Word of the day

Erlebnisse – experience, something that one has lived through, adventure; event of which one is cognizant; experiences we feel most deeply and through which we truly live.

Rural round-up

Potential for more dairy exports to South East Asia:

A new government-commissioned report highlights the potential for the New Zealand dairy industry to increase its exports of consumer products into South East Asia.

New Zealand is already the largest supplier of milk powder to countries in the region and also has a strong share of the trade in most other dairy products.

But the report said growing demand offered plenty of opportunity for consumer-ready dairy products as well. . . 

More changes for Alliance leadership – Neal Wallace:

There is further change at the head of Alliance Group with two of the longest serving directors announcing their retirement.

Less than a year after chief executive Grant Cuff retired, directors Murray Donald and Doug Brown have announced they are also to retire, effective from December’s annual meeting.

That leaves chairman Murray Taggart as the only supplier representative with more than four years’ experience. . . 

Ravensdown caps fertiliser price:

Ravensdown – the fertiliser farmer co-operative – has capped the price of its superphosphate product to give farmers a firm number to budget with. 

Chief executive Greg Campbell said the product’s price will be fixed at $320 a tonne until the end of November.

Superphosphate is a fertiliser used on dairy, livestock and cropping farms.

Mr Campbell said the company’s balance sheet was in good health, which allowed it to delay any possible price rises.

He said this was a first for the company. . . 

Halfway mark in 2015 Sheepmeat and Beef Referendum:

One in five registered voters have cast their vote at the halfway mark in the 2015 Sheepmeat and Beef Levy Referendum.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand Chairman James Parsons said the turnout was pleasing and he was encouraging farmers to vote before the voting closes on September 10.

“It is important for farmers to have their say and ensure that the organisation has a strong mandate to continue its activities on behalf of farmers.”

By the end of this week farmers throughout the country will have had the opportunity to attend one of the 53 referendum information meetings being hosted by Beef + Lamb New Zealand Directors, the local farmers of the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Farmer Council and members of Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s senior management team. . . 

More crop insurance more problems? – Brad Wassink:

Helen Fessenden at the Richmond Fed recently published an informative article in Econ Focus on the history and development of the federal crop insurance program — and on why many are criticizing it.

Under the new farm bill, crop insurance is estimated to be nearly 20% more expensive than under the previous 2008 bill. It is expected to cost $41 billion over five years.

Some contend that the program should be viewed as a success. For one, its reach is nearly universal: 90% of farmland is covered. They claim that the substantial benefits provided by the program negate the need for one-off disaster relief packages — for damages caused by a natural disaster such as a hurricane or severe drought — that are often expensive and inefficient. The new crop insurance programs cover even more crops.

But as Fessenden notes, economists, taxpayer groups, and the GAO all point to the program’s core problem: . . 

Submissions sought on carbaryl, chlorpyrifos and diazinon reassessment:

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) welcomes submissions on its reassessment of some organophosphates and carbamates (OPCs). The reassessment will cover substances containing carbaryl, chlorpyrifos and diazinon used as active ingredients in veterinary medicines or in substances used as non-plant protection insecticides (in and around buildings, on hard surfaces, and in industrial situations).

This reassessment follows the EPA’s previous OPC reassessment in June 2013, which considered only OPCs that were used as insecticides for plant protection.

This reassessment application has been prepared by the staff of the EPA on behalf of the Chief Executive. It is being undertaken because of concerns about the safety and well-being of people and the environment resulting from the use of carbaryl, chlorpyrifos and diazinon. . . 

And with a hat tip to : Kiwiblog:

 

Look Mum, no Hans

Darren Walsh won the award for the funniest joke of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with this line:

“I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans-free.”

The next nine were:

2: Stewart Francis: “Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse… but enough about Kanye West.”

3: Adam Hess: “Surely every car is a people carrier?”

4: Masai Graham: “What’s the difference between a ‘hippo’ and a ‘Zippo’? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.”

5: Dave Green: “If I could take just one thing to a desert island I probably wouldn’t go.”

6: Mark Nelson: “Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That’s not a miracle. That’s tapas.”

7: Tom Parry: “Red sky at night. Shepherd’s delight. Blue sky at night. Day.”

=8: Alun Cochrane: “The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves.”

=8: Simon Munnery: “Clowns divorce. Custardy battle.”

10: Grace The Child: “They’re always telling me to live my dreams. But I don’t want to be naked in an exam I haven’t revised for…”

No doubt most would have been much funnier as part of a show than they are reading them cold on a screen.

 

Quote of the day

The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to take care of themselves. – Roald Dahl

August 26 in history

1071  Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert.

1278 Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeated Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Dürnkrut in (then) Moravia.

1346  Hundred Years’ War: the military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights was established at the Battle of Crécy.

1498  Michelangelo was commissioned to carve the Pietà.

1676 Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born (d. 1745).

1768 The HM Bark Endeavour expedition under Captain James Cook set sail from England.

1778 The first recorded ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia.

1789  Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by National Assembly at Palace of Versailles.

1819 Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom, was born (d. 1861).

1858 First news dispatch by telegraph.

1862 American Civil War: the Second Battle of Bull Run began.

1865 Arthur James Arnot, Scottish inventor, was born (d. 1946).

1866 – After two bungled attempts and near disaster at sea, the first communications cable between the North and South Islands of New Zealand   was completed.

1875 John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada, was born (d. 1940).

1883 The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa began its final, paroxysmal, stage.

1894 The second Maori King, Tukaroto Matutaera Potatau Te Wherowhero Tawhiao, died.

1898 Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector, was born (d. 1979).

1904 Christopher Isherwood, English-born writer, was born (d. 1986).

1906 Albert Sabin, American polio researcher, was born (d. 1993).

1910 Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize winning Christian missionary, was born (d. 1997).

1911 – The New Zealand Coat of Arms was warranted.

1914  World War I: the German colony of Togoland was invaded by French and British forces.

1920  The 19th amendment to United States Constitution took effect, giving women the right to vote.

1940 Chad was the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France’s first black colonial governor.

1942  Holocaust in Chortkiv, western Ukraine: At 2.30 am the German Schutzpolizei started driving Jews out of their houses, divided them into groups of 120, packed them in freight cars and deported 2000 to Belzec death camp; 500 of the sick and children weremurdered on the spot.

1944 World War II: Charles de Gaulle entered Paris.

1957 The USSR announced the successful test of an ICBM – a “super long distance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket … a few days ago,” according to the Soviet news agency, ITAR-TASS.

1970  The then new feminist movement, led by Betty Friedan, led a nation-wide Women’s Strike for Equality.

1977  The Charter of the French Language was adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec

1978   Pope John Paul I was elected to the Papacy.

1978 – Sigmund Jähn became first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 31 spacecraft.

1980  Macaulay Culkin, American actor, was born.

1982 David Long, New Zealand musician, was born.

1992 Václav Klaus and Vladimír Mečiar signed agreement of split of Czechoslovakia in Brno.

1997  Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.

1999 – Russia began the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.

2002 – Earth Summit 2002 began in Johannesburg.

2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s all-new composite airliner, received certification from the EASA and the FAA.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia