Sustainability an investment, not a cost

The rising global appetite for sustainable business practices is presenting New Zealand with opportunities that we could only have dreamed of a few years ago.

A recent visit to Italy and the UK showed me that our efforts to capitalise on this are certainly being rewarded.

A key reason for my visit to Italy was to lead the New Zealand delegation to the inaugural Ministerial Meeting of the Global Research Alliance in Rome. 36 member countries have now joined this New Zealand-led initiative to produce more food while reducing global gas emissions.

The Alliance is another example of New Zealand’s reputation for smart thinking and decisive action leading the way.

While in Rome I also led the New Zealand delegation to the 37th meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

A visit to Milan gave me the opportunity to visit some modern highly-mechanised fashion mills that are turning out absolute world quality products utilising New Zealand merino.

These visits reinforced that New Zealand exporters have to be at the high-value, top-quality end of production if we are to continue to sell to some of the best in the world.

Before heading home I spent some time in Wales where I met with Prince Charles. We discussed New Zealand’s commitment to the campaign for wool, the Global Research Alliance and sustainability.

All of these meetings reaffirmed for me that New Zealand’s sustainable credentials are continuing to open doors for us.

Ways with wool

Strong wool is the one area in agriculture I have identified as needing to pull its socks up quick-smart.

It is a disappointment to me that the drive seems to have disappeared out of our strong wool industry restructuring. This is despite substantial investment of time and money by industry leaders and taxpayers.

Conversely, I am an admirer of what Merino New Zealand has achieved with fine wool. This model of innovation is exciting. It has changed the perception of fine wool through research and innovation, supply chain expertise and marketing.

The decline in strong wool prices is unsustainable. I know some farmers are finding it is costing more to shear their wool than they actually receive for the product itself.

As consumers demand products that are natural and environmentally sustainable I wonder where we have gone wrong. New Zealand wool is a natural product that has attributes that outweigh many synthetic products. We must maximise these opportunities, because synthetics are certainly not produced naturally.

I appreciate the timing of strong wool proposals from Wool Partners International and Elders Wool Marketing Enterprises have clashed with the international credit crisis but the reality is, economically, sheep farmers are in a better position than they have been for years.

With stable sheep meat prices, and the drought over, we are in an ideal position to invest in strong wool.

I believe the timing is right - Merino New Zealand has shown us the model, there are two options on the table, both radically different approaches to the status quo.

It is not my role as Agriculture Minister to tell farmers which option to take, but I will say, doing nothing is not an option.