Rural round-up

Coming out of the crisis – Todd Muller:

National’s agriculture spokesman, Todd Muller on why the recovery from COVID-19 needs to include strategic water storage infrastructure.

A few months ago, I penned a column where I noted the challenging conversations farmers were having across dinner tables up and down the country because of the Government’s proposed freshwater reforms. Now, barely six months later, so much of New Zealand is closed with the exception of our farms and hospitals. T

he tough, painful and fearful kitchen table conversations are occurring in many houses across the country.

We are still in the highly fluid part of the crisis, where only hard choices sit in front of us. The ‘stay home, save lives’ strategy will slowly morph into the ‘safety first, but slowly restart’ phase.  . . 

Dairy sector wants New Zealanders to consider farm work as Labour shortage looms – Robin Martin:

The dairy industry wants New Zealanders to fall back in love with life on the farm.

With Covid-19 meaning the migrant workforce is not available, it is predicted the sector will need to fill 1000 jobs in time for Moving Day on 1 June – the first day of the new dairy season.

The Fortuna Group is a corporate farming operation in Southland which milks about 12,000 cows across 19 farms.

At any one time 50 percent of its 100-strong workforce are migrants, predominantly from the Philippines. . .

https://twitter.com/pregtester/status/1256464703573770240

New health, safety and wellbeing movement for rural women launches in New Zealand with industry wide support:

Save a life, listen to your wife – that’s the message of a new health and safety movement for rural women being launched in New Zealand today.

Safer Farms has partnered with Australia’s Alex Thomas to bring The #PlantASeedForSafety Project across the ditch.

The #PlantASeedForSafety Project profiles women from all parts of rural industries and communities who are making positive and practical improvements to the health, safety and wellbeing of those around them. From farm owners, shepherds, wives and partners, to nurses, doctors, teachers and even the local barista – every person living rurally has an impact on their community. . .

First farm – a 15 year journey to farm ownership :

Just over a year ago Michael and Susie Woodward packed up their four children, a herd of cows, 50 goats, chickens, five dogs and all of their farming equipment and moved islands onto their own farm. They’d beeen 50/50 sharemilking in Canterbury and had been working towards farm ownership for 15 years. It’s been a challenging 12 months. Winter was wet, summer a drought, some of the cows succumbed to a disease the Woodwards had not encountered and animals and humans on the King Country farm have had to adapt to living on hills.

 

Some of the reds that will be making their way into the herd next season. Ayrshires, Aussie Reds, Montbeliarde and Shorthorns 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/iiwzUlY6lL

— Anieka Templer (@AniekaNick) May 2, 2020

AgTech Hackathon Solution Challenge winner announcement:

With a deft pivot around a global pandemic, the fourth annual AgTech Hackathon successfully completed its first ‘AgTech Hackathon Lite’ – a virtual version of their popular annual event. This quickfire competition takes participants through an ideation process before producing an innovative idea to solve challenges faced by the Food and Fibre sector.

Proving innovation doesn’t quit in the face of a nationwide lockdown, the winning team was announced on Friday, scoring themselves $1000 and an answer to the Zespri horticulture challenge.

While many people are using spare isolation time to to perfect their sourdough starters and TikTok dances, Beta Team – a Manawatu based team, developed Bugkilla, an all-in-one product which attracts, monitors and eradicates BMSB and provides real-time monitoring and eradication of bug infestations for fruit growers and horticulturists. . .

Europeans urged to eat their way through steak, chips and cheese glut – Emiko Terazono and Judith Evans :

Belgians have been asked to eat more fries, the British are being urged to tuck into steak and the French have been pressed to up their cheese intake. The unusual pleas come not because people need comfort food as the coronavirus pandemic rages, but to help clear a glut of produce languishing in storage as the crisis shuts restaurants, hotels and workplace eateries across Europe.

With customers on lockdown, the continent’s farmers and food producers are trying to persuade them to increase consumption of their products at home. In Belgium, the world’s largest exporter of frozen fries, trade association Belgapom is urging people to eat an extra portion a week to reduce its 750,000-tonne potato surplus. 

