Rural round-up

Seeing women’s value on the farm – Sally Rae:

Noticing a gap in the sheep and beef sector, Bronwyn Campbell decided to do something to help address it.

She formed South Otago Women in Sheep and Beef — Partners in Business, which will hold its second session today in Balclutha.

The group’s formation came about after Mrs Campbell did an “Understanding Your Farming Business” course in Gore, run by the Agri Women’s Development Trust (AWDT). . .

Fonterra introduces global quality seal:

Fonterra is introducing a new global food quality seal – Trusted Goodness™ – for its products as part of its business strategy to add value to milk and maximise returns for its farmers.

Fonterra’s Chief Operating Officer, Global Consumer and Foodservice Jacqueline Chow, said that market research commissioned by Fonterra shows global consumers are prepared to pay a premium for high quality, safe and healthy food from trusted sources.

“Consumers want to know more about where their food comes from and that it is produced by businesses using sustainable and ethical practices. Consumers are actively seeking out products they can trust to feed their families and that come with these benefits.  . . 

 Agrarian revolution on its way – Richard Rennie:

As whole milk powder prices start to surge again farmers are being cautioned not to let that distract them from some of the biggest farm system disruptions the world has seen.

The world was on the verge of a new agrarian revolution, KPMG’s agribusiness head Ian Proudfoot told delegates at this year’s rural update agribusiness seminar.

It would result in practices done for generations being tipped on their head in a few years. “Don’t let the recent rise cloud your judgement. . . 

 Belief 20% Coast dairy farms up against wall:

About 20% of West Coast dairy farms could be in serious financial trouble, Federated Farmers heard at its quarterly meeting in Greymouth last week.

Provincial president Peter Langford said farmer sentiment was low given Westland Milk Products’ poor performance and many dairy farmers having had to borrow just to continue.

The upheaval and “negative thoughts” around Westland Milk management, governance and performance meant it was fair to say dairy farming, “with low and no payout” over the past two months, was difficult, he said.

Farmlands change – Sally Rae:

Hildathorpe farmer Chris Dennison has been elected to the Farmlands board, ousting long-serving director and fellow North Otago farmer John Foley.

Last month, Mr Dennison was critical of the co-operative’s performance after it posted a $9million loss, saying it appeared to have “lost its way”. The result of the South Island director election was announced at the company’s annual meeting in Christchurch on Tuesday.

Mr Dennison and his wife Kay run a 400ha arable farm with an adjacent dairy farm milking 800 cows on the lower Waitaki Plains. . . 

Talley’s add kale to healthy menu choice – Mike Watson:

Coal is not the only ‘crop’ Motueka-based food producer Talley’s has been investing in.

The company, which recently added coal mining to its list of investments, is also feeling its way with commercially grown kale for a mainly domestic consumer market.

For nearly 30 years Talley’s was synonymous with commercial pea growing in Marlborough.

The seafood, dairy, meat and vegetable processing company once harvested up to 1000ha of peas in the region. . . 

More grass and fewer cows equals more milk for Cloverdale Dairies – Heather Chalmers:

A pasture based system is paying off for Cloverdale Dairies owners Andrew and Nicky Watt, writes Heather Chalmers.

Despite managing one of the biggest dairy herds in Canterbury, Andrew and Nicky Watt definitely have their finger on the pulse, with their low-cost, pasture-based system consistently generating a business performance that is the envy of many.

Covering a five kilometre square block in the middle of the Canterbury Plains near Ashburton, Cloverdale Dairies runs almost 3000 cows and employs up to 22 staff in the peak of the season. . . .

 

Rural round-up

The causes of the great cheese glut –  Mitch McCann:

There’s a big problem in United States right now. No, not that – America’s got too much cheese.

According to Vox, 453 million kilograms sits in cold storage warehouses across the country.

There’s a few reasons for what’s being labelled “America’s cheese glut”.

Around 2014, China’s economy was growing fast.

They were buying up heaps of US dairy products, like milk powder and cheese.

American farmers stepped up to meet demand, then China’s economy slowed, and with it – cheese sales. . . 

Forestry Industry Helps Grow Kiwi Population:

A new set of guidelines to help forest owners protect kiwi will help increase kiwi population numbers across New Zealand.

The guidelines, created by Kiwis for kiwi’s National Mentor for Advocacy, Wendy Sporle, have also been developed into a short training module to educate forestry crews about on-the-ground kiwi management.

Wendy Sporle has been a Northland farm forester for 40 years and has decades of forestry and kiwi management experience. . . 

