Rural round-up

Outdated gene editing laws hobble NZ research– Malcolm Bailey :

The same genetic technologies that helped create effective covid vaccines in record time can also help us reduce farming emissions, improve water quality and improve animal welfare. But New Zealand’s regulations regarding the use of these technologies – and the more recent gene editing in particular – are outdated and are holding back research and the bringing of products to market. 

With a score of 4 out of 10, NZ ranks poorly on the Food & Crops Gene Editing Index produced by the international Genetic Literacy Project. Best in class countries such as the United States, Israel, Japan, Brazil and Argentina score 10. Despite being way ahead of NZ, Australia only gets a score of 8.

When we think of the climate challenge, there is an urgent need for new products that will help reduce emissions. Gene editing is a safe and effective enabler for developing such products. 

Grass, and growing it efficiently, underpins NZ’s livestock farming sector. An essential component of our pasture grasses are their associated endophytes, which are fungi that live inside the leaves and are essential for persistence by protecting the grass from pasture pests. We are so good at producing pasture that we already lead the world in low emissions per kilogram of our animal food products. But we can get even better. . . 

Waste wool use with a strong back end – Charlie Williamson :

Currently so low-value it’s often left to rot in the paddock, the part of a sheep’s fleece covered in sheep poo, or “the dags”, may have a new lease on life thanks to a Christchurch company’s innovative weed mat. 

Wool innovation company Terra Lana has been locally sourcing sheep-pellet-covered wool direct from farmers and using it to manufacture biodegradable, self-fertilizing mats called the Dagmat, with the aim of bringing more value back to the farmer. 

The mats provide weed control for new seedlings, using the biodegradable nature of wool fibres and the nutrients found in sheep pellets like nitrogen and sulfur to help the soil thrive. 

Terra Lana business development manager Brad Stuart said as well as the biological benefits, the product also helps support local farmers and local economy – unlike competing products such as the popular coconut matting.  . . 

I wonder if I can have dry sheep for tuesday….. pic.twitter.com/qwcpACeRdO

— Ben Dooley 🧢 (@BenDooley8) May 21, 2023

He farmed Coronet Peak Station for 48 years but hated snow – Olivia Caldwell :

Billy Dagg, 92, has spent most of his life farming Coronet Peak Station, yet he has never put on a pair of skis. And nor does he plan on it.

“I spent enough time in the snow. I had too much to do with it, I hated snow.”

Dagg is one of the Wakatipu Basin’s best known farmers, local legends and gentle hearts.

He only retired from farming 13 years ago after owning Coronet Peak Station for 48 years. His son Brian Dagg took over the reins in his latter years, then sold it in 2000. . . 

Rugged individualists I’ve known and loved – Steve Wyn-Harris :

The 2023 Tux South Island and New Zealand Sheep Dog Trials Championships are on this week.

I sent them a note letting them know that I wouldn’t be competing.

I’ve had farm dogs all my farming career but, as you are likely aware, none of them have been dog trial material or even close.

My favourite dog saying is “if all of your dogs are useless, the problem might not be your dogs”. . . 

Family goes to Ombudson over concerns around cyclone grant process – Marty Sharpe :

Of seven businesses in the Esk Valley to apply for a cyclone recovery grant, not one got the $40,000 they had sought, yet others located elsewhere who appeared not to have been as badly affected did.

One of those unsuccessful applicants was Maik Beekmans, who with wife Marianne and their two daughters, lived on a property also run as an orchard business.

The February 14 floods washed away their house, all their possessions and machinery and destroyed the orchard.

Beekmans is unhappy with the way the grants have been handled by the local Chamber of Commerce, and the role played by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and is making a complaint to the Ombudsman’s Office. . . 

A rural fashion statement – when your ball dress perfectly matches the colour of your tractor. pic.twitter.com/s6H6TnPSlV

— Federated Farmers (@FedFarmers) May 23, 2023

CRISPR sausage gets FDA green light for consumption – Kristin Houser :

The FDA has given Washington State University (WSU) researchers the green light to feed five gene-edited pigs to people. The approval could help build public trust in CRISPR’d foods and be the first step in a new food revolution.

The background: Farmers have been selectively breeding animals for thousands of years, pairing parents with desirable traits to create offspring with more eggs, more meat, less disease, and a host of other traits.

