Data fails to reflect reality on the farms
Government data on industry successes does not always reflect what is happening on farms, says a fruit grower and industry body.
Cromwell cherry grower Alan Smith said there were colossal differences between what government data showed was happening in the primary industries and what was happening on farms.
Smith was responding after a Ministry for Primary Industries report showed that the average export price of cherries rose to $24 per kilogram, and that cherry exports increased by 40.5% to $77.8 million. Higher volumes and prices contributed.
The report also forecast horticulture export revenue to increase by 2% to $6.7 billion for the year.
Growers did not receive anything near $24 per kilogram, Smith said. Smith had recently stopped supplying to export pack houses and began a pick your own business as it generated 50% more returns.
After picking costs and pack house deductions he received about $8 per kilogram. This had to cover all growing costs.
Smith was paid for the quality of his cherries, and cherries for local markets returned as little as $2 per kilogram.
He kept track of supermarket prices and said those cherries that were not good enough for export markets often sold for as much as $28 per kilogram in supermarkets.
In Australia, many pack houses provided growers with their sale values and gave them summaries of where cherries were sold to and what price they received.
Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Nadine Tunley said these contradictions worried the industry. The Government aimed to double the value of horticulture from $6b to $12b by 2030, and improve grower profits, with reports of more than $100m of investments in horticulture, Tunley said.
However, government policy was contradictory, with investment on one side and policies that made it hard for growers to survive on the other.
The Ministry for Primary Industries confirmed that information from its outlook was sourced from Stats NZ. The export price for cherries was calculated from the export revenue for cherries, divided by the quantity exported in kilograms. It did not have information on the prices growers received for their cherries.
Alasdair Allen, Stats NZ manager for international trade, said statistics were generated from export entries filled out by exporters and brokers. Discrepancies could be from gaps in the value chain between growers and exporters.
It was common for exporters to issue amended entries after the first entry. Exporters had three months to amend any data provided to Stats NZ, Allen said.
Westpac senior agriculture economist Nathan Penny said there simply was not a lot of data available for some commodities. However, statistics indicated a general direction that the market was heading in.
For commodities like kiwifruit or milk that had data on farm gate prices, a more in depth view of what market prices meant for farmers or growers was possible, Penny said.
Stuff contacted JP Exports, a cherry pack house, numerous times but received no response.