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Farming’s unfashionable, but a simple fix can make it sexy
Farming’s unfashionable, but there’s a simple fix to make it sexy
By Peter Kerr for sticK
(sticK - 22 March 2012 ) There are huge gains to be made in pastoral farming productivity if the average performers started doing what the top 25% do according to MAF in its Briefing to Incoming Ministers.
That would increase exports by $3 billion a year, just using existing knowledge.
Now, as MAF sees it, we’re missing considerable opportunities. The report says “The problem arises from a complex mix of capabilities, infrastructure, investment, incentives and social factors across a broad range of industry participants.”
If this is shorthand for the fact that average age of sheep and beef farmers is now 58 and rising, and, those very same farmers have continually pushed up the price of land beyond its actual productive value, then MAF’s dead right. Indeed, there’s a demographic time bomb – and as the ANZ bank say in the above article, we’ve lost a generation.
One thing that the MAF BIM doesn’t mention, and to be fair it is probably a bridge too far for a bureaucrat, is that farming ain’t sexy.
For sticK – science, technology, innovation & commercialisation KNOWLEDGE - is a new Wellington based news service concentrating on following the money from ideas to income. Contact editor Peter Kerr at peter.kerr055 @ gmail.com
Peter Kerr
Message maker
Writer, communicator, simplifier, storyteller.
Versed in the art and science of translating something complicated into an understandable message.
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