Heading into this year, ASEAN watchers wondered whether these small countries could pull off regional leadership given the complexity of the agenda, their own limited human resources and the challenges of hosting major meetings.

I recently visited Pnomh Penh to meet the Cambodian team responsible for running ASEAN and associated meetings, including the East Asia Summit this year.

At the policy level, the Cambodians seem to be ready. They have picked up the forward agenda they inherited and are trying to progress it, recognising that this will always be a work in progress. Maintaining momentum on the internal ASEAN agenda remains top priority, looking ahead to the 2015 target date for the establishment of the ASEAN Community. The 20th ASEAN Leaders Summit held in March showed Cambodia’s focus on narrowing development gaps among ASEAN member states, strengthening mechanisms for ensuring financial stability in the region, progressing implementation of ASEAN’s Connectivity Master Plan and continuing to enhance relations with neighbours in the region.

In terms of regional issues, Cambodia is clear about the need to try to make progress on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea. They want ASEAN to find common ground and begin engaging China soon. They want to recognise the positive progress made in Myanmar and continue to encourage more, while also promoting the lifting of sanctions and new economic and investment engagement there.

To ensure they deliver, the Cambodian government has been drawing in officials to the 2012 team. They see this as something of a coming out process – a chance to show their own people, the region and the world that Cambodia has emerged and is ready to contribute substantially to the ASEAN and regional agenda.

While there are always many challenges associated with regional leadership, the logistics of hosting the East Asia Summit in November will be a real test. Making arrangements for 18 leaders, including leaders from the United States, China, the Russian Federation and South Korea, is no walk in the park. Pnomh Penh’s hotels and infrastructure will be tested with the influx of as many as 7000 people, the challenges of security and motorcade management. I wish them well.

Proof positive of Cambodia’s leadership performance is still half a year away, but to this point they deserve credit for a well-managed ASEAN Leaders Summit and a focused approach to the wider agenda for 2012. I hope all involved take time to recognise and respect the Cambodian commitment and the challenges they are working hard with limited resources to manage.

Kamboja Sebagai Ketua ASEAN

Tahun lalu, ketua ASEAN diduduki oleh Goliat kawasan ini, Indonesia. Tahun ini menyaksikan satu dari tiga Daud mengambil peran pimpinan. Kamboja memegang tampuk pimpinan pada 2012, Brunei pada 2013, dan Myanmar pada 2014.

Menuju tahun ini, para pengamat membayangkan apakah negara-negara kecil ini dapat memegang kepemimpinan kawasan mengingat rumitnya agenda, terbatasnya sumber daya manusia mereka, dan berbagai tantangan untuk menjadi tuan rumah berbagai pertemuan besar.

Saya baru-baru ini mengunjungi Pnomh Penh untuk bertemu tim Kamboja yang bertanggung jawab untuk menjalankan ASEAN dan berbagai pertemuan terkait, termasuk Pertemuan Tingkat Tinggi Asia Timur tahun ini.

Pada tingkat kebijakan, orang-orang Kamboja sepertinya sudah siap. Mereka sudah mengerti agenda kedepan yang mereka warisi dan sedang berusaha untuk meneruskannya, menyadari bahwa ini akan selalu menjadi perkerjaan yang berkesinambungan. Menjaga momentum dari agenda internal tetap menjadi prioritas utama, melihat target 2015 kedepan untuk pembentukan Komunitas ASEAN. Pertemuan Tingkat Tinggi Pemimpin ASEAN ke 20 yang diadakan pada bulan Maret menunjukkan perhatian Kamboja pada pengurangan jurang pembangunan di antara para anggota ASEAN, memperkuat berbagai mekanisme untuk menjamin stabilitas keuangan di kawasan ini, memajukan implementasi dari Rencana Utama Konektifitas ASEAN, dan melanjutkan untuk meningkatkan berbagai hubungan dengan para tetangga di kawasan ini.

Dalam hal masalah-masalah kawasan, Kamboja sikapnya jelas tentang kebutuhan untuk mencoba dan membuat kemajuan dalam sebuah Aturan Main untuk Laut China Selatan. Mereka ingin ASEAN menemukan sikap dasar yang sama dan mulai mendekati Cina dalam waktu dekat. Mereka ingin mengakui kemajuan positif yang dibuat di Myanmar dan melanjutkan untuk mendorong kemajuan yang lebih jauh, sembari juga mendorong dibukanya berbagai sanksi dan hubungan ekonomi dan investasi baru di sana.

