Maniototo farming families have headed for the hills each summer, moving their sheep into the mountains for summer grazing, in what is believed to now be a unique pilgrimage in New Zealand. This weekend, the Soldiers Syndicate is celebrating its centennial, as business and rural editor Sally Rae reports.
In the first year Phil Smith mustered on the Soldiers Syndicate, the mustering team got snowed in at Blue Duck hut in the remote Otago back country.
It was so cold the men’s hobnail boots froze to the floor and icicles hung around the old tin hut.
“I just thought to myself, what the hell are we doing?” the then 21-year-old recalled. . .
Tim Crutchley has a humorous explanation for why he keeps turning up for the Soldiers Syndicate musters.
“It’s a bit like working … on the wharf. If you don’t turn up, they all start talking about you. I’m a bit worried they’ll start running me down,” Mr Crutchley (63), who lives in Waikouaiti, quipped.
He would have notched up 40 musters last year — if Covid-19 had not interfered — and he reckoned he would probably keep returning as long as he was physically able to.
Despite being somewhat of a gypsy himself, and moving around, it was one place he kept going back to, and he was looking forward to the centennial celebrations and catching up with people he had not seen for a long time. . .
The government has agreed to pay $40 million to kiwifruit sector plaintiffs over the arrival of the vine killing disease PSA.
The disease arrived in New Zealand in 2010 and brought losses to the kiwifruit industry of an estimated $900 million.
Strathboss Kiwifruit Limited, representing a group of growers, and Seeka Limited, a post-harvest operator, and others, have agreed to accept a Crown offer of $40m, which includes a $15m contribution from the Crown’s insurers. The plaintiffs had brought a claim for $450m plus interest.
Legal challenges have been running since 2014, when the claimants filed against the Crown for what they alleged was actionable negligence in allowing PSA into the country. . .
Into the last 10ha of Catherine spring milling wheat for #harvest21 after 14mm of rain yesterday grain is at 12.5% so hopefully done tonight. But still not at the half way mark yet, spring barley, linseed, peas, clover and sunflower still to harvest. #nzarablepic.twitter.com/xxOmjT0e0q
A Canterbury hemp grower is swinging open his farm gates to showcase the crop.
Mainland Hemp’s Jamie Engelbrecht says people are learning of the plant’s potential but still have lots of questions so they are welcome to attend two upcoming field-day events.
Jamie was born and bred on a sheep and beef property in Waimate then studied farm management at Lincoln University.
The former rural bank manager has recently left his job at ASB to focus on the hemp growing and processing business he started with some Lincoln mates a couple years ago. . .
A significant amount of work is under way this year to update animal welfare codes and provide updated advice to farmers for issues such as heat stress, says the Ministry for Primary Industries.
MPI veterinarian and director for animal health and welfare Dr Chris Rodwell said early next month MPI, in collaboration with industry partners through the Farm to Processor Animal Welfare Forum, will review its work programme after recently completed shade and shelter research.
Dr Rodwell says that while mitigating heat stress in livestock is complex, MPI is confident that this pan-sector discussion will ensure a joined-up approach is taken.
“The industry has already been proactive on this issue and we are looking forward to keeping that momentum going in order to deliver the best welfare outcomes for outdoor livestock.” . .
New Zealand growers and farmers have kicked off the year with plenty of upbeat news, with strong commodity prices, relatively robust supply lines and continuing strong consumer demand for quality food putting farmers in a positive frame of mind as the new year starts.
The latest Federated Farmers farm confidence survey highlights just how positive farmers are, with a 34 point leap in confidence from last July, when farmers’ confidence was at its lowest in the survey’s 12 year history.
Bayleys national director rural Nick Hawken says the strong prices being received across the primary sector for red meat, milk, horticultural produce and wine is good not only for farmers’ returns, budgets, and frame of mind, but is also positive for the underlying productive value of their rural land investment. . .
Collagen, often the main component of gelatin, has surged in profile over recent years. It is also the main structural protein in mammals’ bodies, and is now hailed as a nutritional supplement to help muscle mass, aid arthritis and improve skin quality. Richard Rennie spoke to Luci Firth whose idea for a collagen water has become a world-first reality.
Working as a graphic designer for a Japanese client, Luci Firth soon became aware of the significance Asian consumers place on collagen as a daily part of their diet, and how far behind New Zealanders were in awareness about its claimed health benefits.
“In places like Japan you will find it regularly used as something you sprinkle on your rice, or buy it from a corner store to add to your cooking. We have been a bit slower to pick up on it,” Firth said. . .
Jo Poland started the Rural Youth and Adult Literacy Trust (RYALT), formerly the Adult Literacy Trust, from her kitchen table in 2011.
Poland, who has taught and been involved in teaching adult literacy since 1994, was approached by a local Port Waikato mother who was looking for help for her daughter who struggled with reading and writing.
Thus, Poland was inspired to found RYALT with two other trustee members.
Since then, RYALT has helped close to 1000 people – youths and adults.
Farm sales ended 2020 on a healthy note with a 15 percent increase compared to the same time the previous year.
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) data shows 32 percent more finishing farms and 26 percent more dairy farms were sold in the three months ended December 2020 compared to the same time in 2019. Sales of grazing farms were down 9 percent and 23 percent fewer arable farms were sold.
The median price per hectare was up $4000 to just over $27,000. . .
How lucky are we in rural NZ we can swim in our lakes & rivers on hot days? The Potts was still pretty brisk! pic.twitter.com/LdekxS6Ovz
LIC announces its half-year financial results for the six months to 30 November 2020, which show continued strength in the cooperative’s financial performance with increased revenue and underlying earnings.
Performance Highlights H1 2020-21:
$169.7 million total revenue, up 3.8% from $163.4 million in the same period last year.
$33.4 million net profit after tax (NPAT), up 10.4% from $30.3 million. . .
Kiwifruit exporter Zespri’s hope to partner with Chinese growers illegally growing gold kiwifruit are on hold.
Last year unauthorised plantings of the high value fruit almost doubled to at least 4000 hectares.
Growers in New Zealand pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a hectare to grow it, so in a bid to control plantings in China, Zespri had hoped to work with Chinese growers and authorities in what it called a “win- win” commercial agreement.
But Kiwifruit New Zealand, which independently regulates Zespri, has thrown out the proposal for now. . .
It’s a lonely job being a chaser Bin driver. Only the Truckie is lonelier than me pic.twitter.com/xfjUnG1h5Q
Beatriz Martinez has continued working in the fields of the Coachella and San Joaquin valleys throughout the coronavirus pandemic. She has followed a series of protocols — maintaining a 6-foot distance from other workers, avoiding eating in close proximity to others during her lunch breaks and washing her hands frequently — and she has not contracted COVID-19.
On Thursday morning, the 54-year-old Coachella resident took a break from pruning grapevines at Tudor Ranch in Mecca, where she has worked for 35 years, to get vaccinated. She was among approximately 330 agricultural employees who got the shot at the ranch, in what county officials believe was the state’s first large vaccination event specifically for farmworkers.
Martinez — who wore a surgical mask and a colorful bandana over her mouth, and clutched a wide-brimmed hat in her hand — said in Spanish she was “really happy” to get vaccinated. She was grateful to get inoculated during work hours, she added, calling it a “reward” for all the years she had worked for the company. . .
A petition has been launched this week seeking a rewrite of the controversial new freshwater rules.
It has been organised by Groundswell NZ, a new group which stemmed from a tractor trek in Gore in October expressing farmers’ feelings about the regulations.
