There are close on 400,000 hectares of non-registered post-1989 forests eligible to join the ETS. Once registered, many owners could within one year earn $7500 or more per hectare in historical credits back to 2018
This is a further article in a series I have been writing exploring the issues of carbon farming. The issues are important because we are on the cusp of massive land-use changes. These are driven by the current economics of carbon farming now being far superior to sheep and beef farming on most classes of land.
Carbon farming is part of a virtual market, called the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) in which there is no exchange of a physical product. As such, the ETS is controlled by Government rules and regulations, rather than by physical supply and demand factors.
The carbon farming component of this virtual market relates to post-1989 forests. These are forests on land that was not in forest on 31 December 1989 or in the immediately preceding years. . .
Partly, it’s the thrill of the chase. Mostly it’s spending hours alone in his backyard — the hills around Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes — that puts a smile on Lee Murray’s dial.
Originally from Cromwell, Mr Murray moved to Australia when he was about 11 after his father got a job there in the mines.
After attending high school there, he moved back to Cromwell when he was 17 and decided he wanted to get into hunting.
‘‘I used to try and tag along with the boys that were hearty hunters [such as] Duncan Stewart. He’s a really well-known hunter in the Central Otago region, and I was terrible,’’ the 36-year-old said. . .
Have you heard that the Ballance Farm Environment Awards has a new category? The Catchment Group Award recognises the efforts of a rural community working together to improve water quality in local rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands. Head here to apply: https://t.co/GLyFrl7XC1pic.twitter.com/gGyYOIjVRh
But The New Zealand Veterinary Association says only two have arrived – a further 11 are waiting for a spot in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).
Chief executive Kevin Bryant said they were hearing from overseas vets that they were reluctant to start the visa process due to the delays they are seeing with the MIQ process. . .
Lanolin Market Driven By Increase in end-use industries, such as personal care and cosmetics, baby care products, and pharmaceuticals.
The worldwide market research report Lanolin Market scrutinizes the market’s current trends and growth indicators from 2021 to 2030. The research gives a detailed analysis of global demand, developing trends that are affecting this demand’s potential.
This report covers a variety of crucial but different topics. Moreover, it studies the latest technologies that will influence the Lanolin market future and global acceptance. As efficiency-enhancing technologies are condemning for market progress, our research analysts spoke with key opinion leaders and Lanolin industry players to provide the clients with an extensive picture of the market’s potential. . .
Comvita, global market leader in Mānuka honey, is celebrating the start of Expo 2020 Dubai, with its own Expo experience, including the launch of an immersive digital showcase, designed to create a global movement where bees, people and nature can thrive in Harmony.
Comvita is a member of the Care Collective, one of the key sponsors and suppliers of the New Zealand Pavilion and is proud to share its connection to the New Zealand Pavilion theme of Care for People and Place.
Comvita Group CEO, David Banfield, says “The concept of Kaitiakitanga, or guardianship of nature, has been one of Comvita’s guiding principles from the day we were founded in 1974. So for us, there is a genuine sense of alignment and connection with that New Zealand theme, which really embodies our entire purpose as an organisation. . .
Tararua farmer Roger Barton supplies his lifestyle block neighbours with water when their rainwater tanks run low. He says it’s “neighbours being neighbours” and he doesn’t charge them.
“They’ve got two tanks and they manage that carefully and are generally fine. But if things get tight they run a hose pipe from our system overnight and over four or five nights the tank gets filled. They don’t have to get the water truck out.”
The water comes from a creek at the fringe of the Tararua ranges. Barton does not treat his water, but uses a filter. His neighbours had an ultraviolet treatment system because they were reliant on rainwater, and this would also treat Barton’s water.
“I think that is fine, sane and sensible. Why I should have to treat it before they receive it I do not know.” . .
I have been working behind the scenes and in the media around staff shortages and reuniting families of our migrant staff in my sector.
I do this because I see it as part of my responsibility I choose to take on as sharemilker Chair for Southland Federated Farmers, trying to get the government to see sense and allow staff to come to NZ to fill much-needed roles.
Alongside heaps of others, the government said yes to was the 200 exemptions for dairy workers and their families, I see this as token at best, a gesture to keep us quiet – because they put conditions on the exemptions that have kept the likes of Federated Farmers, Dairy NZ and MPI busy to negotiate better conditions. . .
On Thursday, group co-founder Laurence Paterson and Rural Advocacy Network chairman Jamie McFadden presented a petition, calling for a review of some regulations, to the Environment select committee.
The petition originally began to call for a review of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, which the group says applies a “one-size-fits-all” approach on sowing dates, winter grazing and best catchment practises. . .
Warnings that existing ethanol-blended biofuels can’t be used in most storage tanks and pipelines – so new Sustainable Biofuel Mandate will come at a cost.
The clock is ticking at Marsden Point oil refinery. Chief executive Naomi James says they have mere months to reach agreement on converting the refinery to a biofuels production facility, for local forestry waste, before they are forced to begin laying off staff and decommissioning plant.
Energy Minister Megan Woods has expressed interest in the potential to convert the refinery to biofuel production, and James confirms they are in talks with government. But they need quick decisions because once they lose skilled engineers, they won’t be coming back; once they decommission big plant like the hydro-treater unit, there is no turning back.
James confirmed that in its submission on the planned Sustainable Biofuel Mandate, Refining NZ is arguing for government incentives for domestic biofuel production, like grants or Emissions Trading Scheme exemptions. . .
The private equity investment arm of KiwiSaver provider Booster has invested more than $10 million into buying a 42 per cent stake in Katikati-based avocado grower and exporter Darling Group.
Booster, which has around $3 billion invested in its KiwiSaver scheme and is the 10th largest provider, is one of the few KiwiSaver schemes which invests in unlisted private companies through its Tahi LP fund.
Private company investment offers the potential for higher returns but are also a less liquid investment as their shares are not traded on a public market making it harder to sell out quickly.
Tahi already owns a number of wineries, as well as having stakes in Sunchaser Avocados, Dodson Motorsport and financial services company Lifetime. . .
The endurance athletes of Australia’s sprawling livestock farms are battling it out to claim the title of 2021 champion working dog.
Over three weeks, 12 loyal canines will run hundreds of kilometres in the course of their daily jobs herding sheep and cattle.
The Cobber Challenge celebrates and tests the endurance of working dogs and this year, for the first time, the Australians will be pitted against competitors working across the Tasman.
GPS collars will track their distance, working duration and speed over 21 days from Monday, August 16 and points will be awarded based on daily activity. . .
Farmers across the country descended on towns and cities on Friday to protest against the raft of reforms they say unfairly target their livelihoods.
When asked about the protests last week, the Prime Minister agreed that reform was coming thick and fast and that it was a challenging time for those working in the primary industries.
But she maintained that transforming our economy to limit climate change and environmental degradation would only get harder the longer it was left.
That may be true, but what is also true is that if a sector of society feels that its only way forward is to take to the streets, then there’s been a failure of communication and leadership. . .
With calving just a few weeks away, farmers in the Buller district are now busy repairing damage to their properties.
The recent floods caused stock losses, ruined pasture and damaged sheds and tracks on about a dozen farms in the district.
This latest flood is being described as the worst anyone in Westport has seen in their lifetime but most of the damage is in the town rather than in the rural areas. . .
Next Sunday Jacinda Ardern is scheduled to make another of those nauseating apologies for the past, this time for the “dawn raids” against suspected overstayers from the Pacific Islands that happened a few yearsbefore she was born.
It’s not just the assumed moral superiority of the present that always gets up my nose, it’s also the injustice to people now dead and unable to speak for themselves. It makes me wonder what apologies the future might make for things governments are doing now.
One potentially regrettable project is particularly ironic. The Prime Minister who will apologise for the dawn raids next weekend is presiding over an immigration “reset” that could do far more lasting damage to the Pacific Islands than the clumsy policing their New Zealand expats suffered in the 1970s.
It surprises me that a Labour Government takes a dim view of seasonal work that enables Pacific Islanders to come here and earn some good money picking fruit for a few months. In a recent TVNZ item on our travel bubble with the Cook Islands we heard people there lamenting the loss of their younger people migrating permanently to New Zealand. . .
