Nuffield Scholars Field Reports

14th June 2004
Global Focus Report for 2004 by Steven Jaeschke

I am here in Sacramento this week after having spent the week in New Zealand. I thought it would be good to give you a quick report of the previous week's activities, and this will give you an insight to the tour and what we are being exposed to.

We arrived in NZ and our first day was a series of discussion meetings to become familiar with some of the issues facing NZ. We spoke with Allan Fraser, the Group Executive of Special Projects in Meat and Wool NZ. and other people in Meat and Wool NZ, basically the MLA of NZ. Points worth noting with this meeting were the similar issues facing both of our export industries, and I would suggest the synergies which could exist as we both rely on export markets. Farm monitoring projects and work being done in conjunction with Agresearch, similar to our CSIRO, is producing some worthwhile results, which I will most likely return to look at in my personal study with farming systems and productivity.

We also met with Tony St.Clair, a good Australian trained person, the Chief Executive of Federated Farmers on NZ (inc.), and he informed us of the support that group is now receiving from the farming community, with membership up to about 18000, from less than half that not long ago. Trade and Resource management are big issues which is confronting the NZ ag. sector, not dissimilar to Australia and these two organisations in particular will be very important in offering support and research as these challenges continue.

We then spoke to Larry Fergusson, from the Ministry of Agriculture, and Barry Carbon, from the ministry for the Environment. The influence Government has on Agricultural issues appears to be a constant challenge to get good outcomes for agriculture. The Resource Management act will provide challenges for the Ag industry. In a country where water is abundant, my summary of the water use and associated issues will create much discussion in NZ in the future. Natural resources and particularly climate change were the big ticket items on the Ag. Agenda, and as in Australia, I think political and public policies and trade pressure may force a lot of change.

The remainder of the week was spent looking at various enterprises throughout New Zealand, including Hughe Ritchie's 'Drumpeel' property (cropping and livestock), Dexcell Field Day (Dairy), AgResearch (Projects and Research), Simon Stokes at Hawkes Bay (planning and management), David Wallace at Cambridge (Dairy and Conservation), John Carter's Deer Stud Farm (Stud Deer Sales), Balle Brothers Potato and Onion enterprise and Oliver and Simon Saxton's Bull Beef finishing enterprise.

Now on with the rest of my freshly produced report.

California:

• Davis Uni. - Dr. Ronald Voss - good general overview of ag in California. Dr. Richard Roush - Integrated Pest Management and general environmental issues of concern to urban populations and water supplies. Farmers are difficult to get to change practices other than by law changes. Richard was very interesting to talk to over lunch, sharing a lot of knowledge and opinions on GM, and some worthy discussion about its research potential and application.

• Rancho Esquon - Chico - Rice producing farm in north of Sacramento Valley - rice production and look at water issues and involvement with 'Ducks Unlimited', a group dedicated to duck environment conservation. Provide wetland habitat for migrating ducks.

• Western District Water Catchment - we were then introduced to various water management groups etc. looking after water and environmental issues. 

• Dairy - Methane digester for fuel production and electricity generation - dairy of about 350 cows, all shedded. Using the manure for power production - running diesel motor converted to gas running continuously, providing hot water for the dairy and generating all electricity requirements with the excess back into the grid. Various hassles with the Electricity Company.

• Wildlands Inc. - Wetland habitat near Sacramento - basically a set aside program (conservation) where farming land remains as so, no urban development in these areas technically for ever under the current laws. A fee, about $16000, is being collected from new home builders to fund this initiative. Quite a push for agricultural land to remain indefinitely rural in various counties. Huge amount of building houses in the state - 8000 acres per year for last 2 years in one county alone!

• Noelle Cramers - California Cattleman's Association - Very informative speaker on beef production in the state - huge concerns about animal id. - particularly in light of the BSE animals found. Looking to implement an id system (hoping to implement in a matter of weeks, but totally unrealistic time frame), but I think they are a long way from successfully persuading producers, given vast range of operations sizes and concerns of confidentiality. The law seems to offer some threat to producers confidentiality in information gathered in the id process. We looked at various promotions and impact of prospective environmental law changes which will impact on high country summer grazing.

