More Kiwis needed to grow NZ exports
More Kiwis needed to grow NZ exports
Bruce Wills is the President of Federated Farmers and
published in the New
Zealand Herald on 30 November 2012. Federated
Farmers CEO, Conor English, also featured on the Q+A
Economic Growth Special, which aired 2 December
2012.
Recently, the International Herald
Tribune supposedly blew the lid on New Zealand's
‘clean green 100% Pure' brand.
That New
Zealanders don't do moderation is evident in the comments
extracted by the journalist who wrote it. I won’t go as
far as the email Mark Unsworth sent to Russel Norman about
Massey’s Mike Joy. The one that ended up on Facebook
quickly followed by the NZ Herald, but what Unsworth
wrote will have many in the Horizons Region nodding in
agreement. Sometimes, as President of Federated Farmers,
it can feel as if you are a lone voice.
We want
people and the media especially to look at what we do and
how we do it, because when people come on-farm, they learn
we are way up there in terms of environmental
performance.
The International Herald
Tribune piece and the comments of Dr Joy reveal a twist
in our collective psyche. We seem to delight in telling
anyone who will listen, just how bad we are. The larger the
stage it seems, the wilder the claims. I tend to believe
that for all of our faults and we do have them, we do more
good in this world than bad.
Reflecting on what
we told the same American journalist writing from Hong Kong
about New Zealand, I was struck by the paucity of coverage
when agriculture does well. Take Dr Jeremy Hill becoming
the first New Zealander to head the International Dairy
Federation in 109 years. Or, as I was reminded of in an
email from a contact at the Department of Conservation, what
about the limited coverage of Tim Aitken and Lucy
Robertshawe; Marks & Spencer's number one farm supplier on
earth?
Ironically, one the solution to our myopic
view of the world is more people.
“Scale
Up or Die,” released recently by the NZIER,
argues convincingly that successful exporting nations are
not only closer to their markets, but have large home
markets as well. It is the domestic market that helps
create the scale needed for export success.
One
hundred and twelve years ago, New Zealand was a nation of
one-million people versus the 4.4 million we have today.
The most recent 1.2 million of us in only the past 32 years.
The NZIER argues we need 15 million Kiwis by 2060
because, "If New Zealand's biggest impediment to better
economic performance is an absence of scale, there is only
one way to overcome this over the long term and that is to
grow the population through more migrants."
It is
certainly a plan bolder and more convincing than finding new
ways to tax people or regulating our way to greatness. New
Zealand exports are more likely to grow if successive
governments target a population of 15 million by 2060
because more people bring more capital and more ideas.
They also bring more problems over land use and
the environment. That seems solvable with local government
reforms underway and a hierarchy of land-use; reusing
previously developed land first, increasing densities and
leaving greenfield as the last resort. The advantage of
this is that it makes better public transport economically
feasible. Given Labour’s proposed ‘KiwiBuild’ seems
yet more single level houses, the one sure-fire way to
reduce section price is to build up, making the residential
footprint more efficient.
If we can add more
people without adding to the sprawl, I can confidently say
that in terms of value and in terms of productivity, New
Zealand farming is the star turn. Globally, New Zealand
agriculture is Hollywood and Wellywood all rolled into one
because New Zealand's core competitive advantage is food
production. More people, more capital and more ideas will
spur on the value add.
It is why perhaps New
Zealand’s brand should be about getting "NZ Inside".
Between 2012 and 2050, ANZ expects New Zealand to
capture an additional $500 billion to $1.3 trillion in
agricultural exports. This is an immense opportunity so
striking the right balance between growth and the
environment is important. With good management and good
science we can continue to improve how we interact with the
environment and grow the economy. We can grow more jobs with
an ever lighter footprint.
The solution is not
complicated either.
It is trusting Kiwis to make
their own spending decisions so Government just needs to
spend less. It is about focusing on outcomes rather than
process. It is about trusting the collective wisdom of a
community to decide water limits for themselves and not some
distant judge.
We produce safe, quality food in a
world that is crying out for more. We have great water
nestled among some of the best scenery on earth. We are an
educated and innovative people with an exciting future. We
are the ‘lucky' country but could be even luckier, with
more Kiwis.
ENDS