While we have selective breeding to thank for much of the meat we eat today, it’s also a slow and imprecise process. Breeding any two animals changes thousands of combinations of genes all at once, sometimes creating new problems along with the selected trait.

Gene-editing technologies like CRISPR, which enable us to add, delete, or edit single genes, provide a potentially faster, more precise way to create animals with desirable traits. . .

 

Some public servants toy with OIA requests

The free flow of information is one of the foundation stones of democracy, that’s why we have an Official Information Act.

But  some public servants are playing games with OIA requests.

The Office of the Ombudsmen is concerned some parts of the public service have been deliberately delaying responses to Official Information requests.

In the office’s Annual Report to Parliament, Chief Ombudsmen Beverley Wakem says the practice is unacceptable and subverts the purpose of the legislation.

Beverley Wakem says the Office has observed an increasing tendency by a few government departments and Ministerial offices to ignore the provisions of the Official Information Act over the timing of responses to requesters.

“While in some cases this was clearly a misunderstanding of their obligations, there is also a regrettable tendency to game the system and delay responses until the complainants’ interest in the matter had passed,” she says.

Ignorance is no excuse and it appears that some of the delays are a deliberate attempt to hide information.

New Zealand has a proud record of being relatively free of corruption.  This sort of game playing by the previous administration and their staff threatens that so I hope John Key makes it clear to his cabinet that their obligation is to ensure they and staff in ministries and departments make information freely available unless there is a very, very good reason for not doing so.

Kiwblog suggests that departments and offices which have been playing games be named and shamed.

Roarprawn gives an example of an answer to an OIA request being edited.

goNZofreakpower links this to the ACC blowout and lists the major offenders.

Clark Shoots Messenger

A tape of Helen Clark’s speech to a journalism conference in which she criticised the media has been released after an Official Information Act request by a member of the public and the intervention of the ombudsman.

On the tape, Clark is severely critical of journalists for their alleged lack of knowledge of world events, historical context, and “letting the facts get in the way of the story.”

Shouldn’t the criticism be for not  letting the facts get in the way of the story?

She claims TV3 political editor Duncan Garner had told a seminar that “politicians always lie”.

“I’m sorry, politicians don’t always lie. I’m quite appalled by that statement. I think it’s important that scrutiny is not confused with cynicism,” Clark said.

Of course politicians don’t always lie, but Garner says what he actually said was that the first instinct of politicians when cornered was to lie.

Clark says there are large gaps in journalists’ general knowledge, and in geography, sociology, and economic matters.

“Very few journalists have any comprehension of the range of relations New Zealand has, the range of issues New Zealand is involved in.”

Most journalists were too young to remember seminal events in the country’s history, she says.

“Today’s political editors of the two main TV channels were barely in their infancy, if born, when Norman Kirk brought the troops back from Vietnam, the Springbok tour, sent the frigate to Mururoa – events that to many of our age group were seminal events,” Clark said.

“Muldoon and David Lange are basically ancient history too and world war one and two are antedivulian.”

Lack of institutional knowledge in newsrooms is a concern but she’s got to remember that it’s not only young people who don’t share her memories of what she considers important. It’s 27 years since I started journalism and I don’t remember Kirk bringing the troops back from Vietnam – I would have been at high school at the time.  The Springbok tour happened a few months after I started work and I remember reporting on it, but it isn’t nearly as important to me as it obviously is to her.

Clark said trends in journalism included “making the story all about them”, a “rush to judgment” on blogging, a refusal to send journalists on overseas trips, and competition that was leading to inaccuracies.

“There wouldn’t be a day go by when something isn’t just plain wrong,” she said.

There are journalists who blog but not all blogs are journalism and not all rush – some of us take a carefully considered path to judgement 😉

I’ll concede that mistakes happen too often and it must be frustrating – but sometimes it’s not the reporting that’s wrong when it doesn’t reflect your own view.

Clark said New Zealand was fortunate to have a free media, however, and politicians still needed journalists as much as the media needed political news.  

Clark courted journalists when she became Prime Minister, and she got a pretty gentle run for a time. Now they’re reporting a different view of the world from hers and she’s taking it personally.

[Update: Karl du Fresne has another view on the media here]