When I sat down with New Zealand’s special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr late last week, China had just announced its retaliation to Trump’s tariffs announcement earlier in the week.
China is to New Zealand what the UK market is to Ireland – its most important trading neighbour. Share values in Chinese agricultural stocks have actually bounced up on the recent tariff announcements.
The foundation of the Kiwi dairy industry is a steady shipment of whole milk powder into China. Marr wasn’t that bothered about the Chinese retaliation and said a lot will happen over the coming weeks before we know the full extent of the tariff impacts.
When I asked him how New Zealand achieved the 10% baseline tariff, the same as the UK, he said: “I honestly don’t know. New Zealand is a leader in free trade and essentially wants no barriers to trade because, similar to Ireland, we are an island dependent on trade.
Yes, China is important to us, however, our dependency on China is lessening and now, similar to Ireland and Europe, we have hundreds of international markets.”
Like Ireland, New Zealand produces lots of butter and sells it in the US, so the 10% tariff gives the Kiwi butter a head start on Kerrygold butter at 20%.
Fifty years ago 80% of New Zealand exports landed in the UK. Recently, New Zealand has completed free trade agreements with Europe, the UK, the Gulf States and United Arab Emirates. Dairy is its calling card to many countries. Fonterra drives the dairy ship.
The Fonterra plan has changed over the last number of years. It had embarked on a global acquisition tour to become a large scale, efficient commodity producer, but this strategy has changed in recent years.
New model
The model now is to maximise value and, instead of trading bulky commodities, focus on breaking down each dairy product into more valuable fractions rather than global domination at scale.
Marr’s role for New Zealand is to be a bridge between farmers on the ground and politicians.
A key part of his role is to keep an eye on what is happening in other parts of the world and that’s why he has spent the last three weeks travelling all around Europe.
When we met last week, Marr was returning from farm visits in Wexford, a trip to Teagasc at Johnstown Castle and a catch up with researchers at Lyons Estate.
Hosted by New Zealand Ambassador to Ireland Trevor Mallard, Marr explained that New Zealand collaborates on a total of 14 different Kiwi and Irish research projects.
New Zealand and Fonterra also conduct food and dairy research in University College Cork.
Our country is very like yours, with rolling hills and mountains. In parts livestock farming is the only option
The grass-based research linkages bring a lot of synergies. Marr talked about the Kiwi dairy move over the last 30 years to a mix of ryegrass and artificial nitrogen, as bag nitrogen became more competitive and drove feed grown on farms and de-risked farm businesses.
Getting planning permission for a dairy farm is not possible in New Zealand right now. The country reached peak milk about six or seven years ago, by which time the sheep sector dropped from 72m head to just over 20m head.
An effort at carbon farming with tree planting on the hills is happening in the hard-to-reach areas, but Marr is not expecting a major shift to carbon farming in the next five years.
“Our country is very like yours, with rolling hills and mountains. In parts livestock farming is the only option, however, viticulture and agri tourism are growth areas,” he said.
Home farm
Hamish Marr is a fifth-generation mixed arable farmer from Methven in the South Island of New Zealand. Interestingly, the New Zealand Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Trade jointly appointed Hamish to be a bridge between New Zealand politicians and farmers.
Being a grain farmer by trade in the South Island is unusual, given the transformation of the sector to dairy farming in that part of the island over the last 30 years. Growing wheat, barley and oats, Marr’s family farm also produces grass and clover seed.
These seed crops are the premium crops that reinforce the business model for the farm and the other crops provide the rotation to help make it all work.
In addition, on 1 June, Marr will take ownership of a 600-cow dairy operation in the South Island, helping to further diversify his family business.
Manuka honey
Manuka honey is now a very valuable export out of New Zealand. The bees feed on the manuka trees and produce a unique honey that is traded globally. Like Ireland, where the Government incentivised land drainage and is now turning to rewet land, the New Zealand government once incentivised clearing these manuka trees.
What would he do different if he was a grain farmer in Ireland?, I ask.
“I’d have to get a grain product that would get closer to the market. You are so lucky to have nearby access to such a huge population. The grain market is so long at the moment, everybody needs a cut, and it’s the short nature of the dairy market that has attracted me to dairy farming now.”
New Zealand’s dependency on China is decreasing, as the dairy trading model driven by Fonterra changes from a large-scale commodity seller to more valuable dairy fractions.Like Europe, free trade is the goal, so anything that gets in the way of that, such as tariffs, is not what the Kiwis want to see.The transition out of sheep into milking cows saw the number of sheep on the Island drop from 72m head to 20m head.
