Fed. Farmers leader out of step on free trade

The stance of Federated Farmers President Alistair Polson over free trade and the World Economic Forum is out of step with a large percentage of farmers, Green Agriculture Spokesman Ian Ewen-Street said today.

This week two statements from Mr Polson on the economy and farmers' returns have appeared - one in the Listener as a letter to the editor, and the other as a press statement attacking the Green Party's stance on trade.

"These statements are contradictory," Mr Ewen-Street said. "In the Listener Mr Polson says `farmers are still a long way from the profit levels of the 70s or even the 80s'. However in the Federated Farmers' press statement Mr Polson says, 'since the late 1980s when the reforms really started to have effect...total employment has grown... unemployment has dropped. Trade liberalisation is very important for exporters...all sections of the community benefit'.

"I believe most farmers would agree with Mr Polson's Listener statement but would question the argument in his press release."

Mr Ewen-Street said the free market is a disaster for New Zealand agriculture.

"The push to become internationally competitive in commodities has meant we have had to accept the lowest possible prices for our exports, from countries on the other side of the world which don't care whether or not New Zealand has tariffs. They certainly still have them."

In the September issue of "Dr Cullen's Casebook", a pamphlet of news from Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen's office, Dr Cullen says, "New Zealand has one of the freest markets in the world but we don't have one of the world's top performing economies" and "we need to... add value to the export base, reducing our reliance on commodity export volumes.."

Says Mr Ewen-Street: "The answer is staring Dr Cullen and Mr Polson in the face, but they don't yet realise it. New Zealand must embrace the rapidly expanding demand for clean and green produce and become famous as THE supplier of organic produce. If we don't differentiate ourselves and become such a niche supplier, our agriculture is doomed.

"New Zealand's free market experiment has run for over a decade now and failed. Mr Polson is living in the past. The future for farming is a green one."

Ian Ewen-Street MP 04 4706726
Paul Bensemann, press secretary x6679, 021 214 2665