Word of the day

Bloggbävning – blog quake; the process by which a topic explodes in the blogosphere and is then picked up by more mainstream media outlets.

50 shades of red

Fire fighters in London are blaming Fifty Shades of Grey for an increase in the number of call-outs to release people trapped in handcuffs:

It is emergency calls that firemen are expected to answer, not embarrassing ones.

But thanks to the popularity of the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, they are increasingly being called out to free people handcuffed to beds.

London Fire Brigade said it had turned out to 79 such incidents – and nine instances of men with rings stuck on their penises – and urged people ‘always keep the keys handy’.

Third officer Dave Brown, said: ‘Some of the incidents our firefighters are called out to could be prevented with a little common sense. 

‘I don’t know whether it’s the Fifty Shades effect, but the number of incidents involving items like handcuffs seems to have gone up.

‘I’m sure most people will be fifty shades of red by the time our crews arrive to free them.’

There’s smouldering passion and burning with desire but I don’t think needing the fire brigade is the outcome intended when someone says, come on baby light my fire.

Rural round-up

Fonterra’s ‘overdraft clearing forecast’ for 2013/14:

A milk price of $7.50 per kilogram of milksolids (kg/MS), now being forecast by Fonterra Cooperative Group for the 2013/14 season, is an ‘overdraft clearer’. Federated Farmers believes farmers will look to pay back credit lines extended to them during the drought.

“This increase in the payout forecast from $7 to $7.50 kg/MS comes off a very strong balance sheet,” says Willy Leferink, Federated Farmers Dairy chairman.

“Obviously this and an advance payout of $5.50 kg/MS, is great news after a disappointing back end to the last season. Given this time last year payout forecast were being paired back, seeing it go up is a huge relief. . . .

Increased forecast milk price, advance payout evidence of Fonterra’s strength: Brown:

A 50 cent increase in the forecast Farmgate Milk Price and advance for the 2013/14 season is reflection of the Co-operative’s strength said Fonterra Shareholders’ Council Chairman, Ian Brown.

The Fonterra Board of Directors today announced a revised Farmgate Milk Price forecast of $7.50 per kg/MS for the 2013/14 season, including a $5.50 advance, and an estimated dividend of 32 cents per share.

Ian Brown: “This outcome is evidence of a strong organisation that has moved appropriately for the benefit of its supplier Shareholders. . .

Latest water quality trends ‘red letter day’ for farming:

Good environmental farm management is starting to show through in the Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) latest River condition indicator.  This shows that over a decade at 90 percent of the sites tested, most of the MfE’s key indicators were either stable or improving.

“Improved management of the land and water resource by everyone may be starting to show up in these water quality results,” says Bruce Wills, Federated Farmers President.

“In broad brush terms New Zealand’s water quality is steadily improving.

“In recent years, farmers and communities have really stepped up their efforts but we know we can and must do better. This latest report shows we are heading in the right direction and we need to take this as encouragement to further step up our collective efforts. . .

AgResearch Plans Its Future Footprint:

The country’s largest Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, has released further details of its plans to reinvest $100 million into its campus facilities and resources.

AgResearch Chief Executive Dr Tom Richardson says the proposal is now with staff for consultation and involves a major reconfiguration and reinvestment of AgResearch’s campus and farm infrastructure to create a vital agricultural research institute for the next 50 years.

“We will be modernising our science facilities, co-locating our capability wherever possible, and participating in large agriculture innovation hubs, all of which will generate greater returns across the pastoral sector.

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to put AgResearch in the best possible long-term position to do more quality science more effectively and efficiently, and to make a much bigger difference to the agricultural sector’s productivity and profitability,” he says. . . .

New on-line weather forecast service:

Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith today launched a new online mountain weather forecast service that will improve the enjoyment and safety of trampers, hunters, mountain bikers, skiers and fishers using New Zealand’s National and Forest Parks.

“New Zealand’s mountain environment can quickly turn from warm and calm to treacherous. We can improve the safety and enjoyment of users by providing more frequent and detailed weather forecasts on the internet,” Dr Smith says.

“We lose about six people per year in our mountains and often these deaths are weather related. We also have about 150 mountain search and rescue callouts a year. This improved weather service will reduce risk and save lives.

“The new online mountain weather forecast service will provide standardised five day forecasts updated every day for 24 mountain locations across eight of New Zealand’s most popular parks. This compares to a previous service of eight locations with a mix of forecast lengths from two to five days and from a frequency of twice daily to weekly. . .

Speech to Horticulture New Zealand annual conference – Nathan Guy:

Today I want to talk to you about my priorities for the primary sector, of which horticulture is a major part. In particular I want to talk about the two goals that the Ministry for Primary Industries has – to grow and protect New Zealand’s economy.

