Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
so removing subs has had the opposite effect on land values to what many on here expect......TT agree we are probably better off without however from what I can tell the SMP subsidies only lasted from 1978 until 1984 . The main subsidies came in the form of govt funded research and processing and logistic infrastructure.
By letting the market take its course as we have done for over thirty years has led to some major structural issues in NZ ag and the wider economy. Its become a rush from one sector to another . First and mostly it was dairy but now with the world well supplied with milk powder and the true enviromental foot print of grass based intensive dairy becoming known its now a rush to hort (cherries , kiwifruit) and forestry . The traditional sheep farm still exists but that production system is not viable on the current land value.
We need govt intervention to get new industries up and running .For example in the South of NZ we have a traditional oat growing industry , the next step for this is oat milk products but no one can seem to get the capital together to get this off the ground.
So to summarise if you asked a 65 year old sheep farmer (there are many) who survived the late eighties and then saw there $250000 farm become worth $5million due to the dairy boom then they probaby they are very pleased the way things have turned out.
If you ask a struggling started from nothing young farmer (no family help) who is about to be hit with a lot of enviromental restrictions and regulation in return for not one cent from the govt then their views may differ.