Untuk memastikan mereka dapat mendapatkan hasil yang baik, pemerintah Kamboja telah menarik para pejabat ke dalam tim 2012. Mereka melihat ini sebagai proses pemunculan keluar – sebuah kesempatan untuk menunjukkan ke masyarakat mereka sendiri dan dunia bahwa Kamboja telah bangkit dan siap untuk berkontribusi besar ke ASEAN dan agenda kawasan.

Walaupun selalu terdapat banyak tantangan terkait kepemimpinan kawasan, logistik dari kegiatan menjadi tuan rumah Pertemuan Tingkat Tinggi Asia Timur pada bulan November akan menjadi sebuah ujian yang sebenarnya. Membuat berbagai persiapan untuk 18 pemimpin, termasuk pemimpin dari Amerika Serikat, China, Federasi Rusia, dan Korea Selatan, bukanlah sesuatu yang mudah seperti jalan-jalan di taman. Hotel-hotel dan infrastruktur di Pnomh Penh akan diuji dengan arus masuk sampai sebanyak 7000 orang, berbagai tantangan keamanan, dan pengelolaan konvoi. Saya mendoakan yang baik untuk mereka.

Bukti positif dari kinerja kepemimpinan Kamboja masing harus dibuktikan setengah tahun ke depan, tetapi sampai titik ini mereka layak mendapatkan pujian untuk sebuah Pertemuan Tingkat Tinggi Pemimpin ASEAN yang terkelola dengan baik dan sebuah pendekatan yang fokus untuk agenda yang lebih luas untuk 2012. Saya harap semua yang terlibat mengambil waktu untuk mengakui dan menghormati komitmen Kamboja dan berbagai tantangan yang mereka hadapi melalui kerja keras dengan sumber daya yang terbatas.

Cambodia's ASEAN Logo

NZ Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN David Taylor meets with the Cambodian Minister of Commerce, HE Mr Prasidh Cham

I have invited Taryn Neil, one of my consular staff members to write a guest blog about New Zealanders in Canada.  Taryn has been employed at the High Commission for around 10 years, working first as our Registrar before taking on the position of Consular Officer.

Taryn writes:

With around 1 million Kiwis living outside NZ, it is no surprise that many end up visiting, living and working in Canada.

A new booklet arrived at the High Commission this week titled “Before you go … Stop”.  It’s a handy booklet containing essential information for New Zealanders travelling overseas. It’s compact enough to keep with a passport, or in a backpack. It contains a great deal of information for New Zealanders heading overseas including information on consular assistance, and useful customs tips for heading back into NZ. We will be sending copies of these booklets out to the NZ groups in Canada to share with their members.

Canada now has about 14 Kiwi Clubs and organisations in Canada (www.nzembassy.com/canada).  A number of these clubs are quite active organising events, including fundraising for the Christchurch earthquake appeal, ANZAC ceremonies and other social functions.

Young Kiwis continue to visit Canada under the reciprocal Working Holiday Scheme, finding employment across Canada to supplement the cost of their holidays.   Many Kiwis find work in locations such as Whistler for a ski season, often creating lifelong friendships and relationships with Canadians and strengthening connections between the two countries.

We have seen an increase in the range of New Zealand food and especially wine in restaurants and liquor stores across Canada.  There is even a Kiwi operating a shop in Montreal selling traditional style meat pies.  This particular development is most welcome for ex-pat Kiwis wanting a taste of home.

Kiwis love Canada!

Defence Minister Peter MacKay also made a moving tribute both to the history of Gallipoli and subsequent conflicts, including that of Afghanistan where Australian, New Zealand and Canadian forces have served with distinction over most of the past decade.  I am now 20 years and counting with regard to ANZAC days I have commemorated as a foreign service officer.  About half of those have been overseas, which, for me,  creates even greater pause for reflection of what being a New Zealander means.

 The Canadian War Museum continues to be a wonderful venue for this event and provides scope for the 350 attendees to linger in conversation with both longstanding and new friends.  I was pleased to meet for the first time,  Steven Blaney (Minister for Veterans Affairs/Ministre des Anciens Combattants) and Vaughn Granter, Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier representing the Provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr Granter’s participation in this year’s ANZAC Day Commemorative Service relates to the 933 Newfoundland troops that fought with the British 29th Division in Gallipoli.   Thirty nine of these men were killed during the campaign, which is now marked by a commemorative service each ANZAC Day in St John’s hosted by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

