeah,
(35:54):
but yeah, like you say, can't complain this year for us. Yeah,
more grass we know what to do with.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
And dairy man, final word from you. You won't even
needed to turn the irrigators on. Between your ten dollar payout,
your big dividend and no irrigation costs, you really will
owe me a bear if you turn up at the
South Island Dairy event. I've got ten seconds just say yes.
Speaker 9 (36:16):
Funny you can say that I just turned the ire
agos off last week and I think they might be
packed up for the season if we get this rain
tomorrow like its Wourkat.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
All right, lads, thank you very much the Mid Canterbury
Farmer Panel turn my own microphone off, A deer farmer,
a dairy farmer, both social media influencers. Will catch you
back tomorrow with sid PM.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Catch you are the latest from the land. It's the
Country Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks to Brent You're specialist
in John Dere construction equipment.
Catch all the latest from the land. It's the Country
Podcast with Jamie mckue. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere machinery.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The buzz strive window, the team was hot and the
Crown was drive. The air was full of sound. I'm
in through the desert.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Name Get a New Zealand and Welcome to the Country.
It's brought to you by Brent. My name is Jamie McKay.
This is America Great Seventies band. A horse with no name.
While there's a horse in Mongolia called Stamina and it
was given to Winston when he was over there. And
our first guest on the show today, President of Federated Farmers,
Wayne Langford, was there as well. I wonder if he
(00:51):
got a horse. We're going to catch up. This is
a really interesting story. We've come across doctor where he's
an associate professor Peter Armond at Lincoln University. How to
get rid of CO two emissions or how to soak
up a bit of CO two? You put rock deposits
on pasture, but a basalt rock apparently sucks up all
(01:13):
the CO two? And climate change? What climate change? Will
talk about that? Joe Luxton's Labour's spokesperson for agriculture. Could
she be the next Minister of Agriculture? Do I have
to be nice to her? If Chippy Sleeps walks to
victory in twenty twenty six, the polls would indicate he's
in with a bit of a show. Earlier this morning,
I caught up with an Irish politician by the name
(01:34):
of Jerry Buttomer who was at the Rural Games over
the weekend with our agricultural ministers and Today's farmer Darren
Dairy and social media influencer panel Duncan Hum and Craig
Hickman dairy Man. But let's start it with Wayne Yolo
length and you only live once. You've been in Mongolia
(01:55):
with Winston tell us more.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Wayne, Yeah, Jerry, good to be here in You do
only live once. I got invited up to Mongolia for
a bit of a visit and ma'am, what an experience
and what a pretty amazing place that is up there.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I know a wee bit about Mongolia. I never been there,
been to child in China, which is next door, but
I know the Mongolian sharers have been coming over here.
In fact, I think Rabobank's been bringing them over for
the past few seasons teaching them how to share on
a handpiece because they used to share their sheep and
goats with scissors. Did you get any of that? Did
you see any of that?
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I didn't see any of that. And the mainerism was
because it was still negative twenty one degrees when I
landed at the Atatair Airport, so very cold, and most
of the sheep had tucked up somewhere not wanting to
be shorn. But a classic example of how a New
Zealand can can help out a country like Mongolian and
have a bit of a relationship there because there are
(02:53):
some some big games to be made in their agriculture sector,
a sector that is really not really in com petision
with us, but something that we can help out of.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
The world's keshmire comes from Mongolia. Is a useful factoid
for you.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, we went to visit some of the leading keshmire
designers and processes there and that was a really interesting discussion. Interestingly,
they've got some of the same challenges that we do
around you know, the quality of their product, their emissions profiles,
and also around some of these anom activist groups, you know,
(03:28):
getting into what they're doing. So they shared some of
their concerns there, and then we talked about how we
could help along the way as well.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Now, as I said, haven't been to Mongolia, I've seen
a few Rambo movies. Looks a fairly barren sort of country.
I would have thought they would have been basically lower missions.
They're not. Are they intensive agriculture?
