Wednesday, October 4, 2023

The battle for NZ’s farming heartland

 


The battle for NZ’s farming heartland: Groundswell, ACT and the changing face of rural politics


Hugh Campbell

Professor of Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology, University of Otago.


Published: October 4, 2023 7.01am NZDT.



Andrew Hoggard’s resignation in May as president of Federated Farmers, followed swiftly by his appearance high on the ACT Party’s candidate list, might have seemed seem like just another of the election’s minor subplots.

But this abrupt change of political hats represents the latest step in a 20-year journey that has seen one of the oldest and most powerful political alliances in New Zealand history begin to break.

For the first time in more than a century, farmers are not all in the same political paddock.

Farming has long defied gravity as an electoral force in New Zealand. Despite comprising less than 5% of the population, farmers have achieved an extraordinary level of political power.

This has had less to do with the kind of agrarian populism of the 19th and 20th centuries that has fascinated political scientists, than with careful alliance-building and a unity of purpose: “We are all in this together.”

But that can no longer be said of the farming sector, which is undergoing a transformation with significant implications for New Zealand’s broader political landscape.

The end of farmer power

For most of the 20th century, pastoral farming was the most important economic sector in New Zealand. Farmers solidified their influence by capturing both the formal mechanisms of government – through a close alliance with the National Party, and indirectly through important quasi-governmental organisations like the Wool Board.

Under the old “first past the post” voting system, rural electorates held significant power due to left-leaning votes being concentrated in urban electorates. This meant the farming vote in key marginal rural seats could swing elections in favour of the National Party.

This became a conduit to power. Farmers progressed through farming organisations and boards to become rural MPs, cabinet ministers and even prime ministers. Between the 1920s and 1960s, around half the ministers in various cabinets were farmers. Of the past seven prime ministers, four grew up on farms.

No other country has seen such access to power granted to farmers. Nor are there many countries where the political and economic interests of farming became so seamlessly aligned with the perceived interests of the whole nation.

Four things have progressively weakened this old alliance, moving farming from being powerfully situated in the political centre to becoming a fractured site of increasingly divisive rural populism:

  • the economic blow of losing exclusive access to the British market for farm products in 1973
  • the neoliberal reform of the economy in the 1980s, with the disestablishment of the producer boards that had given farmers so much indirect access to government 
  • the arrival of the mixed member proportional (MMP) voting system, which immediately erased the disproportionately powerful electoral voice of a small number of rural voters 
  • and the shifting environmental expectations of pastoral farming in New Zealand.

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Read more: After the election, Christopher Luxon’s real test could come from his right – not the left The old alliance crumbles

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The rising environmental challenge in farming has three times been met by classic old alliance strategies. In 2003, the alliance mounted the so-called “fart tax” protests to denounce investment in research identifying methane from livestock as a major greenhouse gas problem.

In 2009, the Land and Water Forum was formed to respond to growing criticism of dairy farming’s impact on freshwater systems. This time, the alliance had new elements – being required to sit alongside leading Māori land users who were emerging from the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process.

Finally, the Labour government in 2017 assembled He Waka Eke Noa, the “primary sector climate action partnership”, as a concerted attempt to negotiate greenhouse gas emissions in farming.

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Read more: A new farming proposal to reduce carbon emissions involves a lot of trust – and a lot of uncertainty

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Both the Land and Water Forum, and He Waka Eke Noa, partially succeeded in their key mission, and made tentative progress on developing new governance frameworks for environmentally managing farming.

However, the farming leadership of both groups – Federated Farmers, export organisations and farmer politicians – began to sense any progress was also leading to a significant loss of support for those actions among their farming base.

Many other rural sectors like kiwifruit, wine and merino wool had already moved successfully into new styles of environmental management.

But many pastoral farmers, particularly older ones in the hill country or highly indebted dairy farmers, began to see new environmental measures as a threat, rather than as an opportunity for New Zealand to retool farming for the 21st century.

Groundswell and political realignment

The Groundswell movement emerged from provincial New Zealand in 2021 to challenge the consensus-based world of the old alliance. It was partly emboldened by the radical tactics farmers in the Netherlands were using against government and European Union measures to manage agricultural nitrates.

Those colourful and angry protests were shared online among farmers around the world, and Dutch farmers began to feature as heroes in culture wars against perceived government overreach.