• Abbey - Five Star Land and Livestock - Angus cattle stud. Very nice lady, good marketing skills, and nice house! Good and profitable business providing stud bulls and replacement heifers etc. for local producers and hobby farmers. Again urban sprawl and water is a threat to their business.

• Great Valley Centre, Modesto - Holly King - Very informative talk about the specific issues relating to urbanisation, public perceptions of farming, roadway cleanups, assimilating Latine people into society, development of housing in various locations, tax implications, and a broad touch on issues relating. Excellent presentation and very informative.

• Tulare County Farm Bureau - Introduced us to:

• Land'o'lakes dairy - 3000 cow dairy, latest technology and very impressive set up. All indoors and profitable now, but some speculation by the group of its real sustainability. A neighbouring dairy looking to run a 10000 cow dairy. There appears to be no limit to operational size of dairies so far. Effluent is potentially a problem, changes of laws etc. 

• Suntreat - Orange and lemon packers. 3rd largest packer of oranges and 5th largest crop in the Tulare County. Look to source out of season product from Southern Hemisphere. Very generous with their time allocated to showing us around, and the full range of people who spoke to us from this group, and technology they are using with computer sizers and packers, but still large requirement of labour, mainly Mexican. Employment of Mexican has been a common theme right through the USA work force, relatively cheap, and highly available - something we don't enjoy in this country, but which may need to change to realise our potential in some industries.

• Tanimura and Antle - Bob Neilson - Salinas Valley - An outstanding and welcoming display, talk, drive and dinner. A dynamic family business, 2 families, in vegetable production, mainly lettuces, with a 1 billion dollar turnover. Outstanding positive attitude to all people we spoke with during the visit, culminating with a dinner at the main office complex with the Managing Director. The company has just begun looking at some organic production, but only to fill a niche market, and I think to be seen to have some organic product, but very fertile land for veg. production.

Colorado:

• Miller Farms - Kenneth Miller - small farm on outskirts of Denver - most likely risk to his business - urbanisation and water. Huge growth of city around him and potential lack of water. Is a dry area relying on snow melt from mountains and water flow in waterways for irrigation, and won't drink the water because of nitrates!

• Dairy - Milking 3 times per day, cheap and available labour to milk and manage property. Interesting to note, the dairy guy from New Zealand with us, looking to milk 1 time per day. Legislative requirements on effluent disposal and water availability.

• Gerards Bakery - Gary Horner - A dynamic, passionate character who has developed some 150 new varieties of bread since new year. A Co-op of 220 farmers, vertically integrating their businesses, supplying grain to this bakery. The current 10 year old facility may need to expand to accommodate current growth. Very impressive attitude of Gary and workers. Supplying a couple of bakery chains, currently enjoying phenomenal growth, after some testing establishment times.

• Feedlot - Billy and Rex - 20,000 - 30,000 feedlot operation spread over 3 different locations. One of the few managers with dirty hands! Very aware of his business costs and markets he supplies.

• Colorado State University, Ardec Farm - Looked through this campus, research institute for dryland crops, and animal production. Some joint ventures with farmers and groups, but mainly Federally funded. Financially very difficult for the state, and consequently this campus. Mind you, they did have an array of machinery which appeared to be more than adequate.

• Fort Collins, Blue Sun Biofuels - 3 year old company looking to brand market their biofuels. Currently USA imports 60% of energy needs, so a market exists for energy production! 5.6 million acres of dryland for wheat production could be replaced with 165 million gallons of biodiesel production - huge potential. Vertical integration from farm to product. Ethanol's energy conversion is 1:13, whereas biodiesel's conversion is 1:3.2 - impressive figures.

