Challenges ahead for new president
Water quality, climate change, the environment and technology are all on the radar for Waikato’s new rural leader. Lawrence Gullery reports.
Helping farmers understand the complexities of new water regulations is top of mind for the first female president of Waikato Federated Farmers. Jacqui Hahn plans to speak with farmers shortly, providing a map to show where they sit when it comes to complying with Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change 1.
The plan introduces a set of rules to regulate farming activities, around discharges of nutrients to water and also to land, if the discharges eventually enter water.
Hahn said every farm had a different set of circumstances so it was important for farmers to understand what they needed to do, to comply.
Government regulations which ‘‘keep coming thick and fast’’, consumer expectations, climate change, environmental management and measures to lift the primary sector performance are all on Hahn’s radar.
The coronavirus alert has reinforced her personal goal to have more members use video technology for meetings, to be more productive, cut back on travel time and reduce emissions.
For Hahn, that would eliminate a 180km round trip from her home in Waitomo to Hamilton.
She takes over as president from incumbent Andrew McGiven, who completed his three-year term at the end of April.
More women are now in key leadership roles for Federated Farmers, including national board members Karen Williams and Katie Milne, who is also national president, and Sally Dryland who is copresident for Tararua.
But Hahn said she didn’t consider her appointment as a milestone for the organisation.
‘‘We had more elected women around the board table when I was Waikato dairy chairperson than we do now.
‘‘We have some Dairy Industry Award winners who are interested, but they haven’t put themselves up for election yet.
‘‘Ideally you want 50 per cent diversity on a board but your sex is not criteria on its own, I hope I am here because of my suitability and availability, not because I’m female.’’
Hahn said Federated Farmers had three main industry groups but only ‘‘a smattering are female’’ members.
‘‘There are plenty of majority-women farm groups and I challenge them to put their best farmers up for election into Feds positions.’’
Hahn is no stranger to the issues confronting farmers, she spent the past three years working as vice-president and was vice-chairperson of the Waikato Federated Farmers Dairy Industry Group.
More recently she was selected as one of 15 dairy farmers to work as climate change ambassadors for Federated Farmers, which is a signatory to He Waka Eke Noa, a document that outlines the primary sector’s commitment to reduce on-farm emissions.
‘‘When I joined I had a different environmental viewpoint to the national body.
‘‘That has changed as farmers like me have become involved and made a difference in the democratic system that drives our policy and advocacy.’’
Hahn grew up in Te Kuiti and worked on her parents’ sheep and beef farm. She studied horticulture and office systems earlier in life and later completed a qualification in environmental management ‘‘with an ag flavour’’.
She met her husband Sofus, followed him to Europe where she worked on a pig farm and a dairy farm before returning to New Zealand. She had stints working as a shepherd in Tirau and Tokoroa before the couple returned to Te Kuiti to live with their own family.
They converted her parents’ farm to dairy and Hahn’s interest in governance and advocacy began.
‘‘I became involved with Dairy Environmental Leaders through Federated Farmers and the Fed’s leadership courses after dairy chairman Chris Lewis shoulder-tapped me.’’
Hahn and her husband milk about 1400 cows across three farms in the Waitomo district, including the one she grew up on. They also farm some sheep and beef.
They manage 50.63ha of bush and wetland now in a QEII covenant.
Other land areas were taken out of pasture production to protect waterways and there are plans to retire more land from grazing for erosion control.
Hahn said she wants to carry on the work of past presidents, bringing Federated Farmers pan-sector groups together.
Using science, research and farmer perspectives helps develop solutions, such as those for Plan Change 1.
‘‘I hope I am here because of my suitability and availability, not because I’m female.’’ Federated Farmers president Jacqui Hahn
‘‘Policy and science are both money hungry areas, so we want to only use farmer money once and use it really well.
‘‘If farmers want better messaging and better use of money, being a member is a no-brainer, no matter where you sit in your viewpoint.’’
Te Aroha farmer Andrew McGiven said the final three months of his three-year term as president had been the most difficult, dealing with the challenges forced by Covid-19.
Internet technology has become critical for networking during the lockdown but connectivity problems remain in some rural areas and this will be a challenge over the coming years.
The Government recently announced it was bringing forward spending plans to get remote communities access to broadband.
McGiven hoped the demand from farming communities, for better internet services, would prompt innovative technology companies to come forward with some solutions.
‘‘There are wireless options and satellite internet but sometimes there are (connection) problems caused by the weather.
‘‘Maybe there are some companies out there which can come up with ideas, like Google deploying balloons that act as a router for remote areas.
‘‘Until something like that becomes a bit more mainstream, rural New Zealand is going to be second class citizens in terms of internet connectivity.’’
McGiven, like Hahn, had enjoyed using online video calls to run meetings during the Covid-19 alert and agreed it could be the way to go in the future.
He said more people were learning how to use Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams from the comfort of their rural bubbles.
‘‘For me it would be two-hour round trip to go to Hamilton for our meetings whereas you can get on a Skype meeting and speak straight away.’’
McGiven said he had enjoyed his term as president and encouraged others to have a crack at leader roles at election time.
‘‘Just be passionate about what you believe in, have a goal around doing what is good for the industry.’’
Last month, the number of people on the Jobseeker benefit increased, the cost of a hotel room in Queenstown nearly halved, and consumer confidence – a measure of people’s feelings about the economy – was at a level last seen during the 2008 global financial crisis.
These are just some statistics that reflect the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected nearly 1500 people in New Zealand and left 21 dead.
The country’s economy, which was mostly closed for the four-week lockdown between March 26 and April 27, has borne a heavy brunt.
ANZ’s business confidence index – a measure of the country’s business conditions – has dropped to its lowest point since 1988.
Card spending, according to figures from BNZ, was down by 50.1 per cent last month, while the day lockdown was announced, March 23, the New Zealand sharemarket closed at its lowest point in nearly two years.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts warned this week up to half of tourism’s 393,000 jobs could be lost without further Government intervention.
Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford estimated 7500 retail workers have already lost their jobs, and he expected the number to rise ‘‘substantially’’ once the Government’s wage subsidy ran out.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the ‘‘global, one-in-100-year health and economic crisis’’ of Covid-19 would contribute to a rise in unemployment.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson warned when the 12-week wage subsidy was first announced that he hoped to save some jobs, ‘‘but we will not be able to save all jobs’’.
As of last Friday, the Government had paid out $10.6 billion of the wage subsidy to 1.72 million people.
Data from the Ministry of Social Development showed the number of people on the Jobseeker benefit jumped from about 145,000 before lockdown to just over 184,000 at the start of this month.
This is higher than the peak of the global financial crisis, at 174,630.
Businesses want more support, too. Twothirds of 217 Restaurant Association members who completed a recent survey wanted rent relief and a business subsidy to help them survive.
Twenty-five of these respondents said they would permanently close their businesses.
Hospitality New Zealand chief executive Julie White said an extended wage subsidy and cashflow support could be the difference between 20 per cent or 40 per cent of the industry closing.
Other sectors have been hit hard by coronavirus, too.
Real estate company Barfoot & Thompson showed an 86.4 per cent decrease in the number of house listings in Auckland last month compared with March.
Air New Zealand flew just 22 domestic flights a week during lockdown, down from the usual 400-plus a day.
Yesterday, it was confirmed 300 of the airline’s pilots would be made redundant while 900 would take a 30 per cent pay cut.
Wellington Airport reported a 96 per cent drop in flights last month.
Christchurch Airport, meanwhile, has seen passenger numbers drop by about 97 per cent.