If you're gong to still be at work at 6pm on a Saturday you may as well admire the pretty moon pic.twitter.com/I8fJ82A8YE
Spring Sheep Milk has beaten global giants Nestle and China Feihe to win the best infant nutrition category product at the World Dairy Innovation Awards.
The company won the category with its Gentle Sheep infant milk drink, beating Wyeth Nutrition, which is owned by Nestle, Chinese infant formula giant China Feihe and Blueriver Nutrition Co.
Spring Sheep’s general manager of milk supply Thomas Macdonald says they are proud of the achievement.
“They are some pretty big names playing in the infant space globally and a sheep milking company from New Zealand managed to beat them. It also validates the consumer story,” Macdonald said. . .
Southern growers featured at the Federated Farmers Arable Industry Awards in Christchurch earlier this month. Shawn McAvinue talks to them about their mixed cropping operations.
The Horrell family has been cropping for five generations in Northern Southland and the future is looking bright.
Grain Grower of the Year winner Morgan Horrell said his great-great-grandfather started the farm in the 1860s.
The chances of his children — Zara (23), Jake (21), Sam (14) and Dan (12) — continuing on for a sixth generation was looking good.
Plant Research (NZ) Ltd is a New Zealand based R&D company specialising in the development of new grain legume varieties.
This summer, the company enters the final stages of development and multiplication of chickpea and soy varieties developed specifically for New Zealand’s maritime environment.
Managing Director and Principal Plant Breeder Adrian Russell says his team have worked through a large number of potential genetics from both programmes to identify varieties that are adapted to our unique environment and have functional traits for product development in the plant protein space. . .
Inspired by the Howl of a Protest last week and concerned with government regulations on the rural sector, East Coast farmer and bush poet Graeme Williams has put pen to paper in a plea to Jacinda Ardern to look out for farmers. He shared his poem, The Golden Goose, with The Country today.
The Golden Goose, by Graeme Williams
Dear Aunty Jacinda, A moment if I may, A response I think is needed, To the protest the other day.
Farmers are generally too busy, To rally and cause a stink, But their overwhelming response, Must have made you stop and think. . .
A new farm work visa proposed by Australia could cause more misery for labour-strapped New Zealand farmers.
By the end of this year, the new visa will be in place, ending a requirement for British backpackers to work on Australian farms for 88 days.
The visa will be extended to 10 ASEAN nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
New Zealand’s dairy industry is a popular destinations for Philippine workers but they could soon be heading to Australia. . .
An endless appetite for work is a feature of many young farming couples, but as Neal Wallace discovers, by any measure Southlanders Jono and Kayla Gardyne have shown an exceptional commitment to their futures – albeit in different areas.
The tribe of magpies chose the wrong time to invade the Gardyne property.
A shotgun resting against a wall was evidence Kayla could no longer handle the disruptive noise and activity outside her home office window, as she studied for her medical degree.
The pests progressively came off second best with six magpies dispatched, reinforcing that not only were they unwelcome, but that Kayla needed to focus on her studies. . .
Federated Farmers Southland has supported the Ministry for Primary Industries call to Southland for grazing support for more than 5000 livestock as a result of the Canterbury floods.
MPI spokesoman Nick Story said: “Our feed coordinators are currently seeking grazing for more than 5000 sheep from the Canterbury region. The sheep are owned by seven different farmers.”
“There are also six listings of grazing being sought for almost 300 beef cattle.”
The “one in 200-year” weather event has damaged thousands of hectares of Canterbury farmland. . .
In a somewhat ironic twist, the global Covid pandemic is helping to drive demand for New Zealand kiwifruit.
This season, Zespri estimates that it will sell a total of 175 million trays to export markets – well up on last season’s 155 million trays.
Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson told Rural News the very strong demand for kiwifruit last season has continued this season.
“More consumers have been looking for healthy and nutritious foods and kiwifruit obviously fits in perfectly to that growing trend, which we also saw last year,” he says. . .
An additional $78,500 has been raised for the Southland Charity Hospital after 64,000kg of donated wool was processed free of charge for sale by wool scour WoolWorks.
The cash is in addition to the hundreds of bales of wool donated by farmers to insulate the hospital in memory of Southland man and cancer sufferer Blair Vining, who died in 2019 but used his illness to raise awareness about the inequality of treatment.
He also successfully initiated a petition to the Government to create a national cancer agency.
The Bales4Blair appeal was spearheaded by South Otago farmer Amy Blaikie, with the goal of collecting bales to be turned into insulation for the Invercargill hospital; 181 farmers and businesses made donations through 21 wool stores. . .
Where is agriculture at the moment and where is it going?
That is the background to a forum to be held in Temora on July 27, 2021.
With high prices for their commodities and record values being paid for farming land, it would be understandable to assume primary producers are enjoying a ‘purple patch’ of returns which might induce a sense of complacency.
That is the last emotion Craig Pellow, director of agency QPL Rural, Temora, wants to see happen to famers who have survived many years of drought, so he is hosting this forum. . .
The Government needs to do more to help farmers cope with staff shortages, Southland Federated Farmers sharemilker chairman Jason Herrick writes.
Farm staff shortages in Southland and around the country are getting worse.
While the government finally bowed to dairy industry pleas and announced border exemptions for 150 management and 50 farm assistant positions, the sector was already under severe workforce gap pressure.
The super-busy calving season begins mid-July, and it’s unlikely many of the 200 extra migrant staff will be out of managed isolation by then. . .
Farmers are being encouraged to take their tractors and dogs to town next month in a show of protest against Government regulations – and tradies are also being encouraged to show their support.
Farmer action group Groundswell NZ is organising ‘A Howl of a Protest’ in town centres from Gore to Kerikeri on July 16, for “farmers, growers and ute owners who are fed up with increasing Government interference in your life and business, unworkable regulations and unjustified costs”.
Groundswell NZ spokesperson Bryce McKenzie said farmers were growing increasingly frustrated with new Government regulations, but he hoped tradies would also join the protests as they were being penalised if they wanted to upgrade their utes.
Last week the Government announced its new rebate scheme, which will make lower-carbon-emitting cars more affordable for New Zealanders and will see a fee placed on higher-emission vehicles, including utes. . .
When Luke Knowles got the call that a good mate had taken his life, it was mind-numbing, heart-breaking and “just totally confusing”.
Mr Knowles said his mate, an intelligent, outgoing and fun-loving young man, was not someone he would ever have guessed was not happy on the inside.
“He was just one of the boys; we always had a good time together. But when he passed away, it did come to light that he had been battling with a few things, but he kept it all pretty close to his chest.”
As a salute to his late friend, Mr Knowles will be participating in Dry July, a campaign in which participants go without alcohol for the month of July. Typically, the campaign is to raise money for cancer research, but he will instead give his fundraising efforts to the Will To Live Charitable Trust which focuses on initiatives specifically designed to help young rural people suffering from mental health issues. . .
Much easier to take the hay rack to the hay barn than it is the other way around. It's the little things that matter. pic.twitter.com/LGfxeC5L8B
The world-wide commodities boom has driven world fertiliser prices to 10-year highs.
Global food prices have recorded their biggest annual rise in a decade, driven in part by China’s soaring appetite for grain and soyabeansand a severe drought in Brazil, which has put fertiliser in hot demand.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said global food prices rose last month at their fastest monthly rate in more than a decade, even as world cereal production was on course to reach a new record high. . .
It’s one of the most culturally diverse schools in the country, but it’s not in the inner city – it’s in rural Canterbury.
Hororata Primary School has 85 students from more than a dozen nationalities – including Serbia, Syria and Sri Lanka – and about a quarter of youngsters speak a language other than English at home.
The village of Hororata lies an hour west of Christchurch, just before the snow-capped Southern Alps rise up on the horizon.
The local economy is heavily reliant on the dairy industry, with workers from around the world employed on the farms and in the cattle sheds. . .
Dairy farmers in north-east Victoria are leading an industry response to climate change.
