This Week On Straight Talk

This Week On Straight Talk - Friday 22nd April, 2011 At 8.30pm

Host Mandi McLeod plus two special guests from the dairy sector: Fran Allcock, dairy farmer and project leader for SMASH . Smaller Milk and Supply Herds and James Houghten, whois also a dairy farmer from the Waikato.

SMASH (Smaller Milk and Supply Herds) is the brain child of a group of farmers who felt that smaller herd farmers were to a large extent overlooked by the industry. They seek to reverse that trend by offering support, information and a sense of community in a variety of ways. The focus of SMASH is totally on the meeting the needs of smaller herd farmers.

Over 43% of New Zealand’s dairy herds have 250 cows or less,says Fran Allcock. Smaller herd farmers may not be seen by the industry, but we have a large part to play! Statistics given at the 2010 SMASH Events, revealed that for Fonterra alone, 17% of their farmers produce less than 50,000 kgMS, 54% below 100,000 kgMS and a whopping 84% under 200,000 kgMS.

SMASH started out with a series of highly successful conferences in 2010. Itis building from there with more conferences and a variety of other forums and events for smaller herd farmers - chances for smaller herd farmers to get together; share their own knowledge and expertise and get input from industry experts.

Hot topics to be discussed by this lively panel will include Green MP Sue Kedgleyis call for meat industry leaders to investigate the unlabeled use of so called meat glue Ms Kedgley issued a commerce commission complaint on Friday around the use of Transglutaminase, or TG, to glue together pieces of meat intended for human consumption.

Ms Kedgley says the practice may be legal, but nondisclosure is a breach of the fair trading act, and should be investigated. gI donft mind if people are gluing meat together, but if they are, they need to tell the consumer.

My complaint is about the deception; itis misleading to sell meat as whole meat if it has in fact been glued together.h Ms Kedgley says she wants the meat industry, and in particular Beef and Lamb New Zealand, to support the call for openness from restaurant and supermarket chains.

Even Rod Slater (Chairman, Beef and Lamb NZ) admitted there is an issue around labelling, that people need to be informed.

If the meat industry introduced labelling that would be fine . the only issue is that if itis not compulsory, how would we know whether in fact everyone was adhering to it?

Sue Kedgley says Commerce Commission investigations can often be lengthy processes and could take up to 6 months or more.

Mandi and her guests will also delve into FarmsOnLine the Governmentis new biosecurity database is receiving mixed reviews just days after its launch.

Federated Farmers has privacy concerns about the biosecurity website, which requests farmers, growers and lifestyle block owners volunteer their contact information and farming details, so authorities can react instantly in the event of a biosecurity outbreak.

Federated Farmers has raised concerns about who exactly will be accessing farmersf business information. Yet at the same time, Fonterra has just told Parliamentis primary production select committee that it believes the system must be compulsory in order to be effective. And does New Zealand need a government regulated dairy industry when it comes to milk prices?

Join the debate! Straight Talk Premieres Monday 25th April, 8.30pm on Country99TV.

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