Captain Bennett of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, Minister Mackay, Louise Hand, Michael Blais, Minister Blaney and Vice Admiral Donaldson, Vice Chief of the Defence Staff at ANZAC Day 2012 in Ottawa

Andrew Needs with Neville Nicholson, General Manager of Skyline Enterprises at top of ski hill at Olympic Park

Skifield at Canada Olympic Park and site of Skyline Enterprises luge

For my New Zealand readers this title may seem a little curious.  It is a play on terminology used in Canada with regard to Federal Policy (i.e. determined by central government in Ottawa) whereby the wealthier, or “have” provinces, contribute fiscally to the “have not” provinces.  Increasingly the “have” provinces have been those in the West.   Alberta is far and away the wealthiest province in Canada, driven overwhelmingly by the energy sector. You don’t have to be in Alberta long to get a sense of the more generalised energy of the place.  Alberta has a reputation as being a conservative bastion, both big and small C.  There are certainly some pointers to that in the lock the federal Conservative Party has on seats, the fact also that the current Conservative provincial government has been in power continuously for 41 years.   In that context however the upcoming provincial election is being fought by two women in their forties and the City of Calgary has as its Mayor, Naheed Nenshi , a dynamic 40 year old with transformative ideas for cities.

It was into this dynamic that Melissa Trochon, New Zealand Trade Commissioner and Consul General, based in Vancouver, and I teamed up for two days last week to meet with some key businesses in Alberta’s commercial capital, Calgary.   We had a series of excellent calls on CEOs, Sales and Marketing VPs across a range of sectors where New Zealand business has an interest in either collaboration or direct sales.  Those sectors included: food and beverage, agriculture infrastructure and support, transport, health, and of course the energy sector.  As most of the direct company to company follow up is with Melissa and her team, I have invited her to make a comment on how she saw our joint calls.

The visit to Alberta really highlighted the depth and breadth of opportunities available to NZ companies looking to take advantage of the economic growth in Alberta.  About a quarter of Alberta’s GDP by industry is directly attributable to the energy sector, with around another quarter focussed on support industries such as infrastructure development, transportation, construction and manufacturing.  One theme that recurred throughout our meetings was that Canadian companies are extremely interested in new products, technology and services that will either enable greater productivity within the energy sector (and associated industries) or minimise negative environmental emissions and outcomes in the province.  We’re currently aware of a number of NZ companies with relevant and exciting offerings in this space.  Outside of the energy sector, one exciting New Zealand-related development in Alberta is Skyline Enterprises’ new Calgary Luge operation.    The luge operation will be located at Canada Olympic Park, located on a hill overlooking Calgary with a dual role as a skifield in winter and activity park with mountain biking in summer.  Construction is due to start in the next two months, with an opening scheduled for summer 2013.  Andrew and I were taken on a site visit by Skyline General Manager Neville Nicholson.  It’s a fantastic site with great infrastructure and lots of complementary activities.  We look forward to working with more New Zealand companies interested in taking advantage of the economic growth opportunities in Alberta in the future. 

 Melissa Trochon, New Zealand Trade Commissioner and Consul General, Vancouver

Given the wider involvement of some of those CEOs in business groups and interaction with government at both the provincial and federal levels, we inevitably also spent time discussing the wider frameworks within which their companies do business i.e. Trade Policy.  There was a strong awareness of the emergent Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), currently a nine-member negotiating group within the region with a focus on a high quality trade agreement that has the capacity to bring in new members that aspire to the strong free trade focus of the group.  With the Western province’s longstanding focus on the Asia-Pacific there was no shortage of enthusiasm for Canada burnishing its credentials to gain membership into TPP as soon as possible.

After Calgary I drove an hour or so into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, to Kananaskis, a small resort town known best for hosting the G8 meeting in June 2002 .  My reason for being there was to give the Key Note address to the annual conference of the Alberta Economic Developers Association.    I covered a lot of ground in the context of a forty minute address plus Q & A:  recovery of Christchurch remains of interest to Canadians both in a broad empathy sense, but also, as rebuilding starts, possible opportunities.  Alberta faces a severe skilled labour shortage and will be competing with Christchurch for both the local (New Zealand) and international supply of engineers, builders, plumbers, architects, electricians etc.   There was also keen interest in the parallels between New Zealand and Alberta with regard to heavy reliance on a limited number of commodity exports.  Interest was most keen with regard to our drive for both product and market diversification.

