2011 Chairman's Report

We continue to build and maintain networks. The backbone of this is the email group and website but also membership of OANZ has linked us to other organic networks.  As well as this we have tried to broaden our networks by partnering with more mainstream organisations such as AgFirst and DairyNZ. We now have more members in the South Island and through them connections with Canterbury organic Group and Southern Organics. Neville Parkinson and Maurice Hellewell have started a company that is coordinating organic beef marketing and are now looking at using the network to build supply for USDA manufacturing beef.

ODPG is a member of OANZ. Since late last year the OANZ board was dissolved and replaced by a smaller Council which had one representative from each member group. I have continued as the Council representative for ODPG and would like to relinquish this position as now that I live in the Waikato making the face to face meetings is harder.

I believe and so, it seems, do many members that OANZ has a continuing role in advocacy for the organic sector. It has had success in the past. Examples include: PGP bids and subsequent talks with Silver fern farms; Industry projects with tanalised timber and supporting GE free NZ. In addition to advocacy, OANZ has co-ordinated an organic presence at field days, expos and shows, promoted organic stories in the press and TV and been able to present the case for organics at economic forums, primary production outlook symposiums etc.

How ODPG continues to support OANZ will be something this executive will have to decide on.  Likewise it will be important for OANZ to make sure that they support us. As members it was with some surprise that the OANZ initiated and funded writing of the Organic education standards by AgITO yet omitted the ODPG in the formation of a consultation group.

With a larger membership than many other member groups and the fact that many of our members are members of other membership groups such as Soil and Health, the Biodynamic association and Bio Gro licensees, then it would be reassuring to be able to think we will be considered when situations like this arise in the future.  There has been a lot of effort put into future funding of OANZ and I circulated the report from Annie Perkins from the meeting held at the beginning of June.

The Executive has made representations to NZFSA and TPA’s.  Over this last year it was over issues with CBG, tanalised posts and Canadian standards. More recently it has been on a list of approved inputs for Bio Gro. Glenn Mead and I are both members of the Bio-Gro Livestock technical committee.

Last year I was contacted by Dr Sharon Adamson, Manager of Strategy Development from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. She wanted to know about the impact of GE on organic certification. Her notion was that if we changed the standards in New Zealand it would be okay as other countries allowed some traces of GE in organic products. She could see it was not as simple as that when I mentioned that we had to certify to the standards in the markets we were sending products to. This was around the time Hilary Clinton visited John Key and they were talking free trade. Our GE free status may have been a sticking point.

Emission Trading continues to be a big unknown. We had Mark Aspin, CEO of the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium address us in Christchurch. In discussions since with AgResearch and DairyNZ it seems that organic production does not feature in current research.  Despite us thinking we are sustainable and low emitters, research so far indicates that we may be high producers of greenhouse gases as it is expressed in terms of kilograms of milksolids or meat produced.  In addition to this as you probably know any tax due will be paid for by processors. There is no positive feedback for those doing a good job. There is also the risk that any mitigants may be forced upon us and these may not meet organic standards. Consequently we have a written a letter that will be sent to relevant industry bodies. Perhaps co-ordinating an organic sector response and lobby for more organic specific research is a role for OANZ.

We have held field days at Tim Chamberlains; Tom Walkers; Lane Cookson’s; and plan another series in conjunction with the Grow Organic Dairy Project. This is not funded from ODPG general funds but from tagged funds within the project. Esther Dijkstra will be working with Fonterra, DairyNZ and AgFirst to deliver these. Last year we earmarked money to run field days in the South Island. Hopefully the ODPG can work in with Southern Organics to plan to meet the needs of Southern members.

The survey results indicate support for bringing in overseas experts to tour. While we made the most of Graeme Sait’s visit to New Zealand to see his parents I think we have to be aware that New Zealand has experts of its own. Would you bring the Wright Brothers over because they are acclaimed in the USA and overlook Richard Pearce?

Our membership of OANZ and the ODPG website has generated several requests for organic stories or comment. I have generally tried to point them in the right direction.

Mark Pike has taken up the challenge to look after the ODPG website and you have noticed a few new photos and updated content. Members have said they would like to see it developed as a resource centre. The fact sheets produced through the GOD project on various topics have been added along with other informative documents such as the Organic Pastoral Guide. As it develops it may require comprehensive indexes and a site search engine. I have endeavoured to get links to our site from the Fonterra and DairyNZ site. There are undoubtedly a host of organic sites that need to have updated contact advice or better still a web link.