Tirau’s iconic sheep, ram, and dog buildings for sale:

After 23 years, the creators and owners of the iconic Sheep, Ram and Dog buildings in Tirau are putting them up for sale.

Sitting on a prime corner on State Highway 1, the buildings have been much-loved  and photographed by locals, tourists and people passing through the town since their creation. 

John and Nancy Drake, the creators and current owners of the buildings, built the sheep back in 1994. . . 

Fonterra Showcases Clean Water Commitments at Global Summit:

All Fonterra manufacturing sites are aiming for globally-leading industry standards for wastewater treatment within 10 years according to COO Global Consumer & Foodservice Jacqueline Chow.

The Co-operative, which uses some 45 million cubic metres of water in processing in New Zealand, currently recycles close to six per cent or an average 2.5 million cubic metres annually.

“As new capacity is built, Fonterra is investing in resource-efficient plants such as our upgraded Pahiatua site which recovers and recycles 90 per cent of condensate from powder processing for irrigation to nearby farmland.” . . .

Extra 3825km2 of cell coverage delivered to rural areas:

An area the size of 450,000 rugby fields has been added to the country’s cell network in just two years, says Communications Minister Amy Adams

Thirty-four new cell towers have expanded coverage by an extra 3825 square kilometres to rural areas previously without coverage.

The new towers are a result of requirements set in the auction of the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum, won by Spark and Vodafone in 2014. Under the auction agreement Spark and Vodafone were required to build new towers in new rural areas in the first five years after the purchase.

“Thirty four towers were completed by the end of the second year, which is four sites more than required by the auction agreement. Seventeen have come online in the last year,” says Ms Adams. . .  

CropLogic Recognised At Annual TIN100 Awards:

Precision agriculture firm, CropLogic, has been named one of the most promising early stage companies at the annual TIN100 Awards announced in Auckland last night.

The TIN100 Awards recognise the leading technology exporters in New Zealand following the release of the annual TIN100 Report. The Report analyses the performance of the country’s largest exporters in the areas of ICT, High-tech Manufacturing and Biotechnology.

CropLogic was amongst ten shortlisted companies including 8i, BioLumic, Engender Technologies, Footfalls & Heartbeats, Hydroxsys, Invert Robotics, Mars Bio-imaging Ltd, Parrot Analytics and Timely. . . 

Entries open for the 2017 New Zealand Dairy Awards:

The window of opportunity to make a difference to your farming career has arrived! Entries will be accepted for the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards from today, Thursday 20th October, until midnight 30th November. Competitions categories include the New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Dairy Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year.

All entries are received online at www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz. The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra Farm Source, Honda Motorcycles, LIC, Meridian Energy and Ravensdown, along with industry partner Primary ITO. . . 

Those who say you shouldn’t take your work home with you don’t know lambing season.

Rural round-up

Calf milk powder shortage dire – Neal Walllace:

Calf rearers battling a shortage of milk powder are unlikely to get a reprieve this season with a major retailer warning product delays could continue for another four weeks.  

As if that wasn’t enough, farmers report the price of calf milk replacer, or what some are calling white gold, has increased in recent weeks from $53 for a 20kg bag to $75.  

Farmlands chief executive Peter Reidie said his company was not taking any new orders for calf milk replacer (CMR) because suppliers had advised they could not supply any product. . . 

World food trends favour dairy – Hugh Stringleman:

Fonterra has identified 11 modern consumer food trends it says are very positive for high quality milk production in New Zealand.  

Global consumer and food service chief operating officer Jacqueline Chow said Fonterra had invested $1 billion over the past decade in dairy innovation – in science, sustainability, nutrition and packaging – to position the co-operative to meet the trends.  

Its dairy farmers had also spent $1b over the past five years on environmental initiatives. . . 

More calls to rural support line reported -:

The Waikato Rural Support Trust is receiving unusually high numbers of calls from farmers as adverse weather conditions and the low dairy payout take a toll, it says.

Trust chairman Neil Bateup said a particularly wet spring had caused issues with feed quality and quantity and that had made farming very difficult.

Mr Bateup said the farmers calling were mainly in the dairy industry, with those people also struggling with the low payout of the past couple of years. . . 

Feral Activists Are Worse Than The Pests 1080 Fights:

Activism in New Zealand has sunk to a new low as conservation workers don’t even feel safe going about their daily jobs.

Federated Farmers is deeply concerned for the safety of the country’s conservation department staff and contractors, as so-called activists continue to ignore the fact that 1080 is working well for New Zealand.

