Treasury briefed Finance Minister Bill English shortly after the General Election, and made a host of recommendations related to the reform of the state sector.

The details of the Treasury briefing were released this week and Green Party agriculture spokesman Stefan Browning says its cost-cutting recommendations put agriculture directly in harm’s way, by reducing biosecurity.

He says Treasury’s advice that “at the border barriers” be reduced is short sighted.

“It’s also a matter of reducing the level of inspections in biosecurity in what they consider to be lower-risk.

"There will faster throughput as well of people and there’s just going to be, overall, relative to the amount of material and people coming through less inspections.” 

Another of Treasury’s recommendations was for Government to find an appropriate balance between protecting the environment and the public, and allowing in money-making new organisms and chemicals.

Mr Browning says Treasury is also advocating weakening the safeguards around the introduction of genetically modified organisms.

“I’m hoping that someone will stand up in government hand on heart and say no, regardless of whether Treasury is suggesting we will loosen up the regulations around genetic engineering in fact we won’t. That would be music to my ears.”   

However, Federated Farmers biosecurity spokesman Dr William Rolleston says this is nothing more than a Green Party beat-up.

“It doesn’t even mention the word biosecurity, in the entire document.  I mean the document is on the net it took me ten minutes to find it and search it and read through the relevant parts – they’re completely misguided in my view.”  

Ashburton dairy farmer Willy Leferink told Country99TV that Fonterra’s directors put some new options in front or farmers.

In addition to the original proposal, which would see farmers’ shares placed with a custodian,  another was floated where farmers would elect a board of custodians, and would come with further safeguards.

The third proposal, which he said would cause a lot of legal hassle, would see farmers enter contracts with the fund.

Despite the new options being floated, Mr Leferink said the Ashburton meeting was still fiery.

"I’m in Ashburton and went to the Ashburton meeting, and as you know there is still quite a lot of resentment to the proposals in Ashburton. And most of those people are pretty educated and have a reasonably good vocabulary so there was a hell of a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of issues and asking for clarifications on issues you know."    

Mr Leferink said the concern about TAF at the meeting was almost overshadowed by farmers unhappiness with the government’s proposed changes to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act – which could see Fonterra having to supply 5 percent of its milk to competitors.

“There are two things that it doesn’t achieve. It doesn’t teach the new independent processors to get used to the market signals, and get the most milk in October. 

“You know they have three years of being treated with cotton-wool gloves. You know they can pick up milk whenever they want and all of a sudden they have to get used to the real world and all the milk comes in October. And on top of that it doesn’t create tension at the farmgate.”

The Overseas Investment Office this week approved an application by Canadian film director James Cameron to buy two farms in the Wairarapa.

One is a 248 hectare dairy farm, and the other a 817 hectare dry stock property on which it is believed Cameron will build a house, and farm sheep and beef. 

Mr Cameron is the director of such blockbusters as Terminator 2 and Avatar. 

In a statement, the Cameron family said they loved the landscape of the Wairarapa and the spirit of the people there.

Federated Farmers says Cameron’s arrival in the Wairarapa is a titanic opportunity for New Zealand farming.

Feds president Bruce Wills says the Overseas Investment Office has got it right and Mr Cameron’s presence will bring international attention to our sheep and beef sector.

“It’s obviously ticked all the boxes. The OIO is happy these guys have passed all the good character tests and the economic benefit tests for the country.

“I think for that reason we have to say hey, they’ve been through the process they’ve come out the other side they meet the conditions so we welcome them as part of our community.“

The value of the sale is being kept under wraps, though it is being reported the price is around $20 million.

The OIO has been busy in the last month approving numerous other applications to buy farmland from foreign nationals.

An Indonesian group has bought a half share in Blue River Dairy Products and 1500 hectares of farmland in Southland.

The investment will allow Blue River Dairy to commercialise sheep milking systems and technologies.

The company milks 12,000 sheep.

And a further 200 hectares of farmland at Opononi was sold to a British couple for $1.3 million.    

This week Labour agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor told Country99TV that if the government continued to sell our farmland to foreigners Kiwis would become not only be tenants, but also peasants in our own land.

