Originally Posted by
Blue Skies
There was an interesting interview with a farming economist on ZB last week, who said the PM has got this absolutely right & many of the farmers he personally knew agreed (and National a step backwards).
While many farmers esp the younger bright ones (many with university degrees) are enthusiastically embracing new ways for farming with lots of technology, sustainability, water care etc, there are of course a group of generally older farmers who are resistant to change, however the main point was that all the research is showing that around the developed world there is a massive shift happening in what urban consumers want. i.e. consumers are increasingly far more environmentally conscious & want to know the products they are purchasing meet environmental/ethically produced standards or they won't buy them.
He gave some NZ examples of agriculture based companies which had gone to great lengths & some expense to meet stringent environmental regulations to gain some sort of standards award, which meant not only were their products gaining easy access to, & growth in what would normally be difficult highly competitive markets to break into, but also consumers would happily pay a premium for them.
This he felt & as the PM said is the future of farming.
The 'old world' dirty farming practices way of doing things doesn't cut it anymore with consumers esp the younger environmentally aware ones.
So this is all about farming responding to changing consumer demand, & unfortunately there will always be a small vocal group who are resistant to change & slow to recognise we are moving into a 'new world', but increasingly NZ farmers esp the younger ones are responding positively, producing higher value products which meet the environmentally produced standards consumers are demanding & will pay a premium for.