Banks are being accused of profiteering from cash-strapped farmers stricken by the drought reports the Waikato Times. But one rural banker says people need to talk to them first about their problems. Hauraki Mayor John Tregidga, whose district has had no significant rain since January, said he knew of three or four farms that were under threat because of the drought.

Mr Tregidga said BNZ had told one unnamed couple, whose farm had lost $80,000 last year and had been hit by the drought, to prepare to sell in December. “The bank is willing to continue the finance while they receive a rate of 9.2 per cent,” Mr Tregidga said, reading from a statement supplied by the couple’s accountant. “Current floating BNZ rates were at around 5.35 per cent with capped fixed rates for two years at 7.545 per cent. These levels of interest would save between $80,850 and $34,650 in annual interest at these prevailing rates, enough to at least make it a viable farm in this last season, even with the drought.”

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Resource consent has been granted for an irrigation scheme that could generate 1200 jobs and $170 million in benefits for South Canterbury reports The Timaru Herald. Environment Canterbury (ECan) yesterday approved a resource consent for the Hunter Downs irrigation scheme that would potentially irrigate up to 40,000 hectares of South Canterbury farmland. South Canterbury Irrigation Trust spokesman Don McFarlane said the decision was another step forward in the progress of the scheme. “This was D-Day. This was the final tick-off. It’s the one that says, `you can use the water and we approve of the way you are going to use that water’.”

It was good for the region, parts of which were very dry, and had the potential to generate up to 1200 jobs and $170m in benefits. “[ECan] commissioners are obviously satisfied that the farm management plans we proposed and the audits we proposed were going to achieve all of those issues around water quality,” he said. The decision comes three and a half years after the consent was formally lodged. Mr McFarlane said if there were no appeals, the next step would be to begin designing the delivery infrastructure for the scheme and to talk to farmers in the area about its commercial viability.

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Waikato farmers are being urged not to rely on supposed black beetle-resistant ryegrass like AR37 – and to spray their pastures with Round Up to get rid of the pest. Farmers attending a DairyNZ drought management field day at Carian and Sarah Tully’s farm, near Thames, complained about the damage the insect had done to their pastures, which were also suffering from drought damage reports The Waikato Times.

Peter Walters, who farms at Otorohanga, said his trial paddock of AR37 had a level of 60 beetles per square metre.”After two years of growing AR37 it’s destroyed.” DairyNZ scientist Chris Glassey said AR37 was not as resistant as first thought. “The larvae still feed on the roots of AR37, it only protects against adult black beetle,” he said.

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The public face of South Canterbury Finance, Allan Hubbard has been recognised for something completely different – irrigation.At the Irrigation NZ conference in Christchurch last night, the Timaru businessman was awarded the Ron Cocks Memorial Award for outstanding leadership in irrigation reports The Timaru Herald.

INZ chairman Graeme Sutton said Mr Hubbard worked quietly behind the scenes and for 50 years had “breathed life into ambitious water management and irrigation developments in Canterbury”. Mr Sutton told those at the conference that Mr Hubbard had been a driving force in establishing the Opuha Dam and after its collapse in 1997, Mr Hubbard took on a 50 per cent shareholding to see it through to completion.

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Agriculture Minister David Carter yesterday received an earful from Marlborough farmers outraged at agriculture being included in the emissions trading scheme (ETS). The farmers waited for Mr Carter to finish a speech about the scheme at Meadowbank Station in Taylor Pass before unleashing a barrage of questions and statements reports The Marlborough Express. Mr Carter said he did not believe that climate change was “rubbish”. Over the past 20 years there were a “hell of a lot” more emissions of greenhouse gases which produced a “human-induced” effect, he said.

Marlborough farmer Warren Taylor said farmers needed to stop arguing about the science and whether the scheme should go ahead and instead try to use it to their advantage. “We can bitch and moan about it whether it’s getting warm or not; let’s make a buck out of it.” Marlborough Federated Farmers president Geoff Evans said the farming sector would not be able to compete in international markets because of a “perpetually” increasing ETS tax while foreign competitors received subsidies.