Canada in many ways is a country defined by its winter.  Canadians claim winter really only last 2-3 months.  My interpretation, which is based on when you need to wear hat and gloves, is at least five months.  If this year is a precursor for lasting change I may need to reassess.  Many of my Canadian friends respond to the prospect of global warming with a  hearty “bring it on”.  Certainly a whole lot more marginal land would become arable, snow tires could come off the car earlier and the continued reduction of perma-frost would further open up areas which contain vast mineral wealth, for the extractive sector.  It would not come without significant challenges even for Canada, including the issues in ecosystems (pests, fires, forest growth), timber supply, coastal flooding, air quality and human health).  [Reference: http://nrtee-trnee.ca/climate/climate-prosperity] For my other countries of accreditation, all in the Caribbean (Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica) and enjoying year round tropical heat, the challenges are more immediate and existential.  Like the Pacific Island countries in my own part of the world, the Caribbean islands are facing more regular and intensive hurricanes as well as the year on year threat of sea level rise, which for the lower lying nations risks severe inundation.

I started out with a breakfast presentation to the Toronto Chapter of KEA (Kiwi Expats Abroad).  While I gave the group an overall outline of the work of the High Commission, my main focus was the collaborative effort of my office with our Consulate based in Vancouver with regard to our shared economic focus into Canada. The Vancouver team is almost 100 per cent trade focussed and are very much the lead team for New Zealand companies entering the Canadian market. The presentation was actually a double act with Melissa Trochon, our Trade Commissioner to Canada, based in Vancouver and who heads up the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) team. Our teams work closely on key projects, particularly when there is an Ontario or Federal government focus.

A significant area of collaboration is in the Security and First Responder areas;  that is the military and organisations like police and fire fighters. Canada is both a market and a source of technical and business collaboration as NZTE assists New Zealand companies looking to get into or expand their operations in Nth America.

I also spent part of the morning at the annual Canadian Restaurant and Food Association (CRFA) Industry Expo, a massive event out at the Exhibition Place in Toronto. As well as walking the floor, I spent much of my time with CRFA President, his Board Chair Donna Dooher and some of the executive. With 30,000 members across Canada representing $60 billion in total business in the food industry, CRFA and New Zealand, as a producer of fine primary produce, have a lot to talk about. And as President Garth Whyte always tells me, before shoppers start putting new products in their supermarket trolley they often like to try it out at a restaurant first.

CRFA have also been one of the more outspoken industry groups when it comes to the on-going debate around the future of supply management, and particularly the protection afforded to the Canadian dairy industry. Most recently this has entailed a campaign entitled “Free your Milk”, and subsequent response to the Campaign by the Dairy Farmers of Canada entitled “Your Milk”.

The CRFA’s basic position is that its membership, mainly small businesses, have to make their way in the world of business based on the quality and value of their product to the consumer. They would like to be able to source their ingredients in an open market to enable them to deliver to customers on quality and value.

Garth Whyte with Andrew Needs

Garth Whyte, Andrew Needs, Donna Dooher and Justin Taylor

Alistair is one of a number of farmers who have held the title and brings to it experience as an award-winning sheep and beef farmer, as well as a veteran industry representative and entrepreneur.  I attended a number of calls with Alistair, including a joint presentation to the Conference Board with me providing some context on the Canada-New Zealand bilateral relationship before Alistair’s presentation on New Zealand’s perspective on global agricultural trade.  But as he spent most of his time with Sarah (a previous guest-blogger) I’ve asked her to jot down a few thoughts:

If it weren’t for yer gumboots where would yer be?

The government-appointed role of Special Agricultural Trade Envoy was established in 1999 with the objectives of promoting and defending New Zealand’s agricultural trading interests overseas, with a particular focus on farmers talking to other farmers, which is just as well because – as I discovered – farmers really like talking to other farmers, and visiting each others farms (if possible). A big part of the job, which Alistair is very adept at, is to show, drawing on New Zealand’s experience, how farming can be successful without government support.  The other part is to explain why freeing up global agricultural trade is so important to us.

As Alistair explained, New Zealand has a useful story to tell as a country that removed its system of agricultural subsidies (New Zealand now has the lowest producer support estimate in the OECD at 1%) and went on to become the world’s largest dairy product and sheep meat exporter, and the world’s 12^th-largest agricultural exporter by value, despite being further from markets than any other major agricultural producer. The transformation wrought by exposure to world markets has been profound, in the past 25 years agricultural productivity has increased by 3.3 percent annually and we now export to every corner of the globe. As Alistair put it, “earning a living depends on meeting customers’ expectations of price and quality, not on government support – and farmers don’t want to go back.”