Speaker 4 (03:49):
No, very definitely not intensive agriculture. Know, you are still
very nomadic. You know, their grass really only growing for
forty five months of the year and the rest of
it that they remain quite tucked up and sheltered for
the rest of that time. And so we spent most
of our time around the capital city of El Lombarta,
which is pretty incredible to see just in itself. I mean,
(04:12):
I would have probably counted a hundred sky rise buildings
going up all at once. You know, it's in a
real boom vase and the country and the people are
working out how they keep up with it.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Really, how did you enjoy the Mongolian culture and food?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Beautiful, friendly, friendly people, which was fantastic. I mean I
think we were. I think you normally see that across
the world a lot less Russian than I thought a
much more kind of an Asian type dynamic, you know,
Toyota cars and this sort of thing, and more Western
type brands there. The kind of the Russian side that
stuck out was really in their in their language and
(04:51):
and and their pronunciation of some things. Yeah, every now
and then a little vetting as popped into popped them
into the conversation, which was which is interesting to hear.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
What was Winston doing there?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Winston was on a bit of a road I think
was with as far foreign if he is, uh had on.
He'd been to a number of countries, had been Ouble
to Saudi raver into China, and then he came into
Mongoli to have some meetings theres as well, so I
was able to join him for dinner and then and then,
as you mentioned, he got a horse at the end
of the day, which was pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
He didn't bring it home though that it's still over there, right.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
No, that's right now, left it over there. I think
it was released. I think Trump got one as well,
so it was released out into the fields with Trump's falls.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
The PR Department that Federated Farmers wanted me to ask
you about your visit to KFC.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Yeah, well, I do like to try international delicacies around
the world, and and so I made sure I visited
the local KFC, which I'll report back was was good.
They drive, they're checking out a lot more over then
it's greasy, which which I think is the only going
to work on a little bit. But it's half the
price of New Zealand and the dryer is my feedback
could give.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
From me, Well, let's stick with that dry theme. You're
when you're at home, which is hardly ever these days,
to be honest, when you're at home, you're you're a
farmer in the Nelson region. They're Golden Golden Bay, isn't
it your farmer's yep?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So let me have a look at my drought map.
While I do that, I'm going to ask you how
are you getting on? Because a lot of the North
Islands officially in drought now, and I know that the
top part of the South Island is also getting dry.
How are you fearing?
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah, well, I don't want to really say this too loudly,
but we're having a bit of a bit of a
dream summer to be fair. Yeah, we had some pretty
lucky rains and it's kept the grass growing. I'm sureing
my way through a summer crop which I potentially probably
don't need to use at the moment, So I know
that's not what many of your listeners will probably want
to hear. But acknowledge those that are in the drought
(06:54):
and some of the drut acknowledgements that the government's made
and the ability for that to open up the lucks
of or sport trust and some other the other help
from banking and that sort of thing that comes with it.
So yeah, it's certainly tough around some parts of the
country at the moment. Hoping that the days getting a
bit shorter and the night's getting a bit cooler, that
ultimately will grab a bit of rain and we'll move
(07:16):
back on track.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
In no time.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
What are you going to do with all your money
this year from your dairy farm? Ten dollars payout? News
yesterday that the earnings guidance has gone from well it's
gone from forty to sixty cents to fifty five to
seventy five cents and they pay sixty to eighty percent
for full year earnings. And I did some back of
the envelope maths on that one, yolo. So your full
(07:40):
dividend for the year could be anything from thirty three
to sixty cents. If it's at the top end of that,
that's a good top up on top of ten bucks.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Considering where we were there a few years ago. It's
a massive turnaround and a credit to Miles and the
team around what they're doing. It's a he of a
result probably to not to the way that they've done it.