A group of farmers has identified changing rainfall patterns, increased temperatures, availability of water, weather extremes and access to health services as challenges and/or opportunities for the next decade.
The North East Dairy Climate Futures Project invited dairy farmers to have a say about their own businesses in response to data released by the CSIRO in 2020 that supported predicted climate change impacts across the valleys of north-east Victoria.
At a series of workshops across the region earlier this year, dairy farmers embraced the opportunity to identify what should be the focus for their industry. . .
Farm profitability across the Ashburton District is expected to decline 83 percent per year due to the government’s freshwater reforms, a new report states.
The changes are aimed at improving the quality of waterways and include new rules for winter grazing, nitrogen pollution and farm intensification.
The desktop report, requested by the council, notes dairy farming takes place on nearly a third of the district’s agricultural land and would be the hardest hit financially.
“The regulations will challenge existing farming systems with a number of established farm practices needing to change, and new technology and innovation adoption will be required.” . .
Will Halliday says he acts much the same as a farmer on a drafting gate when new proposals and ideas come across his desk.
“In terms of biosecurity and animal welfare, there is a lot to keep ahead of when it comes to New Zealand’s sheep and beef industry. The expectations of our trade partners are very high. For me it’s keeping an eye on the horizon and making sure the demands and regulations put forward are achievable in real world situations.”
Part of the “drafting” process involves consultation with the B+LNZ farmer councils.
“Talking to our people on the ground that are actually out there doing it and discussing what will work and what won’t. . .
The Robertsons were not meant to continue sheep farming.
In 1998, the West Otago couple were advised to go dairying. It would be more lucrative. But it was the dual-purpose Romney all the way to the bank.
“The accountant thought we were crazy,” fourth generation sheep farmer Blair Robertson said.
“We sacked the accountant and got a new one.”
Borrowing to buy the family farm at Waikoikoi between Tapanui and Gore has meant huge debt servicing and it has been a tough grind for the past 20 years, but they are living their particular dream. . .
Ten years after the kiwifruit sector was all but wiped out by Psa, Te Puke plant breeder Russell Lowe takes some humble satisfaction knowing his work brought it back from the brink to become the country’s highest value horticultural crop.
Lowe has been part of Plant & Food’s kiwifruit breeding programme at Te Puke for 30-plus years and while just retired, he continues to keep a watching brief on how future breeding work is coming along.
Today’s world-leading kiwifruit breeding facility is a far cry from the wooden bungalow, maize crops and pile of orchard posts that greeted him and his wife when they arrived in the early 1970s.
He had got the position after completing a major in chemistry at Canterbury and building an interest in horticulture while working in the Horotane Valley over the holidays. That had been followed by a stint at the then DSIR Research orchard in Appleby in the Tasman district as a horticultural technician. . .
Our Kiwi farmers and growers leave everything they have on the field, they give their all to support New Zealand’s economy and ensure we have access to the very best food and beverage. However, this does take a toll on their wellbeing and mental health. Helping farmers and growers take care of their mental health is as important to Ballance Agri-Nutrients as the health and safety of our own team, that’s why we are a founding partner of the Surfing for Farmers programme.
“The health, safety and wellbeing of New Zealand farmers is an important topic,” says Jason Minkhorst, GM Sales, Ballance Agri-Nutrients.
“When you consider all the factors that farmers deal with on a daily bases such as working remotely, animal welfare, financial pressure, consumer demands, media and lobby group commentary, long hours and weather events like drought, it is easy to understand why mental health is an issue in rural New Zealand. . .
Agribusiness lender Rabobank is partnering with Network 10’s television cooking show Farm to Fork.
The bank – a global specialist in food and agribusiness and one of the leading providers of Australia agricultural financial services – has joined with Network 10 and Farm to Fork’s producers Dual Entertainment as a partner in season two of the television program.
The show, which airs nationally on weekday afternoons, aims to help inform Australians how to eat and live well.
The program aims to inspire viewers to not only cook at home but also have a better appreciation of where and how their food is grown. . .
Preventing nitrogen getting into waterways is high on the priority list for many farmers and growers.
There is no silver bullet because farms are different and what works on one property won’t work on another.
Peter Burke recently went along to a field day where a solution using innovative drainage technology, which is based on good science and with minimal cost to the farmer, is being trialled.
The setting is Waitatapia Station near Bulls in the Manawatu.
Could weka be a key to helping deal with NZ’s pest problem? A new study shows weka eat rodents, rabbits and even stoats, helping to suppress population numbers and protect other wildlife.
Lead author of the study and post-doctoral researcher for Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, Dr Jo Carpenter, told Midday Report: “We were interested in whether weka could be able to help New Zealand out in controlling these invasive mammalian pests”.
Those involved reviewed scientific studies to find out about what weka ate to see if they had eaten invasive mammals.
“What we found was yes, there are quite a few studies that have found weka eating rodents, rats and mice and also quite commonly rabbits but also even stoats as well, which is pretty phenomenal.” . .
Meat co-op Alliance Group announced an underlying profit of $27.4 million for 2020. Adjusted for one-off events, the annual profit result was $7.5 million before tax.
The co-operative achieved a turnover of $1.8 billion for the year ending 30 September 2020.
New Zealand’s only 100% farmer-owned major red meat co-operative achieved a record turnover of $1.8 billion for the year ending 30 September 2020.
Murray Taggart, chair of Alliance Group, said it is a good performance for the company given the disruption and volatility in global markets due to Covid-19.
The winners of the New Zealand Biosecurity Awards, announced last night at a ceremony in Wellington, represent some of Aotearoa’s most outstanding efforts to protect our unique environment from pests and diseases.
The awards recognise organisations, volunteers, businesses, iwi, hapū, government, and tamariki around the country who are contributing to biosecurity – in our bush, our oceans and waterways, and in our backyards.
Taking out top honours with the supreme award was Miraka, a Taupō-based dairy company that has created an extensive course educating their suppliers about biosecurity risks in the dairy industry from cow to bottle.
The winners include people at the forefront of a wide variety of exceptional and innovative biosecurity-related projects, from those who have been trapping possums to protect our native birds, to learning about marine pests. . . .
With total grain production for the 2019/20 season well up over one million tonnes, it’s great to see that willing growers are finding willing buyers, Federated Farmers Arable Vice-Chairperson Grains, Brian Leadley, says.
According to the just-released October Arable Industry Marketing Initiative (AIMI) report, cereal grain production (wheat, barley and oats) for the season totaled an estimated 881,800 tonnes, and maize grain 181,800 tonnes, for a total of 1,063,600 tonnes.
Unsold stocks of grain, across all six crops are estimated to have reduced by 50 percent between 1 July and October 10.
Even when compared to the same time last year, unsold stocks across all six crops are pretty much unchanged, with an increase in the unsold stocks of milling and feed wheat (57,600 tonnes, up by 18,600 tonnes) offset by a decrease in unsold stocks of malting and feed barley (38,700 tonnes, down by 18,900 tonnes), Brian said. . .
Oxford University researchers are pushing for a new method of measuring greenhouse gas emissions and their warming impact.
Myles Allen, Ph.D., a professor of Geosystem Science and head of the Climate Dynamics Group at Oxford Martin, University of Oxford, has a beef with how the impact of methane emissions on global warming is wrongly calculated — and then misconstrued to blame livestock for climate change.
He and his Oxford Martin colleagues have proposed a new metric called GWP* (global warming potential – star), which focuses on the warming effects of the different gases, rather than their rate of emissions. The current mischaracterization of methane’s impact on warming, Allen told The Daily Churn, ignores the “white elephant” in the room — fossil fuel-based carbon dioxide emissions. This in turn could lead to misguided policies that inaccurately target animal agriculture.
“If we all turn vegetarian, but we don’t do anything about fossil fuel emissions, in five years we’ll be in exactly the same position we were before,” Allen says of rising global temperatures. But “we’re vegetarians.” . .
Dan Herries manages Taramoa Station in Puketitiri, Hawke’s Bay, a 564 hectare sheep and beef farm which lies between two significant and beautiful blocks of forest – an 800-year-old, unmilled podocarp forest known as Ball’s Clearing Scenic Reserve and Kaweka Forest Park where once-burnt faces have now regenerated with manuka and softwoods and original red and mountain beech grows in the gullies and on the tops.
