Foot and Mouth

From NZ Farming's facebook page "I’m a kiwi farming beef in Australia and we’re feeling very exposed to FMD. A week of stand down along with tighter border security sounds good but it’s nowhere near enough. The new Labor federal govt here has been very slow to respond and we haven’t heard anything from the state govts. There’s very little communication and no sign of any sort of plan. Farmers are now getting together and leading the charge. We know that we need to have everything in place and ready to action on the day we get our first case of FMD, and that’s a ‘when’ not an ‘if’. If we’re not ready by then, it’s too late and the economic damage and food shortages will be catastrophic."

On the whole food shortage thing - Sri Lanka
My partner is an avoid vege gardener and passionately organic etc. She could not comprehend that Sri Lanka banned the import of fertiliser over night. She was incredulous infact. Started ranting about how you need to restore the soil, and change your tea varieties to suit organic, etc etc.

if you didn't know, Sri Lanka banned all imports of fertiliser overnight. The president stated this was because he thought there is more money in organic tea - you get a premium for it. Only thing is the crops failed - completely - nationwide. Other than tourism, tea is Sri Lanka's only export earner, and tourism got stuffed with covid.

Consequently Sri Lanka as a country has gone bankrupt. They were having trouble paying for petrol for several months and were regularly running out. Now if they even manage to grow tea, they can't get diesel for the trucks to take it off the farm.

They have now lifted the ban on importing fertiliser, but the President has since been overthrown, and the country is literally broke.

Then we look at the Dutch farmers, and the forced reduction in productivity. Their protest signs are so simple - 'No Farmers - No Food'

When I worked in the meat works in Taranaki, I'd go into Wellington and visit mates (when I was young and single). I quickly realised that city chicks thought cows were cute and moo-ed, and meat came in a wrapper from the supermarket. No one was interested in how the meat got from being a cow in a paddock to being nicely packaged in the supermarket. If I wanted to score, I definitely could not mention stories about killing cows and cutting them up. Or that time a bull got our of the yards. Or how I found the green festering stuff in the machine that made the Huttons Sizzlers...
The point here is there is a real disconnect with people understanding where their food comes from. I really do worry that this govt and the Greens are going to fuck the food supply chain up rather badly.

Maybe the greens and Ardern want rice fields ahead of prime rib eye?

The below article is interesting.

It states we don't have direct flights between here and Indo.

It also states there is an existing rule that you have a 7 day stand down period from arriving from Indo to going onto a farm. I knew about that, and how on earth are they going to police a rule like that?

Biosecurity say they have stepped up their work. Just like they did with M. Bovis, Asian stink bugs, Asian paddle crabs, fan worm, the new seaweed pest weed etc etc

Given how rapidly this outbreak is moving in Indo, I think a travel ban from Indo is warranted. At the least a 7 day stand down in a third country.

The other concerning issue, if Aust gets it, how can we keep it out from there? We can only hope that the sheer size of Australia limits it spread from state to state.




"Our frontline staff at the border are paying close attention to goods and any travellers arriving in the country with Indonesia as their point of departure and are stepping up our searches of baggage from countries of risk.

"There are currently no direct flights between Indonesia and New Zealand, which reduces risk.

"We are stepping up our work at the border with a campaign to ensure travellers do their part to protect farmers from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)."

The authorities say they've issued reminders to the industry of the one week stand down period from the time that a person arrives from a country overseas with FMD, to the time that they go onto a New Zealand farm or have contact with susceptible animals in NZ.

This includes farm workers arriving from overseas through the approved border class exceptions.


www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018848732/vet-warns-of-foot-and-mouth-risk-from-tourist-hotspot

I worked that out very quickly. Don't tick the box. If you do, you risk getting all your gear impounded, or a fine, at at the very least held up at the airport for 5 hrs while they clean it for you. A mate once thought it was a good way to get his boots cleaned for free. Probably cheaper to get a new pair of boots by the end of it all.

But many people would honestly not tick the box (thinking they are doing the right thing). If you've been surfing in Indo, as a mate of mine is now, would you say you've been onto any farms or rural areas? - No, I've been at the beach the whole time. Highly likely to have stood in some cow shit from the wandering beloved bovines there, but haven't technically been to a rural area. Are Indo villages rural or not? doesn't really fit in our NZ lexicon. It is normal to have chickens pigs and cows running around their houses. We keep them separated in with the country / city divide.

$3k fine in aus for a blonde bimbo who forget set had a foot long subway sandwich in her handbag at customs. We need shit like this in NZ.
Note the binbo's stated employment is 'content creator' which is code for being one of those useless bloggers that make money by 'influencing' people.

www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/300642841/the-forgotten-sandwich-which-cost-a-traveller-3000