It comprised a mix of dairy and sheep and beef farmers and some involved in farm servicing and contracting. All were passionate about the rules being “unworkable”, Greenvale sheep and beef farmer Laurie Paterson, in whose name the petition is listed, said yesterday.
The petition requested the House of Representatives to urge the Government to review and amend the national policy statement for freshwater management to ensure it was based on science and best practice for each catchment and farm, and did not require farmers to sow on specific dates. Mandatory sowing dates would compromise health and safety and stress mental health, Mr Paterson said. . .
Biosecurity is even more important to New Zealand as the country starts to recover from Covid-19.
That’s the message from Penny Nelson, head of biosecurity at the Ministry for Primary Industries. She told Rural News, at the recent biosecurity awards at Parliament, that biosecurity underpins our primary sector exports – as well as many of the special taonga we have.
She says we just can’t afford to have big incursions at the moment. “I was interested to hear that in the KPMG’s agribusiness survey, biosecurity has been the top issue for the past 11 years. I think New Zealanders realise we have a special way of life and we want to keep it.” . .
Kiwifruit giant Zespri wants to establish a Kiwifruit Breeding Centre in partnership with Crown research institute Plant & Food Research.
In an update sent to growers today, Zespri chief executive Dan Mathieson said the proposed centre would be dedicated to breeding new kiwifruit cultivars, creating healthier, better tasting and more sustainability-focused varieties to fulfil the growing demand from consumers.
Mathieson said the 50/50 joint venture would strengthen the work already taking place in the breeding programme which it runs in partnership with Plant and Food.
“This is an exciting step forward for our industry and a natural evolution of the hugely successful 30-year relationship between Zespri and PFR which has delivered such strong returns. . .
Authorities in Gisborne have decided a $400,000 per hectare licence to grow gold kiwifruit adds value to the land, and will mean a sizeable rates increase.
Gisborne is the first region to adjust land valuation methods for gold kiwifruit properties to now include the value of the growing licence on the rateable value of the property.
This follows a meeting between the Valuer-General and valuers in August, in which they decided the licence should be included in the Value of Improvements, which requires the “assessment of the value of all work done on or for the benefit of the land”.
All councils with gold kiwifruit would have to reassess their methods. . .
When Melissa Johnson first suggested the idea of selling raw milk in bottles from a vending machine, her husband thought it was a “stupid idea for hippies”.
Just over three years and two vending machines later, the Southland partners in life and business are delivering hundreds of bottles to thousands of customers across the South every week.
Following a decision to downsize and do their own thing, the former large-scale contract milkers started their milk business, Farm Fresh South, in Woodlands, with 35 calves in 2017.
Mrs Johnson spotted a raw milk vending machine when holidaying near Nelson and liked the business concept. . .
The team at Woodhaven Gardens presenting their amazing business and why they won the @HorizonsRC@BallanceNZ Farm Environment Awards. Regular nitrate testing, investing in application technology pic.twitter.com/y3SuoPUP8N
A fantastic lifestyle opportunity in the heart of the East Coast wine-producing region is set to attract interest from across the country, says Bayleys Gisborne salesperson Jenny Murray.
“The character property at 16 Riverpoint Road, Matawhero typifies the relaxed atmosphere Gisborne is famous for while providing an exceptional home, lifestyle and business opportunity,” she adds.
Spanning nearly 8,000sqm (more or less) across the Waipaoa Bridge on the site of the Old Bridge Hotel, the property is offered for sale by auction at 1pm on 11 December. . .
For the last 25 years, the Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s health and nutrition portfolio has been underpinned by a strong scientific evidence base which continues to evolve through the release of a new report, titled The Role of Red Meat in Healthy and Sustainable New Zealand Diets.
The report pulls together the breadth of information of a complex topic, which we hope will help inform the many discussions around feeding a growing population well. The report includes the human evolution of eating meat, red meat’s nutritional contribution to the diet of New Zealanders, it’s role in health and disease and where New Zealand beef and lamb production, and consumption fits within our food system and ecosystem. The farming practices of our beef and sheep sector is profiled capturing all facets that reflects our pasture-raised systems here in New Zealand.
Compiling the report required a range of expertise from across New Zealand, which has cumulated in a piece of work that navigates through the scientific evidence of the ever-evolving areas of nutrition and environmental sustainability, and the interfaces which brings them together – sustainable nutrition and food systems. . .
Long-serving Beef + Lamb New Zealand economist Rob Davison won the Outstanding Contribution to New Zealand’s Primary Industries Award at this year’s Primary Industries Summit.
This prestigious award recognises a New Zealand-based individual, within the primary sector, who has been considered a leader in their field of work for 20 years or more.
In selecting the recipient for this prestigious award, the judges were looking for long-standing commitment to the New Zealand primary sector, passion for the sector and its future and actions or initiatives that go beyond their day job and benefit the industry, the community and country.
In his forty-plus years with Beef + Lamb New Zealand (and the organisation’s previous incarnations), Rob has done all of this and more. He is highly respected by farmers, the wider industry and his work colleagues within B+LNZ. This was recognised by him being awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List. . .
They claim thousands of workers are still needed and New Zealand employees are hard to come by.
The employers will have to pay isolation and hourly work rates while the seasonal workers are locked down for two weeks in hotels.
Bostock New Zealand’s John Bostock, from Hawke’s Bay, said this was not about cost saving, but Kiwis willing to do the work were difficult to recruit. . .
Couple of hogget lambs from tailing last week and a few pictures of the MA stud ewes heading back to the hill until weaning. pic.twitter.com/8KVhqS6ct5
Robots will pack kiwifruit at Eastpack this season as part of a 12-month, $35 million investment plan across its business.
The company has commissioned an automation conversion on its largest 14 lane kiwifruit grader withthree massive robots and a number of automated packing machines.
But expense could stand in the way of new technologies replacing thousands of seasonal workers despite an ongoing labour shortage. However other packhouse evolutions had become game changers as the industry continues to boom.
Chief executive Hamish Simson said in the last five years the company had pumped more than $155m into increased storage capacity at its sites and innovation including automation technology. . .
From 10,000 acres at Castle Hill Station in the Canterbury high country to 25 acres on the clay soils at Hakaru in Northland has proven a big reach.
Hakaru is an old settlement on the east coast, midway between Mangawhai and Kaiwaka, an hour and a half north of Auckland. The property lies beautifully to the north and looks down into a green valley where the Hakaru River flows in the shade of old tōtara trees.
To the north, I have what I love in a view – the near and the far: paddocks, pine shelterbelts, the odd house lit up at night and, in the distance, the bush-covered Brynderwyns – a range extending from Bream Bay in the east to the upper branches of the Kaipara Harbour to the west. . .
It has been a hard year: COVID-19, lockdowns, urban riots, a contentious US national election, and even murder hornets.
So as we approach Thanksgiving, I am focused on making extra time to think about the good things in our lives.
One of them is resilience.
This idea occurred to me the other day when I was standing in line at the grocery store, here in New Mexico. The guy ahead of me at the checkout was about my age. He made a comment that I’m starting to hear more and more. . .
A leading veterinarian says in his opinion farmers are doing a better job now than ever in regards to animal welfare.
Richard Hilson is the managing director of Vet Services Hawke’s Bay, which has a staff of 120 people including about three dozen vets. Hilson says he gets frustrated when he sees a lot of publicity given to people who treat animals badly. He says the reality is that these few individuals unfairly give farming a bad name.
In recent months there have been several high profile cases of animals being mistreated and people being prosecuted for failing to adequately feed cows to killing a lamb.
