ID :
204050
Mon, 08/29/2011 - 04:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/204050
The shortlink copeid
Variety, diversity keys to success of farm industry
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- Diversity of products and variety of each product are what farms throughout the world, including those in South Korea, need to ensure their success, scholars and industry experts of New Zealand said Monday.
New Zealand is the world's largest cross-border trader of milk, accounting for some 31 percent of global trade in 2009, and also one of the world's largest exporters of kiwifruit.
This, according to Errol Hewett, a professor emeritus at New Zealand's Massey University, was possible partly because the country has a single marketing firm for each industry owned solely by its growers.
The grower-owned marketing firms help reduce costs by getting rid of what Hewett called the "middlemen," but they also help raise international prices of New Zealand's exports by getting rid of internal competition, thus maximizing returns for growers.
He noted such a monopoly on the global supply of New Zealand's dairy and kiwifruit exports might have also raised prices for consumers here, but insisted producer-ownership of marketing firms or product groups enable further growth by prompting research and development (R&D) efforts that lead to the development of new and competitive brands or breeds for the industry.
"There is a big debate taking place right now in the dairy industry about (public) access to shares. If shares are open to outside, control could easily go outside of industry and country," he said while meeting with journalists here.
New Zealand's kiwifruit industry had long been dominated by green kiwifruit, which currently yields average gate returns of some US$32,500 per hectare, but the development of gold kiwifruit by the grower-owned product group has more than doubled the average returns to more than $66,700 per hectare, according to the professor.
"We believe it's important to develop new breeds to stay in the international market," he said.
Along with efforts to develop new breeds or varieties of a product, diversity of products produced and offered by each individual farm is also important to the success of today's farms.
Monoculture, or producing a single crop, is risky because if there is any one problem with the farm's production, the entire farm will be at risk, said Bridget Henderson, a co-manager of Shelly Beach Farm, an organic farm located just north of Auckland.
The farm, established 30 years ago by John Pearce, is more of an education center for students and farmers from across the world, including South Korea. But it still produces up to seven different products ranging from pork, beef and honey to persimmons and milking cows because diversity, she said, "is important to organic farms, all farms."
"Diversity means even if one thing goes wrong, the rest will still be OK," Henderson said.
In 2007, each farm in New Zealand made an average annual income of $22,100, nearly 98 percent of the average for households in New Zealand cities.
South Korean farms, on the other hand, made an average of some $11,100 that same year, only about 92 percent of the average income of the country's urban households, according to data provided by South Korea's Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Statistics New Zealand, New Zealand's national statistical office.
New Zealand is the world's largest cross-border trader of milk, accounting for some 31 percent of global trade in 2009, and also one of the world's largest exporters of kiwifruit.
This, according to Errol Hewett, a professor emeritus at New Zealand's Massey University, was possible partly because the country has a single marketing firm for each industry owned solely by its growers.
The grower-owned marketing firms help reduce costs by getting rid of what Hewett called the "middlemen," but they also help raise international prices of New Zealand's exports by getting rid of internal competition, thus maximizing returns for growers.
He noted such a monopoly on the global supply of New Zealand's dairy and kiwifruit exports might have also raised prices for consumers here, but insisted producer-ownership of marketing firms or product groups enable further growth by prompting research and development (R&D) efforts that lead to the development of new and competitive brands or breeds for the industry.
"There is a big debate taking place right now in the dairy industry about (public) access to shares. If shares are open to outside, control could easily go outside of industry and country," he said while meeting with journalists here.
New Zealand's kiwifruit industry had long been dominated by green kiwifruit, which currently yields average gate returns of some US$32,500 per hectare, but the development of gold kiwifruit by the grower-owned product group has more than doubled the average returns to more than $66,700 per hectare, according to the professor.
"We believe it's important to develop new breeds to stay in the international market," he said.
Along with efforts to develop new breeds or varieties of a product, diversity of products produced and offered by each individual farm is also important to the success of today's farms.
Monoculture, or producing a single crop, is risky because if there is any one problem with the farm's production, the entire farm will be at risk, said Bridget Henderson, a co-manager of Shelly Beach Farm, an organic farm located just north of Auckland.
The farm, established 30 years ago by John Pearce, is more of an education center for students and farmers from across the world, including South Korea. But it still produces up to seven different products ranging from pork, beef and honey to persimmons and milking cows because diversity, she said, "is important to organic farms, all farms."
"Diversity means even if one thing goes wrong, the rest will still be OK," Henderson said.
In 2007, each farm in New Zealand made an average annual income of $22,100, nearly 98 percent of the average for households in New Zealand cities.
South Korean farms, on the other hand, made an average of some $11,100 that same year, only about 92 percent of the average income of the country's urban households, according to data provided by South Korea's Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Statistics New Zealand, New Zealand's national statistical office.
