On the Crafar Bid and the Challenge to Fonterra

National have a couple of problems looming on the agricultural front. Free trade and investment ideology requires National allow the Chinese purchase of the Crfara farms. To offer any blockage to the deal is to spurn that ideology and, also, to anger the Chinese government. Mr Fay's attempts to block the deal muddy the water even more for government, for Mr Fay is associated with a phase of privatisation that National would not wish to have raised at the moment. Many, however, will worry about major overseas purchases of our land, and the question of where does an asset become a strategic national resource is now being asked, once again. Meanwhile, the support for non-national dairy processors captured in National's desire to require milk to be made available will, undoubtedly. irritate Fonterra and its farmer base (already suspicious of government's role in the current restructuring of Fonterra ownership).

Getting offside on these two fronts before Parliament sits is pretty good going.