Agsafe Weekly Rural Report

Finance: The NZ exchange rates were mostly steady to slightly easier over the week. Brent Crude is moving around the
$US70/barrel - currently $US68.94
Wool:  Wool prices are at an unsustainable level. There are workshops around the South encouraging wool farmers to hang-in!!
Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: The meat schedules are unchanged. I am receiving lots of comments from people about the
price of meat in the supermarkets with legs of lamb (probably hogget) getting close to $80 & Premium beef mince at $30/kg.
Dairy Prices. The g/DT dropped 4.3% which was more than expected, but a very large volume was on offer. Butter slipped 2.5%,
cheese priced firmed by 5.3%, SMP dropped 5.8% and WMP fell 5.3% to $US3809/ton.
The take-over of Miraka by Open Country Dairies (OCD) last Monday took us all by surprise. It is an interesting move & makes OCD a
major player in the industry as they had also recently acquired the Mataura dairy company & Miraka had very recently acquired or
entered into a processing arrangement with Waiu Dairies at Kawarau in the BOP. The reasons are many, so we hope it all works.
Quote: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
You can hear us live on the radio on Monday morning at 7.35 am with Brian Kelly on Country Sport Breakfast –
Radio NZ Gold AM. 792 AM in the Waikato & 1332 AM in Auckland.
Jim’s Weekly Rant:
The ACT Party, with support from New Zealand First are now pushing to have NZ either renegotiate its obligations to the
Paris Accord or dump it. New Zealand signed up to the Accord in 2016 under the John Key’s National government. The
Accord was signed by 195 UN member countries. The Accord had a long-term temperature goal of maintaining
international temperature rises around 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels. One problem is, there is no definitive measure of
what the “pre-industrial” temperatures were. But to arrive at this mythological temperature they agreed to cut CO2
emissions by 50% by 2030 and have zero-emissions by 2050. The Paris Agreement has been described as having a
bottom-up structure allowing nations to set their own nationally determined contributions (NDCs), rather than having
targets imposed top down, and this is what ACT is recommending, a review to set more realistic targets for NZ.  The
specific climate goals are therefore politically encouraged, rather than being legally bound. Only the processes governing
the reporting and review of these goals are mandated under international law, so the government is supposed to do what it says it will do. It is a binding agreement, but many of its articles do not imply obligations or are there to facilitate
international collaboration. It covers most greenhouse gas emissions, but does not apply to international aviation and
shipping that fall under the responsibility of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime
Organization, and it is also recorded that it should not impact on food production. There are three options before us:
Firstly to remove NZ from the Accord. Secondly to seek to re-negotiate the emissions levels to be better suite our
agricultural production. Thirdly to stay in the Accord and believe in the fairy at the bottom of the garden can control our
climate. To leave the Accord, there are some industries that maintain it will affect their export markets until some major
countries leave as well. To re-negotiate the emissions reduction is a half-way house that would allow the agricultural
sector to have more realistic targets imposed regarding Methane and CO2 while the public are taught the truth and some
simple science. To stay in the Accord without change is an acceptance of the false science driving the Accord and allowing
the international “Green” movement to continue with its ideologically driven view of the world that few of us could ever
subscribe to and will see us living in caves with a simple fire for cooking. Yes, the climate does change, it will always
change and there is nothing you or I can do to change that. CO2 and Methane levels have no impact on the temperature or
the climate unless the CO2 is below 280 ppm. The level of CO2 at 420 ppm is at a low level when comparing it the 1200 to
2500 ppm recorded during the Jurassic period when the world was a lush green playground for the dinosaurs. I don’t
believe the Paris Accord should have ever been agreed to, but politicians make the rules and scientist are often ignored
and the Paris Accord is a political movement devoid of real science. We should be prepared to get out of the Accord
following some of the big players like the USA and parts of Europe, but we can’t be first. If companies like Fonterra feel
there is an advantage, they can continue to promote their ”low-carbon” milk production systems while the rest of the world
gets on with producing quality food. And just remember that no country will be able to achieve Net-Zero, or change the
amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere because about 90% of the CO2 comes for the warming oceans and remember
the oceans warm because of the volcanic activity under the sea and not from the sun above. The cost for not achieving our
ridiculous targets is billions of dollars that our country doesn’t have, so let’s start the process of reviewing the targets with
the view of leaving as-soon-as it is reasonably possible.