One in four farm workers do not have a written employment contract and farmers have been told to get their paperwork in order. Thousands of farmers could face fines of thousands of dollars each, if they were caught reported The ODT. The information was revealed in a Federated Farmers/Rabobank farm employee remuneration report.

Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean called on the farm employers who did not have written employment agreements with their workers to “do the right thing and get (your) paperwork in order”. Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson said it was a worry to see so many farm businesses so exposed by not having written employment contracts.

“While good to see 9 percent more farm businesses becoming compliant over the past year, there’s still this huge hole.” Fault lay on both sides, with a responsibility on the farmers to ensure the agreements were in place and on the workers to ask for them, he said. Invercargill employment law expert Sarah McKenzie said it was illegal to hire a worker without a written agreement, with companies facing fines of up to $10,000 and individual bosses facing fines of up to $5000 for doing so.

In the lead feature of the latest edition of the National Farming Review, currently being posted to Federation members, Fed Farmers has laid down the gauntlet to anti-1080 groups. “1080 works but the growing mythology about it doesn’t,” says Don Nicolson, President .

“The article in the summer edition of the National Farming Review was independently written by ecological journalist Dave Hansford. He makes it very clear that unless we want to kiss our economy and native fauna and flora goodbye, then 1080 is the tool to use. “Most importantly, he debunks the lies, half-truths and pseudo science used by 1080 opponents. It seems they are forced into making ever more outrageous claims, so by putting the facts forward, we have given our members the resources to counter with fact reports Scoop.

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While the international recession has impacted growth of agricultural wages and salaries, the 2010 Federated Farmers/Rabobank Farm Employee Remuneration Report shows farm workers are still considerably better off than their urban counterparts. Agricultural wages and salaries seem to reflect the roller coaster year that employers have faced,” says Don Nicolson, President of Federated Farmers. “Working on a farm remains a top-paying choice in what is truly, the world’s biggest industry.  I’d seriously encourage anyone looking for a personally and professionally fulfilling career to go farming.

“At $48,388 per annum, the total package value (TPV) for the average farm worker was $5,227 more than the average personal (mean) annual wage and salary income.  Clearly you’re much better off on-farm than in a factory.  More so as managerial positions paying north of $80,000 are available. “Agricultural wages and salaries have kept touch with the prevailing rate of inflation, which has been 2 percent over the period we measure.  But that said, the TPV did increase at twice that rate.  I still feel that our workers have tightened their belts every bit as much as we have as employers.

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NZ will not be following Australia’s example and excluding agriculture from its emissions trading scheme (ETS), Climate Change Minister Nick Smith says. The Government remains committed to an all-sectors, all-gases scheme even though agriculture’s entry would be pushed back from 2013 to 2015 under its proposed changes to the ETS reports The Herald.

In a major concession to the Opposition, the Rudd Government said it would exclude agriculture from its ETS legislation. Agricultural emissions from ruminants represent about half of NZ’s emissions but only 13 per cent of Australia’s, says the Australian Climate Change office. And while NZ’s agricultural emissions have risen 12 per cent since 1990, Australia’s have fallen by 6 per cent.  “That’s mainly due to drought, and excluding agriculture was a luxury they might be able to afford but we cannot,” Smith said.

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PGG Wrightson would remain a “NZ Inc story” despite a Chinese company scooping up a 13 per cent stake in the agricultural services firm, an analyst says. But opponents believe Wrightson’s decision to sell $36 million of new shares to young Chinese agriculture company Agria Corporation is another case of NZ’s production sector potentially falling into foreign hands reports Stuff.

The sale announced on Friday is the first part of a larger equity raising plan in response to demands from Wrightson’s bankers to repay $200m of debt by March. Forsyth Barr head of research Rob Mercer said NZ’s point of difference globally was its agricultural, assets-rich economy which was attractive to Asian investors such as Agria.

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Federated Farmers says the Government’s decision to bring agriculture into its proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) by 2015 is “highly disappointing”. And it now wants the Government to argue in Copenhagen next December – when details of the global new deal on post-Kyoto emissions are negotiated – for agriculture to not be included in carbon schemes reports The ODT.

“The Government must seek to remove agriculture at Copenhagen in December,” said Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson, of Waimatua. “While we support efficient and sustainable resource use, we have big concerns over the impact of an ETS.” The Government is relying on carbon-trading through its proposed ETS to help it meet a target of a 10 to 20 percent cut in carbon emissions on 1990 levels by 2020.

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Federated Farmers latest local government rates survey has revealed two farms paying over $100,000 in rates this year and a further six paying over $50,000. The self selecting survey, conducted in late August, garnered 520 responses. It discovered rural property rates have increased by an average of 12.5 percent in 2009/10 – significantly higher than the current inflation rate of about 2 percent.

“The survey vigorously reinforces the Federation’s call for local government funding reform,” says Don Nicolson, Federated Farmers President. “We undertook the survey in response to a high number of members’ complaints about hefty rates increases following significant property revaluations. Farmers have been hit particularly hard by these revaluations, as councils still rely on the archaic and fundamentally flawed property-value rating system.

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In the year or so since Federated Farmers went through its latest three-year leadership shuffle it has become obvious that the organisation has lifted its game. The president, Southland sheep and beef farmer Don Nicolson, has had the good fortune to arrive at the same time as two new key members of his management team, chief executive Conor English and marketing strategist David Broome reports The Dom Post. Together, this threesome has breathed new life into a farm dog that was beginning to look tuckered out. Comparisons with the previous administration are unfair, however, because of a vital difference – the change in government.

Labour began its nine years in office being fairly friendly to farmers. I remember Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton laughing and joking with the Feds’ leadership at conferences. But that changed as Labour was forced to forge new alliances to stay in power. Helen Clark saw the political expediency in making the environment a major policy plank and that led to conflict with farmers. For the Feds, Manawatu dairy farmer Charlie Pedersen’s shoot from the lip tough talking was just what was needed to convey farmers’ feelings. The behind-the-scenes lobbying was for chief executive Annabel Young, a former National MP, although she became embroiled in staffing matters.

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Federated Farmers is challenging the Government and Dr. Don Brash’s productivity taskforce to back water storage.  With the economic effect of the 2007/08 El Nino influenced drought being revised from $1.2 billion to $2.8 billion, the economic case is indisputable. The negative impact of drought cost billions but the current response is the Community Irrigation Fund’s $5.7 million (excluding GST) in grants over eight years,” says Don Nicolson, President of Federated Farmers. “It seems ridiculous that when water storage can generate around $8.00 in payback for every dollar invested, it’s not being pushed harder to create jobs and wealth.

“The prospect of permanent jobs is greater with water storage than say it is with the national cycle way. It headlined Federated Farmers recommendations at the Prime Minister’s Jobs Summit and remains so today. “With the MetService warning El Nino may be back this summer, the policy response hasn’t moved far from 2007/08.  Unlike 2007/08, the world is now in recession so the affect of another drought will be amplified. “The simple fact is that New Zealand, unlike Australia, doesn’t want for rainfall on an annualised basis, just the means to store it.

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The prestigious Wall Street Journal is today carrying an opinion piece on U.S. dairy export subsidies, written by Federated Farmers President, Don Nicolson. The piece is appropriately entitled, Milking Export Subsidies.”While the extension of U.S. export subsidies was an unwelcome shock generating many column inches both here and in Australia, we were effectively only talking to ourselves,” said Don Nicolson, Fed Farmers, speaking from Indonesia where he’s attending the Cairns Group meeting of agricultural exporting nations.

“I felt we had to take our compelling message that we farm without subsidy and on our own two feet, direct to the USA and the international business community. “Writing a letter to President Barack Obama was one thing. Getting wider attention on this most important issue is another.”That’s why the Wall Street Journal was the logical choice. It’s the trade paper of American commerce and one of the most respected newspapers in the world. It has genuine gravitas with U.S. policy makers. “It’s an honour and a bit of a coup really that Fed Farmers has had such a topical piece accepted. The timing is ideal, given it coincides with the Cairns Group meeting being attended by U.S. trade representative, Ron Kirk and the WTO’s Director-General, Pascal Lamy.

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