Hilson says there is a greater awareness about animal welfare and often people who harm animals find that others who know them report them to the authorities. Hilson says these days, people realise that it’s not okay to mistreat animals. . .
They hold so much promise. A twist of the halves can reveal uniform, creamy, olive-green flesh.
But sometimes they’re destined straight for the compost bin.
They can be stringy, have brown spots or be disappointingly watery.
However Gisborne growers, David and Judi Grey, who have been growing and testing avocados for 50 years, have developed new varieties they say are perfect, every time. . .
A new research project that may help future-proof the kiwifruit industry has received a Fast Start Marsden grant.
The project, led by Dr Jay Jayaraman at Plant & Food Research and titled: How do new pathogen incursions evolve during host infection, will investigate the plant pathogen Psa (Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae), to understand how it evolves during infection of the kiwifruit plant.
Psa caused severe damage in New Zealand’s kiwifruit crops after its discovery in 2010. While the industry recovered, thanks to a new cultivar with improved disease tolerance, exploring alternative ways to manage the disease in future is still essential, particularly given the possibility that Psa could adapt to the new cultivar. . .
A new hi-tech baggage scanner at Auckland Airport will provide another crucial layer of protection against invasive pests and diseases, says Biosecurity New Zealand.
The computer tomography (CT) scanner made its first detection earlier this month – two bananas in a small carry-on bag arriving with a New Zealand family from Dubai.
Biosecurity New Zealand has been trialling the technology with selected flights since late October. Arriving passengers have their hand baggage scanned before they collect checked-in items from the airport carousels.
“We’re deliberately targeting baggage that travellers carry off the plane. It’s where we’re most likely to find food that could host fruit fly and other pests,” says Brett Hickman, Border Technology Manager, Biosecurity New Zealand. . .
Congratulations to Ben Tombs from Central Otago for becoming the 2020 Tonnellerie de Mercurey NZ Young Winemaker of the Year. Ben is Assistant Winemaker at Peregrine Wines in the Gibbston Valley and the first Young Winemaker from Central Otago to win the competition.
The other national finalists were Ben McNab from Matahiwi in Wairarapa and Peter Russell from Matua in Marlborough, who both took out sections of the competition, showing the very high calibre of contestants taking part. The judges were hugely impressed with their knowledge, passion and professionalism throughout the day.
The competition is tough and really stretches the finalists. Firstly, they had to prepare a presentation in advance about what the future wine consumer looks like and how New Zealand can maintain its competitive edge around the world. . .
Two Waitaki families farming in partnership for more than 50 years have developed a bird-loving business out of a crop sown on a wing and a prayer.
Riotous rows of yellow sunflowers beaming from fields south of Ōamaru are a shot of happiness in the Waitaki landscape. Sandwiched between crops of golden wheat and barley, the big friendly giants turn up the colour dial to a saturated yellow.
The exact location of the flowers, grown by the Mitchell and Webster families for more than 50 years, is usually kept on the low down.
Sometimes they are planted on Thousand Acre Road between Ōamaru and Kakanui, sometimes further inland towards Enfield. Crop rotation is the official reason; sunflowers need a five-year interval before being replanted in the same field since they are prone to fungal disease. However, transplanting the lots has the bonus of tricking the birds and keeping humans on their toes until the flowers hit their full two-metre height and yellowy glory at the end of January. . .
Horticulture and viticulture growers are trying to be innovative and flexible in order to attract the employees they need to get through a worker shortage for the coming summer season.
There is an urgent needfor local seasonal labour, with limited availability of overseas workers due to Covid-19 and 10,000 workers required to thin, pick, package and process the year’s crop between November and April.
The industry has joined up with the Ministry for Primary Industries, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Hawke’s Bay District Health Board and the region’s local government leaders to deliver a plan to the Government next month to resolve the situation.
Part of that plan includes a growers’ employment expo and information session on Tuesday, November 10, through which they plan to showcase the summer work and career opportunities in the sector. . .
New Zealand’s farmers are among the most efficient and productive in the world — and they need to be.
Our world is demanding high-quality, environmentally-friendly food. At the same time, regulatory costs continue to build; our weather is increasingly challenging to bank on and farm profitability and balance sheets are under pressure.
As a result, farmers are increasingly looking more closely at the economic contribution of each part of their farms. Not all land is the same; some parts of farms — if farmers are really honest about it — cost them money to farm.
It’s the steep, rough hill country out the back that farmers are taking a second look at. Not only is this land unprofitable, but it’s often difficult and dangerous to farm. This land is typically erosion-prone and topsoil run-off is undermining farmers’ broader environmental efforts. . .
Office view today quietly doing deskwork, then from corner of my eye a mob of R2 Heifers wander into view. Acceptable disturbance. Fine summer day in the mighty Kaipara. 😎 pic.twitter.com/QYozRWBXMe
Whether about horses or lambs, alpacas or goats — Henrietta Purvis derives satisfaction from positive feedback from happy animal owners.
She and her husband Graeme Purvis operate Purvis Feeds from their Waianakarua property, south of Oamaru, selling lucerne chaff throughout New Zealand.
Very much a hands-on business owner who spends time both in the cutting shed and on the books, Mrs Purvis has been named the innovation category winner in this year’s NZI Rural Women New Zealand Business Awards . .
Upping the proportion of female flowers in a kiwifruit orchard may boost production, according to new research.
Plant and Food Research scientists and collaborators from the USA have compiled more than 30 years of field-based data from kiwifruit research to create “digital twins” of pollination processes in kiwifruit orchards, and have used these to predict how growers can optimise their fruit set.
Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical systems – in this case mathematical models of the biology of the plants and the behaviour of pollinating bees.
These digital twins gave researchers the ability to examine complex scenarios which examine multiple, intertwined factors at once. . . .
Demand for larger lines of quality cattle has seen North Queensland become the go-to market for New South Wales graziers as they rebuild their herds.
The strong demand from southern restockers has not only provided competition at northern store sales, but also seen paddock deals culminate in thousands of cattle being trucked across the border in recent months.
Since March of this year, private agency firm Kennedy Rural has successfully sold and overseen the transport of in excess of 10,000 head of cattle into areas of NSW. . .
A group of farmers in the Wanaka area have taken a proactive approach to water quality in their patch and are now moving into stage 2 of their catchment group project. Sally Rae reports.
“Relationships and people. I don’t know why when it comes to the environment, we always forget that. I can wax on about science up to my wazoo — this thing is purely about people, relationships and trust.”
Environmental consultant Chris Arbuckle is referring to the Wanaka Catchment Group, set up three years ago and comprising 15 large properties that drain into or are upstream of Lake Wanaka.
Representing 95% of the farmed catchment, they range from fourth generation — such as the Aspinall family at Mt Aspiring Station — to overseas owners and everything in between. . .
Sam McIvor, chief executive of Beef + Lamb New Zealand, says turning productive farmland to plantations for carbon farming will have negative effects on rural communities and the Government should rethink its flawed approach.
Trees have become a hot topic with farmers lately, and with good reason.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand supports protecting and restoring native bush and the planting of forestry on farms in a way that complements the landscape. However, we’re concerned about the impact of policies that economically incentivise wholesale land use change from pastoral-based farming into exotic trees for carbon offsetting.
Put simply, we’re not anti-forestry – we’re against policies that will lead to widespread carbon farming, which will have detrimental effects on our rural communities. . .
New DIRA settings give Fonterra what it wanted but make life much more challenging for any new dairy processors.
Fonterra will be feeling very pleased with the final outcomes from the much drawn-out 2018-2020 review of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA). Last minute changes as a consequence of Fonterra’s lobbying have made it very hard for any new start-ups to nibble away at Fonterra’s dominance.