That a country just over a quarter of the size of Ontario with a population the size of Toronto can be the world’s largest dairy exporter is a great story of Kiwi entrepreneurship and hard work, but it’s a sorry tale for agricultural trade liberalisation. Due to high trade barriers for dairy products, just 7% percent of dairy products are traded globally. And there is nothing special about dairy; other agricultural exports like sugar and rice also face acute market access barriers. Agriculture is unfinished business as far as international trade rules are concerned, and with the WTO Doha negotiations currently on ice, New Zealand will continue to pursue agricultural trade liberalisation in all its free trade agreements, including in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

But, as Alistair noted, this is not just in New Zealand’s interests. Canada is a real agricultural trade heavyweight and a strong, fair and open international trading system for agriculture is very much in Canada’s interests. Canada is the world’s 4^th largest agri-food exporter, agriculture and food account for almost 10% of Canada’s total merchandise trade, and 9 out of every 10 farms is dependent on export markets.

The title of this blog refers to an iconic New Zealand song originally performed in the 1970s by comedian John Clarke as his “traditional Kiwi bloke” alter-ego Fred Dagg (http://folksong.org.nz/gumboot/index.html). It’s a comedic song, but within it hides a core of truth about agriculture in New Zealand that still resonates. Agriculture is how New Zealand earns its crust – together agriculture, horticulture and forestry make up around 12% of our GDP, 64% of our merchandise export earnings and is responsible for just under 12% of employment. Perhaps more than any other developed country, our economy, people and environment depend on the success of our land-based industries. That explains why a strong rules-based system for international agricultural trade is so important to us.

It should be equally important to Canada.

Early in the week the Prime Minister addressed both resident (stationed in Kingston) and non-resident Ambassadors. The Prime Minister outlined the key challenges for her government, which remain economic (a high debt to GDP ratio) and social (youth unemployment and crime). There are few countries in the world right now that are not touched by economic challenges and Jamaica’s are significant. The Prime Minister noted that upcoming negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were a key preoccupation for her administration, the difficulty being how to put the fiscal situation on a more sustainable footing while not tipping more people into poverty or raising unemployment.

With every Minister I spoke to it was clear that whatever their portfolio, the economic agenda was front and centre; without economic momentum the wider social challenges become all the more intractable. New Zealand is broadly similar in population to Jamaica (we are 4.4 million compared to their 2.8) and our economic profile, as a developed country, is similar in many respects to Jamaica. Tourism and primary production are key drivers of both of our economies. It was our management in New Zealand of those two drivers which most interested the Ministers with whom I met. The price of energy is also a major impost on growth in Jamaica as oil is the main source of generation. While New Zealand is less reliant on fossil fuels, we share similar hurdles on delivery systems in a small market. There is scope for collaborative work in some of these areas and I will be following up.

An area where New Zealand and Jamaica already work together is in the multilateral arena, especially at the United Nations. In his address to the diplomatic corps, Foreign Minister AJ Nicholson highlighted the importance of multilateral institutions to smaller countries. That part of his address could have been a facsimile of something from his New Zealand counterpart. I was able to follow up this theme with the Minister when we met one-on-one later in the week. Climate Change was a significant part of our conversation, a shared concern, but one where our respective regions of the South Pacific and the Caribbean share a common vulnerability. And it is in areas such as this where globally brokered solutions, with engagement from all nations, highlight the importance of the United Nations.

No conversation in Jamaica is complete without mention of sport. The New Zealand Cricket Team, the Black Caps, will be touring the Caribbean later this year (starting 28 June) and will be playing a test at Sabina Park in Kingston. For such sports loving nations, our cricketers and netballers are often our countries’ greatest Ambassadors. I am happy to concede the men’s 100 metre event at the London Olympics (Usain Bolt’s speciality event) as long as we get a decent run in the cricket.

What on earth is that, you may ask?

For those of you, who, like me, aren’t scientists, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is the name for what will be, once built, the largest radio telescope ever devised.

Thousands of individual high-tech receivers (15 metre dishes) will be linked together across a continent, giving the SKA a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than the best instruments today. By capturing the faintest possible signals from distant objects in space, the SKA will help us to see further into the cosmos – and further back in time – than ever before, enabling us to explore questions such as whether there is life elsewhere in the universe, what happened after the big bang, and whether Einstein’s theory of general relativity is the last word on gravity? In short, “life, the universe and everything” (is the answer really “42” as Douglas Adams would have us believe?!)

