Arable boss to address biosecurity, value chain

Alison Stewart
Alison Stewart
The new boss of the Foundation for Arable Research is calling for a renewed focus of biosecurity and the value chain within the arable industry.

Chief executive Dr Alison Stewart was speaking at a Women In Arable meeting in Ashburton last week.

In her first six weeks in the job, Dr Stewart was surprised at the challenges faced in arable farming in New Zealand, or the primary sector in general.

She said there were global external drivers that could affect the New Zealand market, and New Zealand industry was going to have to act drastically.

''I was quite surprised that the amount of funding that biosecurity got was a really low-key priority in arable.''

New Zealand needed to manage biosecurity in crops ''or we could be opening up ourselves up to potential derailing'', she said.

Biosecurity issues were a bigger risk to the country because of the importance of the primary industries to the gross domestic product, Dr Stewart said.

According to Ministry of Primary Industries it drives the country's economy and provides employment for more than 350,000 people.

The Government Industry Agreement (GIA) - the partnership between primary industry and governments to manage pests and disease that could damage New Zealand's primary industries, economy, and environment - was vital due to the substantial amount of money, and value to the sector, she said.

Under GIA, signatories shared the decision-making, responsibilities and costs of preparing for, and responding to, biosecurity incursions.

By working in partnership, industry and government could achieve better biosecurity outcomes, she said.

While the headlights were on the dairy sector at the moment, Dr Stewart believed the arable sector would be next.

The foundation needed do more research and development into what the risks to the sector in five to 10 years' time would be.

''We need to start engaging in that space.''

Dr Stewart said there were many primary pests and pathways for an incursion to occur.

The Ministry of Primary Industries understood that, she said.

Just last week, Biosecurity New Zealand confirmed that the invasive weed great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum), was found growing in several areas in Canterbury.

Dr Stewart said the arable industry needed to partner with MPI to see what was the best strategy to take.

With rapid growth in the dairy industry, the Government should have expected an environmental backlash was likely to occur. It had happened in other countries, she said.

''Every sector has its good and its bad issues.

''We have to work together.''

Dr Stewart had visited the regions and heard many farmers saying they did not want to stay in the arable sector. Most of their comments were because of the value chain.

Essentially, arable farmers were competing against each other in a domestic market.

''We need to start working together like dairy,'' Dr Stewart said.

At the end of the day, good quality growers would get out of the cropping industry, so a long-term plan was needed, not short-term gain.

''As an outsider looking in, the business model doesn't look very good.

''I want to explore different options out there and try to see if we can push for one or two.''

It would mean changes but if the market opportunities were identified, that market would get behind it.

''Take a risk and do something different,'' she said.

-By Toni Williams

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