Looking in one direction

BEN CURRAN/Manawatu Standard

NEW WAY: Agricultural commentator Alan Emerson suggests it is time for a green table, to put rural issues out there for the public and politicians.

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Here is how Alan Emerson sees it working.

It is made up of agriculture in the broadest sense: farmers, merchants, processors, marketers, scientists, academics, and a specialist agriculture media. "We all need to be looking in the same direction," he says.

It will have a small secretariat.

The green table develops an industry strategy. It has a vision and then a strategy and tactics for where the industry goes to achieve that.

Jobs in cities and towns are being lost because of the high New Zealand dollar. Mount an industry-wide campaign aimed at convincing "city cousins" of the vital need for the dollar to be reduced, which the Government can, with the will, do.

Show the dire state of farming in a way that people will understand, and talk to the Government and coalition partners and the Opposition about it. Put farming in the public arena.

Focus on a science policy encouraging innovation. Get rid of the 9 per cent return to the Government from Crown Research Institutes, which few companies are returning at the moment.

Get involved in international trade and foreign policy. Find out what, if anything, is in trade deals for primary industry.

Develop one major New Zealand primary industry conference that is pre-eminent on the calendar. "To find Utopia, we need unity and that will provide strength."

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