You know, they've they've gone about it quiet land, just
got on and got their business done and focus focused
on the small things one of the time. So yeah, no,
(08:10):
we certainly certainly won't be saying no to that. I know,
missus linkord Is. It's got our hands on that already,
so so yeah, we'll be uh, we'll be enjoying that.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
But most of all, premire, Okay, there's the final question
for you and done duck for cover. As a Fonterra farmer,
are you happy that they're selling the consumer brands? Still
a bit of controversy around that.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Well, yeah, the way I describe it is, you know
there's farmers out there that keep the old cow that
that you know, that was the old pet cow, and
they keep her along just kind of sentimental sake and
you know, and but less not as worried about performance maybe.
And then there's the other farm that that you know,
col's a bit heavior earlier on and you know it's
(08:51):
all driven financially. And so there's the two sides of
the argument on the s which side you want to
sit in? But you know, having you know, we bring
it back to Mongolia. You know, we want to think
that all of our all of our product goes and
sits on the top shelf of a supermarket somewhere around
the world. And I don't necessarily know that that's the case.
You know, you know, Sorr, I know that's not the case.
(09:11):
You know, so much of our product now as in.
Speaker 7 (09:17):
The ingredient space.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
So you know, how much do we continue to invest
in those brands to keep them up to scratch and
to keep them competing with others. That's that's a challenging conversation.
So I was sitting on the fence, but I'm certainly
leaning one one way more than the other.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
Now you've still got a bit of a pick it
up your backside. Length of President of Federated Farmer is
always good to catch.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Up on the country, always great cheer Jamie.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
There we go.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
What a character. The President of Federated Farmer's Wayne a
length that you only live once Onengali, a fascinating country.
Up next, this is a fascinating story. So we're going
to combat climate change by putting rock onto a We're
doing a trial down and set Southland. Apparently are going
to chuck some rock on a pasture in the middle
(10:05):
of Southland and it's going to solve climate change. How
all that works? Next with doctor Peter Ahmond from Lincoln University.
You see a then do that honors. So we have
(10:27):
committed to being met zero by twenty fifty. How are
we going to get there? Well, Lincoln University has a
good idea. Rather than planting forests and reducing the amount
of productive farming land available, Lincoln University's rock weathering research
aims to absorb CO two while not inhibiting our agricultural production.
(10:49):
And they're going to do it by putting rock on pasture.
How does this work? Let's ask doctor Peter Ahmond, Associate
Professor of Soil and Physical Size Science. Should I say
at Lincoln and you're about to start a new trial
next week in Southland?
Speaker 6 (11:05):
Peter Good afternoon, Yes we are, Jamie, thanks for having
me on your program. Yes, we're starting our trial next
week and essentially what we're going to be doing is
applying crushed rock and crushed basalt source from a quarry
in Dunedin to pasture land in Utahuti in Southland, and
(11:27):
over the next few years measuring the amount of carbon
dioxide that is absorbed by the weathering of that material.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
So how do we know, I mean, there's obviously scientific
proof that weathering basalt rock reduces CO two emissions or
absorbed CO two. How does that work?
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Well, it is quite simple thing. Fortunately. It's when CO
two dissolves in water in the atmosphere, water, vapor and rain,
it produces an acid, carbonic acid, it's called it's the
same sort of acid that you get and soft drinks
and sparkling water, and it reacts with minerals within rocks,
(12:07):
and the carbon dioxide that's dissolved into the water ends
up remaining in the water as another chemical form called bicarbonate,
and the bicarbonate leaches off the land, accompanied by some
of the rock weathering products and ends up in the ocean.
Is a very long term and one hundred thousand year
(12:29):
store of carbon dioxide.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Is this like the silver bullet the Eldorado to fight
climate change? Potentially?
Speaker 6 (12:37):
No, No, it is just one tool in the toolbox.
Speaker 8 (12:41):
Really, it.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
Can probably We've done some of the numbers and I
think conservatively it might be able to pull about four
million tons of carbon dioxide or the atmosphere in New Zealand,
depending on how widespread it is. And that's you know,
that's in the context of a budget of something like
(13:04):
eighty million tons or I would say net sixty million
tons from New Zealand emission. So it's part of it's
part of the solution.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Will there be any pollution is shoes? You talk about
this stuff going into our waterways eventually being a carbon
sink in the ocean. There must be negatives to that.