“It is simply unacceptable for New Zealanders who go to work every day to protect our environment, to be made to feel unsafe doing their jobs,” says Federated Farmers president Dr William Rolleston.

“This is madness and it’s activism out of control. . . 

Ngāi Tahu adds horse treks to its tourism stable – Aaron Smale:

Ngāi Tahu has bought a horse trekking business in Glenorchy to add to its tourism portfolio.

The South Island iwi has bought Dart Stables in Glenorchy, which runs horse treks through a region that features heavily in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Ngāi Tahu Tourism chief executive Quinton Hall said the business fit well with its broader tourism strategy.

“The team at Dart Stables has an excellent reputation with customers and within the local community and has access to some of the most beautiful parts of the country,” he said. . . 

Enterprising Rural Women Awards (ERWA) entrants for 2016:

Six fantastic businesses are competing in three categories this year and the ultimate winner will receive the supreme prize for the Enterprising Rural Women Awards.

Rural Women New Zealand’s annual awards showcase rural women who run their own successful businesses. For the entrants, it is an opportunity to promote their innovative rural enterprise and gain recognition for their contribution to their community.

Each category winner receives $1,000 in prize money and a trophy, with a further $1,000 being awarded to the supreme winner who is judged as an exceptional rural business women. Prizes also include clothing from Swazi Apparel and from the Agri-Women’s Development Trust $400 worth of executive coaching for each category winner and an additional $3,400 professional development package for the supreme winner.

2016 ERWA categories: . . 

International Beef Alliance meets in Taupo:

New Zealand is hosting beef producers from the International Beef Alliance in Taupo this week.

The International Beef Alliance includes the national organisations representing beef cattle producers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay and the United States and it meets annually to progress issues of common interest.

This week the Presidents and CEOs from the Cattle Council of Australia, Associação dos Criadores de Mato Grosso, Associação Nacional dos Confinadores de Brasil, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Ganaderas, Asociación Rural de Paraguay, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and the US National Cattlemen’s Beef Association will meet in Taupo. This group accounts for 46% of the world’s beef cattle production and 63% of global beef exports. . . 

Helping farmers save time and take control:

With volatility in the dairy payout, there has never been a more important time to have a clear picture of your farming business’ performance.

And according to Figured’s marketing manager Monica Shepherd, nearly 40 per cent of farmers surveyed at the New Zealand National Fieldays, said they wanted more advice from their accountants on how to achieve just that.

In response, Dairy Women’s Network is running a free dairy module called ‘Farming in the Cloud’ with its partners Figured, Xero, ASB Bank and Crowe Horwath. . . 

New Zealand’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards – Top Honours Announced:

Winners in New Zealand’s most prestigious competition for olive oil were announced last night at a formal dinner held at Parliament in Wellington and hosted by MP Paul Foster-Bell.

Robinsons Bay Olives from Akaroa took out the 2016 Best in Show as well as Best in Class in the Commercial Medium Blends Class at the New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Awards, run by Olives New Zealand, the national organisation for olive oil growers.

The Old N’Olive Grove Partnership from Wairarapa won the Best in Boutique Category for growers who produce less than 250 litres of certified extra virgin olive oil, as well as Best in Class in the Boutique Intense Single Varietal Class with their Rockbottom Grove Picual. . . 

Thank ewe for supporting wool week.

Rural round-up

Industry-Leading Orchardists Win Supreme in 2015 Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards

Matamata horticulturists Frans and Tineke de Jong, their son Talbert de Jong and his partner Emily Meese are Supreme winners of the 2015 Waikato Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA).

At a special BFEA ceremony on April 23, the de Jong’s family-run business, Southern Belle Orchard, also collected the Hill Laboratories Harvest Award, the Massey University Innovation Award, the WaterForce Integrated Management Award and the Ballance Agri-Nutrients Soil Management Award. . .

Disappearance of bees a mystery:

Bee scientists have been left baffled by the disappearance of thousands of honey bees from hives last spring, and say unless it happens again, it remains a mystery as to what caused it.

Plant and Food research bee scientist Mark Goodwin said last October a number of bee keepers from around the country began reporting strange symptoms occurring in their hives.

He said bees usually rebuilt their colonies in spring after winter, however, large numbers of bees were disappearing from hives in the Coromandel, Raglan and Wairarapa areas.