As you all know, the primary sector is the powerhouse of our economy. It is worth around $30 billion a year to the New Zealand economy and makes up around 72 per cent of our exports.

Your industry is a major part of this equation, with New Zealand’s horticultural exports earned $3.6 billion in the year ended 31 March 2013. The total value of horticultural products produced is around $6.6 billion. . .

Farm Environment Awards Motivate Northland Farmers to Lift Game:

Participating in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards inspired Ken and Janine Hames to step up environmental work on their Northland farm.

Ken says they entered the awards to benchmark themselves against other farmers and “to see where we were at” in terms of environmental sustainability.

He and Janine, a vet at Ruawai, first entered the Northland Ballance Farm Environment Awards in 2010 and were thrilled to win two category awards.

“I guess it showed we were on the right track,” says Ken, who runs an intensive bull finishing operation on 400ha at Paparoa, southeast of Dargaville. . .

Milk payout up

Analysts had been a predicting an increase in Fonterra’s payout and they were right.

The company has announced a 50 cent increase in the payout and a 32 cent increase in the dividend, bringing the total forecast up to $7.82.

Chairman John Wilson said the higher Forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the new season reflected continuing strong international prices for dairy.

 

“At the beginning of this season, our forecast was that dairy commodity prices would continue at or near current levels until the fourth quarter of 2013.  However, supply constraints in Europe and China during the Northern Hemisphere spring have contributed to an increase in dairy prices of 3 per cent over the past two months.  In addition, the NZ dollar has weakened against the US dollar.  These factors have contributed to our updated forecast,” said Mr Wilson. 

 

The Co-operative also confirmed a further increase to the advance rate schedule, starting from $5.50 per kilo of milk solids which is very good for farmers’ cash flows.

 

“A higher Advance Rate provides our farmer shareholders a strong start to the season and the opportunity to grow their own farming businesses.” 

 

Commenting on the forecast dividend for FY14, Mr Wilson said Fonterra’s Board has amended the Co-operative’s dividend policy. 

 

“The Board has approved a new policy that aims to deliver a sustainable dividend from FY14 onwards.  When setting the dividend, the Board will take into account short and medium term earnings to deliver a dividend per share of between 65–75 per cent of adjusted Net Profit after Tax over a period of time. The dividend remains at the Board’s discretion, and subject to market conditions and Fonterra’s financial position.

 

“Additionally, from FY14 we are adopting a qualitative earnings guidance approach, rather than the previous quantitative earnings per share guidance.  

 

“The changes mean we will provide more market commentary – but will no longer put numbers around future earnings per share.  This new policy will enable the business to provide a longer term view on any potential volatility in earnings,” said Mr Wilson.  

 

Chief Executive Theo Spierings said international dairy trade growth is currently being led by strong demand for powders (combined whole milk and skim).

 

“This trend, relative to prices for cheese and casein, currently would have a short term negative influence on product mix returns during the first half of FY14.

 

“As we drive for growth in our consumer businesses, during the first half of FY14 we are likely to have to absorb some of the expected substantial increases in the cost of goods arising from current high commodity prices, and this could have an impact on margins.

 

“Taking into account the headwinds we face and current market volatility, the FY14 estimated dividend of 32 cents per share may be outside the 65-75 per cent range.

 

Fonterra’s offer of a fixed $7 price was oversubscribed. 

 

Those who took it won’t be upset that their requests were scaled back.

 

They’ll have to accept that in insuring against a fall in the payout they were also taking the risk of not being able to take advantage of an increase.

 

But it might put people off the offer should it be made again next year.

 

The increase is welcome but it is very unlikely to be anywhere near this good next season.

 

In a newsletter to shareholders Wilson warns that the market is still very volatile and farmers should be very careful with budgets.

 

Production in other countries is likely to increase and unless there’s adverse weather conditions which impact production the supply will go up.

Test on idiots

Quote of the day:

“If it’s necessary to have these mind-changing chemicals, then test them on the idiots that want to take them, because there’s hundreds that want to do it.” John Banks.

He was commenting on testing party pills on animals.

Banks was the only MP to vote against legislation which would allow animal testing. However, Associate Health Minister Todd McLay shares his concerns.

“Many New Zealanders have raised concerns around the possibility of animal testing for psychoactive products, and I am one of them.

“I have today clarified with the Ministry of Health that no licences to test psychoactive substances are to be issued before the Expert Advisory Committee has completed its consideration of what constitutes a low risk of harm and the appropriateness of all aspects of a testing regime,” says Mr McClay.

“New Zealand has a policy of replacing, refining and reducing any testing involving animals and I have made it clear that it is my expectation we will set an example in this area. Within days of receiving my ministerial warrant I inserted Clause 12 of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 ruling out any animal testing where an alternative exists.