Speaker 6 (13:21):
Potentially the best rock for this technology is volcanic rocks
like basalt. They're quite reactive, the minerals weather quickly and
this process is sped up relative if we used other
common rocks, say like gray wacky, which our mountains are
made out of. But yes, basalt can have some contaminants
(13:44):
like chromium and nickel in it, but generally the calculations
we show the bit. It's a long time before those
contaminants build up to any toxic levels and soils and
they're quite strongly fixed, so we don't expect them to
be leaching into our waterways.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
In terms of the trial on the Southland farm you
mentioned Otahuti, I know Southland reasonably, well, I'm the born
and bred Southlander. Well, it's got to be a dairy
farm around that area.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
No, it's actually a sheep farm.
Speaker 9 (14:17):
And we had.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
A research project on the farm previously and we were
looking specifically at the drainage network in the farm and
the quality of the water that was coming out of
the drains, and then we realized after we instrumented a
catchment had a lot of infrastructure in the ground that
there was the ideal set up to investigate in Haltthrock
(14:44):
weathering because one of the best ways of quantifying the
amount of CO two being sucked out of the atmosphere
is to look at the chemistry of the water coming
out of the landscape. So we had all the we
had tile drains monitored with flow meters and auto samplers
to take water and allow us to do the chemistry
(15:05):
on it. So that's why we stuck on this particular farm,
very co operative landowner and ideal set up for our experiments.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So this trial begins I think next week. How long
until you get some sort of meaningful data in terms
of a result.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
It's a really good question, and not one I can
give the answer to. It's really it's part of the experiment.
We've been monitoring the water now really solidly for a
year up to the point that we apply the rock,
and so we've got a good baseline, a very accurate baseline.
So I'm hoping that we will be able to detect
(15:47):
the change. And I don't know. If I had to
put money on, I'd say within maybe within a couple
of years. If something's going to happen, we should be
seeing it by then.
Speaker 7 (15:57):
So there you go, A.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Field scale experiment putting crushed basalt rock on pastures to
reduce CO two emissions. Exciting. We'll keep an eye on
this one. Doctor Peter Armond out of Lincoln University, Associate
Professor of Soil and Physical Science, Thanks for your time
today in the country. I've learned something.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
It was a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Thank you, James, Thank you, Peter. It is twenty six
half the twelve you're with the Country. It's brought to
you by Brandt breaking news. One of the school lunch
providers has gone broke. Jeez, it only goes from bad
to worse for Prime Minister Luxe and he'll be on
the show. This is America, by the way, where Winston
(16:39):
is heading later this week. In fact, on Thursday, we're
going to catch him before he jumps on the plane
for his meeting with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
What a mess the States is in at the moment.
But up next from a United States of America to Ireland.
An Irish politician has been in the country. He was
at the rural game up and Over during the weekend.
(17:04):
Jerry Buttom is his name. I caught up with him
a weebit earlier this morning before the end of the hour.
Duncan Hum and Craig Hickman our Farmer panel and Joe Luxton.
Could she be the next Minister of Agriculture? Do we
have to be nice to her? That's all before the
end of the hour on the Country, you can swim
(17:34):
Rural Games in Palmerston, North up and over the weekend.
Rowena Duncan was there representing the country and she ran
into this guy. His name is Jerry Buttemer. He is
the Minister of State at the Department of Rural and
Community Development. That's a big title, isn't it. But he's
basically an Irish politician. He was there wandering around with
Mark Patterson, Todd McLay and Andrew Hoggard. Are welcome to
(17:57):
the country our radio show. Welcome to the country, Jerry,
what do you make of New Zealand agriculture.
Speaker 8 (18:03):
It's absolutely fantastic to be here, and thank you to
having on the program and congratulations to all involved in
the Rural Games and Saturday Sunday in Parmiston not We
had a fantastic time. It really made me feel at home.