“The frite is an intangible cultural heritage. It is a tradition that [Belgians] have frites once a week. We are asking people to increase that moment of joy an extra time in the week,” said Romain Cools, Belgapom secretary-general.  . . 

 

Feds award farming leaders

Federated Farmers presented its annual awards to farming leaders last night:

The awards recognise the hard work of those in the agriculture sector and the ceremony acts as a stage for the recipients to be celebrated on, says Fed’s national president Katie Milne.
“What we’ve seen this year has just been tremendous. Incredible talent. The work that goes on out there in the community is just non-stop so to have the awards is a great way to say thank you and to encourage initiative.”

The awards winners are as follows:

The Outstanding Advocacy Award recipient is Motueka’s Gavin O’Donnell.

The award recognises the hard work of a member that through their tenacity and drive positively affected national or regional policy for the benefits of our farmers.

Gavin, a former head of Nelson Federated Farmers, was nominated for his skills at influencing and communicating the ‘good news’ stories.

The Innovator of the Year Award recipients are Palmerston North’s James Stewart and Mat Hocken.

Federated Farmers uses this award to highlight those who have invested time, effort and resources into finding smart ways to make New Zealand agriculture more efficient and effective.

They were nominated for their work in boosting connectivity. They are the founders of AgTech Hackathon, an initiative designed to link farmers with smarter on-farm solutions.

The Farming Message Award winner is Five Forks’s Lyndon Strang.

The award is for an individual who through writing, public speaking and other forms of media use has done a fantastic job sharing the importance of agriculture with New Zealand’s wider communities.

The primary reason for Lyndon’s nomination was the way he led by example in his area when it came implementing new farming practices, and when Mycoplasma bovis broke in South Canterbury, Lyndon was an approachable voice for local media and helped break down the technical gobbledygook surrounding the disease for the public.

The Federated Farmers Emerging Advocate Award recipient is Gore’s Bernadette Hunt.

The award celebrates an up-and-coming member who champions the needs of their fellow farmers, and is a positive role model for other young farmers with clear goals for the future of the industry.

Bernadette was nominated because of her outstanding contribution in the lead role for Southland during the M. bovis outbreak. 
She also liaised with the Ministry for Primary Industries over declaring a medium scale adverse event due the extended period of dry conditions.

The Federated Farmers Columnist of the Year Award goes to Marton’s Richard Morrison.

The award is the organisation’s chance to thank someone who has made an ongoing effort to communicate the work of the entire group to the wider population through regular column writing for a national, regional or local publication.

Richard puts together thoughtful and often thought-provoking columns that would resonate with thousands of readers – both urban and rural.

The Federated Farmers Provincial Service Award winner is Timaru’s Bob Douglas.

The award recognises the unsung heroes of the provinces who year after year, decade after decade, have contributed to the smooth running of the province and provided outstanding service.

After almost 20 years working as South Canterbury’s provincial secretary and treasurer Bob Douglas has had his years of service recognized.
Bob is known for schooling countless emerging local Federated Farmers’ leaders in meeting protocol, teaches them debating skills and the rights of the Chair.

The Federated Farmers Outstanding Contribution to Federated Farmers Award went to Masterton’s Anders Crofoot.

The award recognises a member who works to promote our advocacy organisation and the agriculture industry by championing the needs of their fellow farmers.
Anders has shown tremendous skill in initiating successful mediation and dissecting the daunting Resource Management Act. 
He has also contributed to the national advocacy work of Federated Farmers serving six years on the board. He has an ability to talk to people of all backgrounds and make information accessible to everyone.

The Federated Farmers Membership Growth Award went to Wanganui.

The award is to recognise the efforts of provinces who actively work to boost membership for Federated Farmers.

This is an outstanding achievement for a smaller province. But Wanganui was not the only team to perform well over the past year. There was exceptional work happening throughout the nation. A special thank you to the teams in Golden Bay, Tararua and the Waikato.

Winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award at the Feds Conference – Anders Crofoot. Well deserved Anders. 👍🏻 @FedFarmers @WairarapaTA @AScottWairarapa @Kieran_McAnulty @NZBeefLamb @greaterwgtn pic.twitter.com/DiBpxyDc5K

— Karen Williams (@KarenWi71) June 27, 2018