KNOWLEDGE sharing in the agriculture industry will be the key topic for a delegation to New Zealand next week.
Headed by the Tasmanian agriculture industry and Minister for Primary Industries and Water Jeremy Rockliff, the visit is aimed at both learning and sharing information on agriculture.
Mr Rockliff announced the delegation yesterday at the Tasmanian Agricultural Productivity Group annual general meeting.
He said Tasmania and New Zealand shared many things in common, including a cool climate and a large agriculture industry.
‘‘Some may argue we have more in common with our cousins across the ditch than those on the mainland,’’ Mr Rockliff said at the AGM.
‘‘The purpose of this delegation to New Zealand is to learn from our partners across the ditch with the aim of learning from their experiences and exchanging ideas and information and learning so we can grow agriculture in Tasmania and create more jobs in rural and regional communities,’’ he said.
He said Tasmania’s dairy and wine industries would benefit greatly from the mission to New Zealand as well as enabling the group to learn about New Zealand’s biosecurity.
‘‘In many respects, New Zealand and Tasmanian agriculture align, we have strong brand focus and we take a great deal of pride in terms of our clean, green, natural image,’’ he said.
Mr Rockliff said Tasmania and New Zealand both shared a strong focus on biosecurity and education in agriculture.
Tasmania’s peak agricultural body Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association (TFGA) will be joining the delegation.
TFGA chief executive officer Peter Skillern said there would be plenty of things New Zealand would be looking to learn from Tasmania, but Tasmania needed to look at how New Zealand did things.
‘‘We need to look at the things New Zealand have done to ensure that we are doing it as best we can,’’ he said.
‘‘If they’re doing it in a different way or using a different methodology we should be looking at picking that up.’’