The mantra from our agricultural sector is that NZ is the garden farm for the planat and that we feed 40 million people.
Lovely, but what about us domestic NZers?
The farmers and producers pat themselves on the back for their export smarts and clever marketing.
Lovely, but what about us as domestic NZers?
The quality of our food is considered some of the best on the planet.
Lovely, but what about us as domestic NZers?
Why is it that when I want to taste some of the fine produce created and made in this country I need to pay an arm and a leg for it? Why is dairy so bloody expensive? Why is meat so bloody expensive? Why are vegetables grown here in NZ so bloody expensive?
It’s because we 4 million NZers are competing with those 40 million others for food grown in our own country and they control the price, not us.
The punishment for our free market system is that we pay the price producers can obtain on the open global market which of course pushes the price up.
I say it’s time that we have a domestic subsidy for domestic consumers of produce created in this country.
Why? Because as consumers we’ve already paid a price for that product.
The Government structure many of our producers into monopolies for export advantage, an advantage that hurts the domestic market, but on top of the structurally un-competative models that push prices up for domestic consumers, we also pay a huge price in environmental damage and degradation of our water.
But what about the jobs dairy and meat and produce create for us the agricultural barons will claim?
What jobs? Most of the agricultural industry is built upon cheap migrant labour, it isn’t hiring the likes of you and me.
So let’s recap.
- Most of these industries have uncompetitive structures that hurt us the domestic consumer.
- Most of these industries rely on cheap migrant labour.
- Most of these industries damage the environment.
- AND we have to pay a global market price for the produce.
I say fuck that.
We pay a cost already for these producers so they can maximise their profit margins with the 40 million overseas consumers, it’s time that cost was factored into the domestic price that we pay so that we have a subsidised price for produce grown in our country.
The agricultural barons will splutter in rage that they should cut the price for domestic consumers when they can maximise it for their overseas markets.
They can splutter all they want, we have paid a price for decades and decades and decades in the environment and in allowing uncompetitive structures to inflate prices, we should now start getting ours.
I believe it’s time NZers should be able to buy their own produce grown in this country at a price cheaper than can be sold offshore because as domestic consumers we have already paid the environmental and monopoly costs of that produce.
We deserve nothing less.
The produce we buy is often inferior to that sold internationally, in fact evidence from these global markets often shows we’re paying more than they are and they get top quality, with transport costs. We are seriously being ripped off.
I don’t think it is the ‘agricultural barons’ that make a mint out of producing food and raw products.
If a closer look will be allowed, we may see, it is the middle men and middle women who take their nice cut out of deals, including buying and on-selling, transport, storage, processing and end selling.
We have a supermarket duopoly, that does not help. Perhaps bring in some regulation, or offer the entry of another larger retailer?
Then there is GST, which we have on everything, almost, but in many other countries, it is at a lower rate on essential products, such as food, or not charged at all.
Perhaps we should start with making food stuffs GST exempt, or only having to have half the GST on it, than other products and services? Labour once flirted with the idea, where are they at now?
Some very good points there , MARC .
Jesus @ MARK. Where have you been all my life??? xxx
@ MB.
” The farmers and producers pat themselves on the back for their export smarts and clever marketing.”
What? What the fuck are you on?? Much less on about??
Your dangerous and deliberately cultivated ( Pardon the pun) ignorance is the problem. Not a solution.
Have you not read and/or understood anything I’ve written here over the years?
Clearly not. I find that deeply unfortunate at the very least.
The gap that exists between farmers who grow the shit which you eat that makes your arse fat and the end consumer, the ones we export to mostly to return foreign revenue here in order for our government to spend locally to make your arse fatter, is the quintessential NZ problem.
I… I can’t believe it… I’m gobsmacked.
The apple and pear marketing board, the wool board, the meat board, the dairy board… Are ALL cartels scamming the farmer, cartels most often headed up by one-time farmers so who better to know how to fuck other farmers over right?