As part of its ‘Back To Schools’ programme, Southern District Police have broadened their focus beyond the school zone and are targeting motorists who speed past school buses.

Since 1987, 23 children have been killed crossing the road, to and from school buses.

Last year in the Bay of Plenty, 36 children were injured when a logging truck ploughed intoi the back of a school bus which had stopped to let children off.

Federated Farmers Health and Safety spokesperson David Rose, says any death is a tragedy, and its much worse when it happens at a place of work, that is also home.

Mr Rose says the Federation will be working with the Department of Labour , the ACC and the Coroner to focus on bringing down the rural death toll.

Last year the number of agricultural deaths fell to 15, from 19 in 2010.

While one year doesn’t make a trend, we are heartened that the safety message seems to be getting through, he said.

The groundbreaking study is the first clinical trial to study dietary intervention in gout, and was conducted by Dr Nicola Dalbeth from the University of Auckland Bone and Joint Research Group, in conjunction with scientists from the Fonterra Research Centre, and the University Department of Medicine.

Dr Dalbeth says the results are likely to come as welcome news to the millions worldwide who suffer from gout, the prevalence of which appears to be on the increase.

Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party all voiced their outrage.

Labour agriculture spokesman Damien O’Connor says the government’s decision was gutless, unpatriotic and unproductive. 

Mr O’Connor says the government doesn’t want to offend the growing number of foreign investors who are lining up buy all of New Zealand’s strategic assets.

“We’re horrified with the decision clearly it’s unpatriotic because there was a very sound bid from a consortium of iwi groups led my Michael Fay.

“Landcorp had made an offer and in the end of course the decision the receiver decided to go with the Chinese offer and that’s disappointing for a number of reasons.”

Mr O’Connor says the decision will inflate the price of rural land further and make it harder for young kiwis to get into farming.

Green Party agriculture spokesman, Steffan Browning, says selling the country’s most productive land to foreigners is economic folly and that the Green’s proposed legislation in 2010 that would have stopped farmland greater than 5 hectares in size being sold to foreigners.

The Maori Party meanwhile said that land should not be viewed as an economic asset to be hocked off for maximum profit.

Maori Party co-leader Peter Sharples says the government has committed a great wrong against New Zealanders, that land should not be viewed as a commodity, and that it’s a living, breathing, part of our history and culture.

Mr Sharples says as New Zealanders, we just sold a piece of ourselves.

In wake of the fallout surrounding the farms, Prime Minister John Key has said the Government may consider changing the law to limit foreign ownership if sales start to accelerate.

However, Federated Farmers' President, Bruce Wills, says the sale of the Crafar farms to Shanghai Pengxin is a necessary reality, and a reflection of a New Zealand agricultural sector 47 billion dollars in debt, and in serious need of capital.

“Our view is we shouldn’t shun their offer. I guess the world wants our food because we produce a lot of that and what New Zealand needs is capital that a lot of the rest of the world’s got.

“A free and open market, we think, is the best position for New Zealanders to take if we want to grow our economy.”

Mr Wills says the federation’s analysts have been crunching the numbers and they believe less than two percent of New Zealand farmland is currently in foreign ownership.     

However, Damien O’Connor found Federated Farmers position hard to swallow.

“Well I think it’s very disappointing that Federated Farmers would give in on New Zealanders being able to control our main industry – that’s agriculture into the future.

“If we think itr is the only way forward is to sell our own land and to lose control, then it will be worse than us being tenants in our own country, we will be peasants in our own country.”

In the last several months 14 New Zealand meat plants have regained their halal certification, meaning they can export sheep and beef to Malaysia. 

In 2005 Malaysian authorities removed the halal certification of nearly 40 New Zealand meat processing plants saying they didn’t meet strict halal requirements. 

Only two retained their certification. 

For sheep and beef to be halal certified the must have their throats slit while facing Mecca, and the slaughterman must say a prayer while cutting the animal’s throat.

In 2004, exports were worth $31 million on 8000 tonnes, but by last year the trade had slumped to $11 million and only 1600 tonnes were exported.