“So instead of having a queen and a lot of brood – that’s larvae and pupa – and about 30 or 40,000 bees, when the bee keeper came back a few weeks later … suddenly there were no bees there at all, there was a queen and about a hand full of bees and everybody else had gone. And we saw that in whole apiaries and between apiaries and then we were getting reports from beekeepers elsewhere in the North Island that were noticing very similar things.” . .

What Mondayising means on-farm – John Brosnan:

You’ve probably seen this advertised.

You might remember the law was changed in 2013 to allow Anzac day and Waitangi day to be moved to a Monday if they fall on a weekend.

This year’s Anzac day will be the first affected – but what does Mondayising really mean for you as a rural employer?

In reality for most farm staff – not much.

Why? Well here’s what the law states re this …

DairyNZ sessions help farmers assess cash flow – Sally Rae:

Another round of farmer events is under way nationally to give dairy farmers a ”wake-up call” to assess their cash-flow situation, given the low milk price forecasts.

DairyNZ, which is behind the Tactics for Tight Times campaign, has analysed what it is like for the average farmer in every dairying region and it is ”not looking pretty”, chief executive Tim Mackle says.

While 2015-16 would probably still end up being a break-even year for most farmers, he said cash flow would be a major issue that could result in some increased term debt in the sector and less spending in the regions. . .

New Zealand’s Best Eggs awarded last night:

Three of New Zealand’s most well known companies: Fonterra, Deloitte and The Warehouse were last night crowned “Good Business Eggs” in recognition of their work in the community sector. Whilst these companies might be better known for the scale of their business activities, they also demonstrate significant commitments to their various community initiatives.

The event hosted by CQ Hotels Wellington, one of last years winners was packed with business and community leaders anxious to see who had won the annual award. . .

Fonterra management appointments:

Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited today announced changes to the roles and responsibilities of two members of the Fonterra Management Team.

Jacqueline Chow, who is currently Managing Director Global Brands and Nutrition, is stepping into the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer Velocity, effective 1 June 2015 – where she will work alongside the management team to accelerate performance across the Co-operative.

Chief Executive Theo Spierings today said: “In her new role, Jacqueline will lead the next stage in Fonterra’s evolution, working across the entire Co-operative to push forward the Velocity part of our V3 strategy and deliver the best possible performance.” . .

Hooroo to Oz Made brand? – Andrew Miller and Laura Griffin:

ADOPTION of the ‘True Aussie’ brand for all agricultural produce would be “a little perplexing”, says Australian Made campaign marketing manager Ben Lazzaro.

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) plan to build standards for MLA’s True Aussie brand – developed last year for red meat – which can then be applied to all Australian agricultural products in domestic and global markets.

While the existing government-backed Australian Made label covers a broad range of products including electronics, furniture and clothing as well as food, True Aussie would be “all about agriculture”, an NFF spokeswoman said. . .

Bureaucracy gone mad "@theweeklytimes Farmer could be charged with "publishing pornographic images" for hay bale art http://t.co/fhsZEp5BqO"

— Tully Smith (@TullySmith) April 23, 2015

 

 

 

World Milk Day

It’s World Milk Day:

Why hold a World Milk Day? The Day provides an opportunity to focus attention on milk and to publicise activities connected with milk and the milk industry. The fact that many countries choose to do this on the same day lends additional importance to individual national celebrations and shows that milk is a global food.

Where did it begin? FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) was asked to propose a specific day on which all aspects of milk could be celebrated.

Why 1st June? This date was chosen because a number of countries were already celebrating a national milk day on or around this time. Late May was originally proposed, but some countries, for example China, felt they already had too many celebrations in that month. While most countries hold their celebrations on 1st June, some choose to hold them a week or so before or after this date. . . .

What’s not to celebrate when:

Milk has both nutritional and economic importance to New Zealand.

. . . Dairying has experienced a resurgence in the past decade as increasingly sophisticated consumers look to naturally functional and whole foods for their nutritional needs, says Jacqueline Chow, director of global brands and nutrition at New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations runs World Milk Day on June 1 and many organisations run events to drive awareness of the benefits of milk, she said.

Every minute around the world 1.3 million litres of milk will be consumed and 1353 tonnes of cow and buffalo milk will be produced.

Ms Chow says demand for milk shows no sign of abating with the world expected to require another 100 billion litres by 2020.

Consumption is being driven by a burgeoning middle class in emerging economies, ageing populations, a move towards natural, high protein food sources and scientific innovation in dairy. .

The challenge for the industry is to ensure the economic and social impacts don’t come at the cost of the environment.