The “ambassador for New Zealand farmers” has said international regulations could stifle our $6.6 billion dollar forestry industry.

Hamish Marr met with the Ashburton District Council to share his concerns for local and national agriculture last week.

The Methven farmer turned special agricultural trade envoy gave an overview of what he’d done since starting in the role 18 months ago.

He’s been to India, Australia, China and beyond to represent the Kiwi farmers.

“New Zealand is held in the highest regard,” he said to council members.“Tourism New Zealand has done a really great job of that.

They see blue skies, blue rivers, green paddocks.”

We export 95% of the dairy we produce in Aotearoa, and are responsible for 35% of the world’s traded dairy.

Marr said while that shows we can compete on a global platform, it also shows how vulnerable we are.

“Big countries with big populations can absorb fluctuations in international prices - we can’t, as a small country.”

New Zealand is an isolated piece of land with a small population, which makes our economy over reliant on agricultural export.“81.4% of our export revenue comes from agriculture.

"So without the agricultural piece right, the country falls over.”

Proof of that instability lies with our forestry industry, who could be shut out from European markets by year’s end.

“By Christmas time this year, you cannot import anything into Europe if it has been deemed to come from deforested land.”

Our country has a good track record with sustainable forestry practice, Marr said, so ethically sourced wood is not the issue.

“The challenge for New Zealand is we can’t prove it.”

European regulations are very prescriptive compared to our requirements here, he said.

The regulation will affect trade relationships outside of the EU too.

China has said it won’t source wood from the country, as any items made with New Zealand timber would not be traceable, and thus could not be sold to Europe.

“They have stopped the import of logs from New Zealand that were destined to Europe.”

He said the mission is to get the EU to recognise our standards and make wood trade possible for us again.

Marr touched on several other issues while speaking to the council, such as Environment Canterbury’s nutrient requirements for farmers, promising trade partners and wool advocacy.

The family farm, on the south end of the Rakaia river, is where Marr finds himself when he’s not advertising New Zealand agriculture to the world.

He said farmers across the world speak one language.

“If agriculture does one thing, it's to feed the people.

"To me, that’s the common ground.”

“What you come to realise is that we’re all just people trying to do the same thing.”

Marr is off to visit countries in the Americas following his Mid Canterbury stopover.

By Anisha Satya