In response to member concerns over Fonterra premiums we spent December and January preparing for a meeting with them.  In a meeting the previous year we were effectively shot down by the supplier’s survey in which the majority of suppliers said they were financially better off. We endeavoured to prepare evidence to support the claim that$1.05 is not fair recompense for supplying milk certified to USDA standards. It has been hard to build a working relationship with Fonterra due to a few historical issues dating back to the first OANZ funding round. Now I have heard from a Fonterra source in the Manawatu that organic suppliers have approached Miraka. We have tried over the last few years to move attitudes towards the ODPG within Fonterra so that they are more willing to promote our group. After the Focus Farm funding fallout it was difficult to get them to communicate with us and there were many comments from other parties about how difficult we were to work with and our lack of capability.

Grow Organic Dairy Project

This project aimed to grow the organic milk supply by providing information for those looking at converting and those already converted or converting. DairyNZ supported it as the hoped to get more usable information out of the research that Massey had already done and provide conventional farmers with alternatives that may be incorporated into their existing systems. The Project has a separate governance committee comprising of Vivian Cruickshank (Chair) Bruce Thorrold ( DairyNZ investment manager) Janet Fleming (Financial administrator) Esther Dijkstra (Project leader) John Vosper and Lane Cookson

Trial work continues on organic soil management and soil fertility, researching questions around the nutrient status of organic soils, organic soil fertility programmes, and the effectiveness of organic fertilizers.
The soil fertiliser trial has been going for 18 months, and the plots have received two lots of fertiliser (Spring 2009 and 2010). Preliminary results from Overseer show that the organic farmers keep adequate nutrient levels in their soils.

Overseer results also indicate that the organic farms in the trial are leaching less nitrogen then conventional farms.  These results were followed up by measuring milk urea concentration in milk from both organic and conventional farms.  Early results suggest no significant difference. Results within and between farms vary considerably.

DairyBase results and farm management practices are being analysed under the supervision of Nicola Shadbolt.

Farmers with low SCC counts have been visited and their management practices have been recorded.  This information will be added to the mastitis infosheet in due course.

Alan Thatcher has asked farmers about their calf rearing practices and calves have been weighed regularly from birth to monitor progress.  An information sheet on these results will follow later in the year.

A fourth information sheet about organic weed management is now available from www.organicpastoral.co.nz. This project has been extended.

Membership numbers at a similar level to this time last year. Jane Pike is the membership secretary. Ray Ridings runs the Yahoo group and adds and deletes people from the yahoo group according to notifications from Jane. Mark Pike has sent letters out to non member pastoral licensees of AsureQuality and Bio-Gro informing them of the ODPG and inviting them to be members. We also had a space on the OANZ stand at the National Agricultural FieldDays

Lastly the organic sector contributed to the Rural Mentor Project. There were a few organic farmers trained as mentors but to my knowledge they never received mentors. A similar scheme was piloted by organic farmers in the south island. It may be something to consider when taking stock of existing resources and services when formulating an action plan to achieve agreed goals.

It has been an emotional, rocky journey to get everyone around the same table at it is no secret that agendas, allegiances and personalities no doubt vary as much as our thoughts on breeds, grazing management and organic fertiliser practice.  To make progress that unites the membership of the ODPG I recommend that the executive adopt the consultative model that OANZ uses.



Appendix on Consultation for your consideration

Consultation must have for its objective, the best outcome for the membership of the ODPG. Executive members should express their opinions. They should not voice them as correct but contribute ideas to work towards a consensus of opinion.

Members should weigh the opinions with calmness, detachment and composure. Before expressing their own views they should carefully consider the views already advanced by others. The Executive members must learn to express their views frankly. They must also learn to listen to the opinions of their fellow members without taking offense or belittling the views of another.

Consultation is not an easy process. It requires tolerance, understanding, moral courage and humility. Members should not feel prevented from expressing their views because it may offend a fellow member; and, realizing this, no member should take offense at another member's statements. Do not stubbornly cling to personal opinions.

Members should not reach the point of causing conflict and antagonism. When you notice that a stage has been reached, you should immediately postpone discussion of the subject, until people calm down, and a propitious time is at hand.

The ideal of consultation is to arrive at a unanimous decision. When this is not possible a vote must be taken. As soon as a decision is reached it becomes the decision of the whole
Executive; not merely of those members who happened to be among the majority.

Hopefully this will induce an attitude and aspiration which will facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures that enable the Executive to work cooperatively and constructively.