Faculty of Agribusiness & Commerce Working Paper series
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Item New Zealand agricultural employment relations, migration, and 'pledge washing': The new recipe for the 21st century(Lincoln University. Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, 2017-06) Tipples, Rupert S.This Working Paper continues a series of articles published in Sociologia Ruralis in 1987, 1995, and 2007 reviewing the evolution of rural employment relations in New Zealand. It analyses research driven changes to public policy on the use of migrants to combat the ongoing labour shortages in New Zealand’s rural sector. There is a comparison contrasting the effects of these changes in the horticulture/viticulture sector and in the dairy farming sector. For the former a publicly acclaimed migration scheme resulted. For the latter an employer driven charter, which has been described as a ‘pledge wash’, was the outcome. Attention is drawn to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 which it is argued may have far more significant effects on dairy farming than employers have appreciated. It concludes by revisiting four key questions posed back in 1995 looking at them again after a further twenty years.Item Results from a 2015 survey of NZ farm managers/owners covering debt and related issues designed to explore the impact of debt(Lincoln University. Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, 2017-06) Greig, Bruce J.; Nuthall, Peter L.; Old, KevinWith increasing debt levels across primary production businesses it is important to have contemporary knowledge of the levels of debt on NZ farms, including both past and present levels, but more importantly, have information on the difficulties debt levels might be creating and the human factors associated with these debt levels. This report provides information and data from a random stratified survey across all farm types in all regions of New Zealand designed to answer the questions highlighted. In general the data is presented rather than deeply analysed as this will occur in a series of research articles to follow. The information contained in the report is available for everyone with an interest in debt matters to allow them to further analyse situations deemed to be important. The information was obtained through an eight page questionnaire sent out to the sample which was stratified by farm type, farm area, and region. The strata percentages of the total sample of nearly 2300 farmers were based on the population percentages. The response rate was 19% with the responses not being significantly different from the sampled percentages. The data is contained in 133 tables which divide the information according to farm type, total farm capital groupings, debt levels, and equity groups in most cases, but also by farmer age, education level and exam grades in other cases. Manager gender divisions are also presented where appropriate as well as labour unit level groupings. It is clear debt levels vary widely with some farms having zero debt, but also some have small equity. Most farms are held in trusts and partnerships of some kind, though sole proprietorship is also important. Most debt is through fixed mortgages with interest only payments occurring. In real terms capital gains are virtually non-existent, and the return on capital hovers round 3% making debt reduction difficult, though it is occurring as shown by the changing equity levels. Anxiety over debt issues, and many other issues, is also prevalent. Information on the farmers’ objectives is also presented showing farmers seek many outcomes from their farms other than financial. If the latter was the main objective many farmers would sell up. Also presented is data on farmers’ management style as this could well impact on debt levels and repayments. The full list of questions asked and information obtained is listed in the appendix copy of the questionnaire.Item Small dairy farms, North Island - Prospects, challenges and change: A survey and analysis(Lincoln University. Faculty of Agribusiness & Commerce, 2015-12) Westbrooke, Victoria; Nuthall, Peter L.This study looks at the small dairy farm problem in response to industry pressure and associated research funding (from DairyNZ through a small dairy farmer organization … Smaller Milk and Supply Herds Association…SMASH). The objective was to explore the problems, or challenges, resulting from being ‘small’ as seen by the dairy farmers themselves. The objective was also to relate these farmer defined ‘challenges’ to the farmers’ personal situation and attributes. It was believed this farmer data may well inform the final phase of the study in which data was collected to discover the information the farmers’ believed would be helpful to them in meeting the challenges. Conclusions should guide the actions which SMASH, and other extension groups, can take.Item Consumer attitudes towards the purchase of organic products in China(Lincoln University. Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce, 2014-12) Gan, C.; Zhiyou, C.; Tran, M. C.; Cohen, David A.; Xiangxiang, W.The food industry in China has been the subject of media attention in recent years. The number of recent high-profile scandals involving tainted food products has shaken China’s public confidence in the safety of domestic supplies. These incidents have included milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, meat containing the banned steroid clenbuterol, rice contaminated with cadmium, and cooking oil recycled from street gutters. This study examines the underlying factors influencing organic product purchase decisions. Situated in Kunming, China, we investigate consumers’ levels of awareness, and attitudes towards organically produced food products. In particular, we focus on the characteristics of safety, health value, environmental degradation, and taste and price, in order to better understand consumers’ attitudes towards organic products and their place in the food marketplace. Our study will test the level of influence that each of these co-variants contributes to purchase decisions for organic foods.Item The RSE, a tool for dairying? Understanding the Recognised Seasonal Employer policy and its potential application to the dairy industry(Lincoln University. Faculty of Agribusiness & Commerce., 2014-05) Tipples, Rupert S.; Rawlinson, PhilppaThe RSE was introduced in 2007, as policy allowing the introduction of seasonal labour for horticulture and viticulture from the Pacific Islands. The success of RSE has led to calls from “the dairy and meat processing industry [who] have requested that the Department of Labour extend RSE policy to include their sectors” (R. Bedford & Hugo, 2012, p. vii; C. Bedford, 2013, p. 263). Based on this comment, and in recognition of recruitment and retention problems and use of migrant labour by the dairy industry, Associate Professor Rupert Tipples commissioned this research to investigate whether RSE could be used by the dairy industry as a solution to its current problems with labour supply. This research investigates the development of RSE and reviews the drivers for the development of the policy and changes to policy, and how growers have interpreted the policy and adapted to it. It then addresses the current methods of recruiting workers in the dairy industry and whether the RSE could in fact be applied to dairying.