When I sat down with New Zealand’s special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr late last week, China had just announced its retaliation to Trump’s tariffs announcement earlier in the week.
China is to New Zealand what the UK market is to Ireland – its most important trading neighbour. Share values in Chinese agricultural stocks have actually bounced up on the recent tariff announcements.
The foundation of the Kiwi dairy industry is a steady shipment of whole milk powder into China. Marr wasn’t that bothered about the Chinese retaliation and said a lot will happen over the coming weeks before we know the full extent of the tariff impacts.
When I asked him how New Zealand achieved the 10% baseline tariff, the same as the UK, he said: “I honestly don’t know. New Zealand is a leader in free trade and essentially wants no barriers to trade because, similar to Ireland, we are an island dependent on trade.
Yes, China is important to us, however, our dependency on China is lessening and now, similar to Ireland and Europe, we have hundreds of international markets.”
Like Ireland, New Zealand produces lots of butter and sells it in the US, so the 10% tariff gives the Kiwi butter a head start on Kerrygold butter at 20%.
Fifty years ago 80% of New Zealand exports landed in the UK. Recently, New Zealand has completed free trade agreements with Europe, the UK, the Gulf States and United Arab Emirates. Dairy is its calling card to many countries. Fonterra drives the dairy ship.
The Fonterra plan has changed over the last number of years. It had embarked on a global acquisition tour to become a large scale, efficient commodity producer, but this strategy has changed in recent years.
New model
The model now is to maximise value and, instead of trading bulky commodities, focus on breaking down each dairy product into more valuable fractions rather than global domination at scale.
Marr’s role for New Zealand is to be a bridge between farmers on the ground and politicians.
A key part of his role is to keep an eye on what is happening in other parts of the world and that’s why he has spent the last three weeks travelling all around Europe.
When we met last week, Marr was returning from farm visits in Wexford, a trip to Teagasc at Johnstown Castle and a catch up with researchers at Lyons Estate.
Hosted by New Zealand Ambassador to Ireland Trevor Mallard, Marr explained that New Zealand collaborates on a total of 14 different Kiwi and Irish research projects.
New Zealand and Fonterra also conduct food and dairy research in University College Cork.
Our country is very like yours, with rolling hills and mountains. In parts livestock farming is the only option
The grass-based research linkages bring a lot of synergies. Marr talked about the Kiwi dairy move over the last 30 years to a mix of ryegrass and artificial nitrogen, as bag nitrogen became more competitive and drove feed grown on farms and de-risked farm businesses.
Getting planning permission for a dairy farm is not possible in New Zealand right now. The country reached peak milk about six or seven years ago, by which time the sheep sector dropped from 72m head to just over 20m head.
An effort at carbon farming with tree planting on the hills is happening in the hard-to-reach areas, but Marr is not expecting a major shift to carbon farming in the next five years.
“Our country is very like yours, with rolling hills and mountains. In parts livestock farming is the only option, however, viticulture and agri tourism are growth areas,” he said.
Home farm
Hamish Marr is a fifth-generation mixed arable farmer from Methven in the South Island of New Zealand. Interestingly, the New Zealand Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Trade jointly appointed Hamish to be a bridge between New Zealand politicians and farmers.
Being a grain farmer by trade in the South Island is unusual, given the transformation of the sector to dairy farming in that part of the island over the last 30 years. Growing wheat, barley and oats, Marr’s family farm also produces grass and clover seed.
These seed crops are the premium crops that reinforce the business model for the farm and the other crops provide the rotation to help make it all work.
In addition, on 1 June, Marr will take ownership of a 600-cow dairy operation in the South Island, helping to further diversify his family business.
Manuka honey
Manuka honey is now a very valuable export out of New Zealand. The bees feed on the manuka trees and produce a unique honey that is traded globally. Like Ireland, where the Government incentivised land drainage and is now turning to rewet land, the New Zealand government once incentivised clearing these manuka trees.
What would he do different if he was a grain farmer in Ireland?, I ask.
“I’d have to get a grain product that would get closer to the market. You are so lucky to have nearby access to such a huge population. The grain market is so long at the moment, everybody needs a cut, and it’s the short nature of the dairy market that has attracted me to dairy farming now.”
New Zealand’s dependency on China is decreasing, as the dairy trading model driven by Fonterra changes from a large-scale commodity seller to more valuable dairy fractions.Like Europe, free trade is the goal, so anything that gets in the way of that, such as tariffs, is not what the Kiwis want to see.The transition out of sheep into milking cows saw the number of sheep on the Island drop from 72m head to 20m head. 
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