Finifugal – fear of finishing anything; avoiding the ending, as of a story, trip or relationship; hating endings.
Rural round-up
31/12/2020Tasman growers and farmers brace for lasting damage from hail storm – Tracy Neal:
Farmers and growers are counting the cost – thought to be in the tens of millions of dollars – of the Boxing Day hailstorm in Tasman.
It shredded vineyards, smashed greenhouses, dented and bruised apples, kiwifruit and hops and severely damaging buildings in Motueka.
Some say it was the worst hailstorm in living memory, in a region where recent summers have been marred by cyclones, floods, and fires. . .
Brexit: EU-UK deal hurts NZ exporters says Beef + Lamb :
The meat industry is urging the government to fight new quotas for local exporters as part of new trade deal between the UK and European Union.
The post-Brexit agreement will mean access will be more controlled.
A new quota will force Kiwi sheep and beef exporters to split their product between the UK and EU, even if one of the markets is not going well.
Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said it was a major step back in trade. . .
High season for rural theft – Mark Daniel:
Rural insurance company FMG claims data has shown that January is the time when thieves are out and about looking to relieve farmers and rural dwellers of their property.
Stephen Cantwell, FMG’s manager advice services, says theft is the leading cause of farm contents claims at that time of year.
“January appears to be the month when thieves are at their most active, resulting in a higher number of claims, but also with average values up by 23%,” he says.
The rural insurance specialist suggests there are actions people can take to help to deter thieves targeting your property. . .
Concerns over ‘rural generalists’ as doctors in Greymouth – Lois WIlliams:
Is rural generalism best for the Coast?
In recent weeks, various medics and their union have – unusually for the profession – aired their views in this paper on the use of ‘rural generalists’, a new breed of doctor increasingly being employed on the West Coast to work both in hospitals and at GP clinics.
For the West Coast District Health Board, ‘rural generalists’ or rural health specialists, as they’re also known, are a godsend: the answer to the region’s perennial difficulties in attracting specialists and GPs. But the senior doctors union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, has warned of their potential to displace more highly-trained doctors, and ultimately reduce West Coast residents’ access to that level of care. What is the community supposed to make of this? What exactly are rural generalists and how safe are people in their hands? . .
Conduit for growers, researchers – Colin Williscroft:
Late last month Kiwifruit Vine Health liaison adviser and technical specialist Linda Peacock received the Minister’s Award at the New Zealand Biosecurity Awards, recognising more than 30 years of dedicated service to the industry. Colin Williscroft reports.
When Linda Peacock received her award from Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor she told the Wellington audience that a key part of her work involves providing a link between growers and researchers to ensure the collaboration the industry is renowned for continues.
“I talk to people,” Peacock said.
“I help people on the land understand what some of the big words mean and I tell scientists what those people want and have to know, so they can do what they do. . .
Developing a Great Pyrenees into a poultry guardian – Uptown Farms:
When we first started raising working Great Pyrenees puppies, our dogs went almost exclusively to sheep and goat farms or occasionally to guard cattle herds. But initially, we fielded no requests at all for poultry dogs.
Fast forward to today, and sometimes as many as half the pups in a single Uptown Farms litter are being sent to farms to actively guard birds. Below are some considerations we share with our customers who are looking for poultry or small animal guardians. Please note, we do currently have birds at Uptown Farms, but this is a combination of advice and tips from our customers through the years who have successfully developed poultry dogs. For information on bringing home a livestock guardian, please refer here.
1. Start with a working dog. Starting with a working pup is the most important step for whatever type of working dog you are needing. . .
Great Little Blue Penguin race
31/12/2020Andrew Cotter of Olive and Mabel fame, commentates Phillip Island’s little blue pneguin’s homecoming race:
Word of the day
30/12/2020Exeleutherostomize – to speak out freely, especially at an inappropriate moment or in an inappropriate situation.
Rural round-up
30/12/2020Why Tame Malcolm is biosecurity champion :
From culling wild goats to decimating invasive river weed, one Kiwi is combining his passion for the land with hard graft and te ao Māori.
Thomas (Tame) Malcolm is dubbed a biosecurity champion, and he has earned that description at just 33 years of age.
Hailing from Rotorua, Malcolm, of Te Arawa, has more than a decade’s experience in environmental management, spanning Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Canterbury and Marlborough.
His first experience with biosecurity was at the tender age of seven. . .
Complaint against TVNZ for using discriminatory term upheld :
A complaint that Television New Zealand used a discriminatory term in a news story about the annual relocation of sharemilkers has been upheld..
The Broadcasting Standards Authority found TVNZ breached the discrimination and denigration standards by referring to the yearly movement of sharemilkers around the country “as gypsy day”.
