The Country-Wide Podcast CountryWide Media

One of the hot topics at the Red Meat Sector Conference this week was the recently enacted EU deforestation regulation, and how this will impact New Zealand meat exporters. Rebecca Greaves talks to farmer and Special Agricultural Trade Envoy for New Zealand, Hamish Marr, and lawyer Sarah Salmond, about this and more - including negotiating the minefield of Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and whether we should join forces with the Aussies.
Then hear from McDonald’s New Zealand's Simon Kenny about what they’re doing to get ahead of the game when it comes to sustainability, meeting their climate obligations and goals with their beef suppliers. 
Guests include:
Hamish Marr, Canterbury farmer and Special Agricultural Trade Envoy for New Zealand Sarah Salmond, Lawyer, MinterEllisonRuddWatts Simon Kenny, Head of Impact & Communications, McDonald’s New Zealand Hosts:
Rebecca Greaves, Editor, Country-Wide Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media Special Agricultural Trade Envoy and Canterbury Farmer Hamish Marr discusses how EU de-forestration rules will impact our Fair Trade Agreement with them when it comes into effect in December. He says New Zealand is unique in its environmental stewardship and now the challenge is how we leverage that to do the best for our marketability. 
He also discusses what else he’s seeing overseas, what challenges other countries are discussing that will impact New Zealand, including climate change, and the perception of New Zealand as a clean green food producer. 
Lawyer Sarah Salmond spoke on a panel at the Red Meat Sector Conference on the emerging trade landscape, and works at the coalface of navigating ever-changing overseas regulations, especially coming out of the EU. She discusses how Free Trade Agreements are not the only tool in our toolbox, and can be viewed more as a foot in the door. 
Simon Kenny from McDonald’s New Zealand discusses how they are managing climate obligations with the beef they use in their products, and the work they are doing with the NZ Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. He discusses how they are front-footing meeting emissions targets, including from their suppliers, and how this ties into customer expectations. 
Check out the Early Bird Podcast here
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Farm succession is something that affects every farming family at some point - whether it be from parent to child, or outside the family unit, there are many ways to approach it, and definitely no silver bullet. 
Hear from three people who know succession’s in-and-outs best:, a farmer currently in the succession process; a rural banking expert; and a family succession planning consultant.
Guests include:
Hugo Beamish, farmer, Awapai Aiden Gent, General Manager (Rural), ASB Bob Seldon, Senior Consultant, Family Business Central Hosts:
Rebecca Greaves, Editor, Country-Wide Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media Hawke’s Bay farmer Hugo Beamish has recently returned to the family farm to begin the succession process with his parents, after previously working as an engineer. He discusses all the different options they’re looking at, how they’re navigating making decisions with his off-farm siblings in mind, and where he’s finding advice - both from his father Simon, and by immersing himself in the world of farming. 
Read Hugo & Pip’s farm succession story in Country-Wide here
ASB’s General Manager for Rural Aiden Gent, says the biggest piece of advice they have is to talk - a simple suggestion, but a vital one. Whether that be with your advisors, friends, family or bank, it’s important to have those conversations to get the best results from the succession process. He also suggests some different ways farmers can start looking into resilience and diversification in their farm businesses. 
When it comes to the saying “what’s equal isn’t always fair”, Family Business Central Coach Bob Seldon says it comes down to much more than just money; it’s time investment, knowledge and expertise. He also advises against having meetings about succession and the farm business around the kitchen table - he suggests finding a cafe or meeting room in town so there’s a clear definition between family and business conversations. He shares his best tips for a successful farm business transition. 
Find out more about the NZIPIM Conference 2024 here
Check out the Early Bird Podcast here
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Rural banking is a hot topic. The government says it has heard farmers’ concerns about a disparity between rural and urban bank lending practices, and has requested an inquiry into the state of competition in New Zealand banking, with a particular focus on rural areas.
Hear from those in the industry about why they believe this inquiry is needed, whether the current situation is unfair to farmers, and where personal business responsibility fits into this. Federated Farmers also outline the results of their latest banking survey, and what they hope will come from the inquiry.
Guests include:
Andrew Laming, Director, NZAB Nick Hawken, National Director (Rural), Bayleys Real Estate Richard McIntyre, Banking Spokesperson, Federated Farmers Hosts:
Rebecca Greaves, Editor, Country-Wide Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media New Zealand Agri Brokers Director, Andrew Laming, walks Rebecca through the context behind the banking inquiry; he says it comes down to the question of do we want an economy built on investing in property, or do we want to invest in agricultural businesses that impact us on the world stage, fund exports, and invigorate provincial New Zealand. 
Bayleys Real Estate National Director Rural, Nick Hawken, says it’s a question of fairness - is what farmers are paying in interest every year fair compared to what other parties get charged? He says the longer term discussion needs to be around access to funds, and how farmers will be able to continue paying off that debt. 
