Better soils with Brett Petersen Kiwi Fertiliser & Golden Bay Dolomite

Kiwi Fertiliser caters mostly to deeper-thinking farmers and growers who want to produce a healthier, better quality product while increasing their profit. Most of the producers are termed biological, regenerative and sustainable. That is, they follow standard practices, but do it such a way as to minimise and eliminate noxious substances from their programmes, while adding other substances that increase diversity of vegetation and microbial populations. Stock health and performance has slowly improved and become less costly. Pasture growth has become more reliable. Chemical inputs have markedly declined. Most are increasing the carbon content of the soil. When they no longer need fertiliser, we have done our job properly. Some of our clients are certified organic producers.

Submissions to Ministry for Primary Industries regarding organic standards closed in June 2018. A summary of results has gone to Cabinet and if it is felt there is a need for mandatory regulation; that process will be begun. Hopefully the organic growers themselves will have a major say and not the distributors and supermarkets. The latter have already deceived us with free-range eggs.

New Zealand is in an ideal position to supply some of the world’s organic food demand. Sadly, we have ignored that stance and just 0.75 per cent of our exported produce is organic. Worldwide only 1.1 per cent of agricultural land is classified as ‘organic’, according to Organic Worldwide Statistics in 2017.

World market

The current world market is worth $116 billion. NZ organic production is worth just $500 million split between domestic and export. The chemical barons are, of course, aiming to integrate seed, chemicals, Genetic Engineering, food production and pharmaceuticals into their business models. They are succeeding.

Part of the reason organics has languished is because of excessive and expensive red-tape. Another part is confusion and misconception about what fertilisers and other inputs can be used. In other words: ‘My production will suffer’. Never mind the mean organic premium stated is 30 per cent. Production is not necessarily a driver of profit. The main determinant of profit is carbon, according to a National Australia Bank study. But few farmers and their advisors recognise that fact. Another reason is lack of government support. A counter argument to that is: “Subsidies are not permitted under free-trade agreements”. How many private-public partnerships have extracted millions of taxpayer dollars from the Government? The bigger the private business, the greater the rort. The Waimea irrigation and water storage scheme has now been approved for taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies.

Normal vs organic

When the ‘average’ farmers go about their daily business, they’re being subsidised by our environment and by our health and medical system. Ultimately, the taxpayer picks up the bill for bad practices. Statistically, the ‘normal’ farmer is degenerating the environment, while the ‘organic’ producer is sequestering carbon and not polluting water supplies. They are not getting any assistance or compensation to do so. The playing field is very, very slanted. Soil under pasture has five times the potential to sequester carbon than forestry, and three times more than the atmosphere. But the atmosphere is winning and has been for decades. Organic properties sequester two to eight times more carbon than those using ‘conventional’ farming methods.

Regulations are needed in a helpful way to at least boost consumer confidence that they are getting value for their organic dollar. If that is case for a mere 0.75 per cent of our exported produce, it should follow that the other 99.25 per cent should also be closely scrutinised. Consumers need to know what has been sprayed on their food. They need to know what stock eat affects the quality of the meat and milk. They need to know a lot more than they are being told.

Not so long ago, raw milk went under the microscope. Raw milk became easier to buy but harder to sell. The consumer could buy as much milk as they wanted, but the seller was in for an extra $10,000-$20,000 of largely unnecessary expenditure to upgrade their facilities. The small business operators, which were 0.001 per cent or less of the market were obviously very threatening to big business. Are organically certified producers next in line?