Word of the day

Bigsie – having an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance.

Sowell says

The free market is a daily assault on the vision of the anointed. Just think of all those millions of people out there buying whatever they want, whenever they want, whether or not the anointed think it is good for them.

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 13, 2019

Rural round-up

Susan Murray wins the Ravensdown Agricultural Communicator of the Year award:

Radio New Zealand’s Country Life producer and presenter Susan Murray has been named the 2019 Ravensdown Agricultural Communicator of the year.

The award, presented last night at Mystery Creek Fieldays, recognises people making a significant contribution to communicating agricultural issues, events and information.

Susan has worked on the popular farming-based radio programme for more than two decades, bringing a wealth of agricultural knowledge to the show and building a greater public understanding of the practical and technical aspects of farming life in New Zealand. . . 

Radio New Zealand’s Country Life producer and presenter Susan Murray has been named the 2019 Ravensdown Agricultural Communicator of the year.

The award, presented last night at Mystery Creek Fieldays.

Read more about it here: https://t.co/JfXedrXfrS pic.twitter.com/H54zc9VO3S

— Ravensdown (@RavensdownNZ) June 13, 2019

Agri-innovations on show at Fieldays – Maja Burry:

Some of the best new agri-innovations have been recognised at National Agricultural Fieldays near Hamilton.

Winners at the Fieldays Innovation Awards included a ‘fit bit’ for rivers, which monitors water quality, an online service to help orchardists find seasonal workers, and a device that keeps a trough free of algae.

The company, Future Post, was also recognised for its work turning 100 percent recycled plastic waste into durable fence posts.

Judges said the product provided a way for farmers to participate in addressing what is a massive environmental problem for New Zealand. . . 

AgResearch wins supreme Fieldays award:

AgResearch and three other Crown Research Institute collaborators have won the overall Supreme Site Award for Best Stand at National Fieldays.

Scion, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and Environmental Science and Research joined forces with AgResearch to showcase innovative science and the research they do to improve New Zealand farming and the food sector.

The award was announced today. It also received a second award – Best Agribusiness Indoor Site award at Fieldays. . . 

ClearTech wins Fieldays innovation award:

Ravensdown’s ClearTech dairy effluent treatment system which was developed in conjunction with Lincoln University has won a Highly Commended Award at the Fieldays innovation awards.

The system uses a coagulant to bind effluent colloidal particles together in order to settle them out from the water. This clarifying process reduces freshwater use, helps existing effluent storage go further and reduces the environmental and safety risk linked with farm dairy effluent (FDE).

“ClearTech is ideal for those dairy farmers who want to save on effluent pond storage and take back control of their capacity and compliance,” said Product Manager Carl Ahlfeld. . . 

Tractor driving bachelor named Fieldays Rural Catch 2019 –

An Otorohanga tractor driver has taken out the 2019 Fieldays Rural Catch top honours, while a Hamilton dairy technician was named as the People’s Choice.

Eight rural singles showed off their farm skills at the Fieldays at Mystery Creek, hoping to catch the eye of employers – and a potential love interest.

This year’s competition had them brushing up their confidence with some media interviews and sponsor engagements and showing off their skills in the areas of fencing, innovations, chainsaws, health and wellbeing, finance and ATV skills.

Lewis Nichols, who is a heavy machinery operator for agricultural contracting company Bradfields based in Otorohanga was announced as the winner on Friday. . . 

#Plant19

…from the top of a windmill

📷 @BrentScott77 pic.twitter.com/pEqgm2rLMO

— Agriculture More Than Ever (@AgMoreThanEver) June 10, 2019

China’s appetite for NZ red meat is surging – Jenny Ruth:

(BusinessDesk) – China has been New Zealand’s largest market for red meat for some time and growth in that market is surging.

Meat Industry Association analysis of Stats NZ figures shows China accounted for 36 percent of total red meat exports in April and sales there that month jumped 62 percent by value from the previous April.

That’s down a little from the 70 percent year-on-year growth in the month of March, although growth in the year ended March was a slightly more sedate 47 percent. . .

Dairy industry receives boost with $25 million sustainable innovation programme:

A new $25.68 million innovation programme for New Zealand’s dairy industry will drive improvements in the health and wellbeing of the national dairy herd and a step-change in sustainable milk production.

The seven-year programme, called Resilient Dairy: Innovative Breeding for a Sustainable Future, launched today and is being led by farmer-owned herd improvement co-operative Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC), with investment and support from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and DairyNZ. . .

Just some of the many ECOLOGICAL benefits of well managed grass fed beef pic.twitter.com/OZmV97fHxh

— Defending Beef (@DefendingBeef) June 9, 2019

A Nelson based company creates a world first non-toxic in fighting grape splitting:

Agricultural fertiliser and biostimulant company Waikaitu Ltd has developed a product that could significantly impact the wine growing industry.

Waikaitu Ltd has produced the world’s first seaweed-based product called FruitGuard to help grapes naturally regulate the water pressure inside the fruit and significantly reduce splitting.

Grape splitting can occur at the end of the season just before harvest, potentially ruining harvests with even a single late season rain event. A grape that has split may then allow fungal infection, like Botrytis, to get established in the grape bunches. If the fungus infection is bad enough the grower can lose their entire crop. Fungal pressure intensifies late in grape development – just before the harvest. . . 