• Farmer's Market - A co-op of farmers setting up a farmers market, 3 separate managers within the store, managing specific areas ie, meat (A farmer will supply and run this part), groceries and vegetables (also run by separate entities), looking at various challenges. Wait to see if successful, but concept is interesting. There is a lot of local interest in the project.

• Dr. Lou Grant - Organic Vegetable Farm - Looked at whole operation, all organic in very low fertility looking soil, sandy and rocky. Rotation of crops, various historical changes through the business, resulting in organic. Went through how the busines has changed and how they treat their customers and ordering process etc.

Washington DC:

• Fran Freeman - Intimately involved with the FTA from Australia's perspective. Indicated it was kind of tough to bargain with the USA, because of nothing much to give relative to their position. I take my hat off to the negotiators and appreciate the tough position they are placed in, but I think the final agreement position was possibly a decision for the sake of a decision - my opinion only. The outcome is still of benefit to Australian producers, except sugar producers.

• American Farm Bureau - Chris Caza - equal to NFF in Australia.

• Mary Kay - Spoke about animal national i.d. programme trying to implement in a very short, probably unacheivable, timeframe. Also insurance programs of crop production - not subsidies, but insurance! How agriculture is perceived and reported by the press, the Farm Bill, conservation funding and food safety.

• Grant Eckhart - In charge of the policy book for funding for something! This guy I think lost me a little. The one point I did learn was, statistically, the federal election campaign spends 500 million dollars to change the minds of 8% of the total population.

• Chris - Trade issues, particularly WTO. Willing to reduce domestic support in exchange for market access. The FTA is seen to benefit USA $3 million growth, and the gain to Australia $300 - 400 million. There is some scepticism of the Sanitary-phytosanitary (SPS) restrictions into Australia. There is a growing sense of protectionism in USA.

• Mark Mannis - USDA - Foreign Agricultural Service - Spoke about different coalition groups and negotiating summits - G21, G90, G33, Doha round, Uruguay round, and the Blue, amber and green boxes. We had quite a bit of input from our pre-tour briefing in Adelaide on these groups, negotiations and terminology. There appeared to be somewhat of a standoff with EU - until you reduce support, we won't budge! And of course tarrifs can be within the WTO rules, therby effectively blocking trade.

• Gerald Bange - Chairperson for World Ag. Supply and Demand Report - A monthly report of world ag. situation - grain, livestock, oilseeds, corn and cotton. Went through the process involved to gain this information and its consequent use. I was quite surprised how this process worked and how accurate the reporting appeared to be.

• Phil Schonzi - Economic and Policy Analysis - USDA - I think this guy was responsible for monitoring where support was being paid, the Commodity Credit Corporation, which is responsible for keeping track of payments made. The payment types are direct, countercyclical, and loans. This is still difficult for me to understand and will need to spend some more time working through these issues, because I think they are a good summary to explain to people how the system can support without directly supporting.

• Suzie Freedman - Centre for Conservational Incentives - This was also a very good presentation. This group works with the USDA and farmer groups to coordinate and streamline processes for projects of conservation. My interpretation of the process was that there are a full team of people, ie. managers, lawyers and economists who co-ordinate projects outside the subsidy system, but using Federal funding to implement specific projects to overcome environmental problems. The example given was Pennsylvania County, where there is high productivity but mismanaging of nutrients, so things like digesters for methane production in dairies, programs for better nutrient use, and value adding areas of production were things taken on, to improve certain outcomes. This group was formed about the time of DDT issues, by 2 scientists in 1963. They have 300,000 members, and specifically looking at nutrients, soil health and nitrates (viability, water and health impacts).

• Ron Helsinki - Wildlife Management Institute - An excellent presentation. Ron's ultimate objective - take $17 billion current farm support as conservation for wildlife habitat programs. He had an excellent approach in that he appears to be able to get people from opposite ends of the spectrums, and bring and manage them together to co-exist and look at productive outcomes for both parties. I found him to be an excellent presenter and is clearly a good people negotiator, with a good knowledge and objectives which appear achievable. I would like to spend some more time with him at some stage.

