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Report Year: 2003

Rural representation on the BoP regional council – is it fair?

In searching for a topic I have three issues that dominate my life. One, I am a chartered accountant, two a regional councillor and three a rural ratepayer.

All of this points me to the view that user pays then should have the say.

Bay of Plenty is an extremely prosperous region, very low per capita regional rate take, but is very dependent on how the district council collect their rates generally on a land value system.

The Bay of Plenty region had to review its representation 2003 as prior councils through extensive consulting had determined there should be separate seats for Maori. The Maori census population in the Bay of Plenty is some 25% , New Zealand 14% and within district councils in the Bay run from 16% in Tauranga to 56% in Kawerau, in all cases above the rational average.

Councils throughout New Zealand are also now bulk funded for remuneration and after substantial consultation by the authority with councils formulas were developed to rank councils up with formulas to rate councils and their pay rates.

The new Local Government Act 2002 started to talk about communities of interest, community outcomes and clearly with the Ratings Act user pays principles.

Clearly I believed the science was set for a constructive analysis and subsequent result for Bay of Plenty representation.

The author being an astute politician forgot about politics, forgot that logic and councils current policies would win the day, ended up in the trenches fighting for rural representation based on the number of Maori seats.

Councillors didn’t want to go to 14 councillors, their pay would drop from about $42,000 to $36,000. Most Western Bay! Tauranga councillors got elected on the basis Maori should not have separate seats while the law says two, they sure weren’t going to get three.

All submissions said 3 Maori, 14 total, however Western Bay! Tauranga councillors didn’t want 3 Maori or 14 councillors because that would have created a more difficult decision regarding who either Rotorua or Eastern Bay should drop one. Even though Tauranga didn’t pay the rates there was no way six councillors would go to five.

It has become very clear to the author that to get fair rural representation not only is it councillors we need but the rural community standing up lobbying, having their say, doing their bit but clearly watching out for the majority putting the cost onto the minority.

Is representation fair in the Bay of Plenty? Maori say no, District Councils say no the urban dominated Bay of Plenty Council says yes. At this stage fairness does not come into it.

Brian Riesterer

Variability in venison returns

The venison industry has been characterised by a number of boom bust cycles that have been highly de stabilising for all sectors in the supply chain. During the last ten years we have seen three major cycles with the latest putting the industry and many of its farmers financially on the edge of it’s own killing knife.

Long term price and supply stability is the key to growth and has been a catch cry of industry leaders for some time. In recent history, powerful international and unusual events can all be cited as the major initiators of the dramatic change in industry fortune. Nevertheless, the reliance of the NZ industry to date on the narrow constraints of traditional trade and conservative outlets has added a vulnerability to achieving the potential revenue of farm-raised venison for suppliers and processors alike.

This study will examine the relationship that has developed since 1967 with the German game trade and the New Zealand venison industry. To understand how the game trade has influenced core trading and how the venison industry has developed there is a need to define the market structure and evaluate its influence and its driving forces. For example describing what major forces exist and how they have developed over the last twenty years, how the farm raised and feral venison industries has evolved in that time and to give particular attention to what factors have contributed to venison returns from 2000 to today.

Tim Aitken

Career change from urban background to dairy farming

The New Zealand dairy industry, along with many other industries, is finding it difficult to source the quality and quantity of skilled staff required to meet the current growth of the industry. In particular dairy farmers want mature skilled people to work within the farm business.

Often these mature skilled people are individuals (couples) who have decided to change career and are often successful in progressing through the industry rapidly.

In order for the dairy industry to attract more career change people in the future we need to understand what motivates and drives these people and what attributes they have.

This report is a detailed analysis of personal interviews with 17 people who have changed from an urban background to dairy farming with little or no farming experience. The objectives of this research are;

  • To identify what drives and motivates people to change careers.
  • To identify what kind of people and what attributes these people have that make them so successful at changing careers.
  • To establish what attracted these people to dairy farming as a career choice and how they went about making that decision.
  • To establish/identify useful information that will assist people to make this career change in the future.

The main findings of this report are that in order for people to change career they go through a process which starts with a crisis that forms the catalyst for change. Most people choose dairy farming due to a positive farming experience earlier in their life, for example visits to their grandparent’s farm. They believed that farming, and specifically dairy farming, could offer them, first and foremost, a lifestyle unattainable in the city. The opportunity to own their own your own business and be financially secure was also a factor that attracted these people to dairy farming.

Getting the first job often involved little more than answering ads in the paper. Getting the right first job with employers that were willing to teach and support the career change people was essential for a successful start.

Once in the industry the interviewees soon realised the potential the industry had to offer as they quickly moved along the career path and gained valuable equity. All interviewees when asked to reflect on their decision to change careers to dairy farming said they could never see themselves doing anything else. Dairy farming was meeting all their needs, both in a lifestyle and a business sense.

The industry needs to continue to promote dairy farming to counteract negative perceptions.

The challenges that the dairy industry face include; the fact that young people no longer spend holidays on their grandparents farm and that most young people have never had any contact with a country experience and hence have no “experience” to recall at a later age when they are looking to change careers. Also as farms get larger the lifestyle attraction may be lost and it may become increasing harder to attract people into dairy farming.

Irene Nolan Fowler