KEY POINTS:
It was a big year for farming - on again-off again meat industry restructuring, start-stop capital restructure at Fonterra, drought, tumbling commodity prices, the Emissions Trading Scheme, Resource Management Act concerns and National back in power. The list goes on and on.
A surprising number of issues that
could have reshaped the topography of farming came to nothing but they have not gone away either and 2009 is looking like another big year for agriculture.
In November last year Fonterra set off with fanfare on the path to capital restructure with the aim of ensuring funds for growth and protecting against redemption risk.
The preferred model would have set up a new asset-holding company listed on the stock market but the board pulled the plug in February when farmers didn't support it.
When capital restructure does re-surface it will likely be with less fanfare and more certainty.
Fonterra's year was overshadowed by a tragedy in China in which its 43 per cent-owned dairy company, San Lu, was one of 22 firms caught up in a scandal that left tens of thousands of infants ill and at least four dead after the industrial chemical melamine was added to watered-down milk to boost protein levels. It is a disaster that will cast a long shadow.
In the meat industry a mega-merger proposal came and went, a task force was launched and then wound up, hackles were raised and recriminations thrown.
A recent attempt at reform was an agreement for PGG Wrightson to buy half of processor co-operative Silver Fern Farms for $220 million.
The Craig Norgate-led company could not make the first payment in September, the deal was terminated and the market is now waiting to see what compensation PGG Wrightson may have to cough up.
With the runaway freight train of a global credit, financial and economic crisis, PGG Wrightson could not have picked a worse time for a deal if they tried.
Meat industry restructuring will likely be back on the agenda next year, despite some price improvements, although possibly more from economic attrition than grand vision.
Many eyes are on the Emissions Trading Scheme and there is an expectation that the new National government will be more farming- friendly.
It will be interesting to see how National tackles the challenge of meeting Kyoto Protocol obligations without hurting our biggest earning sector - which contributes nearly half of our emissions - especially as we battle a global economic slowdown.
The Government says it will advocate firmly in international negotiations for the "appropriate recognition of New Zealand's unique agricultural emissions profile".
One country's appropriate recognition is another's unfair special treatment.
In more extreme scenarios farming could be exempted, New Zealand could back away from its international obligations or tax payers could foot the bill - any of which would be big news.
Meanwhile, all eyes are pointed to the sky with hopes for regular rain amid fears of another drought.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry says an early estimate for the cost of last summer's drought to the dairy industry is $1.4 billion, including a production loss of $900 million over two seasons and $437 million in extra feed costs.
All rain dances gratefully received and they're good for working off that turkey dinner.
DON'T FORGET TO SMILE
Farming can be a serious and stressful business.
It is not a 9 to 5 career with stock sitting safely on a warehouse shelf waiting to be shipped, and the factory thermostat of the great outdoors is beyond control, with potentially devastating results.
But as with any job it is important to take a break, lean on the fence and share a laugh.
So to finish the column for this year a couple of chuckles spotted on website www.farmnews.co.nz.
A New Zealand sheep farmer struck Powerball Lotto and won $30 million - the biggest prize in Lotto history.
It was impossible to keep the win a secret in his small close-knit community, and before long the reporters with TV cameras were at his door.
"What are you going to do with all that money," he was asked as the cameras rolled.
"Gee, I'm not really sure," he replied. "I guess I'll keep farming till it's all gone."
But wait, there's more.
A dairy farmer needs a bull to service his cows and borrows the money from the bank to buy it.
His banker happens to be visiting a week later and asks how the bull is doing. The farmer complains that the bull just eats grass all day and won't even look at the cows. The banker suggests that a veterinarian should be called to check the bull over.
The next week the banker returns to see if the vet helped.
The farmer looks pleased. "The bull has serviced all my cows, broken through a fence and serviced all of my neighbour's cows as well!"
"Wow," says the banker. "What did the vet do?"
"Just gave him some pills," replies the farmer.
"What kind of pills?" asks the banker.
"I don't know," says the farmer. "But they kind of taste like chocolate."