Canada:

• Minister Peters - OMAF (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) - Government official - Welcome to Canada and Ontario.

• Jim Wheeler - Govt. rep for OMAF - Good presentation of ag. in Ontario. Various statistics etc. and various programs to assist agriculture in Ontario. Around 50% of national domestic produce is exported.

• Deputy Ingratta - presented an overview of production and retail in Ontario. Mentioned ethanol production.

• Gwen Mcbride - Animal Health issues - As we were visiting there was an outbreak of avian flu in the west of Canada, resulting in destroying birds to control the disease. There is a lot of intensive animal production in Ontario, and there is a potential risk with migratory birds. Currently have a good basic animal id. system, and upgrading to electronic for cattle, and looking to upgrade in the sheep area as soon as possible. They have no premises registration, because of confidentiality concerns, and reg. has been by commodity, rather than a blanket system. (The recent discovery of BSE from Canada has had a huge impact on beef exports, with exports completely halted, but the upside was domestic consumption had increased.)

• Tom Baker - Food safety

• Peter Maryville - Nutrient management

• Rod Stork - Agricultural Marketing in Ontario

• Maurice Bitron - Introduced us to the University - We went to the Dean's boardroom for a series of 4 brief presentations to enlighten us of different studies currently happening. They included:

• Professor Steven Miller - Genetic evaluation of beef in cattle. Measuring and evaluating feed, performance and feed efficiency. Heritability of growth rates and how to test bull efficiency.

• Vern Osborne - Water nutrition research in dairy cattle. Looking at putting glucose in drinking water and monitoring the increase, or other, of efficiency.

• Dave Hume - Plant agriculture and bioproducts initiative. Looking and evaluating rotation systems, trials on fertilizer, tillage and no-tillage. Bio-products (non-food and industrial), Biofuels and fibre from corn starch. This was an exciting presentation in that it was looking at very new concepts and products, and this area of pharmaceutical, medical and nutritional extracts possibilities. There was also emphasis on making contacts and links between companies and researchers eg. looking at achievable synergies between making citric acid next to a starch milling factory, from corn products, because of infrastructure and reusable byproducts.
   
• John Lauzon - Soil Nutrient site specific management - Looking at current technology and where improvements can be made. Soil sampling, organic carbon, yield mapping, topography and soil property maps, Remote sensing, electromagnetic applications, NIR spectrometry, thermal imaging (stressed crop or other), physical modification and fertilizing modification.

This was an excellent presentation as an overview of what the University of Guelph has to offer in the area of research, and I had been in contact with Professor Terry Gillespie at this Uni. prior to leaving, with the intention of looking into some potential projects relevant to my study. This three hours was a highlight of the trip, with respect to information, and George, the Nuffield Scholar who organised this part of the tour, did an excellent job in tying our individual topics with what we heard.

• I missed the morning program, due to me getting my computer fixed, but the discussions were environmental issues and Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.

• Chris Hogarth - Alternative energy and ethanol production. Looking at possibilities and policy perspectives. Interesting fact: Canada can import ethanol in bulk from Brazil, landed, for 25 cents per litre, about the cost of production in Ontario. From an environmental perspective, should they accept such a product, knowing that there could be environmental degradation, in Brazil, as a result of growing and manufacturing the product, but that it provides a cleaner environment as a result of using this fuel as a 20% mix in petrol. They were grappling with this! Also, if a blend were achieved (20% is the target), it is much easier to achieve a larger uptake of the product, rather than pushing a 100% product to fewer participants. A 10% blend results in 1.4 billion litres being replaced with ethanol. This is something which needs to be looked at again in Australia.