The complainant said the term “gypsy day” was “offensive to one of our smallest and least visible ethnic and cultural communities”.
He said the use of the phrase “presents us as a nation that is willing to discriminate against minority ethnic and cultural communities”. . .
Lower speed limits round rural schools – RWNZ:
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) say speed limits around rural schools need to be the same as those around urban schools.
“The latest call by Lake Rerewhakaaitu School principal Rick Whalley is the right one to keep our rural children and families safe – speed limits past rural schools should be the same as for their urban counterparts,” says RWNZ education convenor Malvina Dick.
“RWNZ has long held the view that speed limits past rural schools are too high because it puts our children and families at risk of serious injury or even worse, death,” she said. . .
Milking trifecta a juggling act – Sudesh Kissun:
Milking cows, goats and sheep on one farm has been a steep learning curve for Te Aroha farmer Kevin Schuler and his brother Paul.
Overlapping paddocks and goodwill among staff are helping the family-owned Schuler Brothers Limited (SBL) farm to keep the three milking systems ticking.
The farm employs 10 staff and is the only one in New Zealand to milk cows, goats and sheep on one farm. . .
China Airlines using brand new Boeing 777 freighter to ship NZ fruit to Asia– Grant Bradley:
China Airlines is using a brand new Boeing 777 freighter to get New Zealand cherries and other fresh produce to Asian markets over the holidays.
The first flight between Christchurch and Taipei is due to take off tonight with around 85 tonnes of fresh food on board, about half of those cherries.
South Island cherry growers are desperate to get thousands of tonnes of their crop into the high value Asian markets. Air capacity is short as most freight was carried in the bellies of passenger aircraft before Covid-19 rocked air travel.
The Taiwanese airline’s dedicated freighter can carry up to 100 tonnes. . .
Skippers Canyon Otago: could this be New Zealand’s most ‘terrifying’ road trip? –
The road which runs through Skippers Canyon in the South Island is New Zealand’s longest road where rental vehicle insurance is not honoured.
Forty minutes north of Queenstown, this narrow 22km stretch of gravel and dirt track winds through one of the most incredible landscapes I have ever set eyes on in Aotearoa. This was my first time visiting Skippers Canyon, and oh boy, was it memorable.
Both my husband and I have somewhat of a fear of heights, yet neither of us comprehended or even thoroughly researched the rollercoaster of emotion we were about to send ourselves on.
Skippers Road which runs through this South Island canyon is carved into the sides of the cliff faces. Built during the late 1800s, the canyon served as one of the best locations to mine for gold. The Shotover River carves its way through the centre of the canyon and was once known as “one of the richest rivers in the world”. . .
Word of the day
29/12/2020Instantiate – represent as or by an instance; to represent or be an example of something; be represented by an actual example; to provide an instance of or concrete evidence in support of a theory, concept or claim; provide a specific example to illustrate an idea.
Rural round-up
29/12/2020How to avoid harm on the farm – Rowena Duncum:
I’ve always loved rural New Zealand.
Growing up beside a farm, I’d spend hours hanging over the back fence talking to the animals or across the road in the other direction, feeding grass and carrots to the rescued horses in the SPCA paddock.
Some of my happiest memories of childhood holidays are visiting family on their farms around the country. It’s a rite of passage growing up in Aotearoa. As I reached adulthood and became a farmer myself, I loved being on the other side of the fence – hosting friends and family as they came to visit, bringing their own budding farmers to see the animals or milking. . .
Alliance Group to repay wage subsidy in full :
Invercargill-based Alliance Group has chosen to return the balance of the Covid-19 wage subsidy to the Government.The farmer-owned meat processor had already repaid $21 million of the $34m wage subsidy and will return the balance, it said.
“From the outset, Alliance has been clear we would only use the wage subsidy in the way it was intended by government and our previous repayments reflect this commitment,” chairman Murray Taggart said in a statement.
“Following the filing of our company accounts last month, the Alliance board believes the co-operative is in a position to repay the remaining balance,” he said. . .
A2 Milk hopes to expand production at Southland plant :
A2 Milk is a step closer to taking a controlling stake in Mataura Valley Milk, but says it will be at least a couple of years before it starts making profits.
ATM disclosed its intentions in August and has now entered binding agreements to buy a 75 percent stake in the Southland based infant formula maker.
The move is part of ATM’s plans to diversify its production and broaden its range of products.
“MVM provides a unique opportunity to acquire a new world class nutritional products manufacturing capability in New Zealand, alongside a highly respected China state owned enterprise in China Animal Husbandry Group (CAHG),” A2 Milk chief executive Geoff Babidge said. . .