Look. Scenario alert
Sheep farmer shears wool off his/her sheep. Wool is pressed into bales and those bales are trucked to either wool buyers or to auction. There, the wool is triple dumped ( Meaning three farm-bales of wool are squeezed into one now compressed bale to allow for efficient shipping. )
Off the wool goes. The important thing to remember here is that ONCE THE PRODUCT, IN THIS CASE WOOL, LEAVES THE FARM, THE FARMER HAS NO CONTROL OVER THE END PRICE. THAT’S ALL TAKEN CARE OF BY BIG BROTHER WOOL BOARD/‘PRODUCER’ BOARD; NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE RIGHT ALONG.
And that means… What? C’mon…? What does that mean…? Take your time.
It means Ker FUCKING Ching ! That’s what it means Comrade.
The Natzo’s have a deep understanding of that process and keep the farmer as far away from that kind of enlightenment as possible. Including yourself clearly, which I find deeply disappointing and saddening.
A common expression of alarm down on the farm as the newspaper’s violently rustled!
” Fuck off! I get a few dollars for a kilo of wool and that fancy jersey made in China is selling for $400.00 for the few grams it weighs ! WTF ! ? ”
When questioned, Wool Board says ” Nah Ah Mr Farmer. You can’t sell direct. We have an office there thus that market is protected by NZ Wool Board distribution patents.
Why don’t you fucking ask me how I know that. Comrade.
Finally.
If you want cheaper food? Grow your fucking own.
I’m done.
Middlemen skimming the cream / profits off the top in other words , COUNTRYBOY,… just like the Banks do…except in the banks case , they loan the cash to indebt the farmer / producer , then receive extra through the money go round via their mates…
Martyn you should be in the new cabinet !
You are 100% correct , in short this country is one giant rort and as a citizen of this country i am sick of being extorted by the producers , supermarkets , and Mr eight million dollar Fonterra.
The last politburo was never and could never act in our interests because they are hopelessly compromised by vested donors and suppliers who rely on them to keep the status quo of the boot on the heads of kiwi consumers.
This is another area that needs serious reform by the new administration and the public will thank them for the benefits that will come with breaking the current stranglehold these monopolies have.
Another major player in the supermarket area should be encouraged.
A deregulated market was sold as the answer but has never delivered in this area for kiwi consumers.
It works in Aussie.
Again , like MARC,… some salient points and suggestions.
Great stuff from people here.
Its time we all stop taking this garbage laying down and started making one hell of a noise about this, its been going on for far too long .
Nobody likes the feeling and reality of being ripped off.
Yes , I should imagine some produce was cheaper back in the days of pre 1984 , – when they removed import tariffs ec to open up the free market.
It does seem ludicrous that many basic food items , – even NZ produced , – are cheaper for example in Australia,… it cannot be argued that it is because of ‘ economy of scale’ either.
Someone is manipulating this and on the make big time in this country.
Everyone needs to eat , and they know they have got people over a barrel unless they want to regularly eat unhealthy , nutrient poor diets.
I also have the thought that COUNTRYBOY has more than a keen inkling of who really is behind all this and driving these conditions ie :
The Banks,.. of which , – 96% are foreign owned.
THAT ,… may go a long way into telling us the real reasons why.
We unfortunately get the seconds, check out quality of Apple’s, etc. next time you go to the veggie shop. In the last year I’ve had to buy Australian beef, French butter and garlic from the US(total madness). All products we produce here. Maybe subsidised production through Landcorp could be an option? The reason the French butter is cheap is because of EU subsidies has led to overproduction.
It’s time for the supermarket duopoly in this country to be broken up.
A duopoly breaks every tenet of the so-called “free”: market – and yet it was allowed to happen.
In one one Wellington’s northern suburbs, Johnsonville, there are two supermarkets. Both are “Countdown”. No other major supermarket in the area.