Why govt’s GM policy defers logic, hurts farmers :

As farmers under the umbrella of the Shetkari Sangathana start their civil disobedience movement and plant the banned Herbicide Tolerant (HT) GM seeds as well as Bt brinjal, chances are the authorities will treat this as yet another law and order issue and will arrest them; it is, however, not a simple law and order issue. Of course, farmers cannot be allowed to break the law, but it is also true that their protest is against an irrational and farmer-unfriendly policy; more than anything else, it is yet another attempt to get the government to see sense and reverse its policies; indeed, given the prime minister’s avowed goal of doubling farmers’ incomes, the government’s policy on GM make even less sense.

The advantages of Bt cotton in raising crop yields and farmer profits are well known, and that is why almost all India’s cotton acreage is based on Bt cotton; and as a result of productivity surge, India is one of the world’s largest exporter of cotton. . .

 

Grass Roots

Tangaroa Walker reckons he is living the best life.

The Southland contract milker, originally from Tauranga, was the inaugural winner of the Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer Award in 2012.

As well as diligently working his way up the dairy ladder towards farm ownership, Tangaroa owns a local gym, is a keen rugby player and manages an educational Facebook page.

Tangaroa is one half of a new series by RNZ’s Country Life farming programme, following young farmers over a year, showing what they do – their highs and lows. . . 

At Omarama Station in Otago, Sophie Barnes is mustering merinos and crutching lambs.

Originally from the UK, Sophie reckons she “has been fleeced”. Her love affair with sheep began nine years ago and has led the 27-year-old to New Zealand and now she’s a roving shepherd with her New Zealand boyfriend and their six dogs. . . 

You can read more about Tangaroa here and Sophie here.

Saturday soapbox

Saturday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Learn character from trees, values from roots and change from leaves.

June 15 in history

23 Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France was killed and King Charles the Simple was arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.

1184 King Magnus V of Norway was killed at the Battle of Fimreite.

1215 King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta.

1246 With the death of Duke Frederick II, the Babenberg dynasty ended in Austria.

1389 Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeated Serbs and Bosnians.

1520 Pope Leo X threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine.

1580 Philip II of Spain declared William the Silent to be   an outlaw.

1623 Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician, was   born  (d. 1672).

1667 The first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.

1752 Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity.

1775 American Revolutionary War: George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

1776 Delaware Separation Day – Delaware voted to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.

1785 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon exploded during their attempt to cross the English Channel.

1804 New Hampshire approved the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.

1808 Joseph Bonaparte became King of Spain.

1836 Arkansas was admitted as the 25th U.S. state.

1843 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer, was born (d. 1907).

1844 Charles Goodyear received a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.

1846 The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

1859 Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the “Northwestern Boundary Dispute” between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers.

1864 American Civil War: The Siege of Petersburg began.

1864 Arlington National Cemetery was established when 200 acres (0.81 km²) around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) were officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

1867 Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana.

1877 Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African-American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.

1888 Crown Prince Wilhelm became Kaiser Wilhelm II and is the last emperor of the German Empire.

1896 The most destructive tsunami in Japan’s history killed more than 22,000 people.

1904 A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City‘s East River killed 1000.

1905 Princess Margaret of Connaught married Gustaf, Crown Prince of Sweden.

1907 – James Robertson Justice, English actor and educator, was born (d. 1975).

1909 Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord’s and formed the Imperial Cricket Conference.

1910 David Rose, American songwriter, composer and orchestra leader, was born (d. 1990).

1911 W.V. Awdry, British children’s writer, was born (d. 1997).

1911 Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) was incorporated.

1913 The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippines concluded.

1916 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.

1919 John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight at Clifden, County Galway.

1920 Duluth lynchings in Minnesota.

1920 A new border treaty between Germany and Denmark gave northern Schleswig to Denmark.

1934 The U.S. Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded.

1935 Jack Lovelock won the “Mile of the Century“.

1937 – Anna Hazare, Indian activist, was born.

1937 A German expedition led by Karl Wien lost sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. The worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.

1941 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter, was born (d. 1994).

1943 Muff Winwood, British songwriter and bassist (Spencer Davis Group), was born.

1944 World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invaded Saipan.

1944 In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, was elected and forms the first socialist government of North America.

1945 The General Dutch Youth League (ANJV) was founded in Amsterdam.

1946 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer-songwriter and bass player (Aphrodite’s Child), was born (d. 2015).

1946 Noddy Holder, British singer (Slade), was born.

1949 – Simon Callow, British actor, was born.

1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer (Air Supply), was born.

1954 UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football) was formed in Basle.

1955 The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual “Operation Alert” (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA’s preparations for anuclear attack.

1959 – The Chinese Gooseberry was renamed kiwifruit.

1963 Helen Hunt, American actress, was born.

1971 Nathan Astle, New Zealand cricketer, was born.

1973 Pia Miranda, Australian actress, was born.

1978 King Hussein of Jordan married American Lisa Halaby, who took the name Queen Noor.

1982 Mike Delany, All Black, was born.

1985 Rembrandt’s painting Danaë was   attacked by a man (later judged insane) who threw sulfuric acid on the canvas   and cut it twice with a knife.

1991 Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supported Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois.

1992 The United States Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it was permissible for the USA to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the USA for trial, without approval from those other countries.

1994 Israel and Vatican City established full diplomatic relations.

1996 The Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded a large bomb in the middle of Manchester.

2002 Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk over Niagara Falls.

2013 – A bomb exploded on a bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 25 people and wounding 22 others.

2014 – Pakistan formally launched a military operation against the insurgents in North Waziristan.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.