As the politics begin in the lead up to the election we hear the Green Party talking about using the school as a hub for services and a base for community engagement. It is a great idea, however the Education Department is already onto that and could probably do with a bit more support.
We hope to develop such a model at the Pukekohe North School in Franklin, based on the Victory School model in Nelson. Already at the North School they have been doing great work on their community issues with the help of the education department and hope to get some health service resource back which was siphoned off from our people to go elsewhere.
That aside, it is unfortunate a political collaboration to give this policy life for communities will be sacrificed for the sake of political combat. The Greens, National and Labour have all announced what could be components of a great strategy but of course they have to criticise each other rather than work together - oh dear how sad for us. Score, Politics 1; The People 0.
It was amidst commentary by the investment guru Brian Gaynor the warning came for the dairy industry based on the experience of the forestry industry. This industry which has been reduced to a foreign owned non value added production under pressure to produce volume. That pressure, he argues, could be at the heart of the recurring deaths. It made interesting reading, but what was more startling was his warning that dairying may be headed the same way.
As we seem to be focusing on more mechanised high volume production Brian raises concerns that we would lose sight of the qualities we valued and like forestry just become a high pressure, little value added industry.
Whilst at the Brisbane Royal Agricultural Show (EKKA) late last year I was asked to present ribbons to the state winners of the Dairy Cattle young paraders class. I had noted that compared to a couple of years ago when I had last visited the show, entries in the dairy cattle classes seemed to have dropped significantly.
With me were the bank sponsor representatives, and others such as farmers and agricultural industry suppliers. I mentioned my observation and they assumed grim faces and told the industry was disappearing in Queensland. Not only did they think there would be no diary section at the show within the next couple of years, that milk production was decreasing rapidly in the state as dairy farmers began converting their operations to crop growing. Queensland was not producing enough milk to meet its consumption requirements.
I asked why that was and was told, in unison, one word, Coles.
Let me digress for a moment to talk about the news that was widely reported recently about Australian supermarkets stocking only Australian produced consumer goods. The NZ Farmers weekly reported the Coles supermarket chain had marked Australia Day by replacing all of its house brand and Buy Smart frozen vegetables sold across the nation with 100% Aussie grown vegetables.
That would sound like great news for the 240 growers in Tasmania and New South Wales who will be signed up for a five year contract which also mean they will need to plant more crops. They should perhaps have a chat to the Queensland dairy farmers who found themselves initially supplying Cole’s new house brand milk product which was then on an aggressive path to dominate the market.
What happened when it achieved market domination – ask the diary farmers who have quit dairying in droves, so much so there will be no dairy industry to speak of in Queensland.
In my opinion, the NZ Dairy Farmers should ask what happened to NZ’s Forestry products industry. Perhaps the vegetable growers in Tasmania and NSW should ask what happened to the dairy industry in Queensland. And NZ consumers might ask, “Where is the dominant and a key player in the supermarket industry in NZ based?”