The stunning landscape and rich birdlife has a deep influence on his farming philosophy.
“Taramoa has a 10km forest park boundary,” Herries explains. “It’s the only land between the two reserves. There are kiwi, kaka, kakariki, robins and bats at Ball’s Clearing and on the farm, as well as the usual tomtits, tūī, bellbirds etc. We have a holistic philosophy of farming the whole ecosystem,” he adds. “We open our eyes to what we’ve got and work out what we need to do so they thrive.” . .
Keen bakers around the country are making muffins with flour milled by a cocky from Canterbury.
Marty Scurr is a cropping farmer at Sheffield and is milling his own wheat using a stone mill he imported from Austria last year.
“It’s basically a large scale trial to see if it works, and it’s terribly inefficient for time, but it’s looking promising!”
He believes he’s the only conventional farmer in the country milling grain to make flour. Currently he’s growing three varieties of single-origin milling wheat for the process. . .
New Zealanders are devouring an additional one million punnets of blueberries every year and our renewed focus on maintaining good health will likely see sales skyrocket again this summer.
New grocery statistics show we consumed a record 8 million punnets of blueberries last year worth over $30 million – a 1.1 million punnet increase (or 15.2%) on the 2019/20 blueberry season. An almost identical rise was recorded the year before, confirming a huge surge in popularity for the humble blueberry.
Blueberries New Zealand Chairman Dan Peach attributes that success to a number of factors including the fruit’s high-profile partnership with Olympian Eliza McCartney who has been their ambassador for the past five years.
But he also predicts our COVID-19 lockdown experience will likely push sales up even further this summer. . .
Two Waikato producers have joined forces to create the world’s first tea-infused cow’s milk cheese.
The Tea Gouda cheese is a fusion of green and black tea grown in the Zealong Tea Estate near Gordonton and Gouda cheese made by Meyer Cheese, which runs its dairy farm and cheese factory just outside Hamilton.
The cheese is sold online via Meyer Cheese website.
Meyer Cheese general manager Miel Meyer told Dairy News that the collaboration was not a one-off idea but an evolution of thoughts after a few years of connecting, drinking tea and eating cheese and discussion around business and Waikato related topics. . .
Ex-farmer Daniel Payton is now using his knowledge and practical experience to help farmers make changes to their system, while retaining a viable and profitable business.
Payton, 37, is Perrin Ag’s newest consultant. One of his first projects is working as part of a larger team to complete work for the Government’s One Billion Trees Programme – an initiative that aims to increase tree planting across New Zealand, targeting one billion trees planted by 2028.
Perrin Ag is being funded by Te Uru Rākau (Foresty New Zealand) and key industry organisations to develop case studies from ten farms across the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Rangitikei.
The aim of these studies is to demonstrate how different species of trees can be successfully integrated into a variety of farming systems. . .
Animal health company Zoetis has once again raised $100,000 to support the mental health challenges facing rural Australians.
Since the campaign with Beyond Blue started in 2016, Zoetis has raised more than $500,000.
For the fifth year in a row, Zoetis has achieved its $100,000 goal by donating $5 from each sale of the company’s cattle, sheep, pig, poultry and goat vaccines and drenches.
The funds raised have gone directly to the Beyond Blue Support Service to continue supporting people, including those living in remote areas, by providing free advice, counselling and referrals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. . .
What is it with the current Government and its infatuation with setting up committees and producing endless reports?
In the past three years, in the primary sector alone we’ve seen committees established and reports produced on the future of the primary sector, freshwater reforms, wool and agritech – to name just a few.
As one can expect from any type of government-induced report, most of these were heavy on slogans and rhetoric, but lacking in real detail or implementation.
However, one of these reports – and probably the one that will most impact on the primary sector – relating to new freshwater regulations passed into law last week. . .
New Zealand is right behind the global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef taking a stand on the United Nations call to eat less beef.
The UN has published claims that the meat industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the world’s biggest oil companies.
The Global Roundtable is taking a stand on this and is raising its concerns directly with the UN.
The NZ Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (NZRSB) is right behind condemning the UN campaign and its accusations of the impact of the meat industry on the environment. . .
There has been a healthy debate about the future of red meat over the past few weeks.
But anyone who claims that farmers have their head in the sand is well wide of the mark and we need to set the record straight.
Yes, farmers, like all New Zealanders, have seen the rise of alternative proteins in the supermarket aisles and on restaurant menus. Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s own research two years ago acknowledged alternative proteins were likely to become major competitors.
However, the study also showed the same forces driving investment in and demand for alternative proteins – including concerns about industrial (feedlot) farming, health concerns arising from the use of hormones and antibiotics, the environment and animal welfare – offer an opportunity to differentiate New Zealand red meat internationally. . .
Every month we help 'Food for Love' in Wanaka. ThIs fantastic team of volunteers meet each week to cook meals for those most vulnerable in their community. As farmers we grow the food, Food for Love turn it into a nutritious meal and together we are feeding NZ!! ❤ pic.twitter.com/qwmE71fMVg
The lingering effects of the recent drought are set to hit the pockets of Central North Island sheep and beef farmers after a new report projects a significant fall in revenue this season.
AgFirst’s Central North Island Sheep and Beef Survey is forecasting a 22% fall in cash income compared to last season because of lower lambing percentages and expectation of reduced prices for lamb, wool and cattle.
The fall in income meant farm profit before tax was down 57%, AgFirst sheep and beef consultant Steve Howarth said in presenting the survey during a webinar: “In absolute terms, we have come from $112,000 in the previous year down to $48,000 profit for 2020-2021.” . .
The Commerce Commission has today released its draft report on Fonterra’s base milk price calculation for the 2019/20 dairy season.
The base milk price is the average price Fonterra sets for raw milk supplied by farmers which is currently forecast to be between $7.10 – $7.20 per kilogram of milk solids for the 2019/20 dairy season.
The Commission is required to review the calculation at the end of each dairy season under the milk price monitoring regime in the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA). The regime is designed to provide Fonterra with incentives to set the base milk price consistent with efficient and contestable market outcomes. . .
Covid-19 has disrupted New Zealand and the world. People have died, jobs have disappeared and borders have closed. This Stuff project follows seven people or groups of people in the year after New Zealand moved to alert level 1. How does the shadow of the virus hang over their everyday lives?
Stuff journalists will revisit them at key moments over the year, reporting on the Covid recovery through the lives of these Kiwis. The first in the series introduces the people taking part.
A self-proclaimed “people person”, Duncan McIntyre says he struggles to not be doing something.
When borders shut in order for New Zealand to fight Covid-19, McIntyre’s shuttle business, which generally operated out of Marlborough Airport, came to a halt “overnight”. . .
Widespread rains that fell across southern Western Australia this month have saved the state’s grain growers from potential disaster, with predictions there could even be a bumper harvest.
In its latest outlook on the summer crop, the Grains Industry Association of WA (GIWA) said recent rains that drenched large parts of the state’s wheatbelt had fallen “just in the nick of time” and turned the season on its head.
Prior to the rains, many parts of southern WA had effectively been in drought following years of lower-than-average falls and a record dry start to the winter. . . .
Poverty, isolation, bone-chilling winters, as well as the loss of jobs, partners and family homes were some of the hardships rural women experienced and had to overcome in their daily lives in the Upper Clutha. Kerrie Waterworth reports.
Sally Battson moved from Auckland to Makarora, a town at the head of Lake Wanaka on the Haast Highway between Wanaka and the West Coast, to marry the co-owner of Wilkin jet-boats in the 1980s.
Back then, the sealed road began and ended at Dinner Creek on Lake Hawea.
“People used to say to me ‘Don’t you get lonely?’ but you can get lonely anywhere. The thing I used to say about Makarora was it was on the way to everywhere.” . .
Dunedin tech company Tussock Innovation has received the Digital Innovation Award at this year’s virtual National Fieldays.
Covid 19 restrictions meant the event — which generated $549million in sales revenue for New Zealand businesses and injected $249million into the country’s GDP last year — was held online.