It was a typical Irish agricultural source. We call them
a field day as well at home. And I suppose
for me as a city deveeller but grew up on
(18:25):
a farm with my grandparents' farm. It reinforces the common
and the similar value that we have with you and
the importance of parish and the in the importance of
country community and of our farming and an aguarian society.
And let me just give your listeners a small bit
of stupid statistics if I can, we have four point
(18:46):
five million acres hea acres of agricultural land, eight hundred
thousand hectarees of forestry, one hundred and thirty three thousand farms,
and you know, one hundred and seventy one thousand people
involved in in agriculture and the farming sector you know workforce.
So that just shows you the importance towards the farming
(19:06):
and the agri food sector. And it's great to be
here and you know, it's wonderful to have the reception
to engage with your three ministers last weekend and again
this week. It just shows you that we have a
lot of similarity as countries.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Irish farmers facing and I know the answer to this one,
but are they facing the same problems if you want,
regarding a missions profile, Because when it comes to agricultural nations,
you're one of the most similar ones to.
Speaker 8 (19:32):
Us, absolutely, and farmers are concerned about, you know, the
imposition as they see it in some cases on them
around climate change. And we spent the morning in Wellington
today with Fronterra just discussing many different issues around that.
But the NITROS directive in Europe is a big challenge
for our farmers who have embraced change, who have made
(19:55):
you know, farming different and in a globalized world, we
must look at how the sector can move forward in
a dynamic and innovative way, embracing change yet being true
to the values that farmers have in terms of the
quality of the product they care, they have for their animals,
and the pride they have in whether it's deeper sucker
(20:15):
or shape or tillage sector that we can make sure
that they are in a world that is you know,
looking to the challenges, accepting that we must embrace the
need to do things differently. And I will always make
the point and our government's policy is farmers cannot go green,
diff in the red. And that's why I think Ireland
(20:36):
and New Zealand have very similar attitudes, the very similar
ways of you know, walking the land together. We as
a country case huge pride about what we do, but
we also learn from you, for example, the whole area
of retention of young farmers and young people keeping farming
as a career. Very proud of the fact that you know,
Minister's Patterson hovered and maclay met with us and was
(21:01):
this week because it just shows the importance of strength
of partnerships.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Hey, Jerry, look, I could chat to you all day.
Love that Irish accent. By the way, looking forward to
Saint Patty's Day on Monday. I know you've got another
meeting to run to and Wellington. Thanks for some of
your time. Thanks for fronting up at the Rural Games.
They tell me you were a bit of a hit
with the fans.
Speaker 8 (21:19):
Good well, can I just say it was a fantastic
event and as we see our Benettina follow the glare
happy send Patia.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
To all of your listeners.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
I was only dure on Maurie screamingum others.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, I caught up with Jerry Weave it earlier this morning.
I had no idea what that last, but meant it
was something to do with Saint Patrick's Day. Anyhow, it
was good to catch up with them. Some of your
feedback coming in and I remiss of me not to
ask Dr Peter Armand this question, Robbie. You're such a
sharp you're one of the sharpest knights on the drawer. Robbie,
(21:52):
how many kilograms of rock the heck there would you
need to spread for this trial. We'll try and find
that out before the end of the air, Michelle's gone
to chase them down. He's not looking that enthusiastic about
the job, but it's your job. Before the end of
the air, a ring up Professor Armond and find out
that answer. Here's another one, Jamie, So pasture competes with
(22:13):
crushed rock crackpot idea to cope with the crackpot approach
to climate change, says Don, he's a good one. What
about research looking into how much CO two pasture absorbs.
It's called photosynthesis and that is a very fair point.
And we talked about that last week. Didn't we soil
(22:36):
and grass sequester carbon. Farmers a carbon positive. They're not
climate vandals. Okay. Up next to the latest and rural
news and sports news before the end of the hour
Joe Luxton and our Farmer panel. A dairy farmer, a
deer farmer, and they're both social media media influences. Duncan Hummond,
(22:57):
Craig Dairyman Hickman.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Podcast.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh, turn your headphones down, Welcome back, Welcome the very sensitive,
Welcome back to the country. Thank goodness for Irish translators.
