New Zealand farmers need to protect their seed rights and buy locally grown feed supplements ahead of imports, Doug Simpson says.
The Federated Farmers North Otago arable chairman told Central Rural Life he had been criticised in the past for speaking out on such matters, but he was concerned that the sector was vulnerable to the actions of other countries and to business practices within New Zealand.
At the recent North Otago federation annual meeting, Mr Simpson asked his fellow farmers to let him know their feelings on farmer-saved seed and the royalties being sought by merchants. He said he had received no feedback, which he took to mean general agreement with his own view.
Federated Farmers wanted royalties to be paid at the first purchase point. In the case of milling wheat, the mills that bought the wheat paid the royalties at the end of the chain of transactions.
Mr Simpson said plant breeders would like to ensure farmers who grew seed were paid royalties, but the companies that sold the seed wanted to keep the royalties themselves.
When fighting for farmers' rights, the royalty issue should be corrected at the beginning of the chain, he said.
Current practices had become embedded during the past decade and the companies did not want to lose their income.
The issue had become more urgent because of rules and regulations associated with the TPPA. It was vital that New Zealand rights were protected internationally, Mr Simpson said.
''We have to emphasise what's best for New Zealand Inc.''
Supply companies would come and go, but the arable industry needed to be retained as a viable sector, he said.
Those companies would always source the cheapest possible products for their clients, from anywhere in the world. That could result in supplements grown locally being left behind while imported goods were on-sold to farmers, Mr Simpson said.
''It seems that these farm supply businesses are just becoming middlemen for the large global feed and supply cartels.
''Fifty percent of the grain I grow goes less than 10km away. This could happen for all of North Otago.''