• Dr. John Fitzgibbon - Environmental design and Rural Development - OFEC - Ontario Farm Environment Coalition - A lot of regulations have come in over time, and a Government working group is trying to encourage farmers to undertake an environmental accreditation program, which looks at nutrient management and water quality working groups. A manual had been produced, which was able to be worked through to check off systematically and achieve accreditation and also have access to some funding to assist with the changes required. Water and nitrates around the lakes is a huge issue. An additional catalyst for this sort of process was as a result of an e-coli outbreak in a town somewhere in Ontario, which killed quite a few people and many became ill. Mark, the Canadian Scholar who traveled with us, said that at certain times during the summer, the water in Lake Eerie is unfit for swimming, and certainly not for consumption.

• Dean Hide - Orchardist in Ontario. Gave us a brief history of land formation post ice-age, and the micro-climates prevalent in the area. Glasshouses are becoming more popular to overcome the cold period. I was amazed there is a push for such expensive technology in a cold environment. (I found this through Netherlands also). Dean grows all sorts of fruits, stone and soft, pumpkins, etc. Can place an 'order' for workers from Mexico, so labour is not a real problem. He showed us some interesting boxes for packaging he is using

• Glasshouse Flowers - Steve - potted and other flowers into supermarkets. What is amazing is the amount of energy needed to warm these houses during winter. The houses are a very substantial structure, computer controlled, weather station atop, and practicing IPM, and a 'dosatron' (this is a brand of liquid injection or trace element injection which we saw in all countries) to monitor NPK into the water system.

• John Burnett - Busche Irrigation - had a look through their small factory. A lot of their work was because of the tobacco industry in the area, but there is a lot of doubt that (tobacco) industry will survive in the long term. Looked at various machinery items and filtration systems they had developed.

• Delhi Tobacco Exchange - 94 million pounds of tobacco sold through there last season. Must have quota and license to grow and supply. There are many different varieties and a lot is now machine harvested. Brazil, Africa and China are direct competitors. This is a very labour intensive industry, but well suited to this area around Lake Eerie, because of a micro-climate created because of geography and proximity to lakes.

• Mark Wales' property - Mark is a Nuffield Scholar who traveled with us. We stopped at his farm to look more closely at tobacco drying in kilns, and also vegetable growing, and some of his irrigation techniques.

• De Cloet Business Development - Albert Knab - Building various machines, including tobacco harvesters and sprayers, and heat exchangers. An innovative company who will develop, engineer and build machines and buildings. Have also developed some lines of spices, sprouted, dried and ground for herb/spice market.

• Dairy in London, Ontario - This is a new dairy, with latest planning and ideas implemented. To me it didn't look a great deal different to the ones we saw in USA, except they are built to withstand the extreme cold conditions, using insulation type structure materials. The effluent was handled by another party, basically draining excess water off, and used as a bulk fertilizer, within the effluent and manure laws (using 'Nutrient Units' per area, similar to dse, except nutrients produced by those animals - 0.4NU for people!). The closing of the export markets (BSE) has caused some disruption to markets, but now concentrating on milk production, at 60 - 61c/litre, after having been aiming market at dairy heifers production.

• Hill and Hill - Farming contractors - A farming family partnership, with some well maintained and modern machinery, very keen for us to look around at their direct seeding machinery and talk with them about their operation. Were preparing for seeding operations.

• George and Tracey's farm, Holmesville - Direct drilling broad acre cropping. No livestock. We had a brief look over their farm and spent the afternoon at George and Tracey's house.
   

England:

We spent the night at the Farmer's Club, London, before being picked up, by Matthew Swain, Nuffield Scholar, for a brief drive to the country. On the way we visited various places of interest.

• Roger Freer - Farm Contractor and Farmer - Using a pelletised human waste product as fertilizer; processed, supplied and nutrient monitored by the 'effluent company'. The numbers and measures he told us didn't quite add up, so for more accurate nutrient information and costings, I would need to contact him again. Ran contract business in conjunction with own farming. Is a 22 inch rainfall, achieving 10t/Ha on wheat, but was uncertain as to whether there was a big future, because of high costs etc.

