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Speaker 1: If there has been a bright spot in our economy,

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Speaker 1: it's come from the land. Of course, dairy is booming

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Speaker 1: the seasons wrapping up literally as we speak, with record prices.

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Speaker 1: April stats out this morning show we've got an additional

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Speaker 1: one point one billion in red meat exports. The big

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Speaker 1: question is is there more where that came from? Todd

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Speaker 1: mclair is of course the Minister of Agriculture and Trade

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Speaker 1: and as well as very good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning mate.

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Speaker 1: There's a report out this morning KPMG there Agribusiness Agenda.

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Speaker 1: It says this we can no longer rely on the

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Speaker 1: usual international customers. We need to look for new markets.

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Speaker 2: Are we well, we are looking at They're right, although

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Speaker 2: I think we can rely upon those markets. But we're

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Speaker 2: going to keep looking for more and keep growing the

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Speaker 2: value of what we're exporting. The reason you've seen us

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Speaker 2: do those two d trade deals in the Middle Ease

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Speaker 2: last year and launched with India. So we're going to

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Speaker 2: keep looking for that. But that growth in the primary

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Speaker 2: sector four and a half billion more and dairy one

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Speaker 2: point two billion more in red meat. We're seen ZESPRI

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Speaker 2: hit five billion dollars exports for the food time ever

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Speaker 2: this year, Look, there's growth across the board. That's because

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Speaker 2: the New Zealand farmers produced the highest quality, safest food

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Speaker 2: of the world and consumers are after that. And so

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Speaker 2: we're out in the world stage hustling and looking for

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Speaker 2: every opportunity.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned India, Where are we at that? What has

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Speaker 1: actually happened?

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Speaker 2: So a lot of exchanges of texts. The first full

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Speaker 2: round of negotiations took place in India a couple of

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Speaker 2: weeks ago. Heavy going, but there was progress made. I'm

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Speaker 2: on a plane over the weekend and we'll be meeting

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Speaker 2: with my counterpart from India in Paris at the OECD,

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Speaker 2: just to make sure we're moving in the right direction

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Speaker 2: and for both sides to give a signal to our

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Speaker 2: negotiators go faster. So we're making progress, but going to

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Speaker 2: be hard work.

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Speaker 1: How much government is in this sort of conversation, as

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Speaker 1: much as you'd like to participate. So when you're selling

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Speaker 1: the bolt dairy products, whether you're selling the zespri, when

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Speaker 1: you're selling the wine, how much of that overall success

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Speaker 1: and equation is what the government did or does do well.

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Speaker 2: I think in as far as if you think about

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Speaker 2: the European Union, of the UK. We've seen significant growth

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Speaker 2: in that market, so billion dollars extra exports to the

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Speaker 2: EU over the last year since the FDA came into place.

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Speaker 2: So governments play the role. And as far as we

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Speaker 2: negotiate deals with our negotiators which gives QE explorers a

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Speaker 2: level playing for at field or an advantage, we think

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Speaker 2: that to make sure the regulations in New Zealand not

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Speaker 2: just piling costs. And think about farmers, right, there were

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Speaker 2: twenty one extra rules and regulations put on farmers over

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Speaker 2: the six years of labor which just piled cost on

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Speaker 2: them and made them less competitive. We've been taking those away,

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Speaker 2: fixing them, you know, making sure they work and just

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Speaker 2: don't add cost to the farm gate so that the

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Speaker 2: farmers can be going better and faster, producing more than

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Speaker 2: the world wants. So we're going to remain competitive both

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand but open up those doors overseas.

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Speaker 1: A couple of other things out of as KPMG report,

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Speaker 1: biosecurity the top of the must do list. Are we

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Speaker 1: on top of biosecurity or not?

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Speaker 2: Yes, but always more to do. Andrew Hargad and I

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Speaker 2: focus on this all the time. Probably if there's one

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Speaker 2: thing that keeps me awake at night, it is something

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Speaker 2: getting over the border. And so I'm just going to

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Speaker 2: make sure we have the very best people with the

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Speaker 2: resources they need. Although we've been having to, you know,

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Speaker 2: look at waste for spending, we're actually pulling a bit

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Speaker 2: more into biosecurity and no cuts at all to the

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Speaker 2: front line and frontline services. But that's the number one

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Speaker 2: thing we need to focus on. The reason for that

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Speaker 2: is it's our reputation. You know, if we get pest

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Speaker 2: disease and here, then that reputation for high quality, safe

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Speaker 2: food starts to be hit around the world.

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Speaker 1: The other thing they say, maintain migration settings. We need

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Speaker 1: to grow a skilled labor force locally rather than relying

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Speaker 1: on migrant labor fare.

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Speaker 2: And if so, well, I think it's both of those things,

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Speaker 2: isn't it. We need New Zealanders to be doing the

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Speaker 2: jobs and be trained into those areas. But because we

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Speaker 2: know there's a great, big backlog in that, and you know,

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Speaker 2: think about a truck driver taking something to report great

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Speaker 2: big truck it takes years and years to get that experience.

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Speaker 2: So in the meantime, we do need labor from around

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Speaker 2: the world to make sure that our businesses can function.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's both those things.

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Speaker 1: Okay, another reporter red yesterday came from Lincoln University shit

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Speaker 1: a couple of really interesting things. We could earn another

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Speaker 1: ten billion over five to seven years through better land use,

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Speaker 1: integrating horticulture into traditional pastoral systems, developing on farm processing

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Speaker 1: to capture more value locally, mari agri business, high value

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Speaker 1: niche products, manuka honey, native biotentacles, etc. Are we on

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Speaker 1: top of that?

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Speaker 2: So I agree completely with that. We have had rules

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Speaker 2: of place in New Zealand for such a long time

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Speaker 2: that says you can't do things with your own land,

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Speaker 2: even if there's a better or improved environmental or climate

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Speaker 2: change outcome or footprint. I'm having a really good look

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Speaker 2: at that and won't announce me now, but give me

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Speaker 2: another month or so we'll be talking about a lot.

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Speaker 2: What we should be doing is saying to farmers we

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Speaker 2: back here, we trust you. If you can show in

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Speaker 2: the same or improved environmental footprint on your land, go

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Speaker 2: for it. Get the greater value out of that land,

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Speaker 2: including where you want to do more processing right there?

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Speaker 1: What about the budget and the depreciation? Is that boom times,

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Speaker 1: are people actually going to pull the trigger or we

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Speaker 1: still don't know.

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Speaker 2: I am hearing from or on New Zealand. But more

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Speaker 2: than that from processes from the you know, the wood

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Speaker 2: processing industry that as a result of this additional depreciation

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Speaker 2: on day one, that they are going to pull the

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Speaker 2: trigger and start spending money, many of them wanting to

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Speaker 2: do things in holding back. But think of it this way.

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Speaker 2: A farmer goes out and buys a tractor worth one

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars. There's nine thousand dollars in tax saving

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Speaker 2: just from that purchase from Nicole Wilson's new policy. Guess

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Speaker 2: what he's going to do. He's not going to save

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Speaker 2: and he's going to recycle that and spend that nine

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Speaker 2: that nine thousand dollars somewhere else in the economy that

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Speaker 2: supports jobs and grows other businesses. So I think the

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Speaker 2: Field Days will be unbelievably good this year.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff always good to talk Minister of Agriculture and

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Speaker 1: try Todd McLeod's good portfolio to head at the moment,

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Speaker 1: isn't it?

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Speaker 2: For more? From the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays or follow

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