A study to assess both the cost and sustainability of potential marketing advantages (UK and overseas) of beef and lamb produced from high welfare systems.

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Seland Newydd o'r diwedd!


I thought that I had left form filling behind in Wales for a few weeks, but as we came in to land in Auckland the Emirates stewardess who had been serving us some lovely food and drink on the long flight handed us a landing form. It contained all sorts of questions on our recent contact with agriculture, farmed animals and the threat of immediate deportation or worse if we smuggled any food, or even woollen products into the country. A video on the screen in front of me reinforced the stringent rules by showing a large dog sniffing away at someone’s suitcases! Having ticked the box indicating that I was a farmer, I was relieved just to be asked a few basic questions on landing as to whether the shoes I was wearing were my working boots, and if I had a sheep hidden in my case. I had visions of a full body search or worse!

When 60% of your countries exports are from the agricultural industry, it is quite understandable for these measures to be taken. Unfortunately the same questions are not asked of foreign visitors on their arrival into the UK. The argument given of course when I push this issue with our Government is that New Zealand is served by two or three major airports, while the UK has many international airports with Heathrow by itself handling 58 million passengers per annum. Allowing for the obvious practical difficulties, if we are serious about animal health and welfare in the UK, a better solution needs to be found at our points of entry that at least will minimise the risk of compromise from abroad.

The short trip from the airport to the hotel in the middle of Auckland was eventful to say the least. Even with the assistance of a ‘sat nav’ we had to rely on the kindness of a white van driver to drive ahead of us, and lead us by the nose to the Hotel entrance. My sense of direction has never been good, and regrettably Sheila’s not much better!
On arrival at the hotel we immediately had a meeting with Jockey Jensen, Director of MAF Enforcement NZ. Jockey has a team of eight officers to cover all of NZ and follow up any issues on animal welfare. It was an illuminating and candid conversation with someone who is obviously at the coal face of welfare enforcement.
By this time we were not quite sure if it was morning, noon or night, and our first day in New Zealand was finished off with a meal at a restaurant overlooking beautiful Auckland harbour.

1 comment:

  1. Gobeithio dy fod wedi cael fy neges blaenorol. Wedi sylweddoli fod Sheila wedi mynd gyda ti hefyd. Mwynhewch. Nia Bronhuan aka Plas Bennett, Llandyrnog. Dwi ddim yn credu fod fy neges wedi ei anfon - es i , fy nhad a Rhun i Awstralia y llynedd i weld fy modryb - chwaer fy nhad sy'n byw yn y Blue Mountains. Mae'n tipyn o brofiad. Newydd ddod nol o Barcelona, Marrakech a Madrid! Wedi cael gwared a'r defaid i gyd erbyn hyn. Cofion. Nia.

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