Rethink sought on M bovis

Federated Farmers are calling for a re-think on the Government’s Mycoplasma bovis strategy after learning farmers were expected to pay 40 per cent of costs to eliminate the disease.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor told RNZ it could cost $1 billion to eradicate the disease, which would mean a $400m price tag for farmers if the sector paid for 40 per cent of the costs.

That price tag would change the view of farmers about how the disease should be handled, Federated Farmers dairy chairman Chris Lewis said.

‘‘Yes it should be eradicated, but should it be a more phased eradication and how much should we spend on it?

‘‘There’s a lot of uncertainties here. I’m not saying let’s not eradicate it, but let’s have a discussion about it with all of the facts on the table.’’ Discussions with affected farmers in New Zealand also made Lewis question whether a strategy change was needed.

‘‘We have probably lived with it for longer than we have realised so the cost of living with it may not be what people think. How many hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ and industry money do we want to chuck at this. Is it as bad as they say it is, or is it something we can live with?’’

So far, many of the farmers with the disease who were ordered to cull their stock were bearing the cost of this, he said. ‘‘It’s just about ruining them.’’ The government has been meeting with industry representatives over the past week to negotiate costs for fighting the cattle disease, now confirmed in 35 farms across New Zealand.

A second farm was found with the disease in the North Island at Landcorp-owned Rangedale Station last week and two more farms were identified in Southland. They were sheep and beef farms.

Paying for disease outbreaks is based on Government Industry Agreements (GIA), signed previously with most agricultural organisations.

This involved cost-sharing between the government industry groups to pay for biosecurity incursions.

When the National government established GIAs in 2013, the industry agreed on meeting 12 per cent of the cost to eradicate diseases such as M bovis.

When asked if the government had the right to demand the industry pay 40 per cent of the costs, Lewis pointed out that it had yet to be confirmed how the Chris Lewis, Federated Farmers dairy chairman disease arrived in New Zealand.

‘‘Did we cause this issue? No one is able to provide any evidence of that yet.’’

Once its point of origin had been established and if it was deemed impossible for the disease to come back into New Zealand, then a decision could be made to eradicate it.

Lewis wanted to hear feedback from farmers first before commenting more fully.

‘‘What is a fair level? I don’t know. I have always gone for the 12 per cent in the GIA as negotiated.’’

National’s Agriculture spokesman Nathan Guy called the minister’s stance ‘‘chilling’’.

‘‘The Minister justified this in a radio interview this morning by effectively saying that the agriculture industry earns a lot of money and can afford it.

‘‘He is attempting to defend the indefensible.’’