The inquiry that failed to get to the truth – Clive Bibby :
I have never reacted to a Government sponsored inquiry (the Parata led review of land use in the Tairawhiti and Hawkes Bay regions) with as much shear disappointment as l do having watched the TV reports and the published comments from those who will most likely oversee the recommendations for changes that are necessary to avoid a repeat performance.
In some ways, l am a reluctant responder to a “review” (note the different label which is a more accurate description of the one former Forestry Minister Nash obviously wanted) that had all the information it needed, including that gleaned from important “ground zero“ submissions ie. those whose farms were partially destroyed during the cyclone.
There is no question that Hekia Parata and her team tried to push the boundaries of the terms of reference for the inquiry in order to establish the truth about – what actually happened, who or what was to blame and most importantly of all – what needs to be done in order to prevent a similar event every couple of years or so in the future.
However, having pre-warned the likely result of the committee not being brave enough to seek the truth, no matter what it takes (which is what a real government initiated “inquiry” like the Mahon inquiry into the Erebus disaster but unfortunately, not this one, would have done) it gives me no satisfaction in taking on the role of stating the failings of this report. Someone has to do it. . .
Forestry contractors at breaking point with an unsustainable model :
New Zealand’s forestry contractors are at breaking point, with compounding pressures from the last three years mounting. Some are already in liquidation and many more are at risk of losing their livelihoods.
Forest Industry Contractors Association (FICA) is hugely concerned for the viability of forestry contracting businesses at the moment. Pressure has been exacerbated by Cyclone Gabrielle but it comes on the back of a tough three years, with Covid-19, fuel hikes, high inflation resulting in significant interest rate rises, and continuous wet weather all thrown into the mix.
Pressure is compounding with increased operational costs, staffing / employment issues, market instability and contractual issues. The already low log price (which is expected to drop again next month), will definitely mean reduction of harvest targets and cancelled contracts, which many will not be able to endure this time round, says FICA spokesperson Ross Davis.
“A recent survey of our members showed a widespread reduction in production over the past year. 57% of respondents indicated their production had been reduced by 20% or more, with 16% down more than 30%,” Ross says. . .
The fascinating benefits behind New Zealand’s world renowned manuka honey :
While the saying that nothing lasts forever applies to most things, historical evidence could prove that there is an exception to the rule, and that is honey. In 1922, honey was discovered in a pot among the items buried in the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, dated to be at least 3,000 years old. This suggests that ancient civilizations not only knew about the fact that expensive honey was a superfood even back then, but it was good enough to be a food item for kings.
Further discoveries reveal that this isn’t even the oldest incidence of honey existing in human culture. An archaeological site in Caucuses in the Republic of Georgia yielded wild berry offerings to a chieftain buried in a tomb that was cured with honey. This tomb dates back to 4300 BCE, the oldest known use of honey by bronze age people, proving honey has long been valued and used.
A Superfood From Then til Now
It is no wonder, therefore, that honey is held in high regard as an important food item til today. This is particularly true with Manuka honey, a type of honey made by bees native to New Zealand and Australia that comes from the native Leptospermum scoparium bush, more commonly known as a tea tree. Hoeny is already popular for the many beneficial properties it comes with, but not too many know that of all the types of honey, Manuka honey is at the topmost level in terms of quality. . .
Gregoire (Greg) Durand wins 2023 Central Otago Young Grower of the Year :
Gregoire (Greg) Durant of Cherri Global in Clyde, 28, won the 2023 Central Otago Young Grower of the Year regional final at the event held in Bannockburn on Friday 26 May.
The annual competition attracted five entrants and covering modules such as irrigation, first aid, tractor and machinery work, pest and disease, spraying and weed management as well as biosecurity.
Organiser Mariette Morkel, of Horticentre, says the wind and rain was a bit of hassle on the day, and made setting up the course challenging. ‘But it was great to see some new contestants entering this year, and we’re stoked with how it all went.’
Originally from France, Greg was a young backpacker when he first came to New Zealand, picking fruit in the Teviot Valley. He then moved to Clyde to work for Cherri Global, where today he works as their Clyde-Roxburgh sector manager, overseeing a 50ha block of cherries, in a role he has been in since 2017. . .
Meat, eggs and milk play vital role in meeting global nutrition targets – Flora Southey :
Globally, the consumption of animal source foods including meat, eggs and milk can help to reduce stunting, wasting and overweight amongst children, according to a new UN report. . .
The green war on sheep – Myfanwy Alexander :
I’m writing this to the soundtrack of cacophonous bleating. The fields around my house are slowly filling up with ewes and lambs. They do look cute, these speckled faces with their black noses, but they are here to be eaten. That is the purpose of farming, after all – to raise food for us all to eat. The turning-point in human civilisation was when we were able to raise our own food, as opposed to simply hoping that nature would be bountiful. We altered nature to our own purposes. I can’t think of a more valuable human endeavour than attempting to feed the population.
Financier and environmentalist Ben Goldsmith vehemently disagrees. He declared in the Mail on Sunday last month that if we are to save Britain, we have to stop farming sheep. In Goldsmith’s telling, it would appear that everything is the fault of sheep. Global warming? Sheep. The extinction of native species? Sheep again. Flooding? Their hoof prints are all over it. I have not yet read an article explaining how sheep were to blame for the election of Trump, plastics in the ocean or Chernobyl, but it surely is only a matter of time.
This anti-sheep rhetoric has been around for some time. Guardian columnist George Monbiot came to live in Mid Wales a while ago. We can’t have made him feel very welcome, as he has been campaigning non-stop against our sheep-farming way of life ever since. He is fond of referring to sheep as ‘woolly maggots‘. He has described Britain’s countryside as being ‘sheep-wrecked‘. He has complained that the landscape of Dartmoor has been ‘comprehensively shagged’ by the ‘white plague’. I am tempted to ask: ‘Are you okay, George?’ . .
Minette Batters : “Food cannot be the poor relation to the environment” – India Bourke :
After years of doubts and delay, last week the government presented details of how UK farmers will be paid post-Brexit. Instead of sticking with the EU’s system of subsidies based on land area, the government pledged to put “environmental protection and enhancement first”, as Michael Gove put it when he was environment secretary in 2017. Now farmers will be able to receive funding for a range of actions that support nature, from managing hedgerows to restoring peatlands and avoiding insecticide use. But while the new schemes aim to reform British agriculture for an age grappling with climate change, they may end up being a compromise that pleases no-one.
Environmentalists warn that the planned £2.4bn in government incentives will give farmers only a fraction of the support they need to restore the nation’s depleted soils, woods and waterways (and meet the targets set under a new 5-year Environmental Improvement Plan). Meanwhile, for Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union of England and Wales, “there’s still a huge amount of concern that these schemes are seemingly not designed to be profitable at all” for those who work the land.
Even before the war in Ukraine caused the cost of energy and fertiliser to soar, the nation’s farmers were badly struggling. Many voted to leave the EU hoping that doing so would bring independence from stifling bureaucracy, but have been met instead by disadvantageous trade agreements, labour shortages and new varieties of form-filling. And while rising prices are leaving millions in food poverty, farmers can receive less than 1 per cent of the profit outlets take on their produce. Britain’s biodiversity, meanwhile, is among the most depleted in the world, according to a study by the Natural History Museum.
“Food security, not just here, but globally, is at a tipping point,” Batters told Spotlight over the phone last Friday. “We must now take food security seriously and not just pay lip service to it.” Shortages of tomatoes, peppers and field vegetables are set to follow the recent shortage of eggs. . .
Posted by homepaddock 
Homepaddock 