For many in the agri-business sector, the event is the biggest sales opportunity of the year and, for Tussock Innovation, it provided a tool to meet customers, gain product validation information and expand brand recognition, chief executive Jesse Teat said.
The company won the award with its Waterwatch product, which it had spent the past six months “honing” with the support of Palmerston North-based Sprout agri-tech accelerator . .
After a 25-year history driving stock trucks around the country, and with his son getting ready to fly the coop, he felt a call to the farm.
For the last 12 months, the 45-year-old has been the sole shepherd on the 3500ha Ben Ohau Station at Twizel.
“I came with an open mind and two dogs. Increasing my team up to four dogs, I [now] do 95% of the stock work and love the challenge this property gives me every day . .
Restoring two cob cottages in South Canterbury has become a labour of love for a retired Christchurch couple with lots of energy and a passion for the area.
Early settlers in at Burkes Pass made the cob walls of the cottages from clay, animal manure and chopped snow tussock.
Jane and Graham Bachelor bought their first cottage at an auction at the local hotel in 1984.
It was originally built by a shepherd, James Keefe, in 1876 and in a sorry state of repair when they acquired it, Jane says.
“We bought the cottage at a time when the exterior cladding and windows were disintegrating in front of our eyes.” . .
The New Zealand primary sector faces a dilemma over funding for future expansion which has prompted Bayleys rural real estate to take the initiative on helping to solve it. An upcoming seminar aims to introduce young farmers who are keen to get a piece of their own property to investors who have the capital to help back them.
Bayleys Country has organised a farm equity partnership seminar in Havelock North on August 12 and already have over 100 registered attendees.
Bayleys national director rural Duncan Ross said that bank sourced farm finance has become increasingly difficult for farmers and investors to secure after a relatively easy period for credit from the early 2000s to 2010. . .
The industry association for crop protection and animal health manufacturers and distributors has appointed Gavin Kerr, Country Manager for agrichemical company Nufarm, as its president at the Agcarm annual meeting on July 23.
Kerr says that “it’s a privilege to work in agriculture and a role I don’t take for granted”.
He would like to see one important change implemented well before the end of his three-year term.
“Farmers and growers need and deserve access to the best and latest products. But New Zealand is missing out on new, more effective treatments due to delays that discourage investment in introducing these technologies. . .
Two livestock birth-management firms enabling New Zealand farmers to be among the most productive primary producers in the world has been placed on the market for sale.
Cattle pregnancy testing company Ultra-Scan was established in 1994 to examine the fertility rate of pregnant cows. Ultra-Scan now has 20 franchises throughout New Zealand – with 14 in the North Island and six in the South Island. The majority of the company’s North Island franchise operations are located in the Greater Waikato and King Country districts.
While initially founded to deliver cow gestation scanning services, Ultra-Scan’s service offering has subsequently gone on to include similar pregnancy tests for sheep, deer and goats, as well as the de-horning of young calves aged between four days and 10 weeks of age – in a Ministry for Primary Industry-approved practice known as ‘disbudding’ on calves – as well as DNA sampling, electronic calf tagging for identification, and teat removal. . .
Australian farmers have lost significant livestock in bushfires raging across the country, says National Farmers’ Federation President Fiona Simson.
Simson says many farmers had lost homes, livestock and infrastructure.
“While we don’t know exact numbers yet, there has been a significant loss of livestock in parts of the country, most recently in areas such as northern Victoria and the south coast of NSW,” she says. . .
The ‘‘sheer weight’’ of issues facing farmers in Otago and Southland is taking a serious toll on their mental health and wellbeing, a Beef + Lamb New Zealand Economic Service report says.
The annual lamb crop report, released this week, said morale among sheep and beef farmers in the two regions was low.
The implications for farming practices and effects on profitability of government policies announced affecting the sector were unclear but likely to be far reaching.
While policies covering freshwater and greenhouse gas emissions were prominent, the likes of Mycoplasma bovis, reform of the National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme, tightening of bank lending arrangements, the One Billion Trees programme, winter grazing practices, biodiversity, urban perception of farming, and how to manage succession were also having notable impacts. . .
New Farmlands chairman Rob Hewett wants the farm supplies retailer to shift its focus to meeting the anticipated needs of farmers five years in the future.
Given the requirement for farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address freshwater quality Farmlands needs to help its 70,000 shareholder-owners make those adjustments and that means supplying advice, services and technology they will need in the future.
“Farmers want a road map and hope and we are moving the company from being very good at providing something farmers needed five years ago to provide things we anticipate farmers will need five years from now.” . .
The impetus behind developing the Klima stripper back in 2007 was a continual lack of labour during the pruning season.
Growers and companies all over the country were facing shortages and every year there was the underlying fear that pruning would not be completed in time for bud burst.
The Klima quickly caught the attention of grape growers in both New Zealand and Australia, but breaking into the US has until recently been a difficult one, says Klima founder Marcus Wickham. . .
Visiting Australian celebrity chef Justin North enjoyed a chance to sample the gourmet BBQ lunch menu before heading to the kitchen to work with Executive Chef Mauro Battaglia at Walter Peak High Country Farm in Queenstown on Tuesday 7 January.
North says the first impression when walking through the doors into the Colonel’s Homestead Restaurant is the absolutely beautiful aroma.
“Credit to Executive Chef Mauro Battaglia and his whole team as it’s clear that a lot of love, care and thought goes into the food. You can see there is such a lovely culture within the kitchen team, and everyone is so passionate about what they are doing. You can tell it’s more than just a job to everyone.” . .
The insidious flaw with the “less meat” argument is that it implies that meat is bad (when, of course, it isn’t) while looking the other way as it advances soil-depleting, GMO soy, faux meat products at the expense of nutritionally superior, regenerative beef and dairy alternatives that are essential for enhancing soil carbon, reviving pasture ecosystems, and just now gaining a foothold in supermarkets.
What Burger King and other franchises should do instead of carrying Impossible Foods paddies, is to insist that each region source at least 10% of their meats locally and via ecologically restorative production. That would jumpstart the food revolution genuinely poised to deliver a safe climate. . .
Six people have died in workplace incidents on New Zealand farms in six days this year
The latest death came today when one person died in a quad bike crash on a Wharepuhunga farm, south of Cambridge.
Another death earlier this week included a 67-year-old man who died when the tractor he was driving rolled down a bank at the Goldfields Mining Centre near Cromwell on Wednesday. . .
Two Rangitikei farmers are driving a bottoms-up approach to improving water quality in their region by encouraging and empowering farmers and their communities to work collectively to address water quality issues.
Roger Dalrymple, who farms Waitatapia Station, a large-scale mixed cropping operation near Bulls and Taihape sheep and beef farmer Mark Chrystall, were instrumental in setting up the Rangitikei Rivers Catchment Collective (RRCC) two years ago. This group acts as an umbrella organisation for community catchment groups based around three major river systems in the region. Collectively these groups involve at least 250 farmers and numerous other community stakeholders.
Roger, who like Mark is a passionate environmentalist, says over the past 100 years, everything about environmental management has been driven from the top down and it is a model that has failed. . .
Happy new year and all that. Now, where we were? Ah yes, indefinite global trade tension and Brexit.
Making predictions is the done thing around this time of year, and we’re not unknown for sticking our necks out. So in today’s newsletter we give you ours (or at least this particular writer’s) for events in the trade world.
We plead in mitigation that predicting trade politics, particularly the timing of events, is difficult at the best of times given the interminable bureaucratic processes involved. And these days we have Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, possessing respectively no consistent decision-making criteria at all and a genius for unacknowledged U-turns. Also, Iran. Sometimes it feels like you might as well be betting on raindrops running down a window. Be kind to us if some of these forecasts turn out wrong. Our chart of the day looks at something which definitely did happen, namely the slump in trade between South Korea and Japan last year. . .
Must have got me dates mixed up is it the 6th of September or 6th of January. Making mud making money🤘🤘 pic.twitter.com/cwSjHmSQ5n
Nursing students joined medical students late last year on a tour designed to promote rural health careers to pupils in rural schools.