He discusses where succession fits into this, and where the opportunities are in leasing family land, or overseas investment. Given the cyclical nature of farming, recognising opportunities within the cycle will be key to finding alternative capital within farm businesses.  
Federated Farmers Banking Spokesperson Richard McIntyre says since he stepped into the role last year he’s regularly heard directly from farmers about how they’re being treated by their banks. One in four farmers feel under undue pressure from their banks according to Federated Farmers, and they’re welcoming the inquiry into rural bank lending. 
He says one thing they’d like to see is banks signaling well in advance of any changes they make, so farmers have time to adjust and prepare their businesses. However, farmers should also take the lead in being more proactive with their bank managers, and ask questions of them. 
Find out more about the NZIPIM Conference 2024 here.
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The government has announced that agriculture will no longer be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) for now, but the effects of climate change and the way we might potentially price agricultural emissions are still front of mind for those in the sector. Industry bodies say that New Zealand food producers need to think about how a global demand for sustainably grown and produced food will impact our place in the supply chain.  
Guests include:
Wayne Langford, National President, Federated Farmers Kerry Worsnop, Gisborne sheep and beef farmer Sirma Karapeeva, CEO, Meat Industry Association Hosts:
Rebecca Greaves, Editor, Country-Wide Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media Federated Farmers President Wayne Langford says he’s confident we’ll reach our emissions targets by 2050, but it’s not something that will happen overnight. He discusses the risks of losing our place in the market overseas, which would see other countries produce the same products as us, but less efficiently. He says emissions need to be a global discussion, not a New Zealand alone one, given we’re already some of the most efficient food producers in the world. 
Gisborne sheep and beef farmer Kerry Worsnop says she’s noticed there’s nothing really to take a read from now, and she’s not confident there’s been a good enough understanding of what farmers think. She says there needs to be an understanding of what farmers believe a sensible direction for emissions pricing would be, and make the most of our uniquely nature focussed farm systems, that stand out in the global market. 
CEO of the Meat Industry Association, Sirma Karapeeva, says not being included in the ETS  gives us a good opportunity to make sure farmers have all the tools to succeed when emissions pricing eventually does come into effect. She says sustainable food production systems are becoming a firm customer expectation, and we need to be prepared to meet that demand to stay commercially successful overseas.
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We need to bring farmers to the table and take them off the menu, when it comes to fostering sustainable practices in the agriculture sector. 2023 Nuffield Scholar Kylie Leonard says trailing environmentally focused practices must be voluntary to succeed. 
Having spent time overseas for this report, she says the best uptake she’s witnessed is where farmers have had the choice to change, and lead by example within their community. Regulations drive the lowest common denominator behaviour, she says. 
Backing farmers so they don’t get burdened with the capital risk of trialing sustainable practices, and resourcing them as needed, is vital. 
Guests include:
Kylie Leonard - 2023 Nuffield Scholar & Taupō-based dairy farmer Hosts:
Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media Read Kylie's full Nuffield Report “Boots on the ground are part of the solution.”
This episode is a special bonus episode through CountryWide Media’s partnership with Rural Leaders and the New Zealand Nuffield Farming Scholarship. 
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It’s bull and sheep buying season, and advancements in the genetics space are continuing to develop, to provide sheep and beef breeders with better New Zealand specific data. But how do farmers make the most of this information? 
We talk to genetics specialists about projects running at the moment, what data they already have available, and how farmers can start using it in their systems.
Guests include:
Dr Shannon Clarke, AgResearch Principal Scientist & The Ovine Pangenome Project Gemma Jenkins, Programme Manager, INZB Hosts:
Rebecca Greaves, Editor, Country-Wide Sarah Perriam-Lampp, Managing Director, CountryWide Media AgResearch’s Dr Shannon Clarke says the front of mind for genetics research with AgResearch is making sure overseas data and research is easily applicable for New Zealand farmers. 
One of these developments has been the “snip chips”, a genetic profiling tool, which allows farmers to view the DNA sample of a sheep to select the traits they want to breed using New Zealand data. This includes hard to measure traits such as meat quality and methane emissions, and as well as more accuracy with trait selection. 
Shannon gives us an overview of The Ovine Pangenome Project, an international project New Zealand is involved with.
Gemma Jenkins says the whole focus of the INZB (Informing New Zealand Beef) programme is to set up tools to help select traits that are important to New Zealand farmers. Their first project has been creating three selection indexes for farmers; maternal, terminal, and beef on dairy indexes. 
At the moment they have 37 commercial farmers involved in the project, and they’re hoping to continue adding 10 new farmers each year over the seven-year programme. She explains some ways farmers can make the most of the data collected already by this project. Learn more about the programme here.
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