For people focused specifically on the urgent need to develop new policy frameworks, Groundswell can seem confusing. That’s because its actual proposals to address greenhouse emissions are not dissimilar to those of Federated Farmers and many other farming participants in He Waka Eke Noa.

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Read more: The Groundswell protest claimed regulation and taxes are unfair to farmers – the economic numbers tell a different story

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But the key difference is Groundswell’s style of political engagement. It wants to radically break with the old political and institutional relationships it believes have betrayed the interests of grassroots farmers.

That pressure saw Beef and Lamb NZ chair Andrew Morrison – an important player in the He Waka Eke Noa discussions – lose his position to a candidate backed by Groundswell and Southland Federated Farmers. Other key actors in He Waka Eke Noa began to withdraw, either under pressure from Groundswell or (like Andrew Hoggard) to pursue a more radical political path.

This battle within the farming sector has now spilled into realignments in wider electoral politics.

The National Party initially supported a bipartisan approach to mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. But under pressure from increasing support for ACT in rural New Zealand, it has backed away from collaborating.

The old rural alliance has lost its natural political home within the National Party. ACT is openly campaigning against current agricultural emissions pricing policies, claiming the government has tried to “sacrifice [farmers] to the climate gods”.


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Read more: 11,000 litres of water to make one litre of milk? New questions about the freshwater impact of NZ dairy farming

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Change and consequences

Given how MMP works, the fracturing of the old alliance may not alter the overall electoral map. But there are still important consequences of a more radical style of politics taking root among some farmers.

Any diminishing of those old alliance relationships will reduce the political reach of farmers. The alliance worked very well to amplify the political power of pastoral farming. Without that, it could become just another noisy lobby group.

Pragmatists within farming leadership and in export organisations understand the future of foreign markets. There may well be a reckoning if the actions of a radicalised and aggrieved group of pastoral farmers compromise the ability of agricultural export industries to meet new environmental demands.

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Read more: Farmers need certainty over emissions pricing – removing government from the equation might help

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Ultimately, consumers will have their say. Supermarkets in the UK, Europe and elsewhere won’t be listening to protests about “government overreach” and “unworkable environmental regulations” when sourcing food products with a better carbon footprint. They’ll just buy from elsewhere.

The old farming alliance may have been less than transparent and viewed as conservative by many urban New Zealanders. But it was nonetheless a powerful mechanism for engaging with rural New Zealand. It was still the best mechanism for meaningful change in the sector.

He Waka Eke Noa collapsed because the farming and political leadership couldn’t carry enough of the pastoral farming world forward into the new environmental reality.

Those chafing at change might imagine they are trying to preserve an older world in which farmers were revered and privileged. Ironically, they may actually be undermining the alliance of relationships that underpinned that prior happy state.




The Conversation.



Pigeon Post News, Richmond.


MetService - Monthly Outlook - October 2023


 

Climate Drivers – Strong El Nino in place

Sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean NINO3.4 area now exceed 1.5C degrees above average, meeting the strong El Nino criterion. All climate models strengthen the event further, between now and its likely peak around Christmas, with the majority of models forecasting an intense El Nino event for summer.

 

In addition, a positive Indian Ocean Dipole event is now underway, which typically enhances the westerly flow of weather across New Zealand. The Southern Ocean should also periodically throw some stormy, cold, and unsettled bursts of wind and weather across the South Island through October, reinforcing the westerly pattern.

 

Due to the windy September, the local Tasman Sea marine heat-wave has now ended, with sea surface temperatures currently near average, to a touch cooler than average, around the New Zealand coastline. This means that a marine heatwave will NOT be factor in our late spring or early summer weather patterns.





October 2023  – Often cold & windy, with El Niño westerlies


The hallmark of El Nino in New Zealand is a cold spring.


August ran much colder than usual, nationally, and the forecast for October is also much colder than usual. Expect a colder than average October across the country, with the exception of Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay. In those regions, monthly temperatures likely end up ‘about average’ BUT expect abnormal spring temperature swings between extreme heat during foehn warming in the westerlies, and intermittent cold blasts and even some high-country snowfalls.


This week, high pressure brings a relatively dry week. For the rest of October, a stronger than normal ridge is predicted over Northland, coupled with stormy, unsettled westerlies across the South Island. In between, stronger than usual westerlies are forecast – it looks likely to be a windier than normal October.