Third-year Wellington nursing students Rachael Rowe, Lagisi Wirangi, Katrin Scott, Laura Winter and Mickey Walker took part in a five-day trip through Wairarapa and Central Hawke’s Bay to Napier and back to encourage country children to consider medical and health careers.
It was the first time nursing students took part in the tour, Whitireia Polytech nursing programme manager Leanne Pool said.
“It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to promote nursing as a career choice to young people.” . .
When Alexandra Lond began studying English Literature in 2012, the thought that, seven years later she’d be in Reporoa, New Zealand, managing an 800-cow herd would never have crossed her mind.
English woman Alex’s route into farming began while studying at Reading University. She befriended agricultural students during hockey practice, after hearing all the farming chatter “made me want to know more.”
A friend put her in touch with Sally Manford, of Hinxdon Farm, in Kent, and volunteered her way into a job.
“I spent two months shadowing the milker, working for free, before heading to my day job in town,” she says. . .
Honey producers face a season of lean returns as prices plunge to well below break-even, leaving some having to decide if this year’s crop is even worth harvesting.
Beekeeping Incorporated president Jane Lorimer said prices for bulk honey have dropped to $3.50 to $4 a kilo, well down on the $6-$7 a kilo needed to break even on production costs.
Lorimer, a Waikato producer, said she has been lucky also having income generated through kiwifruit pollination, which will be a valuable side income. . .
DairyNZ will hold a series of farmer meetings over the next two months to help participants better understand what is driving changes in the sector and how to respond.
The Farmers Forum 2020 programme kicks off in Northland on February 18. Events will follow in Waikato, Southland, Taranaki and Canterbury.
The events are free DairyNZ levy players and their staff. DairyNZ says farmers will get updated on regional and national policy development, latest science and an overview of the industry body’s activities. . .
If you’ve got a paddock of stud sires, chances are you have. But it isn’t until you look behind the lens of Ben Simpson’s camera that you truly notice the ballroom spectacular taking place.
Dancing with Bulls is one of the many moments captured by this globally recognised photographer that the average human would probably fail to see.
When Ben was encouraged by a mate to buy his first Pentax camera while living in America, little did he know it would shape the rest of his life. . .
Championing the rights of sharemilkers has seen Tony Wilding recognised in the New Years honours list.
The dairy farmer, who farms at Okoroire in South Waikato, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his work in the dairy industry and the community.
He said his initial reaction when he found out was disbelief. Once it sunk in, he began to realise how special it was.
“I”m pretty delighted and particularly my family who have seen me doing such a lot of stuff that was unpaid for in a lot of areas.” . .
New Zealand Merino chief executive John Brakenridge has seen the future of the primary sector and pioneered many of its elements well in advance of most farmers, their processors and exporters.
Few people in NZ can claim the transformation of a primary industry through their life’s work and fewer still have taken the principles uncovered beyond their home industry for the betterment of the sector.
All that has been done by Brakenridge’s ideas, enthusiasm, business relationships and persistence.
The forging of long-term supply contracts between wool growers and apparel brands like . .
A Northland farming family is adding value and creating extra income by supplying milk in glass bottles direct to customers. Jenny Ling reports.
Far North sharemilkers Gav Hogarth and Jody Hansen knew they needed a plan B when Fonterra announced a forecast milk payout with a three in front of it.
The couple had been milking their herd of pedigree Jerseys on a conventional, twice-daily milking system for five years at their Kawakawa farm when the dairy co-operative dropped the milk payout from $4.15 a kilogram of milksolids to $3.90 in early 2016.
“At $3 you’re not making any money and farming is not sustainable at that level,” Gav says.
“The options were either I went back to work or we would have to borrow money to feed the cows,” Jody says. . .
Our wardrobes are growing, which comes as no surprise given fibre production for clothing and the amount of clothes produced, is on the rise. But, like most things in life, we have options. Consumers have the power to choose what they wear and this choice can ultimately have a huge impact on what designers, brands and retailers produce.
For many, it may come as a surprise that our love for clothing is putting a strain on the environment. And with phrases such as “climate crisis” becoming the new normal, it’s time for individuals to pay attention to everyday habits. One small action, as insignificant as it may seem, can cumulatively have enormous impact. From wearing our clothes for longer, doing laundry less frequently, or paying attention to what our clothes are actually made of, consumers have the power to make a difference and influence brands’ business decisions.
This report examines consumer wardrobe and laundry behaviours, offering solutions to help reduce our impact on the environment every day. . .
It was the winter of 1978. My brother and I had contracted to fence a native bush development block that had been felled the previous year and burnt that autumn. The boss had mentioned that the manager’s house was temporarily free but, “He knew what boys were like” and directed us to camp in the woolshed instead.
“When you need a wash,” He continued, (we had visions of going to the big house for a hot shower and a sit-down meal) “the soda springs is just 10km down the road”. At least the woolshed was dry but we shared it with rats every night and hundreds of snotty ewes on the couple of nights they were penned for shearing. . . .
From small beginnings, Strath Taieri farmers Andrew and Lynnore Templeton have developed a business model to be economically sound, allowing for successful succession.
That was one of the comments of the judges of this year’s Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
Mr and Mrs Templeton, who farm The Rocks Station, a 2952ha sheep and beef property near Middlemarch, with their daughter, Ellie, won the supreme award, along with awards for innovation, agribusiness management and livestock.
The Templetons hosted a field day on their property last Thursday and facilitator Pete Young described it as a celebration of farming excellence. . .
I thought I knew a lot about pork: I know it’s a red meat, I know how to get perfect crackling on a pork roast and I know the destruction of three barbecues due to fat induced conflagration mean I should never be trusted with a pork chop again.
I’ve bought pork from a butcher, I’ve raised my own pork and I’ve eaten wild pork. I’ve had so much pork delivered to my house in a single day I seriously thought I’d need to buy a third freezer. I know my pork, or at least I thought I did.
I recently walked into a restaurant in Austin, Texas, and ordered a pork chop. It’s a meal I don’t cook often due to the high risk of catastrophic barbecue loss and it was a dish where I felt confident I knew what I’d be getting: a large pale slab of firm meat, possibly slightly greasy but delicious and filling. . .
Ricardo Barcia is passionate about wool and the wool industry, and wants to learn more about fleece preparation before he returns home to Uruguay in March.
Mr Barcia (24) is from Salto, in Uruguay, and arrived in New Zealand in August to work on Andrew and Tracy Paterson’s property, Matakanui Station, near Omakau.
He had also spent time in several Otago woolsheds and was interested to see how woolhandlers and wool classers prepared the fleeces before they went into into fadges, something that did not happen at home.
Mr Barcia said he would like to introduce the practices to woolsheds in Uruguay as he could see significant benefits and added value for farmers there. . .
Export lamb and beef prices reached new highs in the September 2019 quarter, while forestry products fell sharply, Stats NZ said today.
“Both meat and dairy product export prices were up in the September quarter, following similar rises in the June quarter,” business price manager Bryan Downes said.
“In contrast, forestry product export prices, mainly logs, had the largest quarterly fall in over 10 years.” . .
The spoof magazine show is described as “the number one podcast for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.”
Created in 2015 by comedian Benjamin Partridge, the format is presented to listeners as a serious podcast about the meat and dairy industries, produced as a companion to a website and trade magazine of the same name. In fact, the podcast is peppered with comic dialogue, surreal discussions, spoof adverts, and fictional interviews with characters that are played by other comedians.
The show has now also transferred to Radio 4, with the BBC having repeated select episodes across two series. . .
As temperatures rise in the Gisborne district, Tolaga Bay locals face a beach covered in logs and expect more debris every time it rains.
More than a year since a huge storm hit the district on Queen’s Birthday weekend 2018, washing over 40,000 cubic metres of wood onto beaches, rain is still sending forestry waste down the district’s rivers to Tolaga Bay beach.
On October 15, the beach was covered in 15,000 cubic metres of wood in what the Gisborne District Council described as, “a storm that could be expected every couple of years”. . .