These latest DIRA amendments were passed in late July and were supported across the political spectrum. They were inserted at a late stage in the Select Committee process, and were a fait accompli before outsiders realised what was happening. Someone in Fonterra deserves a job promotion for their lobbying skill. . .
Whanganui dairy farmers Jarrod and Holly Murdoch will soon be turning 20 hectares of their Waitotara land into a kiwifruit orchard.
They’re part of a burgeoning kiwifruit growing industry in the region, which includes Mangamahugrower David Wells who is now adding 16.5ha to his existing 3.5.
These projects, along with another 20ha of kiwifruit planting in the Whanganui region, have resulted in New Zealand company Apata Group Limited, which harvests, packs and stores fruit, signing on to provide infrastructure and oversee the growing of these crops.
Wells, who began growing kiwifruit in 1978, said Apata’s involvement, as well as support from local investors “triggered it all”. . .
Honey may be a better treatment for coughs and colds than over-the-counter medicines, a new study has found.
Researchers said honey was more effective in relieving the symptoms of cold and flu-like illnesses than the usual commercial remedies, and could provide a safer, cheaper and more readily available alternative to antibiotics.
They encouraged doctors to consider recommending it to patients in place of prescribing antibiotics, which can cause side effects and lead to antibiotic resistance when overused.
The land and buildings sustaining an award-winning vineyard in one of Waiheke Island’s most commanding locations have been placed on the market for sale.
Peacock Sky, in the established rural residential area of Onetangi/Trig Hill, features a mature productive vineyard which was planted more than 20 years ago. Owners Connie Festa and Rob Meredith bought it in 2008, and have since developed the property and brand into a multi-award-winning vineyard.
Located at 152 Trig Hill Road in central Waiheke, on one of the island’s highest points, the site offers panoramic views – with available space mooted for development of a luxury residential retreat, destination restaurant or events facility. . .
GlobalHQ, publisher of Farmers Weekly and Dairy Farmer, is sponsoring B.linc Innovation’s inaugural awards celebrating innovation and technology in the primary sector.
The Celebrating Success Innovation Awards run by the Lincoln University’s Blinc Innovation centre have three sections.
They are for on-farm innovation, off-farm-consumer innovation and a creative innovation-future tech award for secondary school students.
Global HQ co-owner Dean Williamson said the primary sector has had to respond to covid-19 in numerous innovative and nimble ways to continue growing, harvesting and processing primary products. . .
The Bay of Plenty is synonymous with kiwifruit. With a large contingent of new workers moving in this season from Covid-displaced industries, Josie Adams asked what life is like for those who’ve been there for years.
Under a very heavy tree in Tom French’s orchard waits a very heavy hedgehog. About a metre above the hog the tree has two branches grafted on; golden kiwifruit. This is one of only a few trees with fruit left; the rest have been picked, packed, and put in storage. This fruit is for the family, and for any roaming animal with enough patience.
French has been in the kiwifruit business for 40 years, and hedging his bets on a 50/50 split between golden kiwifruit and traditional greens has helped him weather some of the industry’s storms.
First planted in the Bay of Plenty in the 1930s, by the 70s and 80s, kiwifruit – formerly known as Chinese gooseberries, and before that monkey peaches – were taking off. French estimates they were selling trays for up to $16. Then, there was a heart-stopping price drop: five competing export companies, combined with a slowdown in demand, meant those same trays were worth only $4. . .
Federated Farmers Southland president Geoffrey Young extended an olive branch to environmentalists by inviting them to see the improvements made to winter grazing conditions in the region.
Young invited Angus Robson, Geoff Reid and Matt Coffey to Southland at the weekend, on behalf of all farmers, after receiving an email from Robson raising concerns about practices on a particular farm.
The three visited the farm, along with two others, on Saturday, and Young said it proved to be a worthwhile day.
“It was quite a robust discussion,” Young said. . .
A grey start on the #FernFlats, but a crystal clear evening, so a frost is likely. Cattle on the winter crops are all full and happy. pic.twitter.com/llWUEZA3OR
A sharp rise in unemployment is on the horizon because of covid-19 but the dairy sector will offer some reprieve.
DairyNZ is encouraging people to consider work on dairy farms in a new Go Dairy campaign that offers entry-level training to help the transition to farming.
While the Go Dairy career-changers campaign, supported by Federated Farmers, aims to create awareness of the job opportunities there is a big emphasis on ensuring new staff understand what is involved in farm life.
“We want a win-win situation for new dairy farming employees to be happy and fulfilled in their new lifestyle and jobs and for farm employers to have great talent working for them,” DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says. . .
The kids are back at school, we can once again spend time with small groups of friends and family, and takeaways can offer a night off cooking. Looking back, we dairy farmers were grateful to be essential workers during Covid-19 Levels 3 and 4, with kids able to roam around the farm and help us out!
With glorious Taranaki weather, and the mountain visible from the dining room window most days, our kids were very motivated to get their home learning tasks done by lunch so they could spend the afternoon outside. Riding their motorbikes around the farm improved their riding skills. Going for on-farm runs and bike rides or playing soccer and rugby on the front lawn kept them physically busy.
I took up running and joined the online fitness group ‘Strong Woman’. Now I take time most days to get in a run or a workout. I never felt I had time pre-Covid to focus on my fitness. . .
Michael Davoren shudders when he thinks of the 1990s. He’d been in charge of his 80-hectare farm in the Burren, Co Clare, since the 1970s, and the place was in his blood. The Davorens had worked these hills for 400 years.
But growing intensification fuelled by European subsidies meant that most farmers in this part of Ireland were having to decide between getting big or getting out. Hundreds were choosing the latter.
Davoren followed the advice to specialise and chase the beef markets. “The more animals I kept, the more money I got,” he says. “I put more cattle out, bought fertiliser, made silage. Slurry run-off was killing fish. But if I kept fewer animals I’d be penalised 10% of my subsidy.” . .
Lindy Nelson says now is the time to come together to form a national food strategy and shape the future of New Zealand.
Belonging is a fundamental human need. When this need is not met, it is hard to feel a sense of purpose. Right now, farmers and food producers are starting to feel they belong again; they have a clear sense of purpose – to feed the nation and deliver economic stability.
The things that have threatened to divide urban and rural New Zealand – water, environment, reaching Carbon Zero – have faded for the time being as we have developed a more intimate awareness of our interdependence.
Food is vital for sustaining life. During the past few weeks, we have begun to realise just how much it shapes our sense of self, family and community and forms part of our cultural identity. . .
The man who led the Fifty Shades of Green campaign is now going to be advocating for the one shade of blue – the National Party.
Mike Butterick, a Wairarapa sheep and beef farmer and Feds Meat and Fibre chair in the region, has been selected as the National candidate for the region. He beat off two other nominees including Mark Bridges, the brother of former leader Simon Bridges.
Butterick has been a vocal critic of plans to convert livestock farms to forestry and was one of the leaders of a protest at parliament on this subject last year. He replaces Alastair Scott who has held the seat since 2014 and is standing down at the election. . .
The Kiwifruit industry is being given a huge vote of confidence, with stunning prices being paid for gold kiwifruit licences this year.
Each year Zespri releases new gold licences, and this year 700 hectares was up for grabs.
Successful bidders have been told the lowest price paid for a gold licence was $378,000 a hectare. That’s $100,000 more than last year’s lowest price. . .