Rainfall is expected to be normal to above normal along the West Coast South Island, and in Southland. For regions in the northeast of both Islands, below normal rainfall is forecast (Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Taupo, Waikato, and Waitomo, also Nelson, Marlborough and Coastal Canterbury). For Gisborne and Hawkes Bay, a burst of rain this weekend is then followed by drier westerlies (e.g. normal to below normal rainfall for October as a whole). Elsewhere, near normal October rainfall is forecast.

 MetService.



Pigeon Post News, Richmond.

Tasman CEO to step down 

Janine Dowding Tasman District Council's Chief Executive. Photo Tasman District Council.

 

Janine Dowding Tasman District Council’s Chief Executive announced today that she is stepping down


 4 October, 2023

Janine Dowding announced today that she is stepping down as the Tasman District Council’s Chief Executive at the end of January 2024. 

After 5 ½ years as CEO Janine has decided to take some time out with her family and consider what is next.

“My time with Local Government has been a steep learning curve as I have come to terms with the vast array of Council services, the diverse communities and interests, and the increasing challenges for the sector. 

"I have been hugely fortunate to work with talented and committed staff and Councillors, and a wide range of partners and stakeholders all with a common purpose to serve the interests of Tasman’s people and environment.  I have been constantly inspired by the Tasman community, the passion, diversity and the voluntary effort contributed by so many every day.  

"I know that this role will attract a high calibre of candidates with an opportunity to work in a beautiful region with an outstanding leader in Mayor King and a supportive and capable Tasman staff and Council Team.” 

Mayor Tim King said he will be sorry to see Janine leave. 

“Janine is an outstanding Chief Executive who has led the Council through the most unsettling period in our history. 

"The challenges facing the local government sector and communities including environmental and economic impacts, and the uncertainty around government reforms are amplified for a unitary authority. Janine has been an outstanding leader in supporting the Council to meet those challenges.  

"Successfully negotiating this environment requires a high level of trust between the elected members and the Chief Executive. I can attest to the strength of that relationship built on the competence, leadership and empathy Janine has brought to the role

The search for a new chief executive will now get underway Mayor King said, “it will include national advertising and a robust process to get a new Chief Executive on board early next year."


Tasman District Council.


Pigeon Post News, Richmond.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

Motueka Wastewater Treatment Plant Issues 

 

A huge area of possible contamination along the coast west of Motueka

Motueka Wastewater Treatment Plant Struggling




Tasman District Council engineers have noticed that part of the filtration system at the Motueka Wastewater plant is showing signs of degradation and while it is still functioning, it is not working at optimum levels. 


Team Leader of Water Supply and Wastewater Becky Marsay says the area causing concern is the membranes that are in the final filtering stage of the wastewater treatment process. 


She says these membranes remove any remaining bacteria and minute particles before the water is discharged from the processing plant. 


“By the time the water gets to these membranes it is substantially treated.” 


Becky Marsay says the engineers and Wastewater Team are at a loss to explain why this is happening and are urgently investigating a variety of options to deal with this problem, however it is likely the membranes will need to be replaced.  


“Sourcing new membranes or having them manufactured, then getting them on to site and installed could take several months.”  


To try and control the situation the Council has had to revert to a system used prior to 2016 and pump partially treated wastewater into the adjacent soakage area where it is then filtered through the ground. 


Becky Marsay says while this area was retired several years ago, it is an option we have been forced to take to avoid uncontrolled overflows.  


The Council is working closely with Iwi, Public Health, and the Ministry for Primary Industries to ensure any potential effects are monitored and minimised. 


As a precaution, people should not take whitebait or shellfish or have contact with the water from the adjacent area until further notice. 


Warning signs will be erected in the area.


Tasman District Council press release.



Pigeon Post News, Richmond.

Saturday, September 30, 2023

NELSON AIRPORT - Strong post-Covid Travel Recovery

Nelson Airport

 


Nelson Airport announces Strong Annual Result



Nelson Airport has released its Annual Report for the 2023 financial year (FY23), reporting EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of $9.6 million and payment of a $1.2 million dividend to the region’s two councils for the benefit of the wider region and community.