As one of five new Nuffield Scholarship recipients, sheep, beef and dairy farmer Ed Pinckney, of Manapouri, will be spending several months overseas next year exploring different farming operations.
The experience gained will enhance his own farming operations and also form part of a study project each scholar is required to do.
Although he has yet to distil his ideas into a specific topic, he is keen to look at how to encourage more people to enter the agricultural industry and develop their skills.
”There will be something to learn from most businesses [I visit] around the world and will be applicable back here to what we do,” Mr Pinckney said.
The Nuffield Scholarships provide new scholars with an opportunity to travel abroad in groups and individually, and study the latest developments in several leading agricultural countries. . .
The new person at the helm of the Dairy Industry Awards has never milked a cow but has business skills that will serve him well in the role. Jenny Ling reports.
A solid understanding of rural life combined with a high-flying international career in marketing and events has secured Robin Congdon his latest role as Dairy Industry Awards general manager.
Congdon has some big shoes to fill as he took over from long-serving leader Chris Keeping, who had 18 years in the role. . .
New Zealand agritech start-ups are creating value, powered by technology.
We are at the beginning of a golden age of artificial intelligence and the possibilities of what it and other modern technologies can deliver are still to be seen.
The agritech sector here is in a unique position to address critical global issues such as meeting the food demand from a growing global population. . .
Following popular demand to make it available locally Kiwis are now able to receive the nutritious benefits of New Zealand’s own grass-fed sheep milk, with the launch of Spring Sheep® Full Cream Sheep Milk Powder in convenient 350g and 850g resealable pouches.
It is now available at Aelia Duty Free stores in Auckland and will be followed by select supermarkets in early 2020. . .
The New Zealand Groundspread Fertilisers Association (NZGFA) is actively encouraging all its members to sign up to free, real-time incident reporting app, Spotlight. The move comes as interest in best practice incident reporting is on the rise and as vigilance around health and safety continues to climb to the top of the industry’s agenda.
Grant Anderson, the NZGFA’s Health & Safety representative, says health and safety is of paramount importance in every industry where there is risk and that ground spreaders are making great efforts to ensure their health and safety and incident prevention procedures are effective. . .
A North Otago berry fruit business has grown to be the largest producer of strawberries in the South Island. Business and rural editor Sally Rae speaks to the remarkable driving force behind the operation.
If strawberry plants came in pink, then Leanne Matsinger would probably place a bulk order.
For the North Otago berryfruit grower is particularly fond of the hue and, when she bought a new tractor, she even asked if it was possible to get it in that colour.
Sadly it was not, and when she heads out at 2am with the floodlights blazing to go spraying in the still of the night, it is on a conventionally coloured workhorse.
Wind the clock back to 2010, and Mrs Matsinger did not know how to drive a tractor. Nor how to grow strawberries. . .
In a New Zealand first new research from Lincoln University doctoral researcher Hafiz Muhammad Abrar Ilyas is estimating the carbon footprints of pastoral or grass-based and barn dairy systems based on their energy consumption.
This study was done on 50 conventional dairy farms in Canterbury – 43 pastoral and seven barn systems.
Hafiz said the difference between the two systems indicates the barn system has an 18% higher carbon footprint than the pastoral system per hectare of farm area and 11% higher footprint per tonne of milksolids. . .
He says Rockit is the only miniature apple available globally.
“My understanding was when it (the apple) was offered to the big players none of them would touch it because they just didn’t think there was value in a small apples.”
There is.
Rockit apples are now returning about $150,000 per hectare to growers. . .
Fine wool prices might be below last year’s levels but they still made the sale screen at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch good viewing for Central Otago farmer Jock McNally.
He watched as his 15 to 17 microns Merino wool sold for up to $17.50/kg greasy at the annual live auction on Thursday.
“The prices are still reasonable, still above the averages of the last few years and I’m happy with the sale,” he said. . .
Two tonnes of Central Otago Boer goat meat was shipped from New Zealand recently to appear on the menus of three planned specialist restaurants in Korea.
The shipment was organised by Alexandra-based New Zealand Premium Goat Meat Ltd (NZPGM), which is run by John Cockcroft, of Clyde, and Dougal Laidlaw, of Alexandra.
The first new restaurant, called Cabra’s Kitchen (cabra is Spanish for goat), will specialise in meals made using New Zealand Boer goat, as well as New Zealand beef and lamb and Central Otago wine. . .
Simon Gourley of Domaine Thomson Wines is the 2019 Young Horticulturist of the Year.
From Central Otago, Simon (28) represented the NZ Winegrowers sector at the competition, which celebrates excellence in people aged under 30, employed in the horticulture industry.
It’s the second consecutive year the Young Horticulturist (Kaiahuone rangatahi o te tau) title has been won by a viticulturist. Last year’s winner was Annabel Bulk, who is also from Central Otago. . .
He might not have ended up pursuing a hands-on farming or shearing career but Guy Blundell has still forged a profession in agriculture.
Mr Blundell is managing director of Compass Agribusiness, an agribusiness advisory, agri asset management and client partnership specialist.
Established a decade ago, it has head offices in both Arrowtown – where he lives – and Melbourne, where his business partner former Otago local Nigel Pannett leads the team, and has just opened a Dunedin office. . .
Hundreds of angry farmers have confronted government officials at an environment roadshow.
The Government’s freshwater policy reforms consultation event hit Waikato on Monday with over 500 people packing out the venue at Mystery Creek.
What officials heard was mistrust, cynicism and anger about the proposals from the largely rural audience. . .
Hope this is not an omen for today’s MFE meeting at mystery creek. 12-2 at Mystery Creek. Dust off your town gumboots and get there! pic.twitter.com/pKTtsxz7gv
A heartfelt social media post from Hawke’s Bay farmer Sam Stoddart has gone viral. In it he points out the strong connections New Zealand farmers have with the communities around them.
Stoddart told The Country he was surprised by the strong reaction to his post, which has had nearly 6000 reactions and nearly 3000 shares.
“For a vent to mates out of frustration on Facebook it certainly has gained some momentum.
I can’t believe the positive feedback though. For over 700 comments only about five are negative. Maybe the rural urban divide isn’t as big as we think. . .
Fonterra chairman John Monaghan says he is due to retire next year and will work with the board to plan succession, but the company says he has not made up his mind about whether he will leave.
Monaghan was due to retire by rotation at next year’s annual meeting, at the end of his three-year term.
“Having seen through the introduction of our new strategy, operating model, and with our divestment and debt reduction efforts well progressed, I will be working with the board in 2020 to facilitate chair succession. The timeline for that succession will be agreed by the board nearer to the time,” Monaghan said on Friday. . .
Augustines of Central founder and Food Award finalist Gus Hayden, of Wanaka, is bottling “nostalgia”.
He was delighted and “pretty surprised” when he found out his preserved apricots in riesling and sugar syrup was one of 20 finalists in the Cuisine Artisan section of the New Zealand Food Awards.
Mr Hayden, who is a chef with Cardrona Terraces, Wanaka, uses spray-free apricots from two suppliers on Burn Cottage Rd, Cromwell, and Earnscleugh, near Alexandra. . .
Discounting destroys value and has always been a clear signal you’ve run out of ideas. So you end up pulling the crude cord called discounting.
Discounting is rife in Ag because it sometimes seems like it’s the only strategy we have left to compete which is always a race to the bottom.
We haven’t been very smart.
Discounting is disastrous for profits because the profit you didn’t make on that sale has to be replaced by the profit on the next sale. Worse, you condition your customers into lower prices and devalue your market positioning in the process. It also robs your business of the capital it needs to invest and grow in itself. . .
Hold your local council candidates to account on costs and services: and if you think the voice of farmers is not being heard, consider standing for election yourself.
That’s the underlying message to rural people in the Federated Farmers 2019 local body elections guide, Platform: Feds on Local Government, released at the Feds’ AGM in Wellington this week.
“The quality of local government in rural communities can mean the difference between dodgy roads and safer ones, and many thousands of dollars in rates,” Federated Farmers President Katie Milne says. . .
Taihape farmer Kerry Whale’s family hadn’t even talked about succession.