The grass is growing so well in the @Manawatu_NZ for early June but still very dry. Celebrate the awesome pasture utilisation allowing us to push some feed ahead. pic.twitter.com/MmHcERDqkM
Stu and Kim Muir take the long-term view of working their dairy farm in the Waikato River delta – the tangle of waterways, islands and wetlands close to the river mouth on the west coast.
“In the farming community, we usually think everything that’s done on the farm has an impact three months, six months, or a year ahead. We’re thinking six or seven generations ahead,” Stu says.
His family have been farming in New Zealand since the 1850s. His great-great grandparents bought the present property in the 1890s; Stu and Kim’s children are the sixth generation to live and work on the land. . .
Frustration has set in as wool industry stakeholders await the release of a Government report they fear has lost momentum to pull the industry out of its doldrums.
In July 2018 the Wool Working Group (WWG) was tasked by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor with creating a sustainable and profitable wool industry action plan to revitalise the languishing sector.
Now wool industry stakeholders claim the work, due to be completed last September, is not happening fast enough. . .
The climate impact of grass-fed cattle may have been exaggerated as scientists find emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas from certain types of pasture are lower than previously thought.
Researchers from Rothamsted Research found urine from animals reared on pasture where white clover grows – a plant commonly sown onto grazing land to reduce the need for additional nitrogen fertiliser – results in just over half the amount of nitrous oxide previously assumed by scientists to be released. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas some 265 times more harmful than CO2 and can account for 40% of beef supply chain emissions.
Co-author of the study, Dr Laura Cardenas said:
“Due to technical and logistical challenges, field experiments which measure losses of nitrous oxide from soils usually add livestock faeces and urine they have sourced from other farms or other parts of the farm, meaning that the emissions captured do not necessarily represent the true emissions generated by the animals consuming the pasture.”
Covid-19? It’s like opening your front door and finding two metres of snow on the ground just after you’d put all your new fencing in.
The fences have been wrecked. You look at the damage, you shake your head, and then you get on with managing your way through it.
In the back of your mind, you know that spring will come, the tonnes of snow will melt, and the grass will grow again.
Farmers are an optimistic bunch. We’re used to things going in cycles: weather patterns, commodity prices, market demand … but we also know that sometimes the wheel doesn’t turn the whole way round, sometimes the change is permanent. . .
The economic ride down is likely to be sharp and steep. But when consumers eventually emerge from lockdown, what will the recovery look like? Andrea Vance and Iain McGregor investigate.
Weighing sheep in a yard in the brown foothills of North Canterbury’s Hundalee Hills, Ben Ensor is an unlikely soldier on the frontline of New Zealand’s economic recovery.
As the country prepared to shut down, to stop the spread of coronavirus, the sheep and beef farmer was separating merino stock under the shadow of rustic woolshed. Hooves beat up clouds of dust, as his farm dog herded them into a race.
With 6000 sheep, and around 500 cattle, Ensor can’t close down. Like nurses, doctors, pharmacists and supermarket staff, farming and cropping have been deemed “essential“. . .
On top of the world…!
Special moment captured by Tom Harvey on Glen Orkney station in Marlborough 😍😎 pic.twitter.com/1xoAlCM174
Kiwifruit growers will not be paid for their fruit’s taste profile this season after the country’s only testing facility dropped the test.
Eurofins Bay of Plenty is the country’s only testing facility for the drymatter component of kiwifruit, which gives growers and Zespri a direct indication of the fruit’s taste profile.
The lab now tests only for residues in fruit, leaving post-harvest processors grappling with how to evaluate fruit quality. . .
The Government is well aware of farming’s importance and is doing everything it can to ensure the primary sector continues to operate as close to normal as possible, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says.
“Farming has been the backbone of New Zealand and that will that continue long into the future,” O’Connor says.
Cabinet understands the role farming plays in the economy, along with the need to maintain farming systems subject to seasonal and biological cycles, including the lifecycle of animals and grass growth, restrictions other businesses around the country are not subject to. . .
When I started to trawl through possible topics to write about this week, I had the bright idea it might be worth asking meat processors what contingency plans they have in place in case an employee, more particularly one on the processing floor, tests positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus. So far my research suggests it’s not yet an issue that has received a great deal of consideration by many companies, although it’s certainly on their radar.
In an update to farmers, Silver Fern Farms states its position as “The reality is that an outbreak, or the understandable precautionary response of our people, is likely to see an impact on our processing capacity in coming weeks. It is realistic to expect that with a workforce of 7000 we will at least have precautionary isolation within our workforce. We have processes in place to ensure that, should this occur, it can be managed. We are working on the various contingent options and will keep you updated should there be any disruption to processing.” . .
Defra Secretary George Eustice has labelled farmers ‘hidden heroes’ for keeping food on the nation’s plates during the Covid-19 crisis.
In an open letter to the food and farming industry, Mr Eustice paid tribute to ‘all those who are working around the clock to keep the nation fed.’
The statement described farmers’ response so far as ‘extraordinary’ and thanked those involved in food production on behalf of the country.
“In the face of what is perhaps the greatest health challenge this country has faced in our lifetime, I want to pay tribute to all those who are working around the clock to keep the nation fed,” he said. . .
Despite any attempts to diversify away from China, exports to China will be increasingly important in coming months as much of the world descends into increasing turmoil
With COVID-19 now dominating all of our lives, it was easy to decide that COVID-19 would determine the focus of my rural-focused article this week. However, in choosing COVID-19 and agricultural trade, I want to focus primarily on the world beyond the current lockdown and explore where we might be heading in the months thereafter.
The starting point is that in times like these, export markets choose New Zealand, rather than New Zealand choosing its export markets. In this environment, all we can do is hang out our shingle, and help potential buyers to manage the logistics. . .
Locations of new cases included small towns such as Te Anau, Roxburgh, Cromwell, and Alexandra.
While some farmers have suggested the isolation of rural life provided an extra sense of security during the pandemic an expert said that was not the case. . .
It’s being described as the ‘rehab’ from our destructive farming practices weaning our land off the ‘drugs’. Sarah Perriam digs deeper into what’s driving a new way of farming that is creating a groundswell of support in Canterbury, but not everyone’s convinced.
Allan has dedicated his life to turning around ‘desertification’ which he refers to two-thirds of the world’s grasslands degraded from erosion from intensive livestock grazing and extensive soil cultivation. . .
Being described as ‘rehab’ from destructive farming weaning land off ‘drugs’. I dig into what’s driving a new way of farming with a groundswell of support in Canterbury, but not everyone’s convinced. Read here : https://t.co/AXBAHN1KIQ#agchatnz#regenerativeagriculture
Tougher Covid-19 restrictions would have a massive impact on the billion-dollar industry, but growers remain cautiously optimistic they can beat the clock, writes Jim Kayes.
Craig Lemon sits in a room usually teeming with people, surrounded by bottles of hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes.
With 260 hectares of kiwifruit orchards producing about 48 million of the green and yellow pockets of juicy vitamin C, his mind should be solely on the harvest. This is the time when the fruit is picked and packed, with Lemon’s Southern Orchards filling 1.5 million trays at his packhouses in South Auckland and Tauranga over the next few months. . .
The major winners in the 2020 Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards say good, capable people are the cornerstone of their business.
Ralph and Fleur Tompsett were announced winners of the region’s Share Farmer of the Year category in the Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards. Other major winners were Stephen Overend, who was named the 2020 Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Manager of the Year, and Lucy Morgan, the 2020 Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Trainee of the Year.
The Tompsetts say they want to continue to grow and develop their business. “It’s a goal of ours to bring great people along with us to share and enjoy the growth opportunities which our dairy industry provides.” . .
