| 47 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Shane Ardern Cautious optimism over shift in thinking on ag sector Shane and his sons Cameron and Jonathan own and manage two South Taranaki dairy farms in Te Kiri and Awatuna. Shane Ardern. Kim Newth Former MP and South Taranaki dairy farmer Shane Ardern gently chuckles when he recalls how farming was written off as a sunset industry by politicians back in the late 1980s. In fact, it remains as ascendent as ever in the New Zealand economy. A 2023 briefing paper by MPI described agriculture as the largest sector of New Zealand’s tradeable economy, generating $48.9 billion in annual export revenue. That total equates to 70 percent of merchandise exports. Shane says the figures speak for themselves, noting that it makes no sense to try and pretend otherwise or to think that New Zealand can somehow become less dependent on agriculture. His long held view is that any NZ government targeting strong growth must by definition support growth in primary production, particularly in the dairy sector. “It gave me some hope recently to hear a speech in the House by Minister of Trade and Investment Todd McClay, who is also Minister of Agriculture, praising the strength of our agricultural sector and the dairy sector in particular. I’ve been studying parliamentary speeches for a long time and haven’t heard many of those sorts of speeches in the last 20 years. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has talked about the importance of our primary sector too.” In December, Fonterra upgraded the midpoint of its forecast 2024/25 farmgate milk price by 50c to $10 per kg of milk solids. It’s positive news for the dairy sector, but Shane says the payout is actually down in real terms compared to what farmers were getting six or seven years ago. The traditional 200-cow dairy farm that used to prevail in New Zealand simply could not survive today, he adds. 39 Cut eld St, Inglewood 94 Broadway, Stratford 0800 662 6455 www.moamilking.co.nz Proud to support Shane Ardern SEE US FOR: • Effluent • Cooling • In Shed Feed • Milking Systems • Water Reticulation • to page 48 Mainland Engineering proudly supports Shane Ardern
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