Sustainable Rural Development

Thank you very much. Well, here's a man who's doing a lot more than me for the sector. He's never at home. He is the Minister of Agriculture. Todd McClay, I wouldn't mind your airpoints. Well, you can have them uh if you want that, no problem at all. Hey Jamie, thanks for having me on. The sun's shining at the way, Kelly, the grass is growing, and I've seen at least one farmer that's smiling, so it's a good start to the day. Uh the Prime Minister has a big announcement coming up. He's got his lunch, and I know Todd Charteris is out there somewhere. He's got to go to the luncheon. Lawrence Lawrence Meredith, the EU ambassador's coming on the show. He's got to get to the luncheon, as do you. You've made a couple of announcements this morning. One of them around uh the Minister of Agriculture's future leaders scholarship. Three being presented annually. Yeah, that's right. So we've been thinking a lot about it the last sort of four or five months. And how do we how do we identify uh the farm leaders of the future and how do we mentor them and bring them on? And so we're doing is creating a scholarship. We'll announce it uh at the field days every year. Uh three uh young New Zealanders who are going to mentor, they'll better go and do some study in New Zealand overseas, you know, look at best practice. How do we start reinvesting in the young farmers of today and grow those leaders of the future? And so it's just a little step in the right direction. I tell you what's really pleasing after we made the announcement. Uh we're at another event, and the field days organized themselves come out and said they thought it was a great idea, they want to join it and chuck some money in. So at the moment, it'll be three uh scholarships a year at $10,000 each. I'm gonna go and buy uh you know bend their arm a little bit. We'll grow that because I think we could do four or five uh people a year. I was joking to the Prime Minister about him being a big time celebrity not being able to walk down the aisles and the streets here at field days. It's actually true. He gets uh stopped all the time, as to you. What's the feedback you're getting from the punters at the coal face, i.e. the farmers? Look, look, I think there's two things going on. Uh you know, the sector rightly is feeling good about itself. Uh, you know, you produce the highest quality, safest food and fiber of any country in the world, and consumers overseas are wanting it and they're paying more for it. You you think about uh America, and I was asked the other day, am I frustrated by what's happening in in the States? Well, it's hard to be frustrated when it happens again and again and again. Feels like every time you know we get inflation down, a cost down, production up, America does something else. But even with those tariffs, uh, actually, we're selling them about four percent more by value than we were a year ago. It's the primary sector. You think about that European Union free trade agreement, which we came to government, we got in six months before we were told we could. In the first two years, three billion dollars worth of extra exports to the EU. It's the primary sector leading that. So across the board, farmers have a right to feel good, and I reckon New Zealanders are backing you now. They're recognizing the importance of what you're you're doing. The second thing that I think that that I'm noticing as I I wander around is uh, you know, people are happy, but I just want to get back on the farms and farm some more. We've worked hard as a coalition government to simplify rules and get rid of them, get rid of the cost, get rid of those stupid bloody taxes that Chris Hipkins was always trying to put on farmers everywhere and back here, and you should be proud of what you do. You've got a government that's gonna work hard. How fortuitous was the timing around the Indian FTO. Well, uh we worked very hard of it. Do you know April of this year, 16 years ago was the first negotiation New Zealand had with India and successive governments have had it as an ambition? Chris Luxon said before the election, we'll do a deal in our first term. He backed me to get on a plane, and Jamie, I've been there eight or nine times in the two years. From start to finish, it took us nine months. I was just up in um in Europe uh last week, and I saw the European Commissioner for trade, and he was a little bit grumpy with me because I've just done a trade deal, and his question was Todd, you're only five million people. You're a little economy. Your deal in many places is better than how's how do you do it? And it comes to relationship, right? We build a strong relationship with India the government, and actually I know the farmers do well with it. So in an uncertain world, we're not sure what America is doing, and everywhere else, we've got 1.4 billion consumers that want what we produce and they're willing to pay for it. I think that's going to be very important for rural New Zealand. And you've done a great job there. I'm gonna have you one more, give you one more, or the government one more pat on the back, or maybe even the national party at the risk of sounding like a bit of a national party lackey. But you've proposed uh the policy this week, doubling funding for the QE2 National Trust. That is the best bang for buck you can get for conservation. Yeah, it really really is. Uh when when I go overseas as agricultural minister, uh I've got the easiest job in the world because our farmers are the best at what they do, and everybody wants to be like you. When I'm there as trade minister, it's a blimmin' hard job because you're too good at what you do, and they want to block you from being there. And what gets raised occasionally is what is New Zealand doing about environment. So the doubling of the QE Trust fund means much more doing, and this is just helping farmers to do what they do so very well themselves, which is to care about the land. We've got some other announcements this week as well in that space that are gonna help. Uh the PM wouldn't tease for you what he's about to announce, but let me put it this way. We've spent three years simplifying rules, making it easier for you to meet your obligations. Uh, you know, the only way we get to maximise all these trade deals, we're gonna produce more because we now there's more demand for what we're allowed to produce. How about this? If you can show the same or an improved environmental climate footprint, why shouldn't you be able to do whatever you want on your own land? You know, choosing a land use to increase productivity, except plant pine trees, because I banned that. Good on you. Okay, we're gonna we're he's getting a rousing reception here uh for the anti-carbon farming rhetoric. Okay, we are waiting for that announcement. It might come through at about 12 30. If it does before the end of the end of the hour, we'll let you know. Todd uh McLeo, I know you've got to go to a dinner. Todd Charteress is here, and I'm just looking for the EU ambassador Lawrence Meredith. Is he here by any chance? Have we seen him? No. Okay, up next to the batter's box after the break, chief executive of Rabobank, Todd Charteris.