A Taranaki farmer has created a giant hay bale teddy bear as part of the international ‘Ted in the Window’ campaign.
The campaign which has been sweeping the globe, aims to entertain children during the COVID-19 restrictions by giving them something to look out for in their neighbourhood on a social-distanced scavenger hunt. . .
We need to make sure that our rural businesses are well supported, says Fiona Gower, Rural Women NZ national president.
“With the lack of tourists coming through we need to ensure the small businesses can survive because without them we don’t have a community,” she told Rural News last week.
“Once they are gone it is really hard to get them back.
She says digital communication will also play an important part in the coronavirus response. . .
Rural businesses Farmlands, PGG Wrightson and FarmSource have pledged to work together during the covid-19 response.
In an open letter, the companies’ chief executives said they will harness their collective supply chain to maintain productivity.
“It is time for us all to do what we can to try and continue to support you through these challenging times,” the letter says.
“We are working closely together to ensure that all farmers and growers across New Zealand have the necessary products and supplies to keep your businesses operating. . .
New farming rules around sustainability are driving elderly farmers out of the dairy industry, says agri-economist Phil Journeaux.
He says over the past three years, there’s been an increase in farmers, in their 60s and 70s, looking at other options. Journeaux, AgFirst Waikato, spoke at a Smaller Milk and Supply Herds (SMASH) seminar in Te Aroha last week.
Attended by about 50 farmers, the event went ahead despite the coronavirus outbreak. . .
Carrot seed crop being wind-rowed and the last of the Watties Beans being harvested tonight. Even grabbed a feed before they were all gone! #nzarablepic.twitter.com/4gjrm0oEZl
The maize silage supply has shaped up better than might have been expected despite one of the driest summers on record stifling production.
Bill Webb of Bill Webb Feed Solutions near Te Puke said crops on lower, wetter country have performed better this year than last season when heavy rain washed out many crops on the same land.
“But on the higher, drier country the yields have proved to be quite variable. Average block yields would still be 22 tonnes a hectare but there are some on that lower country that would be up to 26t.” . .
In a world that’s a little topsy-turvy it’s wonderful to have an opportunity to celebrate great New Zealand produce with the announcement of 2020Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards medal winners.
Twenty-five judges and eight stewards worked in panels to assess a record 225 food and drink entries at AUT School of Hospitality & Tourism on Saturday 7 March 2020. Following the judges’ assessment of aroma, appearance, taste, texture and quality which accounted for 75% of marks, products were assessed for sustainability and brand story. Shoppers will recognise outstanding food and drink as they proudly wear Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards gold, silver and bronze medals—a guarantee of product quality. . .
Māori orchardist Otama Marere has embraced organic kiwifruit production, converting a total of 7 hectares of its 45 hectare block into organic SunGold kiwifruit, with further conversions being considered.
The trust that manages the land has also held educational days on the land for other Maori kiwifruit growers interested in organic production, says orchard manager Homman Tapsell.
The land, near Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty is a former Māori settlement on the banks of the Kaituna river, with the name coming from a nearby pa site that was occupied by Rangiiwaho and his whanau. Trust members are the descendants of Rangiiwaho, he said. . .
Currently New Zealand is looking down the barrel of a massive health crisis and equally as bad economic crisis due to the advent of the Coronavirus.
New Zealand farming has over the last couple of years under the current government has been berated, belittled & blamed for almost all of the pollution problems that we are facing as a country.
This coalition government has produced many polices aimed at the farmers of New Zealand that are supposedly going to fix all of the problems that we have with pollution of our land & waterways and protection of our national indigenous biodiversity. . .
Reviving demand in China is providing primary sector exporters with some cushioning from covid-19 fallout as other countries start slipping into recession.
Having earlier this year weathered the virtual shutdown of China as it battled to contain covid-19, meat companies are seeing improved demand as life there slowly returns to normal.
Government restrictions confined people at home, preventing them working, shopping or eating at restaurants but they are slowly being lifted. . .
The kiwifruit sector has been left hundreds of workers short after New Zealand’s unprecedented border shutdowns locked out seasonal workers for good this season.
Kiwifruit Growers chief executive Nikki Johnson confirmed 1300 Recognised Seasonal Employer workers from the Pacific Islands unable to get here. That represents more than half the region’s allocation for RSE staff.
The sector is seeking special dispensation to fly the workers in despite the border closure. . .
Fernando Alfonso describes Hereford cattle as a “very complete breed”.
Mr Alfonso, his brother Guzman, and Agustin Pineyrua were in New Zealand for the Boehringer Ingelheim World Hereford Conference.
The four-yearly conference, which was based in Queenstown, was last held in New Zealand in 1984. It attracted breeders from around the world for the week-long event.
A pre-conference tour was held in the North Island and a post-conference tour was being held in the South Island this week. . .
Brides-to-be take note. Having a sheep at a wedding is apparently all the rage in the United Kingdom.
But not just any old sheep – the Valais Blacknose, which originates from Switzerland, and is dubbed the world’s cutest sheep, is the breed of choice at wedding venues.
It might not have been a wedding but Abraham the ram was a crowd-pleaser at the Wanaka A&P Show yesterday.
Abraham was the first lamb born from 25 embryos imported from the UK by Motueka couple Lindsay and Sally Strathdee and Wairarapa-based business partner Christine Reed. . .
According to the news reports reaching the backwoods here in Pahiatua, we hear the logging industry in the far North has been hit hard by the de escalation of raw log exports to China. The stockpiles of logs at ports are at saturation point. Cutting crews are unemployed and trucks sit idle. It does not look good for their local economy.
Meanwhile here in Pahiatua things appear quite different. The town has Highway 2 running through its middle, either to Eketahuna in the South or Woodville in the north.
I live on the Main Highway at the North end of town and being a petrolhead of long standing, I can occupy my twilight years sitting under my shade trees watching the passing parade. Which generally speaking is an ever changing kaleidoscope of kiwi’s on the move. I can go to all the car shows and never have to leave home. . .
Meat production at a 100-year-old Dunedin company has ceased and 13 staff have been made redundant but the owner of The Craft Meat Company says the business will live on.
The decision came after meat producers’ profits were cut by rising costs due to a global shortage of protein triggered by the African swine fever epidemic, owner Grant Howie said.
‘‘[It was] the most gut-wrenching thing I’ve ever had to do,’’ Mr Howie said of the decision to axe staff. . .
The Government appears to have softened the sharpest edges of proposed changes to the management of pastoral lease land while confirming farming will continue in the South Island high country.
The bill detailing changes to the Crown Pastoral Lands Act appears to back down on initial proposals that included greater political oversight of the activities of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, traditionally an independent position.
It seems also to accept submissions from farming sectors that lessees have legal rights to pasturage and quiet enjoyment of their land, which would have been compromised by the original recommendations. . .
Just the right combination of sunlight, humidity & temperature has caused the linseed to put on a spectacular show of blue flowers today. Long may it continue! pic.twitter.com/hvtKTvxFTI
One of the architects of Fonterra says he’s very disappointed with the co-op’s performance over the years.
Tirau farmer, Tony Wilding says farmers expected better when they formed the co-op in 2001. “It’s not the performance we had in mind when we formed Fonterra,” he told Rural News.
Wilding received a New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year’s honours list for his contribution to the dairy sector and community. . .
The Meat Industry Association has appointed Sirma Karapeeva as its new chief executive.
Karapeeva, who is currently the Meat Industry Association’s (MIA) trade and economic manager, has been with the trade association since 2015. She replaces Tim Ritchie who is retiring after 12 years in the role.
