Word of the day

Similitude – the quality or state of being similar to something; a visible likeness; likeness in nature, qualities of appearance;  an imaginative comparison; correspondence in kind or quality; a point of comparison;  likeness; resemblance;  a person or thing that is like or the match or counterpart of another; similarity in appearance or character or nature between persons or things; a duplicate copy; a simile.

Sowell says

How long do politicians have to keep on promising heaven and delivering hell before people catch on, and stop getting swept away by rhetoric?

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) December 10, 2020

Rural round-up

A near miss – Nigel Beckford:

A near-fatal accident completely changed Owen Gullery’s approach to life and farming. Now he’s alerting other farmers to the dangers of fatigue and burnout.

Owen contract milks 480 cows on a dairy farm near Cambridge. He’s been in the industry 20 years and loves ‘the daily challenges of farming – good and bad.’

“We’re having a good year, spring’s been kind to us in terms of weather – we’re not swimming round in mud. Everything’s tracking along nicely, the cows are doing well, it’s a nice property and good people.”

Which all sounds cruisy, doesn’t it? In fact, it turns out Owen’s lucky to be farming at all. A few years back a tractor accident almost claimed his life. It’s a moment he still vividly recalls. . . 

Paving the way for nurse practitioners – Annette Scott:

Raised in a farming family on Pitt Island, Tania Kemp’s upbringing had a huge impact on her career path as a rural nurse practitioner. She talked with her Annette Scott about bridging the rural health gap.

South Canterbury-based nurse practitioner Tania Kemp says rural health care needs to be promoted as a specialty area and not seen as the poor cousin to the glittering lights of urban medical practices.

Kemp has been recognised for her commitment and leadership in her drive to improve health care for rural communities.

The recipient of the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network 2020 Peter Snow Memorial Award says the inequities of the rural health statistics urgently need addressing. . . 

Mouthing, uddering and checking just-weaned #Ezicare ewes. Not much dagging required for sheep like this! pic.twitter.com/QzcxK27FkP

— William Morrison (@MorrisonFarming) December 16, 2020

IrrigationNZ honours Canterbury farmer – John Donkers:

Former IrrigationNZ chair John Donkers has long been involved in the politics of water with his many years of service to the industry recently honoured by the organisation. He talked with Annette Scott about his interest in water and irrigation.

Honorary membership of Irrigation New Zealand recognises outstanding contribution to the organisation and the 2020 honour has been awarded to South Canterbury farm consultant John Donkers.

A farmer and dairy farm consultant for more than 25 years, with involvement in IrrigationNZ since 2003, Donkers has a good understanding of how Canterbury’s water runs.

His initial interest stems from farming in central Canterbury and the need to understand the groundwater network. . . 

Dairy’s record milksolids production in a challenging year:

The annual New Zealand Dairy Statistics publication released today shows another record year for New Zealand’s dairy sector, with total milksolids production at a record high.

The DairyNZ and Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) statistics show that in the 2019-20 season, New Zealand dairy companies processed 21.1 billion litres of milk containing 1.90 billion kilograms of milksolids (kg MS). This is a 0.6 percent increase in milksolids from the previous season.

Average milk production per cow also increased from 381 kg MS last season to 385 kg MS this season, while the latest count showed that New Zealand has 4.921 million milking cows – a decrease of 0.5 per cent from the previous season. This is again down significantly from peak cow numbers in 2014/15, which were at over 5 million. . . 

New analysis highlights dairy’s economic contribution:

The dairy sector is encouraged by today’s GDP results that emphasise New Zealand’s economic rebound amid Covid-19.

The dairy sector is playing a key role in a stable economy, contributing nearly one in every four dollars earned from total goods exports and services in the year to September 2020.

Recent Sense Partners analysis, for DairyNZ and DCANZ, shows the sector is delivering $20 billion in export value.

“Today’s GDP rebound may be a short-term benefit from the recovery in retail spending, wage subsidy and a hot housing market. So, it is important we don’t forget to focus on export-led growth moving forward,” said DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle. . .

New analysis commissioned by Dairy Companies of New Zealand (DCANZ) and DairyNZ shows dairy:

– Employs 50,000 Kiwis
– Earns $19.7 billion in exports
– Directly contributes $10.2 billion to our economy

Read more at https://t.co/H9FStXQbdH. pic.twitter.com/zROnvuZI5J

— DairyNZ (@DairyNZ) December 16, 2020

Careers in horticulture look bright for Northlanders :

A local horticulture expo and ‘speed meet’ attracted more than 200 people from across Northland and the North Island last Wednesday.