“We had our heads in the sand really.”
“It’s a very complicated subject but now our family has a plan to build on and it’s opened communications among us about what the next 10 years will look like.”
What changed? . .
How cool is this from @Julietrichgray Around 2300 in-fawn Haka Station hinds in the lane ready to head back to the shed for tomorrow’s Tb test. (expect I’ll get a reply from Richard soon, correcting the tally to 2301) pic.twitter.com/AXqe7RUhVZ
South Canterbury cropping farmer Colin Hurst has been recognised for his immense contribution to the arable industry.
Hurst was crowned Arable Farmer of the Year at the Federated Farmers arable industry group 2019 awards in Wellington.
The South Canterbury Federated Farmers vice president has represented the federation at national, regional and branch level and contributed to the South Canterbury Rural Support Trust, the arable group’s herbage seed growers subsection, United Wheatgrowers and the Foundation for Arable Research. . .
Pleasant Point vegetable and berryfruit grower Tony Howey is scaling back.
He and his wife Afsaneh Howey have sold and given up leases on 600ha of land on which they grew onions, carrots, potatoes, grain and seed, in order to concentrate on their blackcurrant business.
Mr Howey said he had hoped to find a young keen grower who might take over the operation but this did not happen.
”It was quite difficult; it’s hard to entice young ones now. There’s no-one around.” . .
New Zealand eyes have been so focussed this week on an event 20,000kms distant that they might not have noticed here at home another extraordinary event, taking place on the NZX.
The market capitalisation of a company which listed as recently as 2012 on the local sharemarket soared past the $12bn mark and is hard on the heels of Meridian Energy, which has the highest valuation of NZ-based companies on the NZX at $12.3bn.
The challenger is a2 Milk, which sells a specialised type of milk with what it claims are health benefits. . .
The co-op will stop sending solid waste to landfill by 2025 and will by then have 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging.
These are the right things to do and even more important as more consumers choose products that are environmentally friendly, says the co-op’s director of sustainability, Carolyn Mortland. . .
The Productivity Commission’s report on local government funding is another step in a very long journey to genuine equity for farmer ratepayers, Federated Farmers says.
“To cover costs of council services, we value the emphasis in this draft report on the principle that who benefits should pay a fair amount, and that the legislative framework be changed to back this principle,” Federated Farmers local government spokesperson Andrew Maclean says.
“We agree this ‘benefit principle’ should be the primary basis for deciding cost allocations.
“Paying huge amounts of money for council services distant from farms is a key problem. Farmers need this resolved and we see potential in this report to achieve fairness,” Maclean said. . .
Farmers are by nature independent, optimistic, proud, resilient and strong. But the perfect storm of terrible weather, prolonged market weakness, global trade wars and more is driving some farmers to breaking point. Luke Chivers spoke to a dairying couple whose change in perspective has transformed their farm, their family and their community.
It was a warm, sunny afternoon in Takaka in Golden Bay.
As daylight beamed through a window only to hit the back of a curtain Wayne Langford found himself bedridden in a cool, dark room. He had been flat on his back every afternoon for more than a week to escape his constant mental anguish.
But this day was different.
“I had like an out-of-body experience.
“It was as though I was hovering above myself looking down and saying ‘what the hell are you doing in bed?” . . .
New Zealand is among a handful of World Trade Organisation members pushing the United States to come clean over billions of dollars paid to its farmers as compensation for the trade war with China.
In May US President Donald Trump announced a further US$16b in payments to follow US$12b in aid dispensed in July last year.
American farmers have borne the brunt of retaliatory tariffs on US exports to China. . .
Rural contractors have expressed their fears about unwittingly spreading Mycoplasma bovis between farms.
The issue came up during a panel discussion on M bovis and biosecurity at the Rural Contractors New Zealand national conference in Nelson on Thursday.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) admitted farmer privacy issues made the situation challenging for contractors but the chance of them spreading the disease further was low. . .
Fonterra has launched a range of four products in India under the brand Dreamery through a joint venture with retail giant Future Group.
Fonterra first entered the Indian market in 2001 but the venture fell through.
The Dreamery range of products is the first brand under the joint venture Fonterra Future Dairy, which included two flavoured milk drinks, yoghurt and skim milk in tetra-packs. . .
A Darfield father and son have claimed this year’s top wheat growers’ award.
Syd and Earl Worsfold were named 2019 supreme award winners in the United Wheat Growers wheat competition awards recently. The pair also won the feed wheat section.
Earl Worsfold farms in partnership with his parents Syd and Trish Worsfold on 400ha, including 260ha which Earl leased from a neighbour. . .
Reducing our environmental impact is more complex than simply removing animal products from the diet.
This week, on Wednesday, June 12, the National Dairy Council (NDC) – in association with Teagasc, Ornua and Lakeland Dairies – hosted its annual farm walk and seminar on the McKenna family farm in Emyvale, Co. Monaghan.
Speaking on the day, Dr. Marianne Walsh – a senior nutritionist with NDC – made some interesting points about veganism and the affect a complete plant-based diet would have on the environment and the population as a whole.
She said: “At the moment we have about 7.7 billion people and this is set to rise to about 9.7 billion by the year 2050. Which can exasperate some of the current problems that we are facing. . .
New research from a major study looking at resilience in New Zealand rural communities has highlighted a disconnect between urban and rural areas.
Heartland Strong is anchored by a ten-year study led by AgResearch senior social scientist Dr Margaret Brown and involving a team from PricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand.
It looked at levels of resilience in rural communities, and what that meant for their future.
The book’s team of 14 writers found great examples of resilience and ways in which it was built by different communities.
However the research also found that New Zealand has a disconnect between urban and rural. . .
he argument over whether New Zealand has too many cows is a regional issue, not a national issue, according to Ministry of Primary Industries’ chief science advisor, John Roche.
Speaking to Dairy News at the recent Agricultural Climate Change conference in Palmerston North, Roche stated that it’s too emotive to talk in general terms of there being too many cows in NZ. He says all regions are different and it’s a case of decisions being made at that level rather than taking the blanket view that NZ has more cows than it can effectively run.
But Roche says that he has concern about the cost of marginal milk. . .
Scary things are coming down the road for New Zealand’s food industry. Like Glyph “molecular” whiskey.
Raymond McCauley, chair of biotechnology at Silicon Valley’s Singularity University, already has his audience at Grow 2019 – a ministry-backed futurist conference – gripped by what is brewing elsewhere.
World agriculture is about to be remade, he warns. It is the Green Revolution 2.0 – cracking the problem of how to feed a planet that is going to be home to about 10 billion people by 2050 without completely trashing it in the process. . .
Doing more with our milk – Hugh Stringleman:
In the never-ending debate about Fonterra’s follies and future, adding value is the constant theme.
The co-operative claims it now adds value (over the prices of standard dairy commodities) to 45% of external sales by volume, thus earning more than half of total revenue from such goods.
The added-value split is about one quarter each in consumer-ready products and food service products and half in advanced ingredients, which have added functionalities.
The external sales volume is more than 22 billion litres . .
Myrtle McCarthy describes herself as “a tiny cog” in the harness racing industry.
Yet the 87-year-old North Otago standardbred breeder is nothing short of remarkable as she continues a multi-generational family involvement.
Today, Mrs McCarthy will offer two yearling fillies at the All Aged Sale in Christchurch.
She has been breeding horses for about 40 years, since her father gave her a mare called Gypsys Chance.
The Dalgety name is synonymous with harness racing; her late father James (Jim) Dalgety operated the Belmedia stud near Kakanui and had many good horses. . .
Honorary doctorates for Synlait co-founder John Penno and naturalist Hugh Wilson will be among nearly 600 awards presented at the 2019 Lincoln University Graduation on May 3.
The ceremonies will also feature posthumous awards to two victims of the Christchurch terror attacks, as well as a student who died in an accident last year.
Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bruce McKenzie said the graduation was a celebration of students’ hard work and achievements, and that included the posthumous awards.
“This occasion, while recognising the tragic circumstances surrounding the loss of those graduates is also about acknowledging their efforts and their time here, as well as the students who were their peers.” . .
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