When New Zealand holds its annual agricultural exhibition, one of similar size and exposure to our World Ag Expo show, the minister of agriculture makes an appearance. And sometimes more than just a one-day, couple of hours’ appearance. This past year he was on the Fieldays show grounds twice during the four-day event.

Can you imagine U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack doing the same? Probably not. Yet it’s not hard to understand why David Carter was there if you know New Zealand’s top three export commodities are ag-related – milk, meat and forestry products.

The minister is a 58-year-old, dapper politician from New Zealand's south island. He is the founder of the country’s first cattle-embryo transplant business. My interview with him can be viewed here .

He makes some interesting comments about removing subsidies from dairy production, and he challenged the U.S. and the rest of the developed world to do the same. From my interview, I sensed that New Zealand is ready to play with anyone willing to step onto the field. Read the interview to learn why they are so confident.

However, the world’s most prolific dairy export country does have its challenges. The country recently joined the Koyoto Protocol and must comply with greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements. Many of the country’s farmers are upset about the issue and what the government will require from them to meet its goals.

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For example, while in New Zealand, I stood on the top of a high plateau on the north island where New Zealand’s largest, newest dairy pastures are located. These were made from forest acres that were cut down just prior to New Zealand’s Koyoto Protocol deadline. From the mountain top, the herd manager pointed out over the remaining forest landscape and identified several locations that he said would make premium dairy pastures.

“Although we can’t cut the trees down now,” he said.

That’s not entirely true – as they could – but the reason they don’t is that the cost to offset that action in the carbon trading market is steep. Will joining Koyoto slow down New Zealand’s long-term ability to expand production? We’ll have to see.

Also, in this issue is the second, and final, part of a panel discussion with organizers of front-running dairy reform plans. They share their opinions about the core components of each other’s plans. Next issue we will reveal the results of our poll question asking which plan you support most.

Get an advance price outlook for the middle of next year. Some are predicting storm clouds to gather. Will they rain on your slim margin? Click here to read more about it.

Finally, this issue’s article about using DHI records to monitor herd Johne’s prevalence is an interesting read. As was recently reported by Cornell researchers at the American Dairy Science Association’s annual meeting, the prevalence of Johne’s infection may be as much as 10 times higher than previously thought. Thus, the true infection rate in the U.S. herd may be 30 percent and all herds may have some level of infection, albeit some may be latent cases. If widely used, the DHI tracking method explained could come in handy in the future. PD