Held at the Cornerstone Church in Kerikeri, the speed meet matched jobseekers with Northland growers needing workers for the season, training providers and career advisors.

Bruce Campbell, a Director on the Horticulture New Zealand board, says in the current environment, industry led events like this are critical for growers, and for those looking for immediate employment or to build a new career for themselves. . . 

Six days before Christmas

Twelve days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “If the wind keeps up the lucerne should be fit by mid-afternoon and we’ll start making hay so there could be a few extra men for tea.”

Eleven days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “I have to go through to a sale in Central today. I haven’t forgotten the school concert and I should be back in time, but if I’m late you’ll have to go without me.”

Ten days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “When you go into town this morning could you see if the spare part for the tractor has turned up yet  and pick up some drench as well. You’ll be passing the bank so could you drop these cheques in then pay these bills too please, there’s only two or three.”

Nine days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “We’ll be shearing today, one of the men will be in the shed so he’ll want lunch early, the other should be in at the usual time and I probably won’t be in ‘til after one. But if we get the irrigator fixed this afternoon there might be time to get the Christmas tree.”

Eight days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “One of the rousies didn’t turn up so I’ve had to get another at short notice. Would you mind giving her lunch and could you throw something together for her morning and afternoon tea?”

Seven days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “The farm advisor’s coming for a look round this morning and I’ll be working with cattle after lunch, but if you remind me before dinner I’ll go and get the tree.”

Six days before Christmas my farmer said to me, “I’ll be going to the sale this morning and it’ll take most of the afternoon to draft the lambs. But they shouldn’t need dagging so when we’ve loaded the truck I’ll have time to get the tree.”

Yes Sir Humphrey

Tell the press a story in two halves – the problem first and the solution later. Then they get a disaster story one day and triumph story the next.

— Sir Humphrey Appleby (@YesSirHumphrey) December 7, 2020

An expensive week

It’s been a very expensive week for the taxpayer.

There’s the $333,641.70 Parliamentary Services paid for Trevor Mallard’s loose lips – and that’s likely to increase once an employment dispute is settled.

That was followed by the steep increase to the minimum wage, which might add to costs of the lowest paid in the public service and will add costs to all businesses.

As Lindsay Mitchell pointed out it will also increase the cost of benefits.

. . . Down the track it will lift the incomes of many more now that beneficiary rates  are linked to wage inflation. . . 

. . .It makes life harder for businesses and there is no increased certainty about supply of labour if benefit payment rates are competing. Earlier Henry Cooke calculated, “…benefits will go up between $27 and $46 a week by April 2023 – between $10 and $17 a week higher than they would under the old formula.”

To maintain relativity employers will be pressured to raise the wages of those above the minimum wage and are likely to pass their increased costs along to customers and nobody will be any the better for it.

It’s going to be difficult for the Reserve Bank to keep a lid on inflation. . . .

Inflation will negate any benefit from wage increases.

Then there’s the $29.9m paid to Fletcher Building for the land it was to develop for housing at Ihumātao.

It’s not just this payment, it’s the damage it’s done to property rights and the risk it poses to Treaty settlements:

National’s finance spokesman, Michael Woodhouse, said taxpayers were paying for the Government’s bungling of a land dispute.

“Taxpayers aren’t a bank to be called upon to clean up the Government’s poor decisions, particularly when it is meddling in private property rights,” Woodhouse said.

“The Prime minister should never have involved herself in the Ihumātao dispute and taxpayers shouldn’t bailing her out now.

“The ramifications of this Crown deal go much further than the lost opportunity of building houses immediately. It will call all full and final Treaty settlements into question and set a dangerous precedent for other land occupations, like the one at Wellington’s Shelly Bay.

“More than 20,000 Kiwi families are on the waiting list for a home this Christmas. The Government should not be spending $30 million on stopping 480 much-needed houses from being built right now.” . . 

The costs aren’t just financial.

The man defamed by Mallard lost his job and now has health problems.

The steep increase in the minimum wage will cost jobs and could be the last straw for businesses already in a precarious state.

And the political interference at Ihumātao has cost 480 desperately needed houses.

This is a very expensive start to the new government’s term.