“Last week I had a positive meeting with animal welfare representatives to discuss how we can together work towards a regime that will exclude animal tests. I welcome their input as I am sure this will add to the effective and practical implementation of the Act in the months ahead,” says Mr McClay.

The Psychoactive Substances Act removed legal highs from hundreds of retailers around New Zealand and will ensure that only low risk products are available in the future. The Government’s overriding objective with the legislation is the health and welfare of young people, and the Act is already having a positive effect for those most vulnerable.

Countries around the world continue to struggle with how to deal with these products and New Zealand is leading the world in addressing these completely new substances.

“There is a lot of water to pass under the bridge before any testing regime is finalised and I look forward to working with interested parties, including those involved in today’s marches, on this issue in the weeks ahead,” says Mr McClay.

I am not against animal testing on drugs which could do a lot of good but party pills definitely don’t fall into that category.

 

Free trade is only real fair trade

Fair Trade – that’s got to be good, hasn’t it?

No.

Over at Anti Dismal, Paul Walker discusses an article in The Economist by Amrita Narlikar and Dan Kim which argues that like a lot of other ideas that sound good in theory,  it does more harm than good in practice:

Despite the claims of its champions, the fair-trade movement doesn’t help alleviate poverty in developing countries. Even worse, it is just another direct farm subsidy of the kind most conscientious consumers despise. In the long term, the world needs free trade, not fair trade. . .

The stated purpose of the fair-trade movement is to give economic security to producers in developing countries — often of unprocessed commodities such as fruits, live animals, and minerals — by requiring companies and consumers to pay a premium on the market price.

Until now, any questioning of the fair-trade movement has been limited to the micro level. The movement has faced repeated criticisms, for example, for the relatively expensive fees that producers must pay to get a fair-trade label, which make it ineffective for many poor farmers. Another area of concern is just how lucrative the process is for middlemen and retailers. Finally, several studies show that very little of the premium that consumers pay actually reaches needy producers. Consumers might be surprised to learn that only one or two percent of the retail price of an expensive cup of “ethical” coffee goes directly to poor farmers.

The adverse effects of fair trade are even more worrying at the macro level. First, fair trade deflects attention from real, long-term solutions to rural poverty in developing countries; and second, it has the potential to fragment the world agricultural market and depress wages for non-fair-trade farm workers. . .

Walker points out in spite of the marketing which tries to convince consumers that Fair Trade is good for producers, they get only a tiny percentage of the money made:

An interesting statistic is that in 2010, retail sales of fair-trade-labelled products totalled about $5.5 billion, with about $66 million premium — or about 1.2 percent of total retail sales — reaching the participating producers. There has to be a better way of helping poor farmers. Having only 1.2 cents out of every dollar spent on fair-trade products reach the target farmers is a hugely inefficient way of helping these people. If people wish to help these farmers there has to be charities out there that can transfer more than 1.2 cents per dollar to them.

Also a more efficient and straightforward way to help poor farmers is to remove the massive OECD subsidies and tariffs we see on agricultural products. In other words, a move towards free trade is needed.

Fair Trade has a powerful brand but it’s not one which really helps producers.

They, and consumers, would have much more to gain from free trade, which is the only real fair trade.

Submissions on independent constitutional review close today

Submissions on the independent constitutional review close today.

The New Zealand Centre for Political research has a submission form which covers most areas of discussion.

My view:

The parliamentary term should be four years and fixed.

Three years leads to short-term thinking and governing, hampers productivity, is more expensive for the state and increases the costs and workloads of volunteers in political parties.

A fixed term would prevent governments playing politics with the election date, and provide certainty for planning and administration.

The number of electorates should increase and the population tolerance increase from 5% to 10%.

Provincial electorates already cover far too great an area. Retaining the same number of MPs as the population increases or reducing the number would make that worse.

The number of South Island seats should be increased by at least one to reduce the geographic size. That would then lead to more North Island seats to retain a similar number of people in each electorate.

The population tolerance should increase from 5% to 10% to allow more flexibility over communities of interest. Adding another couple of thousand people to a city electorate would have little impact but could reduce the size of a rural electorate significantly.

The Maori electoral option and seats should be abolished.

They provide poorer representation owing to the large geographical area they cover.

MMP helps address diversity and Maori are more than capable of being elected in general seats.

Treaty breaches should be addressed and compensation made but the Treaty should not be enshrined in the constitution.

Property rights should be included in the Bill of Rights.

Our current flexible constitutional arrangements should remain.

A written constitution is not necessary.

Constitutional changes should require a public mandate through a referendum with a majority of at least 75% or a parliamentary vote with a similar level of support.

Constitutional matters should not be changed by bare majorities.