Jim Sutton speech to deer centre
Opening of Bushey Park sales facility,
Palmerston, 3.30pm, 16 January 2001

Good afternoon, Clive and Elsie Jermy, Lord and Lady Tavistock, ladies and gentlemen.

I am delighted to be here today to celebrate the opening of this fine new facility. Such developments are exciting and deserve to be applauded.

This expansion is a sign of the strength and vitality in New Zealand's rural sector and agricultural production.

New Zealand is a trading nation. We are heavily reliant on the earnings from our agricultural exports for our economic wellbeing. Agriculture is the backbone of the economy. How well New Zealand as a country does is dependent on the hard work and initiative of people such as yourselves.

This is not new, but lots of New Zealanders had forgotten it. The lesson is being relearned by many of our learned economic commentators as the economy has revived under the stimulus of a good season climatically, generally acceptable prices, and a more exporter friendly forex rate. I'd be pleased if I could stop having to explain to urban people why agriculture is so critically important to all of our wellbeing, but it seems that may be some time away.

Within the pastoral sector, deer farming is a growth industry. This country is the the world's largest producer and exporter of farmed venison.

The growth in deer numbers has not been reflected in venison production over the past three years due to the continuing herd build-up. Large numbers of hinds are still being saved for breeding purposes. A build-up of stag number for velvet production is also occurring in response to the sharp lift in prices last season.

Let no-one say New Zealand farmers don't respond to market signals. They certainly do, when those messages are inscribed on a cheque. What New Zealand farmers don't do ? and who is to say they are wrong ? is to respond to the pronouncements and predictions of officials, producer boards, and politicians.

Over the next five years, a slower growth rate in deer numbers is expected as the result of a rapid increase in venison production. However, it's difficult to predict when that will happen.

In a report issued by my ministry last week, MAF estimated that the national deer herd would grow from 2.26 million deer this year to 3.2 million deer in 2005 ? that's almost a deer for every New Zealander. By then, there will only be 10 sheep for every New Zealander.

These changes reflect the demands of the market.

Over the next five years, New Zealand venison prices are likely to be affected by a number of factors. The European Union's Agenda 2000 ? Berlin Agreement is expected to lower beef and pork prices; United States beef prices are also expected to drop; and New Zealand is expected to increase its supply of venison. Those three factors are likely to weaken venison prices till about 2004 when they are forecast to pick up again.

The other product from deer ? velvet ? is also tipped by MAF to increase supply during the next few years.

New Zealand velvet returns are highly dependent on prices received in South Korea, where most of the production is sold. During the past season, prices increased 300 per cent because of an international shortage of velvet and the improving Korean economy.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, international production is on the way up again and prices are forecast to slip again.

In an attempt to offset that, New Zealand trade officials are working persistently to improve the access for value-added deer velvet products. Currently, exports of sliced deer velvet are constrained by South Korean regulations ? we're working to remove that barrier. The sliced product sells for about 10 times the price you get for stick velvet.

Farming in New Zealand now is very different as a result of the deregulation in the mid-1980s. In my view, we got out of the subsidisation and price support game in the nick of time. When we look at the subsidised farming of industrialised Europe, North America, and Japan, we see that when 50 per cent of a farmer's income comes from government subsidies, 50 per cent of his or her effort is likely to go into "earning" those subsidies. The day any government starts protecting farmers from change is the day those farmers stop innovating, stop driving for efficiency and productivity, and start lobbying for a living.

In New Zealand, since we stopped subsidising, and contrary to the expectations of the doomcasters, the percentage contribution of agriculture to our gross national product has increased significantly, even as the cost to the taxpayer declined.

No wonder New Zealand is now an efficient agricultural producer. No wonder innovation thrives in the sector. Dairy farmers are milking cows, instead of milking subsidies.

And no wonder it was in New Zealand, of all the many pastoral nations, that deer farming was developed into a modern, highly productive, knowledge-based market-driven industry.

In closing, I'd like to commend Clive and the large team involved with this tremendous development being opened today. Congratulations on having the vision and courage to move New Zealand's leading deer stud from the plush thoroughbred country of the Waikato, where the critics could always attribute superior performance to environmental rather than genetic advantages.

It is a delight to see this great herd moving to real deer country, and to a home with such an outstanding history of livestock breeding. And it's a joy to see Bushey once again put to a use worthy of its own pedigree.

Best wishes to all involved, including the buyers who are here in staggering numbers. It is my pleasure and privilege to unveil this plaque and declare this magnificent deer centre officially open.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>