Beef + Lamb New Zealand chairman Andrew Morrison says he is just like any other farmer.
He likes dagging his own lambs and finishing the work day "tired and grumpy like every other farmer does", he sows his winter crops and recently shore his rams. He disputes suggestions the industry-good organisation does not represent the country’s grassroots red-meat farmers, saying he and the other elected farmer directors "live and breathe" the agricultural sector.
Mr Morrison and his wife Lisa have a farming operation comprising 11,000 stock units over two properties. The couple live on the home farm near Gore, while a South Otago property is managed by Tim and Laura Williams.
Mr Morrison candidly acknowledges last year was his toughest year in farming in his circa 30-year tenure on the land, due to feed availability around the country and efficiency impacts on meat processors.
He was not, as he bluntly said, "a shiny arse that sits in Wellington", immune to the daily challenges of life on the land. And he lived regulatory changes in the sector on-farm.
Most farmers were under massive financial pressure at the moment and he had to make the same phone calls to his bank that other food producers had to do.
Relentless was the term Mr Morrison used to describe the past three-year B+LNZ election cycle. The raft of policy change had "almost been all consuming" and B+LNZ had endeavoured to get the best outcomes for the sector, even if it had attracted criticism from some of its levy payers.
In the upcoming director elections, Mr Morrison — who has represented the Southern South Island ward since 2014 — is standing for re-election. He is being challenged by Geoffrey Young.
Asked whether he had enough left in his tank — to borrow a saying from outgoing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern — Mr Morrison said he had the energy to continue.
"Our sector has too many opportunities. We are a great sector, there is no two ways about it. Our contribution to New Zealand’s export revenue is significant. Regional employment is pivotal.
"Whenever we’re having these discussions, it’s not about farmers, it’s about communities. That’s why I still have stuff in the tank to do this.
"I love farming, I’m happy to say that, and I love rural communities. That’s why we’ve got to get this right."
Mr Morrison acknowledged the pressure farmers were under; commodity prices for sheep and beef were down, input costs were significantly up and labour shortages were impacting processing.
It was tough and against a backdrop of inflationary pressure and burgeoning food prices.
An "economic reset" happened in the 1980s — and the impact of the decisions made then had trucked on through until now, with the intensification in the sector; now it was an environmental reset, he said.
Earlier this week, the red-meat sector launched a package of proposed policy changes, ahead of the general election, aimed at growing export revenues and increasing jobs.
B+LNZ and the Meat Industry Association’s summary manifesto spanned five areas — climate and environment policy, workforce and industrial relations, trade, biosecurity and innovation, research and development.
Mr Morrison said it should be compulsory early reading for new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to inform what policies should be shelved or changed.
The challenge with the existing Government had always been that it was "going too hard and too fast".
"Farmers are absolutely willing to play their part in improving the environment, but the Government has tried to do too much too quickly.
"Because of the scale and pace of change, we’ve ended up with a lot of poorly crafted and conflicting rules that have significant negative financial implications for sheep and beef farmers, rural communities and the wider economy, when there are better ways of achieving good environmental outcomes.
"Farmers are feeling overwhelmed and confidence in the future of farming is at a record low," he said.
At the top of the list was urgent progress on curbing the sale of sheep and beef farms into carbon farming.
There had to be a government commitment to fix that issue — which was "gutting" rural communities" — before any price was imposed on agricultural emissions.
"We’ve been talking about this, we need to find a solution," he said.
Mr Morrison said neither he nor B+LNZ was anti-trees; it was about integration of trees into farms or the right forestry models.
He had integrated farm forestry on his own farming operation, providing shade and shelter for livestock and increasing biodiversity.
Carbon forestry created an artificial regulatory market which was leading to perverse outcomes. Reduction of fossil fuels would not be achieved with carbon farming, he said.
Methane targets needed amending in line with the latest science and a cautious approach taken to any price on agricultural emissions.
The Government and industry had worked hard to get a good outcome, including getting carbon sequestration recognised.