Karapeeva, who takes over in April, held a variety of trade, policy and regulatory roles in Government before joining MIA.
Kiwifruit prices were at an all-time high in December 2019, with prices for seasonal fruit and vegetables also up, Stats NZ said today.
“Kiwifruit prices rose 32 percent in December to a weighted average price of $8.27 per kilo, an all-time high,” acting consumer prices manager James Griffin said.
“This compares with $4.24 in December last year.” . .
🙌 Perfect. Ideal haggis hunting weather. Snow will drive the haggae to the whisky in the dram traps in this cold weather. Easier to track them too pic.twitter.com/hEXeGW1bLy
Nominations to a national award that recognises dairy farmers who demonstrate leadership in their approach to sustainable dairying and who are ambassadors for the industry open January 15th.
The Fonterra Responsible Dairying Award was introduced by the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards to recognise those dairy farmers who are respected by their farming peers and their community for their attitude and role in sustainable dairying. Entry for this award is by nomination only via dairyindustryawards.co.nz. . .
Arable farmers have appealed to their dairy farmer colleagues to buy their grain rather than importing it from overseas.
Federated Farmers arable spokeswoman Karen Williams complained about the lack of a level playing field over grain sales.
She was commenting on the Feds’ latest banking survey showing 30 per cent of the arable farmers surveyed felt under pressure and they also had the lowest percentage feeling very satisfied or satisfied (60 per cent). . .
A leading once a day (OAD) farmer says her farm is set to have a record year thanks to a combination of favourable circumstances – especially the weather.
Christine Finnigan who farms near Rongotea, Manawatu says the warm winter has seen good pasture growth into spring and her 220 Kiwi cross cows are in good condition.
She says the original target for this season was 78,000kgMS, but says if conditions stay favourable the record of 82,500kgMS could be reached. . .
Alliance Group says it has paid farmer shareholders a further $1.67 million in loyalty payments.
This brings the total bonuses it has distributed for the season to $15.2m.
The latest quarterly payments were made to the co-operative’s ‘platinum’ and ‘gold’ shareholders who supply 100% of their livestock to Alliance. The latest payments cover the July to September period. . .
The last of New Zealand’s successful 2019 kiwifruit crop has been shipped, with four containers of Zespri Green leaving Tauranga for North Asia, unloading in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Around 70 tonnes of the Bay of Plenty-grown kiwifruit was loaded onto the APL Denver this week which is expected to reach the first port in 15 days.
Blair Hamill, Zespri’s Chief Global Supply Officer, says 147 million trays of kiwifruit were shipped offshore this season to more than 50 countries, with record numbers of consumers creating unprecedented levels of demand.
“Our premium Zespri SunGold and Green Kiwifruit are more popular than ever, and over the course of the season we’ve moved 44 full charter shiploads and 17,160 containers, or more than 500,000 tonnes in total, to our markets,” Mr Hamill says. . .
#MangaRa has a range of land types and 3 streams running through it. Here shows how we have fenced off the MangaRa stream enabling the development of 45 hectares of flats alongside. Land retirement and intensification hand-in-hand. Good or bad? You be the judge. pic.twitter.com/Hxq5wAPOuE
A ‘fundamental cultural change’ is needed to ensure that women in the Scottish farming industry are valued more, a new report has revealed.
Women’s contribution to the sector can be ‘undervalued, downplayed, or simply unseen’, it explained.
The findings are included in a Women in Agriculture Taskforce report which was commissioned by the Scottish government. Taskforce co-chair Joyce Campbell said the the report has shone light into the ‘very dark corners of Scottish agriculture.’ . .
Both DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ are urging farmers to have their say on the proposed Zero Carbon Bill by July 16.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says the potential implications of this legislation, in particular the targets for methane reduction, are huge for the agriculture sector.
“That’s why farmer engagement is so important,” he says. He is encouraging dairy farmers to make a submission.
The bill’s full name is the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill. . .
A liking for a particular food on a foreign trip is paying dividends for Dan and Jacqui Cottrell and providing extra income for their Taihape farm. They told Andrew Stewart how they discovered quinoa and set about growing it in the central North Island.
Dan and Jacqui Cottrell didn’t realise an overseas adventure would change their lives forever.
The year was 2012 and the couple were making the most of their South American odyssey when they had an epiphany in Peru.
They had been eating a lot of quinoa, of which 80% of the global supply is grown in Peru, on their trip. . .
Farmers want dairy industry regulations to apply equally to all milk processors in New Zealand.
They still want an end to the open entry/exit provisions of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA) and an end to Fonterra providing subsidised raw milk to rival processors.
However, in proposed DIRA changes the Government has retained the open entry provisions but has allowed Fonterra the right to refuse milk from suppliers who are “not compliant with the co-op rules and from new dairy conversions”. . .
Fruit size is providing the headwind to the new kiwifruit season while taste is the tailwind thanks to an exceptional late season ripening period that has left Zespri marketers with a paradigm for foreign markets.
Zespri’s grower alliance manager David Courtney said Green fruit size this season is 2.5 sizes smaller than usual and SunGold two sizes down on usual with the long, dry, ripening period scaling fruit down but pushing up drymatter levels to create exceptionally well flavoured fruit.
“We have had one grower who has been growing kiwifruit for 40 years who said he has never reported better drymatter levels in his crop.” . .
Over the last decade more than 200 produce growers in Auckland have closed up shop as more rural land has been rezoned to residential to keep up with the demand for housing.
Now, after 60 years of growing vegetables in South Auckland, celery farmer Stan Clark has decided to close up as well.
Mr Clark’s celery farms were re-zoned from rural to residential in 2009 and the rising land rates are making business unsustainable.
The family is preparing to sell their much-loved farms in Pukekohe, a suburb that holds some of the country’s most fertile land, much of which is being dug up for housing. . .
A large-scale dairy conversion farm – complete with a huge lake-like reservoir –which has seen primary sheep and beef production replaced over the past decade in favour of milking, has been placed on the market for sale.
Strathallan Station some 26-kilometres north-west of Gisborne is a 1,213-hectare property currently milking a herd of 1,000 cows. Towards the centre of the property is a two-and-a-half-metre-deep ‘reservoir’ lake large enough for recreational kayaking and duck hunting. The reservoir sustains not only the farm’s irrigation needs, but also its milk shed requirements. . .
Westland Milk’s biggest shareholder, Southern Pastures, said it would abstain on the vote called to decide on whether the co-operative can be sold to China’s Yili.
Southern – an investment fund – said the move would allow West Coast farmer-shareholders to decide its future.
Hokitika-based Westland said in March that it had signed a conditional agreement for the sale of the co-op, which will see the Chinese dairy giant pay farmer-suppliers $3.41 a share. The deal is worth $588 million. . .
(BusinessDesk) – Kiwifruit marketer Zespri is forecasting annual profit growth of up to 7 percent.
The firm, which markets kiwifruit on behalf of 2,500 New Zealand growers and another 1,200 in Italy, Japan, Korea and France, is expecting net profit of $182-$192 million in the current year, including licence release income.
That is up from the $179.8 million net profit reported for the year ended March, which was a 77 percent increase from the year before as the firm shipped more fruit for better prices. Total trays sold climbed 21 percent to 167.2 million last year – 85 percent of which was New Zealand-grown green or gold kiwifruit. . .
A new Federated Farmers dairy-farming leader hopes to be a voice for farmers.
Karl Dean was elected as the federation’s North Canterbury dairy chairman during the provincial annual meeting at Oxford in April, replacing Michael Woodward, who bought a farm in the North Island.
