Straight Talk - Country99TV - Friday 22nd July at 8.30pm

Straight Talk - Country99TV - Friday 22nd July at 8.30pm

This week on STRAIGHT TALK, Mandi McLeod is joined by special guests Jim Cotman and Malcolm Lumsden, both dairy farmers and industry leaders.

Julian Cribb is an award-winning journalist and science writer and in his recently released book, The Coming Famine, he lays out a vivid picture of impending planetary crisis - a global food shortage that threatens to hit by mid-century. This crisis would dwarf any in our previous experience.

Cribb believes that New Zealand should capitalise on its "intellectual riches" and export agricultural know-how to countries like China and Brazil, where food supply has come under threat due to land, water, oil, and technology shortages.

The vulnerability of New Zealand farmers to fluctuations in oil and fertilizer prices could be offset by investment in agricultural research and development.

While New Zealanders are becoming familiar with the factors which make petrol prices spike, people are less aware of the global influences on the cost of food.

"Supermarkets give us an illusion of abundance," Professor Cribb said.

"People in food surplus countries just assume the supermarkets will always be stocked. They know there is hunger in the Third World, but they often assume 'it can't happen to me'."

Also on the show, Fonterra recently announced the new CEO as Theo Speirings from Holland and the panel discuss what shareholders may expect of their new Chief.

Mr Spierings, who led the Dutch farmer dairy co-operative, Royal Friesland Foods, into a merger with Campina in 2008, will take over from Fonterra’s departing CEO Mr Andrew Ferrier, effective September 26.

Fonterra’s Chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden said Mr Spierings would bring to Fonterra 25 years of knowledge of the global dairy industry.

Mr Spierings said he was familiar with both Fonterra and its key people and had great respect for the foresight New Zealand farmers had shown in creating Fonterra in the first place.

Also on the show this week, the new dairy farm initiative, worth more than one million dollars recently launched in the United States. The initiative helps farmers evaluate production techniques and identify ways to improve management.

Do we need a similar initiative here in New Zealand? How would the controversial Capital Gains Tax really work in New Zealand for agribusiness?

National Minister for Finance recently commented that Fonterra shareholders must accept that 10% of their milk would be processed by competitors. The Staight Talk panel discusses how much more profitable Fonterra would be if it did not have to share the supply?

For all this and much more, please join Mandi and her special guests on this week’s Straight Talk, Friday 22th July at 8.30pm, only on Country99TV.

For repeat schedule, please check www.country99tv.co.nz

ENDS

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