February 2014
VIEWPOINT
with John Barnes, Managing Director – February 2014
As the pressure mounts on farmers and farm suppliers to use more sustainable farming practices the push back from figures with established positions continues. I have, for more years than I care to think about, promoted fertiliser programmes that have been responsible and have taken into account vital issues like cost, availability of minerals to the animal for good health, and before it became a public issue, leaching of nitrates and phosphate to our waterways (Leaching of your money to waterways too). Now we are seeing competing firms turning to the very products that we have promoted and they have criticised. An acceptance that RPR leaches far less and produces better grass and crops was always inevitable but the product has to be of good quality and part of a balanced programme.
Recently an independent fertiliser consultant in the Waikato questioned the phosphate in our competitor’s product. It would be a travesty if they were trying to put people off this alternative to their mainstream products by presenting something that is less than it could be. In response to this criticism Fertmark quickly came to their defence and assured farmers that it met their minimum standards. We are careful in sourcing and importing our RPR to provide all of the desired components at maximum levels and any undesirable ones at minimum levels. All fertilisers are not born equal that is for sure!!
Gareth Morgan, the well-known and controversial Funds Manager from Wellington, is the latest in a long line of public figures who are taking issue with dairy farming in particular. True to his right wing economic roots he is saying that farmers do not pick up the tab for dirty streams and suchlike. He is being a bit tough in saying this because we in the business know the amount of rates that farmers pay. However, nobody has the right to be spoiling our beautiful streams, rivers and lakes.
But getting back to my theme for this month – It is absolutely possible to design a fertiliser programme that is ecologically acceptable and still produce at the top level. This is essential for our collective prosperity and it saddens me to see people on the extremes of this relatively recent debate taking set positions on either side of the issue. In my view, and that of Fertilizer New Zealand, this is not helpful and as always the way forward will be a far more reasonable path in the middle. It is only possible to find solutions to a problem once it has been recognised and accepted. Sadly it seems that there are a lot of industry leaders who do not accept that fact, judging by their denials that a problem even exists. As I said, this is a recent debate that has been a long time coming but it is here now and we should move on and begin looking at options and solutions. Hopefully we will be able to do that with the help of our industry and science facilities who in another time would have been leading the charge.