Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Kimberly Crewther: Dairy Companies Association Executive Director on the sector's exports and job creation

Transcript

Kimberly Crewther: Dairy Companies Association Executive Director on the sector's exports and job creation · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Another new report shows dairy still very much key to
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: our economy. Dairy exports reached $ 28 billion in the year
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to December. That's our biggest export earner by far. 51,000
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: jobs across the country thanks to our farmers. And on
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the West Coast, 12% of the entire GDP is milk.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Kimberley Cruther is Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand Executive
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  Speaker 1: Director with us this morning. Kimberley, good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning.
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  Speaker 1: So what stood out to you about these updated numbers?
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  Speaker 2: I think the overall message of the report is that
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  Speaker 2: in the last five years, farmers have produced more milk
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  Speaker 2: solids from fewer cows. Processes have added more value to
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  Speaker 2: those milk solids. We've grown exports, export value by $ 8 billion,
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  Speaker 2: and that's translated through to supporting economic activity across the country.
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  Speaker 2: So it's an all-round positive story for us.
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  Speaker 1: What will help? Because a lot of people have, well,
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  Speaker 1: some people have issues with dairy, right, and environmental issues.
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  Speaker 1: What can government do to make, because what you're saying
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  Speaker 1: is that you're doing more with less. So how do
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  Speaker 1: we make sure that farmers are able to keep doing that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, certainly that additional amount that we are earning. supports
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  Speaker 2: farmers to be able to continue investing in those sustainability
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  Speaker 2: journeys on their farm, and it helps processors to continue
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  Speaker 2: investing in that for our sites. The things that really
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  Speaker 2: support export growth for us as a sector, we need
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  Speaker 2: reliable infrastructure domestically. We need affordable, abundant and affordable energy
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  Speaker 2: to be able to continue adding value to those milk solids.
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  Speaker 2: And we grow value where we can bring down trade barriers.
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  Speaker 2: So three areas that the government can support us in,
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  Speaker 2: whilst also providing a policy environment that supports innovation, including
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  Speaker 2: the innovation for environmental improvement.
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  Speaker 1: Kimberley, there's been a massive mood shift in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: Compared to, say, three or four years ago, to do
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  Speaker 1: with farming, to do with dairy in particular, I think.
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  Speaker 1: We all know where our bread's buttered now, don't we?
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  Speaker 2: I think that, and in the surveys that the industry's done,
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  Speaker 2: there has always been a strong foundational understanding of the
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  Speaker 2: benefits of dairy. That can shift on the margins over time,
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  Speaker 2: but I think fundamentally it's remained there in people's understandings.
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  Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show, Kimberley. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: your time. Kimberley Crews, the Dairy Companies Association of New
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  Speaker 1: Zealand and Executive Director. For more from Early Edition with
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge, listen live to Newstalk ZB from 5am weekdays
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  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.