Morgan Green from Northern South and Veterinary Services. Thanks for listening. Morgan,
and thanks for translating the last bit that Jerry Buttamer
(23:30):
said and Galic obviously meant, may we be alive this
time next year. Thank you well, Thank you Morgan, and
thank you Jerry for those kind words. Here's Michelle with
the latest and Rural News, The.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Country's world news with cob Canet New Zealand's leading right
on lawn Bower brands a steel for dot co dot
NC for your local stockist.
Speaker 10 (23:55):
Opportunities to perform dental procedures are opening wide for vet nurses.
Associate Agricultural Minister Andrew Hoggart is changing the rules to
let skilled vet nurses do dental work on cats and
dogs from April tenth. He says the practice was allowed
before twenty twenty one, but changed by the last government.
Hoggard says it will free up vets to focus on
(24:15):
other patients, meaning faster treatments and better animal health and
that your rural news. You can find more at the Country,
dot Co, dot nzet.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Sport with an Athco Kiwi to the Bone. Since nineteen oh.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Four, franchise Globe trotters Fin Allen, Jimmy Nisham and Tim
Seiffert will return to the black Caps for the home
T twenty series against Pakistan starting on Sunday. Looking forward
to that. The All Whites have made just one change
to their squad for the final stage of the Oceania
qualifiers for next year's Football World Cup. Defender Finn Sermon
(24:51):
won't feature after the recently earning a starting spot with
Major League Soccer side the Portland Timbers. His spot is
claimed by Auckland FA se Ford, Jesse Randall and Newcastle
have pulled level with fifth fifth placed Manchester City and
Football's Premier League after a one nil win at west Ham.
(25:14):
That is your sports news. Up next, Joe Luxton. Could
she be the next Minister of Agriculture?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
You're going to go?
Speaker 6 (25:30):
Did she?
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Recasts of the.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Joe Luxton as Labour's agriculture spokesperson. Joe, I better be
nice to you because the way the polls are going,
Chippy might sleep walk to victory and you might be
the next Minister of Agriculture.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
You're always nice to me. I don't think there's a
time when you haven't been nice to me. But the polls,
ye are they are at the stage looking nothing good
for us, But you know there's still a heck of
a lot of work to do in I think it's
just a signal from the country that they're not actually
happy with what the current government is doing. They've said
that they will have a laser sharp focus on the
(26:14):
cost of living for people, and I just don't think
that people are feeling that in their back pocket yet.
So it's just a signal that people aren't happy with
what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yeah, I think they've got eighteen months to turn the
economy around and that will ultimately be the decider. Look,
if you are going to be hypothetically the next Minister
of Agriculture, Joe, where's your egg egg policy? I've seen
nothing from you. No.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
You remind me of a child that sits in the
back seat saying, Mom, Dad, are we there yet? Are
we there yet? And the reason I say that is
you are all the time. I'm not sure that you
were there.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Well, you could come up with some egg policy, Joe.
You could come up with some egg policy and shut
me out.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Don't think that you were that hard care with the
nets when they were in his opposition. But if you
head happen to listen to Chris's State of the Nation's speech,
I'm sure. You were glued to that on Friday, saying
that you will hear some policy announcements from us in
the second half of this year and so you're just
(27:14):
going to have to be patient and wait and see. Jamie.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Maybe the best policy for the Labor parties just to
shut up and do nothing.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
No, absolutely not, you know, definitely not.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Okay, Joe Chippy's a bit of a centrist and well,
you know, there's a few people on the Labor Party
I like, I could, I had a pinch, I could
live with the Labor government, I think, But really do
I want to be governed by Tapathi Maori and the
Greens minus James Shaw.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
The thing with the elections, it's not just going to
be act to you, Jamie.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
No, but on one vote. I'm just saying you and
I probably reflect a lot of people in rural New Zealand.