"We are getting really close, let’s take the time to get this right. Agriculture does understand it’s got a role to play," he said.
There needed to be continued support for processors as they transitioned away from coal to renewable energy.
While there had been some progress on water, some things — like the low-slope map for stock exclusion — still needed to be fixed.
The Southland intensive winter grazing advisory group — which involved collaboration between farmers, environmental agencies, farming bodies and regional councils, had provided a really good outcome "but Government hasn’t delivered". "Deliver or don’t make us get consents until you do deliver."
Indigenous biodiversity, including criteria around Significant Natural Areas, needed to be put on hold "until we get everything else sorted".
With about 2.8 million ha of SNAs on farms, that demonstrated that farmers "take this stuff seriously irrespective of regulations".
The Government also urgently needed to carry out an assessment of the cumulative impact of all those policies.
"We’d like to see a pause on any new regulations like biodiversity and RMA reform until this review has been done."
The settings had to be right; that was not from a farmer’s perspective but from a New Zealand Inc perspective, he said.
As a result of Labour’s landslide win in the last general election, the reality was the Government had the ability to do whatever it wanted. And the opposition had its own well-documented issues to deal with during the election cycle.
It was a "brutal period in ideological change" and B+LNZ, along with other industry groups, had tried to get the best outcomes for farmer.
The fact farming was not in the Emissions Trading Scheme was "pretty significant", as was the split gas acknowledgement.
While there had been an understandable focus spotlight on advocacy — "because that’s the stuff that bites" — B+LNZ was "far more than advocacy".
It was involved with a raft of initiatives, from trade policy to its Taste Pure Nature origin brand, farm plans and its extension work, and genetic programmes.
Some in the sector believed B+LNZ had not consulted enough. He said it had done a lot of consultation with the sector to come to decisions. But he acknowledged that timelines had been so tight — overlaid with Covid — that consultation with the farming sector had been compromised.
"That’s where I think we’ve got to take it on the chin," he said, adding the organisation was "operating with what we were given" and that was around government timelines and Covid restrictions.
Mr Morrison, who was appointed chairman in 2018, said he was "exceptionally proud" of B+LNZ; its board, management and team. He was also proud of the maturity of a sector coming together.
"We have bent over backwards to work as hard as we can to get the best outcomes," he said. And those outcomes came in the face "of some pretty challenging regulatory change".
Hard discussions were held behind the scenes and those hard discussions needed to be held. Some were intergenerational issues which needed discussing, like water and climate. The issues were not going to go away. The challenge was to find solutions.
"Let’s understand what’s being asked of us, let’s use the tools industry is working on and see what we can do," he said.
It was not a Labour Party conversation, it was a global conversation. "If you’re thinking you’re going to get a change of government or leader, this stuff is going to go away, I don’t think is the case."
Nor should the sector be afraid of change; he acknowledged the challenges at the moment — " I don’t ever want to be ... flippant that this isn’t real" — and encouraged unity among those involved.
"There’s so much good stuff in ag. We’ve got to get out of the negative narrative and focus on our opportunities. We are sucking ourselves into a vortex if we concentrate on a negative narrative."
New Zealand farmers were food producers that exported their product. The sector would be kidding itself if it did not think what its global customers thought was important was not worth listening to.
"We are effectively a kitchen. New Zealand is a kitchen. When customers come in , what do they want to look at?"
Statistics showed that young people were moving away from red meat protein and they needed to be given the confidence to consume New Zealand’s red meat.
"The reality is if we don’t action stuff that’s important for customers, we are going to get into a predicament."
No sector in New Zealand had the productivity gains of the red-meat sector; and no sector had the ability to change like sheep and beef to address their issues.
B+LNZ’s vision was a thriving rural community valued by all New Zealanders.
Asked about what he believed the perception of farming was in urban centres, he said the organisation’s research showed people were generally very supportive.
A father of two, Mr Morrison said there were some great young couples in his district that he enjoyed spending time with.
A couple of neighbour’s children, who did not live on a farm, were regular visitors. "That pumps my tyres, both of those things," he said.
