Having watched other industries leave the region John Milne considers the future for Westland Milk Products with the proposed sale to Yili.
As another dairy season draws to a close it has given me a chance to reflect on this industry that my wife and I are so dedicated too.
We milk seasonal supply at “the Cape” as its locally known. Close to Westport in the Buller District.
I married a local girl, she’s a Coaster born and bred here. But I got dragged here when I was almost six years old. Born under the shadow of Mt Egmont (that’s right its name has changed), my parents sharemilked in the “Naki” for 11 years (nine of them in drought).
The time came when Mum and Dad had to make a massive decision to keep their dream alive. So off we went – me, my sister and pets with our parents to the “Coast”. It was 1977. We settled in as ‘the North Island family’, quickly making friends in the district.
As I sit here writing this looking out my window, I am reminded of industries coming and going from the Buller. I can see three huge concrete pulverisers slowly demolishing the mothballed Holcim cement plant, which kept New Zealand going strong with cement shipped from Westport’s port to cities around NZ.
Sixty years of generational families were employed. The cement gets trucked in now. The town has survived but has taken a hit. It’s not the first industry to leave the region, I might add.
That brings me to the reason for this article – dairying. It’s what we do for a crust, and our way of life that we chose. It has a constant graft with highs and lows, but nothing that hasn’t been done before.
However, for the last five seasons it’s got really serious and a constant worry, which in turn is going to bring Jo and myself to our time in life to make one of our biggest decisions for our family’s farming future, like my parents before me.
Yili wants us. Wow. It’s taken time talking among fellow farmers, and as a family to get our heads around this. Don’t get me wrong, this is a huge decision for all of us. And it’s our decision and no-one else’s.
Has there ever been more interest in the Coast outside of the traditional whitebait season as there is now?
“You can’t do this”.
“You must keep it in NZ ownership”.
“How can you vote to end a co-op”.
If you aren’t competitive in business, you won’t stay in business. It’s that simple. And we aren’t anymore, Westland Milk Products has chased a dream and it hasn’t been able to be realised. Frustrating for sure, but that’s all I will say about the performance. We all wanted Westland to be successful, after all it has been built by Coasters for Coasters.
As Karamea’s dairy company did in the 1980s, borrowed and built and was unable to trade its way out, so Karamea amalgamated with Westland’s Co-Op Dairy. I can remember the excitement of different milk tankers coming to collect our milk, but it was picked up.
Our Coast economy is so reliant now on this industry performing, about $30 million is not coming back to the region this season alone with an uncompetitive pay-out again.
Finally, I must say at the end of the day the opinion of outsiders and politicians who choose to offer advice but not live here, can say what they like. In turn we and fellow shareholders will vote. It’s that simple. Democracy will show us which direction we will take, but more importantly than anything it’s our choice.
- Westport dairy farmers John and Jo-Anne Milne and their three children (Samantha, Aimee and Hamish) milk 300 Jersey cows and supply Westland Milk Products in Hokitika.
