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- By Eliza Lott
On Sunday, April 5, clocks in New Zealand will not go back an hour as daylight saving time ends – at least not for farmers in Franklin.
To discover whether the practice actually costs more than it saves, farmers will not ‘fall back’, April Falsa from the Pukekohe Primary Producers Union (PPPU) explains.
“It’s not that farmers are lazy, at least not horticultural farmers here in Franklin, but they have been missing out on some productive hours thanks to this arcane practice,” she says.
“Time can’t stand still just because some people like to have a little lie-in.”
The move is limited to Franklin as local farmers play guinea pigs in this temporary experiment. They will put their clocks back an hour a week later, on April 12.
It does not affect urban workers.
“Franklin is the ideal location for this because many of the farmers here aren’t really as essential to our primary industries as the growers in the Bay of Plenty or the dairy farmers in Waikato. Also, unlike more sophisticated urban centres, small rural towns like Pukekohe operate on ‘island-time’.”
Daylight saving was initiated to help reduce energy use from artificial lighting and to ensure people have more natural light during winter afternoons, but has it now had its day?
The PPPU will follow its Franklin experiment with a comprehensive $2.5 million study funded through council rates.
“We intend to take our time to understand the repercussions of daylight saving fully. The data will enable us to better understand if farmers and their animals would actually be better off remaining in sync with the seasons, just as nature intended,” Falsa says.
“We need definitive data on this; we need to stop working in the dark.”
Following the study, findings will be discussed, and a working group will be established to consider whether or not to draft a document to outline the next steps (if any) going forward.
If the country does ditch daylight saving as a result of experiments here in Franklin, a new sundial is expected to be installed in Pukekohe, in place of the Possum Bourne statue.
However, not everyone is on board with the experiment.
“My girls know when they need to be milked,” Pukekawa dairy farmer and tight-head prop for the Buckland Bullshirts, Hayden Fields says.
“They don’t put their clocks forward or back, so I have to go by their schedule anyway, so that won’t make much difference. But if everyone else is running an hour late, it’s going to be a pain, even just by having to work out when our games are on – we’d hate to have to forfeit!”
However, such short-term confusion shouldn’t prove too problematic, Falsa expects.
“Farmers will hop back onto the same schedule as everyone else on April 12. In the meantime, if they miss the Easter Bunny’s deliveries, I don’t think they will mind too much,” she adds.
“Chocolate eggs are always cheaper after Easter, and most farmers don’t like rabbits anyway.”
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