The value of pastoral farming to the New Zealand economy has never been in question, however often the focus has been on the animals with no reference to the importance of pastures.
A new report from BERL Economics, "Economic analysis of the value of pasture to the New Zealand economy", commissioned by the Pasture Renewal Charitable Trust (PRCT), has highlighted the value that pastures provide to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). More importantly, the report goes on to outline the increase to GDP that can be achieved through pasture renewal.
Speaking at the launch of the report in the capital on 26 November, PRCT Chairman, Murray Willocks, outlined how the work of the PRCT has highlighted the need to focus back on pasture management. He commented that pastures have been taken for granted, "Farmers manage arable crops, and pasture needs the same attention".
The figures from the BERL report are impressive, with the potential to add $1.6bn in value to Farm Gate through pasture renewal, which in turn equates to $0.8B in direct GDP. To put this in context, it would require approximately 460,000 additional international tourists per annum to generate this level of additional spend within the tourism sector.
Minister of Agriculture, Hon. David Carter congratulated PRCT for its work in this field and also stated that he was encouraged to see so many industry sponsors involved. He went on to say that, "this is an astute report, I encourage farmers to seize this opportunity". He added that innovation is the key, New Zealand is no longer a low cost provider other countries are positioning themselves to compete with. "We cannot rely solely on research from previous decades. New Zealand is looking for ground breaking projects to drive our economy forward."
In his closing address Murray Willocks went on to point out that the technology, infrastructure and knowledge already exist to readily achieve this lift in productivity. "The disconnect is in getting the information out to farmers, PRCT looks to change and review that process with the assistance of key influencers."
Producing good quality pasture is very reliant on high quality seed. New Zealand herbage seed growers produce all the pasture seed for the New Zealand pastoral industry to extremely high quality standards. The Foundation for Arable Research FAR invests approximately $1m per year in research on herbage seed to ensure we are well positioned to continue to supply seed to improve NZ pastures.
FAR CEO Nick Pyke commented, "FAR is proud to support PRCT in this work and we look to aid the Trust through our sponsorship and the dissemination of information, taking this message forward for the benefit of New Zealand farmers."
Pasture renewal provides the potential to add 1.6bn to value at Farm Gate
