Role for Government in CraFarms damage control

There is a role for the Government in containing the ongoing damage to New Zealand’s reputation caused by the reckless actions of CraFarms, the Green Party said today.

“The government has the power to step in and appoint competent managers when a corporation is acting recklessly and against the public interest,” Green Party Co-Leader Dr Russel Norman said today.

“The appalling track record of New Zealand’s biggest dairy producer, CraFarms, on animal welfare and effluent pollution, has the potential to do huge damage to New Zealand’s international image and dairy exports.

“This may already be happening, with shocking images of calf neglect at CraFarms’ Benneydale dairy farm being circulated widely via YouTube at the moment,” Dr Norman said.

As noted by columnist Fran O’Sullivan in the New Zealand Herald this morning, the Minister of Commerce, in conjunction with the Securities Commission, has the power under the Corporations (Investigation and Management) Act, 1989, to appoint statutory management for a corporation that is acting recklessly, or to preserve the public interest.

“It is abundantly clear from CraFarms’ track record that they have been acting recklessly for some time,” Dr Norman said. “The recent revelation of calf neglect at Benneydale comes on top of 56 convictions for animal neglect at a CraFarms’ operation in Hawkes Bay in 2006, as well as multiple convictions of CraFarms’ operations for illegal effluent pollution.

“Furthermore, the fact this behaviour is coming from New Zealand’s largest dairy producer, supplying New Zealand’s iconic Fonterra brand, clearly threatens the public interest in preserving New Zealand’s international reputation as a clean, green, dairy-producing nation. CraFarms is undermining the good work of many New Zealand farmers and Fonterra shareholders.

“The Government could exercise its powers under the Corporations Act to send a clear and decisive signal that New Zealand is committed to preserving this image and will not tolerate gross and repeated breaches of the law by dairy producers.

“Fonterra and MAF, as well as the banks which have lent CraFarms more than $200 million to finance its unsustainable expansion in the last ten years, should also consider how they can mitigate the damage from this disaster story,” Dr Norman said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSfkJz98dXc

Further information:

Full story and video of calf neglect at Bennydale farm: http://www.interest.co.nz/ratesblog/index.php/2009/09/28/exclusive-nzs-biggest-dairy-farmer-allows-calves-to-starve-to-death/