The key results for the year were:

  • 915,000 passengers, up from 619,000 in FY22
  • Total revenue of $16.6 million, up $4.9 million on FY22
  • EBITDA of $9.6 million, 40% above budget
  • Ordinary dividend of $1.2 million paid to shareholders, the Nelson City and Tasman District Councils, up 9% on the prior year

Nelson Airport Ltd chair Quinton Hall said the financial year had beaten all expectations, largely due to the strength of pent-up domestic travel demand.

“We knew the lifting of Covid restrictions would see travel increase, but the desire people have shown over the past year to reconnect with the people and places they love has outstripped all expectations. Nelsonians and New Zealanders generally have embraced the opportunity to travel with confidence to see those they’ve been separated from and experience a wider world again.”

Quinton said a successful airport was good for the whole region. “We exist to contribute to the sustainability and prosperity of Nelson-Tasman. That’s why we’re here and it’s great to be able to share some of what we’ve been doing to achieve that with both our shareholders and the wider community through the Annual Report.”

Quinton said other achievements during the year included achieving an “Excellent” customer satisfaction rating in the airport’s annual survey, the introduction into service of the new airport Rescue Fire Service fire appliance “Flick”, the completion of the new Rental Car Kiosk in front of the terminal and start of construction on a new base of operations for GO Rentals. The lodging of the airport’s Project 2-Zero planning application was also a significant milestone in the airport’s journey towards achieving its vision of being a world-class airport where zero-emissions aircraft operate.

“Along with all the mahi we have also had the great pleasure of inviting the community to join in with us at fun events and activities such as the Walk the Runway fundraiser, Nelson Anniversary Day Ice-Cream Social and the Nelson Airport Plane Spotting Photography Competition.”

The outlook for the 2024 financial year was looking tougher, but the airport was still predicting modest growth in passenger numbers, Quinton said.

“We’re expecting growth to slow in an environment of high interest rates and low economic growth, but not to retract. Our objective remains the same, to deliver prosperity and sustainability to the region every day through the provision of sustainable airport infrastructure that connects us to the world, by facilitating business opportunities and by supporting excellent experiences that add to visitor satisfaction.”


The full Annual Report 2023 is available at:
nelsonairport.co.nz/reportsandpolicies


Nelson Airport.


Pigeon Post News, Richmond.

Public Warning about Toxic Shellfish – Marlborough Sounds

Map of the affected area:

Map showing the area covered by the shellfish biotoxin alert from Okiwa Bay (The Grove) up to a line from Dieffenbach Point across to West Head in the Marlborough Sounds.

Public health warning: shellfish biotoxin alert for Marlborough Sounds





New Zealand Food Safety is advising the public not to collect or consume shellfish gathered from part of Queen Charlotte Sound due to the possible presence of toxins.

"Routine tests on mussel samples taken from Okiwa Bay (The Grove) have shown levels of diarrhetic shellfish toxins more than 3.5 times the safe limit,” says New Zealand Food Safety specialist adviser Piers Harrison.

"The warning extends from The Grove up to a line from Dieffenbach Point across to West Head in the Marlborough Sounds.

"Please do not gather and eat shellfish from this area because anyone doing so is potentially at risk of getting sick.

"Cooking the shellfish does not remove the toxin, so mussels, oysters, tuatua, pipi, toheroa, cockles, scallops, catseyes, kina (sea urchin) and all other bivalve shellfish from this area should not be eaten.”

Pāua, crab, and crayfish may still be eaten if the gut has been completely removed prior to cooking, as toxins accumulate in the gut. If the gut is not removed, its contents could contaminate the meat during the cooking process.

Symptoms of diarrhetic shellfish toxin poisoning typically appear within half an hour of ingestion and last for about 24 hours. Symptoms may include diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal cramps.

New Zealand Food Safety has had no notifications of associated illness.

If anyone becomes ill after eating shellfish from an area where a public health warning has been issued, phone Healthline for advice on 0800 61 11 16, or seek medical attention immediately. You are also advised to contact your nearest public health unit and keep any leftover shellfish in case it can be tested.

"As is our usual practice, monitoring of toxin levels will continue and any changes will be communicated accordingly," says Mr Harrison.

Commercially harvested shellfish – sold in shops and supermarkets or exported – is subject to strict water and flesh monitoring programmes by New Zealand Food Safety to ensure they are safe to eat.

Ministry for Primary Industries.



Pigeon Post News, Richmond.


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