• Matthew Swain's property - Runs rented land using contractors. Thinks highly of his landlords, and quite profitable business in conjunction with agronomy and business management.

• Guy Smith - Claxton - Previously, totally reliant on farming, but diversified into fishing lake, golf course, telecom tower and airfield. Also runs dairy and farming near marshland area, being protected by a seawall. Some environmental pressure to discontinue maintenance of seawall, because of cost and 'natural environment' infringement. (I can't believe that productive land, reclaimed from the sea, could be allowed to flood because of environmental pressure; cost of maintenance vs. economic benefits I guess). This is a dryish area, allowing growing of quality milling wheat. We were introduced to the 6 metre buffer payment for conservation strip and livestock payments.

• David Hill - Manor Hill, Farming north of London - 2 farming areas; grow a lot of grass-seed for sale and rents out a lot of land for carrots, parsnips and potatoes. Tile drainage in fields, grows seed wheat, sugar beet, beans, considering rape-seed for biodiesel. He feels atrazine will soon be banned. Use the animal payments scheme to its fullest extent (while in Matthew Swain's office, it was interesting to note the reminders on the calendar for getting monthly or quarterly info submitted re animal subsidies!). Therefore feedlotting a few animals strategically appear to be quite profitable.

• Martin Ritchie - Pig Farmer - Having had a 600 sow piggery closed down because of disease, turned this facility into a wedding, reception and function facility. Lets office space, provides affordable student accommodation, horse stables, all heated with waste wood through a furnace. Turns over 1 million pound annually.

• Michael Wight - FSA

• DEFRA

• Andrew Slade - Dairy Industry Reforms -

• Diana Linskey - Animal Health and Welfare Strategy - Looked at the fallout following the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak. Responsibilities to animal welfare. New strategies to encourage vet training to increase vet numbers.

• Mike Segal - Improving efficiency in the red meat Chain - Looking at benchmarking and specific areas to try to improve.

• Geoff Sansome - English Rural Development Program - Impact of CAP reforms. Rural percentage of GDP has decreased, while self sufficiency and environmental awareness has had to increase. Offer funds for various projects to value add, and encourage arable reversion projects.

• CLA - Country Land and Business Association - Oliver - 40000 members. Fragmentation of Farmer Groups. General dislike and distrust of the CAP reforms, with midterm review and prospective changes leaving some uncertainty within the farming industry (there was to be no changes until 2012).
   

We had dinner at the Farmer's Club, with guest speaker being Baroness Lady Hazel Beaufort, member of House of Commons - Specific issues - Animal welfare, volume of legislation coming through parliament, accession countries into EU, CAP reforms. A good quote; "Not the biggest, nor the most intellectual, but the one who is best able to adapt to his environment, will be the one who survives"

• Smithfield Central Market - Robert Wilson - An early morning visit to the market. About 100000 tonnes of fresh meat through this market annually - very good to see boxes of meat from Australia, particularly Murray Bridge, South Australia! The UK boys were very disappointed at the lack of British meat there.

• NFU - Richard McDonald - 60000 members. Looking to identify and label UK produced food and then marketed in UK. Looking to streamline and professionalise leadership in agriculture and generally take an organized business approach to agriculture. Some areas of concern - CAP reforms, animal welfare, perception of farmers and regulations. This group have published a pamphlet, for people other than farmers, which outlines areas of the environment and community farmers have had a significant impact on; a sort of self promotion. I believe this would be a good initiative to implement here as well.

• HSBC Bank - Michael Summers - 71% of UK land area is agriculture based; 2.5 people per Hectare; 2% of employment is in Agriculture; 1% of UK GDP is agriculture. Average land price in 1992, 3600 pounds per acre; 2001, 7300 pounds. Money spent on food in UK; 1994, 17% of income; 2002, 26% of income. Value of different food sectors; Farmers Markets, 60 million; Organic food, 800 million; specialized food, 3.6 billion; food service, 23 billion; conventional groceries, 104 billion.

