The New Zealand Economy
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as a result of a weakened surveillance ef- Changes continued to be made International fort. Nonetheless, horticultural exports by successive governments throughout Perspectives in from New Zealand continue to grow at the 1990s which were characterised around 10% per annum and many sec- mainly by substantial changes to and tors remain very competitive on world even removal of some of the legislation Horticultural markets. that provided statutory protection for Extension—A New producer boards. These producer boards he New Zealand economy were organisations that provided for col- Zealand Viewpoint has been strongly dependent lective and compulsory marketing of sec- Ton agricultural exports since tor products such as apples, kiwifruit, Ian J. Warrington,1 original European settlement in the meat, dairy and wool. mid 1800s. The country has always These reforms were driven by a Barrie D. Wallace,2 and lacked signifi cant natural resources, number of forces including a shift to 3 such as petroleum reserves and valu- more conservative politics; a tighter Sandy Scarrow able minerals, but it does have plentiful fi scal environment where the role of water supplies, a moderate climate and government focussed increasingly on ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. privatization, highly productive soils. These permit the provision of health, education, wel- government funding, extension services, the cultivation of a wide range of pas- fare and defence services; and a com- biosecurity, technology transfer, user pays ture species, extensive exotic forests, mitment by government to supporting and a diverse range of horticultural new sectors in the economy such as SUMMARY. The government-funded crops ranging from warm temperate electronics and biotechnology. At the horticulture extension service, which avocados (Persea americana) and same time agriculture commodity prices provided a free service to New Zealand satsuma mandarins (Citrus unshiu) world-wide progressively continued to growers for nearly 50 years, was priva- to cool climate wines. Kiwifruit (Ac- decline. Ongoing pressure to achieving tized in the late 1980s as part of major reforms to the primary production tinidia deliciosa) and apples (Malus global free trade in agricultural products sector. That service had provided one- sylvestris var. domestica) dominate fruit also provided government with an ideal on-one on-farm visits, budget advice, exports while buttercup squash (Cu- opportunity, in the absence of organised provision of technical information, and curbita maxima) and onions (Allium and effective opposition domestically, to facilitation of fi eld days, workshops cepa) feature highest in vegetable ex- remove all forms of subsidies and govern- and discussion groups throughout the ports. There are also substantial exports ment-sponsored services. country. This government-funded ser- of cutfl owers and live plants. Any review of the impacts of priva- vice also provided policy advice, acted In the 1950s, exports from the tization on extension services; therefore, as an interface between industry and agricultural sector comprised 50% of must be carried out against a background the research and development (R&D) gross domestic product (GDP) whereas of major and continuous macroeconomic sector, and responded to biosecurity incursions. A decade following privati- by 2002 this had decreased to 16% but reform to the overall primary produc- zation, the number of people involved was still very high compared to other tion sector in New Zealand, including in equivalent consultancy activities has developed nations. Within the wider horticulture. almost halved with very little recruit- agricultural sector, however, horticul- ment of new people into the profes- ture continues to grow in importance Pre-1990 sion. The emphasis is now much more increasing from only 1.8% of all agri- The nucleus of modern horticultur- towards providing advice on the overall cultural exports in 1970 to 11.8% in al consultancy services in New Zealand management of an individual enterprise 2001. can be traced to the post World War II to ensure its fi nancial viability, with less Furthermore, the horticultural period when there was priority given to emphasis on technical transfer. Large sector contributes strongly to regional rebuilding the export economy, estab- horticultural businesses are increasingly employing specialists in-house who can development, to employment and to a lishing returned servicemen and women provide technical solutions and advice diverse range of support industries in- into new employment, and responding to on balance sheet management. Private cluding transport, fi nance, legal, packag- market opportunities in the United King- consultancy companies now tend to ing, agricultural chemical supplies and dom through New Zealand’s member- work more at a local or regional level post-harvest storage services. ship of the British Commonwealth. The rather than at a national level and links Major reforms of the primary sec- Department of Agriculture, as it was then with R&D providers have markedly tor occurred in New Zealand in the late known, through its Horticulture Divi- weakened as research organisations 1980s and early 1990s as free-market sion provided a wide range of free gov- are increasingly protecting intellectual policies were introduced by successive ernment funded services. These involved property for their own commercial governments. The changes that took not only consultancy/extension services advantages and as information provi- sion is now largely on a user-pays basis. place were very signifi cant and impacted but included research and development In addition, biosecurity incursions over on farm subsidies, policy delivery, the activities, plant quarantine services, ex- the past decade appear to have increased organisation of science, and the provi- port certifi cation and the compilation of sion of support services including hor- industry statistics. In the early 1970s the 1Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand; [email protected]. ticulture extension (i.e., state-funded Horticulture Division was merged with 2MAF Policy, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Palm- consultancy services). Cost recovery by the Farm Advisory Division to become erston North, New Zealand; [email protected]. charging for these services was progres- the Advisory Services Division (ASD). 3Agriculture New Zealand Ltd, Tauranga, New Zealand; sively introduced from 1984 (Sandrey The majority of these services were [email protected]. and Reynolds, 1990). continued in the new division, with the 20 • January–March 2004 14(1) Workshop1 20 11/7/03, 9:56:21 AM exception of research and development university trained with at least 4-year tion of the horticultural community, were which was set up as a new stand-alone Bachelor degrees with majors in topics able to identify any threats to biosecurity entity within the department. such as agricultural economics, farm very early. Furthermore, these specialists Specifi cally ASD provided a wide management, horticultural production, were available to assist with containment range of free consultancy services in- soil science, entomology, plant pathol- and eradication. Examples of the effec- cluding ogy, extension methods and agricultural tiveness of this network included the • one-on-one farm visits; engineering. eradication of johnson grass (Sorghum • budget advice; Aside from the very obvious benefi ts halepense) within about 10 years of its • facilitation of farm/orchard discus- that accrued directly to horticultural pro- initial identifi cation in the early 1970s, sion groups; ducers (such as fruit and vegetable grow- and the containment of citrus canker • technical advice on all aspects of ers, fl ower growers and grape growers) (Xanthomonas campestris pv. citri). production including soil mapping, there were a number of other benefi ts KNOWLEDGE BASE. A key role of ASD fertilizer use, development of spray that were less obvious but which were, was to compile the annual statistics that programmes, preparation of climate nonetheless, of considerable signifi cance related to the horticultural sector in New and weather summaries, cultivar to the horticultural sector in particular Zealand. These statistics included infor- and rootstock selection and so on, and to New Zealand in general. These mation that underpinned policy advice backed up with fact sheets, manuals included: to government (e.g., value and growth and technical bulletins; RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING. Before in horticultural exports), industry plan- • fi eld trial/demonstration trials on 1990, ASD recruited a steady number ning (area of land planted and amounts growers properties; and of new staff annually—up to eight per of nursery stock used), employment • fi eld days, seminars and workshops. year in the horticultural sector alone. forecasting (number of orchard work- General consultants were located in Cadetships were also offered to assist ers employed), and resource utilisation the many horticultural producing areas with meeting the costs of undergraduate (amounts and types of fertilizers applied across the country. There were also crop training as well as post graduate studies. and amounts and sources of irrigation specialists nationally in pipfruit [primar- Students entering degree programs had, water used). Signifi cantly, the data base ily apples and pears (Pyrus communis)]; therefore, some certainty of employment was consistent and continuous over a stonefruit [primarily apricots (Prunus following their graduation