And surprise, surprise, the prices are near-identical.
If we’re going to have a near-monopoly, we might as well remove the fig-leaf of “competition” and nationalise the damned things.
Definitely nationalise the fish, and Dolphins, and whales, and birds. And so on.
I’ve been banging on about such stuff for years. When the global downfall comes (just around the corner folks) it’ll be survival 101; hunt, collect, grow & make your own. Now we’ve kicked the globalisation party to touch & have a half decent government, some serious localisation & future proofing is in order. A good start would be too drastically reduce the importation of the stuff we really don’t need, only export produce that is surplus to our requirements, & ramp up our flagging manufacturing industries. We can grow, make & build pretty much everything our small population needs to get by today, & survive the mayhem to come. So let’s get stuck in & do this together.
Yes we are all being scalped over locally produced food here in NZ now.
When I was young during the 1950’s everyone grew there own vegioes and some fruit trees and some even kept hens, so the price of freshfood was relitively cheap then.
When I brought my new wife home from Canada my Dad had put in a garden for us at our house we bought in Napier in 1976 and we had so much food we were giving it away.
My parents went through two wars and a depression so they did know about sustainablity then, and we learned how to grow vegetables at school projects and from our parents but i doubt if todays kids learn surival skills as we did.
So we are in a pickle now being so relaint on supermarkets and the like now.
Here here!
or should I say hear hear.
Agreed JohnnyBG.
I have met a lot of people trying to make a living growing food for local consumption. They use the best environmental practices they know about. But if I go to an organic shop or farmers market to buy their produce, I often pay the same or more than I would pay at the supermarket for imported food. Why?
It’s to because the growers or the people running the distribution outlets only care about money. I know that’s not true. You have to look at their outgoings, and where all that money is really going. As with housing affordability, a lot of it comes down to the real estate merry-go-round.
Sorry Martyn, subsidizing food is a fool’s errand. It never works out for the best as Venezuela is finding out now and they have had subsidized food for a very long time. There are many countries in Africa and the Middle East that subsidize food that suffer major distortions in their economies. It is a silly notion in the same way as trying to remove GST from food.
For what?
Look at some of the things that are GST exempt in Australia
1. Food stuff (Milk, Bread, staples)
2. Rent
3. Most medical expenses
4. School fees
5. Childcare
There is no justifiable reason for New Zealand not to do the same especially since it would be really easy to implement.
Which is why not only will Labour support it but so should everyone else in Parliament.
Maybe you might oppose it but I can’t see why anyone else would.
It’s certainly not a New Zealand vs Venezuela thing.
Even something like taking some of that GST money and subsidising staple food items. Will actually drag consumers away from big super market chains and back to dairies because they’ll be able to compete on a level playing field.
I mean fuck me. If I let you buy my produce you’ll go to the most expensive fucken GST friendly shop you could find and then what? Blow the god dam budget that’s what.
If I have got this straight: basically we pay more for our second grade dairy, fruit and vegetables so that people overseas can pay less for the first grade products.
So in fact that is actually a type of subsidy isn’t it?
But subsidies don’t happen in “the free market” do they?
Apparently the historical reason why we don’t get to buy our own country’s food cheaper than the folks overseas is because producers don’t want to lose money by selling to their own countrymen at a lower cost.
It actually ignores the fact that it costs a whole heap more money to send goods overseas than it does to send them around NZ, so in the free market tradition of user pays why shouldn’t we get them cheaper?
Seems the “free market” isn’t quite as free as its supporters would like us to believe.
It is historically entrenched protectionism and the producer boards don’t want to change it because they don’t think it is important that NZ consumers get a fairer deal.
What a nice bunch of folks they are.
“I believe it’s time NZers should be able to buy their own produce grown in this country at a price cheaper than can be sold offshore because as domestic consumers we have already paid the environmental and monopoly costs of that produce.”
Completely agree with that 100%
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