Adams speaks out for ag

Selwyn MP Amy Adams is introduced to Herald readers this morning.

A lawyer and farmer, she’s right when she says:

“[Agriculture] was our past and it remains our future. It is the primary sector that will help us as a country find our way through these troubled financial times.”

Her maiden speech is here.

A footnote for those who think the National Party and rural New Zealand aren’t female-friendly: the large blue tracts on the political map from the North Canterbury to the southern reaches of North and Central Otago are represented by Amy in Selwyn, Jo Goodhew in Rangitata and Jacqui Dean in Waitaki.

Irish producers seek taxpayer support

Irish producers are calling for taxpayers to subsidise a sterling equalisation support scheme  to compensate them for the fall in the value of the pound which has reduced their returns from exports to Britain.

This comes just days after the European Union agreed to resume subsidies  on butter, cheese and milk powder which Alf Grumble thinks requries a less diplomatic approach  than the initial response from New Zealand.

Subsidies blunt market signals and will prolong the slump in prices because they’ll send artificial signals to maintain or boost production in the face of falling demand and they’ll also threaten free trade negotiations.

Both of these will harm our exporters and the wider economy.