Finance with Don Fraser Fraser Farm Finance

When I was at Lincoln University, the lecturers drummed into the students how destructive an outbreak of foot and mouth disease would be on New Zealand agriculture and our economy.

That was 43 years ago and nothing has changed – except foot and mouth disease seems to have dropped below the radar – until recently.
We have had the outbreak of Psa-V in kiwifruit, and varroa bee mite, to remind us how easily incursions can happen and how fragile we are.
The Pork Industry Council seems to be fighting a losing battle to prevent the importing of fresh pork, which could destroy that industry, with 41,000 tonne of pork imported in 2012.
This elevates the risk of blue ear pig disease or PRRS. Plus, pork meat is one of the worst mediums for transfer of foot and mouth disease.
And, now there is noise around the rules of importing palm kernel expeller (PKE). Two farmers went and had a look at the conditions under which palm kernel was being harvested and loaded into the ships from the countries of origin.

PKE
They were so concerned they advised the authorities in New Zealand, who said it was all 'okay”, only to find the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) had never been to those countries to have a look. MPI is on its way to view the process only now.
They have finally taken on-board the comments and concerns. New Zealand imports about 1.5 million tonne of PKE from Indonesia, Malaysia, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
PKE is apparently heat-treated in the country of origin and inspected on arrival by MPI. New Zealand is also importing huge quantities of mulch from similar countries for plant growing, for example.
So, these countries have foot and mouth disease – and hopefully it will not find its way to New Zealand from them.
If you ‘google' foot and mouth disease, you will find China and Tibet have had recent outbreaks. The virus can travel in meat and mucus.

Outbreak
Because the virus is airborne, it travels very fast (and can travel in your nostrils). How quickly could New Zealand act as a nation to prevent its spread? If an outbreak did occur in your local town or district, how would that look and how would it all play out?
Well, MPI would arrive from everywhere, the district would be in total lock-down and all animals within a certain radius would be shot and buried.
Where would they bury them and who would run the show? Does New Zealand have protocols and systems in place? We really have no idea of the implications. New Zealand would not be able to export any product until clearance was given and three months had passed. MPI has done modelling on the financial implications on our economy which are not pretty.
I wonder what their plan is should this devastating outbreak occur?

Boarder
There has been a recent case where a Chinese doctorate student deliberately brought in beef, chicken, duck, fish and fish roe hidden in his luggage. He was found to be in breach of the Biosecurity Act and was denied entry to the country permanently, and will not be able to complete his doctorate.
If you watch the border control programmes on television, people are constantly trying to bring in all manner of material that puts our country at risk – and maybe this case will send a clear message to them not to do so.
What do you think? Are our controls tight enough? Should the border control people be given more authority?
Finally, thinking outside of the square, I have suggested to MPI that they may consider partnering with rotary clubs to plan for such an outbreak. Why? Because Rotary has systems, leaders, contacts and the ability to supervise and mobilise a large part of the community at a moment's notice.
They could organise to feed a lot of people, arrange accommodation, provide tractors, trucks and quad bikes, and most importantly, they have the local knowledge. More importantly, they could work with all other community organisations such as Lions.

Risk
In summary, we are going to hear a lot more on the risks of foot and mouth disease arriving in this country.
If it does, how will that play out and how fast can we all help contain the outbreak to minimise the impact on our country and economy?
Can the Rotary Clubs of New Zealand be utilised as a resource to help? I have used the 'royal” we. If foot and mouth disease did arrive in New Zealand it is everyone's problem, not somebody else's – and we would all need to step up.
We should also be responsible now, and discourage people in our own society from irresponsible behaviour around border and food security.
We tend to have a 'them and us” attitude to many issues in this country. Be very sure that an outbreak of foot and mouth disease would be everybody's problem.
These are the opinions of Don Fraser of Fraser Farm Finance. Any decisions made should not be based on this article alone and appropriate professional assistance should be sought.
Don Fraser is the Principal of Fraser Farm Finance and a consultant to the Farming Industry. Contact him on 0800 777 675 or 021 777 675. A disclosure document is available on request.