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The number of bovine tuberculosis (TB) infected herds dropped below 100 in March for the first time in the history of NZ’s TBfree programme. According to last month’s figures, a total of 91 cattle herds and seven deer herds were infected with bovine TB reports Scoop. “While this is a big step towards becoming TB-free, we are mindful that the number of infected herds traditionally increases over the coming four to six months,” says Dr Paul Livingstone, Animal Health Board (AHB) technical manager.  “The size of this increase, however, will depend on the quality of possum and other pest control over the past two years. Identifying infected stock before they’re moved off the property is another critical factor.

“We certainly can’t afford to rest on our laurels, although this is a considerable improvement on the same time last year, when 119 cattle herds and 10 deer herds were infected with bovine TB. “While possums remain the main source of TB infection in livestock, a smaller but no less significant number of herd breakdowns have been caused through uncontrolled stock movements.

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Federated Farmers welcomes KPMG’s Agribusiness Agenda but observes that details affecting farming on an individual farm scale has been missed, due to a macro overview. “We welcome KPMG’s statement that ‘farm businesses must be viable and profitable if farmers and growers are to continue to invest’, but this is another strategic helicopter overview,” says Lachlan McKenzie, Federated Farmers associate spokesperson for water.

“KPMG confirms what Federated Farmers and other business leaders have repeatedly said, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will increase volatility and costs on agribusinesses. “Persevering with the ETS will see it become an efficiency transfer scheme from NZ to the lower cost producers KPMG identifies. “Yet KPMG pushes the ‘clean green “golden goose”‘ message, which is at odds with recent research, done for NZ  Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) in the United States. “We know Americans don’t respond to ‘clean green’ or ‘sustainability’ but do respond to quality, local craftsmanship and community responsibility.  Telling that story to our end consumers is what we need, instead of a hollow but lofty sounding slogan.

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A long, painful dry spell for farmers has helped cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. As farmers suffer, the latest official tally from the Ministry for the Environment reveals NZ is doing better than expected in the carbon stakes, partly because farms have had to cull more animals reports The NZ Herald.

Because the national herd is smaller than expected the amount of greenhouse gas the country is expected to make by 2012 has fallen by 1.8 million tonnes. But that is likely to come as little comfort to farmers. Dairy farmers north of Taupo have been cutting milk production earlier than usual, and so far rain has failed to penetrate soils in the most parched regions. In the Waikato, figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry show the drought has cost farmers an average of between $100,000 and $200,000 this year.

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Horizons Regional Council is still pushing to make intensive farming a controlled activity in the region and expects about 40 per cent of farms will need to clean up the way they operate reports The Manawatu Standard. The council is also not budging on its decision to keep stock out of waterways. Horizons wants to implement rules under the water chapter of its proposed one plan that allow only 20kg to 30kg of nitrate loss per hectare per year.

Of the 1000 dairy farms, irrigated sheep and beef, horticultural and cropping in the region, about 60 per cent are believed to already be within the proposed standards for nitrate loss. Farmers who can prove they are already meeting these standards will not have to apply for consent. Those who can’t will have their nitrate loss treated as a controlled activity and will have to take steps to lower their nitrate usage.

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Rapidly falling dairy production as a result of drought in the North Island is expected to take a bite out of the March and June quarters’ GDP, although strengthening international dairy prices will help counter the dry horrors reports Stuff. Dairy giant Fonterra says more than 150 dairy herds are halting milk production daily on farms north of Taupo, from which it collects more than half its annual milk supplies. The drying off is a month earlier than usual.

Federated Farmers said 40 per cent of the national dairy herd was in drought-declared zones. ANZ National Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie is doing his economic sums on the basis of general dairy production being down 2 per cent on a year ago. Last season Fonterra collected about 16 billion litres of milk. It had been budgeting on a milk collection increase of 2 per cent to 3 per cent this season, which finishes on May 31.

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