Development of the SKA has been the product of international collaboration between institutions from 20 countries, including Australia and New Zealand and countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas – Canada has been represented by the NRC and the University of Calgary. This collaboration culminated in the creation of the SKA Organisation in November 2011.

Australia – New Zealand is one of two sites the international astronomy community has identified as a suitable location for the SKA.  The Australia – New Zealand site has many advantages, including a naturally radio‑quiet core site in the Australian Outback, protected by a 520 km diameter radio-quiet zone. Nowhere else in the world is such a vast area regulated for radio‑quietness. By linking the core site to additional receivers in New Zealand, the long baseline crucial to the SKA design can be extended to over 5000km – well above basic specifications. You can find out more about the SKA and the Australia – New Zealand bid online at www.ska.gov.au. A decision by the SKA Organisation Founding Board on the site is expected in the first half of 2012.

Artist’s impression of dishes that will make up the Square Kilometre Array. Credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions/SKA Program Development Office.

Our meeting with the NRC got me thinking about “Big Science” – that is projects of global significance that require the efforts (and funds) of more than one or two countries to bring into being. In times of fiscal constraint, when governments around the world are focussed on balancing the books each budget cycle, the case for projects like the SKA needs to be made in a way that speaks to those concerns. The SKA is an ambitious, once in a generation project, with profound implications for humanity, but it will also help drive innovation in various disciplines, including green energy, data processing, communications and systems engineering. Designing the telescope itself will require technological developments in computing, communications and radio frequency devices, all of which are likely to have innovative potential outside the SKA.

Finally, the SKA will open up opportunities for international collaboration in science, technology, engineering and learning. On this last note, I’m looking forward to the visit of our Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, to Canada next month as the inaugural Canadian Prime Minister’s Fellow.  Sir Peter is one of New Zealand’s best known medical scientists and the author of over 500 scientific papers. He is also a strong advocate for science and innovation as a pathway to economic prosperity.  New Zealand and Canada share many views in this area and face similar challenges; I think we have a lot to offer each other.

coastal walkway

Coastal walkway (footbridge in distance)

Coastal walkway footbridge

 After a while away from the area in which I grew up, it is with refreshed eyes that I view what the locals, while appreciating their good fortune, probably take a little for granted.  As I headed up hill away from my Mum’s place it was the intense green of the pasture, which is largely aseasonal, that stood out; fifty cows in one paddock, apparently luxuriating in what was growing up underneath them, almost as fast as they could eat it.  A couple of kilometres further, my pulse now rising with the incline, a herd was heading back out from morning milking. 

Cows in pasture

Cows heading back out after morning milking

The top of my journey reached I started to cut across heartland dairy country.  Its been that way for over a hundred years.  The dairy industry though is a classic example of a combination of both continuity and change.   The continuity is the interface between the fundamental environmental attributes that makes my home province such a wonderful place to produce milk: sun, rain, soil, warmth; and the animal husbandry of the farming community.  The family farm continues to be the core basis of dairying in Taranaki.  Farms have grown larger, taking advantage of scale, and a practical accomodation of the reality that not every son or daughter of a dairy farmer wants to follow in the family footseps. 

The most striking element of change for me is less the farm amalgamation, rather the downstream processing and exporting of what leaves the farm gate as milk and ends up all over the world in many many different forms.   The small towns that ring the mountain 10-20 kilometres apart grew as service centres in the late 19th and early 20th century; each one had a dairy factory, they processed milk for local consumption and were the starting point for production and export of butter and cheese.  That is where change has been greatest.  The science of milk has grown phenomenally over the past 30-40 years.  The New Zealand dairy industry still exports butter and cheese, but that scientific advance has meant that milk powder, baby formula, protein products, and component products going into an ever increasing range of foods require scale and capital investment.  Those small dairy factories are no longer running and have been collectively replaced by a major processing plant in Hawera (about 50 miles from New Plymouth). 

Frankley Road Cooperative Dairy Co Ltd

It is that variety of produce, combined with the growing demand for quality proteins across the globe, especially in Asia, that is driving high commodity prices, happy farmers in Taranaki, and a wider community that derives much of its livelihood from servicing the industry. 

All that said, there is one thing I have to do when I hit the 3 kilometres-to-go mark of my ride.  The New Zealand equivalent of a corner store or 7/11 is, appropriately enough, called a dairy.  The Iona dairy is legendary for its ice creams, both with regard to size and variety of flavours.  My daily constitutional any time I am in Taranaki is a double scoop boysenberry ripple.  100 per cent full cream milk. 

Iona dairy