新西兰英语 287 Dairy Farmers feel hopeful

　　Fonterra said today that the 11,000 dairy¹ farmers in their co-operative will receive an opening price of $6.60 a kg of milk solids for the 2010 / 2011 year. They will also get 30c to 50c for each share they have in the company. In fact, the price could go as high as $8 a kg if demand for New Zealand’s milk products continues and if the exchange rate stays much the same. Listen to August 26th 2009 and January 25th 2010 for background to Fonterra.
There is strong demand for milk powder from China, other parts of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. This is partly because of the recession² in the US and poor weather in Europe and Australia.
Parts of New Zealand have also had weather problems, especially drought³. It hasn’t rained for months in some areas. However, in the last week we have had heavy rain throughout the country with some farms flooded.
In spite⁴ of this, dairy exports are 29% higher than this time last year and for the first time in eight years, money from our exports is more than the cost of imports. Dairy products are on the top of the export list with wood in second place.
About 95% of NZ’s milk products are sold overseas so we have to pay more for our milk, butter and cheese also. At the moment, milk is around $3.30 a litre in the supermarkets but it will go up by an extra 10c a litre in July.
Questions to think about
Should Fonterra be forced to sell milk at a lower price in New Zealand?
Will higher prices for dairy products mean that more sheep farmers will decide to go into dairy farming instead?

1 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

2 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

3 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

4 spite   

n.（用于短语）虽然，不顾，尽管

参考例句：

• He has modern ideas in spite of his great age.尽管他年事很高，但思想观念却很入时。
• In spite of his anger,his remarks were restrained.他尽管生气，说的话还是有节制的。