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Leader's LetterMarch 2004
Challenges to Primary ProductionIN MY SPOKESPERSON’S area of Agriculture there is little point in getting excited about changes to the structure of the Meat Board or the fact that levies will now be raised under the Commodity Levies Act. The two big issues are the level of our dollar compared to the US dollar and of course the tragic floods in the lower North Island. In saying this I am not overlooking the devastating drought in South Canterbury and Otago. Who would have thought that sheep shipped north to green pastures would in some cases end up getting washed away and drowned. It is enough to make you weep. New Zealand suffers when our dollar is high against the US dollar because exporting is our lifeblood. Each one-cent rise in the New Zealand dollar means a corresponding reduction in the prices we receive for our products. These are all well known traditional economic facts of life that farmers accept. Politically however, it means that there will be an economic slow down next year, which is of course election year. In turn, this will take the lustre off the economic fortunes that have to date favoured this government. Dr Cullen will, in spite of this, dish out the largesse to sweeten the electorate. My worry is that at a point when the country needs to be careful he will go into spending mode. The TV and newspaper images of the lower North Island are just devastating. Receding water reveals the mud and somewhere underneath that are previously productive pastures, crops, vegetables and all manner of other potentially valuable agricultural exports. Aircraft will be needed to resow pasture. That still leaves the fences, houses, barns, workshops and of course that most precious of human feelings - memories and mementos. Nature is indeed a most powerful force that makes our efforts sometimes futile. New Zealand First pays a tribute to these people that have been affected for we know they will rebuild, restock, resow and replant, for that is the spirit of our rural cousins be they farmers, villagers or people in small towns. Our thoughts are with them. Doug Woolerton MP
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