Ken Ring uses the cycles of the Moon to generate long range forecasts across the world.

Ken Ring.

Rural Living – How do you see things ahead for the rural community given the current economic climate?

Ken Ring – Perhaps the suspension of the ETS will ease pressure on the purse strings of producers, who were facing financial ruin under the plans of the previous government who in order to please the Greens seemed intent on penalising the emissive practices of small businesses, whilst larger operations were to be left alone. This would have favoured wholesale takeovers which would have put energy price decision-making into the hands of a smaller number, who would have seen fit to have made substantial price hikes.

The present government seems to be searching for a way to eventually cancel our commitments to Kyoto and other World Bank/UN orchestrated tax scams based on carbon price trading but first have to win hearts and minds. The wise way to do this is small steps taken slowly. Climatically, cooler growing seasons will mean poorer yields in coming years creating shortages, so food prices will tend to increase and small farm enterprises will again be able to compete with larger suppliers which will find themselves running less profitable operations. At local consumer level then there may be more farmers markets and a return to buying direct from a local producer, so providing more cash flow.

On the other hand the proliferation of free marketing may take away more of our niche markets and reduce our export potential. If Asian produce finds its way onto supermarket shelves marked cheaper than we can produce it for we may have to turn back to more traditional forms of farming, those meat and wool products in which NZ has always led the world.

RL – How do you see the growth of the lifestyle block in New Zealand?

KR – Over the years lifestyle blocks have become more than a move to the country. From their beginnings as cottage industries lifestyle blocks have been slowly developing into small corporations that seem to be moving up the economic food chain. The removal of Resource Consent requirements will enable more development of lifestyle blocks and a richer and more varied tapestry of rural community. I see this as a positive for tourism and eventually for the whole country.

RL – Farmers - especially dairy farmers - seem to be accused of being responsible for everything from global warming to the rising cost of living. Do you think this is accurate or fair? How can we change this view?

KR – Ignore it. The accusation comes only from city dwellers fed the nonsense of climate change through the alarmist media who I don’t think altogether believe much of it themselves and simply want to sell newspapers. The Greens will always be alarmist because otherwise they have no point of difference and would be out of jobs. There is an equal notion that farming is still the backbone of the economy and we can at least support it and buy NZ produce whenever we can.

RL – What is the one thing you do everyday to help the planet?

KR – I try to live and breathe and respect other living creatures that share this planet. But the planet does not need my help. It was here 4.5bn years before me and if it has been waiting for me to arrive to help it, it must be in a REALLY sick state.

We have a duty to help our children enjoy the place, without heaping on them the command that it is up to them to save it. To even suggest that anything I can do can help a planet seems a bit far-fetched to me. After all, a certain amount of so-called pollution is actually good. In pre-politically correct times we used to call it compost.

RL – What is the most interesting book you have read recently and you would recommend to others?

KR – I tend not to read books as most of my waking time I am too busy writing them. But Heaven and Earth by Ian Plimer is one I’d recommend.

RL – What three people would you invite to dinner if you could?

KR – My three favourite people would be my two grownup children and my wife who died 15 years ago. You did say if I could!

RL – Is New Zealand still the clean green haven it has traditionally been viewed as?

KR – Clean? It depends where you go and what your definition is. The cities are cleaner in that they are more environmentally aware, but the streets are more leaded because of the increase in the number of car imports that has not been met with road improvements and motorway expansions. Still, that is always a personal choice because anyone can move out to the country if they wish to. Yes, green and it will always be that way so long as we have a small population because we just don’t have the manpower to clear the bush and develop forestry land in other ways. Haven? Don’t know about that. I lived in a housebus in the 1970s and we often camped out in the wops but I think that lifestyle would be less safe now.

I used to hitch-hike when I was a teenager but wouldn’t recommend that anymore. In the cities and some small towns crims seem to have the police on the back foot, helped by weak governments in the past anxious to not upset any minority lest they lose their block vote, and so crime has been steadily increasing yet our population has remained relatively the same. Then again people will turn to crime if they simply cannot afford to live or if there is nothing else to do, and there has been little political will to get a large number of families out of the poverty trap and into more rewarding lifestyles. So perhaps not the haven that it was. I guess it depends who and where you are.