• OECD - Ken Ash - A counterpart to international government in an advisory capacity. Looking to identify losses of resources, and implementing processes to achieve that.

• OECD - Luke Boneconk - Ag and Trade - Uruguay round talks. Tariffs.

• David King - Trade and Negotiations. Family agriculture and food chain/food value issues. Competition laws to protect consumers.

France:

• Frances, Irene, Arnaud (Nuffield Scholar traveling with us) and Philippe - farming discussion on farming in France. Spoke of recurring themes of concern; CAP, weather and climate, markets, unbanisation, legislation.

• Estrees Research Station, Arvalis - Various research projects, people involved, company partnerships and funding. We went through the research application to farmers and the 'chain of command'. 25% of France is forrest, so grasslands are important, and non-grain energy crops.

• Marianna Bodennec - Farmer growing potatoes. We looked at her farming plant and had discussion about what she's doing.

• Estrees Research Station, Arvalis - Went through some statistics. 50% of French wheat is exported, 18% to animals, 14% human consumption, 12% seed and 7% industrial. Compared French stats to other countries in world. The conclusion was their key to performance were machinery costs and farm size. Encouraging and training groups of farmers to work together in 'Cumas', a co-operative approach to addressing these deficiencies (quite a philosophical shift from current strategies).

Belgium:

We then traveled to Brussels.

• British Agricultural Bureau - representative in Brussels, Betty Lee - Challenges for 2004 - CAP implementation - Enlargement (10 countries May 1) - EU budget/cohesion/RD - Sugar - WTO

• Australian Mission to the EU - Dominic Pyne - Dominic Pyne - Director - Australian Mission to the EU. Its difficult to get our perspective across to EU. Tariffs affect our access to various markets. Australia will fit into the world market as a supplier, but not the supplier to various markets.

• Costa Golfidis - COPA-COGECA - Brussels - This is the European Agricultural Union. All countries represented. Tackle various issues specifically, food safety, hygiene and animal health and present to the next stage within the EU to be implemented. I again got a bit lost here.

• New Zealand Embassy representative in Brussels - Reuben - This was a brief but good perspective and presentation of NZ's position within the EU. Spoke briefly of affect of tarrifs and changes in import conditions, ultimately adding cost.

• Jacob Backahunter - Danish Farmers Union rep in Brussels - 48000 farms in Denmark, 55Ha average size, with 18000 full time farmers. Average livestock nos., 83 cows and 200 sows. Losing 3% of farmers every year (this was also a common theme throughout our travels). 30% of the countries income is from pigmeat. They produce 4.5 million tonnes of milk and quite strong in organic milk production. Interesting that when the organic market is full, the remainder goes into the 'normal' milk system. Very tough environmental laws with regards to effluent, nitrates, livestock numbers per area. There is a tax on pesticides and chemicals. There are twice the number of pigs as people in Denmark.

By now, I was feeling pretty exhausted, but looking back at this report, I can perhaps see why. We were fortunate to see a lot of different things in a very short time. The British people went home, and most of our Australian group also left for home. I stayed on for two more weeks, traveling back through France, Belgium and Netherlands. I was able to visit a couple of businesses, an organic cheese farm, new dairy in Netherlands, silage making and attended a rural development seminar. I was also able to gather some more information about soil, from Wageningen, in Netherlands, at ISRIC (International Soil Research Museum) and University library, and plan to return there later in the year.

I was also fortunate to be in Wageningen for the 'Victory' celebrations, and two weeks prior to this, I attended the ANZAC ceremonies at Villers-Brittenaux, France. I was hoping to attend the Seafood Expo in Brussels, but accommodation didn't allow me to stay there, so missed it.

I apologise for the length of this report, but in making it a comprehensive diary of my time spent during the core study tour, I am able to use it for my personal reference also.