M. bovis eradication going to plan but still work to do:
Significant progress has been made in driving down the numbers of farms affected by Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis).
We’re on track to achieve eradication, but there’s still a lot of hard work ahead of us. We expect to find more infected herds as we actively look for those final pockets of infection, so we all need to remain vigilant.
As Programme partners, MPI, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand are working together to support affected farmers through this eradication programme. . .
Detector dogs could sniff out AFB and save beekeepers millions of dollars:
Training dogs to sniff out the highly infectious bacterial disease American Foulbrood (AFB) in beehives could save New Zealand’s beekeeping industry several million dollars a year.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is contributing $50,000 through Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures (SFF Futures) towards the one-year, $95,000 project.
The project aims to develop a scientific methodology for training detection dogs to reliably detect AFB, by creating a ‘scent picture’ of the disease. . .
Blurred lines between animal welfare and animal ethics – Shan Goodwin:
ONE of the key elements of animal welfare science commonly misunderstood is that it is the animal’s perception of its conditions that counts, not those of humans.
So says one of the country’s leading experts in the field, Warrnambool veterinarian and senior lecturer in cattle medicine at Melbourne University Dr David Beggs.
The differences between animal welfare and animal ethics – and where the biggest challenges to livestock production may lay with the latter – was explored by Dr Beggs in a recent episode of the RawAg podcast produced by southern seedstock operation Te Mania Angus. . .
Policy costs > problem costs
29/12/2020Bjorn Lomborg, in a peer-reviewed article explains that policies supposed to counter climate change will cost more than climate change:
Climate change is real and its impacts are mostly negative, but common portrayals of devastation are unfounded. Scenarios set out under the UN Climate Panel (IPCC) show human welfare will likely increase to 450% of today’s welfare over the 21st century. Climate damages will reduce this welfare increase to 434%.
Arguments for devastation typically claim that extreme weather (like droughts, floods, wildfires, and hurricanes) is already worsening because of climate change. This is mostly misleading and inconsistent with the IPCC literature. For instance, the IPCC finds no trend for global hurricane frequency and has low confidence in attribution of changes to human activity, while the US has not seen an increase in landfalling hurricanes since 1900. Global death risk from extreme weather has declined 99% over 100 years and global costs have declined 26% over the last 28 years.
Arguments for devastation typically ignore adaptation, which will reduce vulnerability dramatically. While climate research suggests that fewer but stronger future hurricanes will increase damages, this effect will be countered by richer and more resilient societies. Global cost of hurricanes will likely decline from 0.04% of GDP today to 0.02% in 2100.
Climate-economic research shows that the total cost from untreated climate change is negative but moderate, likely equivalent to a 3.6% reduction in total GDP.
Climate policies also have costs that often vastly outweigh their climate benefits. The Paris Agreement, if fully implemented, will cost $819–$1,890 billion per year in 2030, yet will reduce emissions by just 1% of what is needed to limit average global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Each dollar spent on Paris will likely produce climate benefits worth 11¢.
Long-term impacts of climate policy can cost even more. The IPCC’s two best future scenarios are the “sustainable” SSP1 and the “fossil-fuel driven” SSP5. Current climate-focused attitudes suggest we aim for the “sustainable” world, but the higher economic growth in SSP5 actually leads to much greater welfare for humanity. After adjusting for climate damages, SSP5 will on average leave grandchildren of today’s poor $48,000 better off every year. It will reduce poverty by 26 million each year until 2050, inequality will be lower, and more than 80 million premature deaths will be avoided.
Using carbon taxes, an optimal realistic climate policy can aggressively reduce emissions and reduce the global temperature increase from 4.1°C in 2100 to 3.75°C. This will cost $18 trillion, but deliver climate benefits worth twice that. The popular 2°C target, in contrast, is unrealistic and would leave the world more than $250 trillion worse off.
The most effective climate policy is increasing investment in green R&D to make future decarbonization much cheaper. This can deliver $11 of climate benefits for each dollar spent.
More effective climate policies can help the world do better. The current climate discourse leads to wasteful climate policies, diverting attention and funds from more effective ways to improve the world. . . .
The cries for people to accept the science on climate change are loud.
But the voices of those who seek to apply science to solutions are drowned out by politics and bureaucracy which is why the policy costs exceed those of the problem.
Word of the day
28/12/2020Pseudopodium – a temporary protrusion of the surface of an amoeboid cell for movement and feeding; temporary or semipermanent extension of the cytoplasm, used in locomotion and feeding by all sarcodine protozoans (i.e., those with pseudopodia; see sarcodine) and some flagellate protozoans.