The government is redirecting bovine tuberculosis (TB) eradication funding from blanket livestock testing to targeted possum control, with Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard saying the change will reduce compliance costs for farmers while keeping the $60 million annual budget unchanged.

Just 16 infected herds remain nationally, he says.

“It is those last infected possums, particularly in the Central North Island, and so the focus really needs to be now on nailing those,” he says.

Hoggard says the programme aims to eradicate TB from both possums and livestock by 2040. Funding of $60 million a year continues for five years, with farmers covering 60% and the government 40%.

“It was a case of spending a lot of money on doing a lot of testing of places where we know we’ve taken it out of the population.

“The focus now needs to be on spending that money on that possum control.”

He says aerial operations will be needed in harder-to-reach parts of the Central North Island, Hawke’s Bay, and Otago.

“It can’t be patchwork, it can’t be just relying on people saying yes or no – we’ve got to be able to get in there and do it.”

He says his family farmed on the edge of an infected area when he was growing up, and he remembers the stress it placed on his parents.

“I really feel for those farmers who are stuck in that area and constantly getting reinfected.

“If we can stick to the programme, then we can get on top of these possums, get the numbers down so low that it doesn’t circulate and the disease itself dies out.”

OSPRI will retain monitoring in cleared areas, with testing triggered by herd movements or when something shows up closer to cleared zones. Hoggard says trust needs to be rebuilt with affected communities, particularly in northern Hawke’s Bay, and that following through on commitments is how that happens.

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.