Speaker 7 (27:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
I think there's a couple of things, you know. I
think the Say of the Nation speech that Chris gave
on Friday, they have a really clear indication and I
hope that some listeners, you know, will take camp for
it from it. When he said that when we are
next in government, we will look at the policies and
things that are in place, and just because they were
(28:13):
put in place by a previous government doesn't mean we'll
throw them. If they are working for the electorate, then
why would we. So I hope that you know, your
listeners take some comfort in it that we wouldn't just
come in and scrap everything and throw it out something
for the sake of it. And I would just encourage
people if they have concerns around who might form coalition,
well then just vote for labor.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
All right, let's move on the gene tech bill. You've
been speaking out against that, Joe Luxton. Then this is
quite a tough one because a lot of people are
sitting on the fence on this one. There's definite benefits
and it's buyer beware on the other side.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
Yeah, I'm not actually against the bill per se. I mean,
I definitely think it's time, you know, we heard the
conversation as a country around it. The concerns that I've
been hearing from an agricultural sect who have been mostly
around the lack of financial scrutiny. You know, who's going
to be the cost of what are people going to
(29:09):
have to pay to prove that they are not using
ge you know, when they want to sell their product,
is it going to have trade implications? And there's just
a really huge consume that there just hasn't been enough
analysis or consultation done prior. And I know that some
of the larger stakeholder reps into the organizations they asked
(29:31):
for it to just be extended a little bit longer,
so there was an opportunity force some more consultation and
the chair of the select committee declined that.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Just finally you've moved. You've moved from mid Canterbury effectively
where you were the local MP up until twenty twenty three,
to Gisbone. You've gone home.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Yeah, I've gone home. I grew up in Gazie and
such a beautiful place and we don't have any children
living at home more so we just made the decision that,
you know, we'll go home and spend a bit of
time there and a change of scenery and it's just
a beautiful place and why wouldn't you want to be there?
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Are you going to stand in the East Coast electorate
against National's Dana Dana I think that's how she says it, Kirkpatrick.
She's a strong local candidate.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Yeah, well, our party goes through a process to choose candidates.
You know, when the time comes in, you and I
will certainly be putting my hat in the ring to
hopefully be chosen. There's a successful candidate to go into
the twenty twenty sixth selection here, well.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Wait with bated breath for that one, all right, Joe
Luxton always good to catch up. We don't always agree,
but thanks for fronting up and I do enjoy your
company on the country.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Hey, thank you Gamy.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
And we're looking at all the life there.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
We'll plan okay, wrapping the country with the farmer panel
once a day farmer. One's a dairy farmer. What's the
dairy farmer going to do with all his money this year?
And they're both social media influencers Duncan Hum from n
Z Farming Facebook page and Craig Dairyman Hickman, star of
the Small Stage and YouTube. Is that about right for you?
(31:17):
Dairy man?
Speaker 9 (31:19):
TikTok, I'm not oktok.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Sorry, well TikTok? Is TikTok the most effective channel? Because
I'm a bit dumb when it comes to social media?
Michelle does all that for us? Is that the most
effective medium or media to reach the rural community on.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
THEE. They do seem to be plenty of farmers on
there there. There are a lot of new dealanders on there.
It's certainly more effective than than Twitter is now.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Well Twitter used to have a great rural community. I'm
still lot and I'm probably well behind the times, but
I still I still am informed by a lot of
the commentary on there. What do you reckon? Duncan hum?
Of course you'll go to bat for Facebook?
Speaker 7 (32:02):
Well, I guess like Instagram is proviously my favorite of
the lot, to be honest, and you don't really get
into TikTok much. But and yeah, I don't mind Twitter
at all either. Actually, you know, like you say, for
some pretty smart roosters from the New Zealand rural community
in there that are still having some good conversations. So yeah,
(32:23):
it can't go wrong.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Now you've been putting in the putting the boat into
our beloved prime minister on the NZED Farming Facebook page.
