8.6 Options
It is difficult to do any social forecasting because it is difficult to predict what is going to happen in farming, in the mid-Rangitikei, in farming generally, in the year 2000 and beyond.
Some see they have no alternative but to stay with the status quo and hope for an upturn. Alternatives to remaining vulnerable, and struggling to plan for an uncertain future include:
- sell, and buy a cheaper farm
- sell and move out of farming
- waiting it out, till the banks say go
- diversify, if possible – within agriculture and/or into businesses using resources provided by the farm and farm family
- obtain off-farm income
- become an absentee landlord
- lease
- take more risks
- syndicate.
A SWOT analysis may prove beneficial in helping sort out options. One of the problems is in the waiting: "People have made a lot of strategic economic decisions - maybe [developed] a better mental attitude to cope with hard conditions. [The] next step - they need a higher return on their investment and this may lead to a spark."
There are more ‘dramatic options’. One of the farmers we interviewed was told in the 1960s "…by an education board official - nobody’s going to live out here - the workers are going to live in the villages and go out to work. The farms will be owned by syndicates - it’s still there - as an idea".
One of the options proposed in the literature resembles that of the education board official. "Gangs could do all the work on farms." Such a move would dramatically change and challenge the current culture of farming. It would also require massive intervention from government so the likelihood of such a move is minimal.
We heard of very few corporation or syndicate farms in the area, except in the Hunterville area in forestry, and only one or two absentee landlord farms. People were concerned about such potential moves, alleging that there was no commitment by such people to the land, nor the community - again reinforcing the idea of interdependence between farm and community.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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