Agsafe Weekly Rural Report

Agsafe Weekly Rural Report:
Finance: The US dollar weakened through the week with the turmoil created by Trumps tariff policy. Brent Crude remains low at around $68/barrel.
Wool: Wool prices The Government has decreed that government buildings should prefer woollen carpets – good start!!
Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: Meat schedules are steady with strong demand for red meats especially the manufacturing beef in the USA. Venison prices are good, lamb & beef schedules are OK with predictions there will be some increase coming.
Dairy Prices. The g/DT lifted 1.6% with a 80% of the offering sold. WMP lifted 2.8% to $US4171. SMP fell 2.3% & Lactose lifted 22%. The result was positive in a very unstable international environment.

If you have staff, make sure you have sorted out the holidays & time-off. With the school holidays in full swing it is essential that you all know your H&S liability for people visiting the farm, especially children wanting to ride on the ATV’s & tractors & even be around the stock. AgSafe can help if you are unsure of your liabilities & responsibilities.

Jim’s Weekly Rant:

The short weeks make it frustrating trying to get staff rosters right and then having to cover for the additional time-off and extra pay. Some of the statutory days could be argued as being unnecessary, but one that is important and is part of unifying our country is ANZAC day and we must continue to remember the sacrifice made for your freedom and be able to celebrate the democracy that underpins our politics and our society, a freedom that many people around the world do not and will not ever have. ANZAC day is more than a day of memorial and remembrance for those who didn’t return from the two wars, but it can be a day of thanksgiving as we remember how the returned soldiers built a country. Many of the returning soldiers from both World Wars were settled on farms. My father his brother and my grandfather were settled on “Soldier Settlement” blocks, my father from the 2nd WW at Hinuera, an uncle at Waitoa and my grandfather from WW1 at Te Poi. The newly settled soldiers set about establishing productive farms on what was often part of larger more extensive land holdings. Owners of the large holdings were “required” to sell land to the Crown to settle the soldiers on. The smaller economic units were then around 60 to 80 cows or 350 to 500 ewes. They were single operator units. The new entrants to farming had a thirst for knowledge and a desire to make NZ great. The Ruakura Research Station in Hamilton and Invermay in the south along with Lincoln and Massey Colleges became important to the industries facilitating productivity growth and introducing new technologies. The wool boom created by the Korean War allowed many of the sheep farmers to pay off the settlement debt over a couple of years in the mid-1950’s and buy new cars and machinery. It was a time of real prosperity and NZ’s agriculture cemented itself as the mainstay of the NZ economy. The producer Boards were established after the 2nd WW and the industries were coordinated through the producer boards and managed for the good of the nation. ANZAC Day should perhaps be a day to celebrate the rebirth of our country. The returning soldiers bought an attitude of “can-do” back with them, they had learnt how to survive in difficult conditions and be frugal with the meager resources they had to work with while on the Island, in the desert or in the jungle. Their resilience built the country we all now benefit from and as well as remembering those that didn’t return, we need to be thankful for those that did and the nation they built. The community spirit in the many small rural villages around the country exemplified the comradery that was developed while serving overseas, they learnt to share resources, trust each other and do what was best for the community. It is many of these traits that have disappeared from our society – we have lost a lot of the community spirit, the trust in each other, the independent research and the willingness to help grow the country unless it directly benefits the individual. So, this ANZAC day take some time to reflect on success of our rural sector and how the returning soldiers, who in their mid to late 20’s, took on the challenge of making New Zealand Great Again.