Speaker 7 (32:30):
Well, someone's got to keep the mines, don't they.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
So what you threw it up there? Should he be replaced?
What was the answer you got?
Speaker 7 (32:39):
I think it was the few people that were still
a bit stunned at the thought of the prospect, and
a few that thought that was quite a threatening thing
to suggest, because somehow that would make us have a
labor lead government next. But yeah, on the whole, Yeah,
there's definitely an apetite to change.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
History would suggest if you place replace later before an
election or all. Bit, we're eighteen months, twenty months out
whatever from an election, you will lose the election.
Speaker 7 (33:08):
I think as National keep going the way they're going
to based on the mood of the people, that's probably
what we'll get.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
So what are you finding on social media? Craig Hickman.
Speaker 9 (33:21):
A lot of the satisfaction with the mainly the Coalition
government to be their David Seymour seems to be propping
a lot of flat and while I am no Winston
Peters fanboy, I was pretty impressed with the diplomacy with
which he handled the Chinese warships off our coast. So yeah,
(33:43):
most of the satisfaction I'm seeing and hearing about the
Coalition government keeps tends to stem from act rather than
National themselves.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
Yeah, and I think Winston acted very decisively around Phil Goff.
No messing around it all. Okay, So back to farming here.
Dearie man, what are you going to do with all
your money this year? Ten dollars payout? Are your dividends
going to be somewhere between thirty three and sixty cents?
It's getting up there, and it's tax paid.
Speaker 9 (34:08):
Apparently we're not the only sector I've Beef prices are
holding up well above spring levels. I spent my empty
heapers off to the cell.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (34:20):
I actually I had a freezing steer hanging around. I've
seen Tamoga a couple of weeks ago, early old freezing
steer two and a half thousand dollars zing. Complain about
beef prices like that?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Can you are you going to convert the deer farm
to a beef farm? Duncan hum, Well, we might.
Speaker 7 (34:37):
Be in an expansion mode slightly soon, but some some
beef in the system would be quite good. But I
think we'll stick with the deer on the whole.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Well, the prospects for beef, and we had Gen Cochran
from Rabobank on the show yesterday, are looking good for
the next three to four years.
Speaker 9 (34:53):
It's not a bad bet, fantastic. I'm looking looking forward
to seeing a contract from my beef cabs. We will
be certainly holding out for top dollar for those.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Also on yesterday's show, we had Dave Williams. I don't
know if you guys know him, Mid Canterbury mixed cropping farmer.
You guys are both based in mid Canterbury. Obviously pastoral
farmers like you guys are having a great season. Not
so good for the arable and cropping farmers who are
trying to get trying to ripen crops for harvest.
Speaker 9 (35:23):
Yeah, very nas you flow on effect, because we need
both guys to get their crops off and get their
green feeding so I can send my cows somewhere for
the winter.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:33):
And Duncan Yeah, no, definitely, Yeah, No, certainly a lot
of people grinding away doing the hard yards, trying to
get some stuff in silos and I guess the big
one like getting straw baled and all those sorts of
things that yeah, like Craig says, yeah, just that knock
on effects for winter feed and whatnot as well. Yeah,
(35:54):
but yeah, like you say, can't complain this year for us. Yeah,
more grass we know what to do with.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
And dairy man, final word from you. You won't even
needed to turn the irrigators on. Between your ten dollar payout,
your big dividend and no irrigation costs, you really will
owe me a bear if you turn up at the
South Island Dairy event. I've got ten seconds just say yes.
Speaker 9 (36:16):
Funny you can say that I just turned the ire
agos off last week and I think they might be
packed up for the season if we get this rain
tomorrow like its Wourkat.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
All right, lads, thank you very much the Mid Canterbury
Farmer Panel turn my own microphone off, A deer farmer,
a dairy farmer, both social media influencers. Will catch you
back tomorrow with sid PM.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Catch you are the latest from the land. It's the
Country Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks to Brent You're specialist
in John Dere construction equipment.
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