”It was sprung on me a little bit when Woody got a good opportunity up north.
”But I see it as a good way to get more involved and tackle some of the issues which are going to arise with climate change and make sure farmers are aware of the legislation, and that Feds are fighting it.’ . .
The firearms buy-back process for what are now prohibited semi-automatic firearms must work for rural firearms owners, Federated Farmers says.
The process will require farmers to travel to collection points to hand over firearms and agree on the value of the surrendered firearm. A member survey showed that at least twenty percent of Feds members had a firearm impacted by the new regulations, and these owners will be looking for good access and a smooth process for the hand-over of firearms and payment of fair compensation.
“The sooner the details of the process, including the number and geographical spread of collection points/events, are clear the better,’’ Federated Farmers Rural Security Spokesperson Miles Anderson says. . .
Mitch Daniels, a Post contributing columnist, is president of Purdue University and a former governor of Indiana.
Along with the rise of women and the expansion of civil rights, the most important social transformation of America’s first quarter-millennium has been the triumph of modern agriculture over famine and the ceaseless, backbreaking effort simply to feed one’s self that had been the dominant fact of human life throughout history. Most of those who preceded us lived their entire lives on the farm. A little more than a century ago, a third of all Americans were farmers.
Successive revolutions in mechanization, horticulture and biotechnology have been an enormous blessing, enabling a tiny percentage of Americans — today fewer than 2 percent— to feed the rest of us and much of the world. Incalculable human talent has been liberated to invent all the other miracles we enjoy. We spend less of our income on food than any society ever. . .
While much has been made of the prospects for robots harvesting kiwifruit and other orchards, one packing company has invested heavily this season in robotic technology in the pack house. Apata Group chief executive Stuart Weston outlined to Richard Rennie some of the smarts behind the country’s most robotised pack house, and what it heralds for the industry.
This year’s kiwifruit harvest is enduring another season with dire predictions of labour shortages coming at least partly true.
Most processing companies report an ongoing need for more staff, both pickers and in pack houses. . .
Trade expert Stephen Jacobi says he thinks New Zealand cheesemakers are rightly concerned about a European Union plan to protect the names of common cheeses.
It is a concern in the context of the EU-NZ free trade agreement negotiations, he says.
“The Europeans say they are not looking to penalise in any way the generic names,” Jacobi told Rural News. “They are saying they are only interested in the ones that have geographical connections.” . .
Supplies mishaps are plaguing the Lumsden and Te Anau maternity hubs that were meant to be up and running seven weeks ago, adding to concerns over giving birth in the region.
RNZ has been told pure oxygen – which poses a danger to babies when administered over long periods – was delivered to the Lumsden Maternal and Child Hub, while the Te Anau hub is still waiting for more equipment.
The news is adding to continued concerns over the emergency hubs, which are only meant to be used when expecting mothers are unable to reach a primary birthing centre in time. . .
Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker has again written to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after she promised to ‘take another look’ into the Lumsden Maternity Centre downgrade.
“I have written to the Prime Minister and asked for her findings as well as informing her of the second birth in the Lumsden area in just 11 days,” Mr Walker says.
“This could be a matter of life or death. All we have to do is look across the ditch to rural Queensland where since the downgrading of maternity services the death of babies in every 1000 is now at 23.3, compared with 6.1 in rural areas with obstetrics. . .
Farmers are bristling over any suggestion they had been slack about re-registering their farm locations in National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) in time for moving day on June 1.
Every person in charge of animals must re-register their NAIT location following a recent upgrade to the system.
Yet only one week out from moving day, the Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor released figures showing that about half of all dairy farms – 8000 out of 15,000 – had yet to re-register. . .
Yes the sheep here have evolved and can now read. A scary development as they outnumber us a million to one in #Shetlandpic.twitter.com/LOIDsYHouv
What is it that we can do to earn and improve our Social Licence? So many people in the primary sector have asked me this lately and this was precisely what I was wanting to be able to give them from my Kellogg research.
The answer, while no one quick fix, isn’t big either. It’s lots of little things. They require bravery, honesty and accountability, but it’s not going to cost you the world, just time. A resource that I know is probably just as precious, if not more, to farmers than money.
Hold onto your hats folks it could be a wild ride in the dairy industry but without all the fun of the fair.
There are so many things going on here and abroad that will influence not just farmgate milk prices but also input and compliance costs and thus, most importantly profits.
On the face of it things are looking up for the new season with rural economists predicting a starting price somewhere north of $7/kg MS.
But Fonterra, on the back of narrowing its 2018-19 forecast to the bottom end of its range at $6.30 to $6.40/kg MS has given a wide range for this season of $6.25-$7.25. Though the economists are optimistic Fonterra has set the advance rate at only $3.80/kg MS.
And we still don’t know any detail for Fonterra’s new strategy but we can take it from chief executive Miles Hurrell’s comments accompanying the third quarter results that it won’t be plain sailing for a couple of years yet. . .
One of New Zealand’s largest recorded ‘tree salvages’ has been hailed a success in the aftermath of the Pigeon Valley fire.
About 10,000 tonnes of burnt pine trees are being plucked from the ground for use in Canterbury construction projects, Nelson housing developments and to prevent future fires in Tasman.
It comes despite an initial race against time for Tasman Pine Forests, that own about 60 percent or or 14 sqkm of the fire-affected land.
After the fire was out, crews were faced with the task of extracting trees of varying ages and heights, some slightly charred at the base and others scorched to the tips, before beetles and bugs could begin to break them down. . .
National Lamb Day was celebrated on May 24 at the place where New Zealand’s frozen meat industry began 137 years ago – Totara Estate.
The historic farm just south of Oamaru prepared a shipment of lamb that arrived in Britain in pristine condition on May 24, 1882.
As Britain looked to its colonies to provide food for its surging population, wool prices here had collapsed by the end of the 1870s.
New Zealand’s huge sheep flocks were increasingly worthless, and the mutton was in such oversupply that it, too, was not valued. Britain represented a massive potential market, but getting the meat there before it went off was no small problem. . .
Rural women are underpaid and undervalued despite their multiple contributions to their farm, family, home and community, Fiona Gower says.
The national Rural Women New Zealand president spoke in Oamaru this month at a workshop called ”A Leading Voice”. Organised by local Rural Women members, it aimed to help women gain confidence, express themselves, and network with like-minded people.
Ms Gower said women’s input to the farm and household should be recognised by their peers and family.
And women should take the words ”just” and ”only” out of their vocabulary when describing themselves. . .
Good returns for store lambs and strong signals from the milling industry mean arable farmers are opting out of autumn feed grain plantings.
Growers are hunting out their best options and after a good year last year with lambs they are at the top of the priority list for many arable farmers again this year, Federated Farmers grains vice-chairman Brian Leadley said.
The market signals coming from the mills are also encouraging for New Zealand’s drive towards self-sufficiency. . .
Dairy Woman of the Year Trish Rankin has a message for all farmers: recycling systems work and it is worth doing your bit.
“There is a misconception that recycling just gets stockpiled somewhere,” Rankin told Rural News.
“Actually, it doesn’t. Everything that is sent to AgRecovery gets recycled. I think if people knew that they may take the time to triple rinse their containers and take them to their local AgRecovery depot to drop them off to recycle.” . .
Three PhD students have invented an edible bale wrap to reduce farm waste.
The patent-pending BioNet biopolymer was developed specifically for farms to wrap hay and silage.
It is the brainchild of three Imperial College London PhD students: Nick Aristidou, Will Joyce and Stelios Chatzimichail.
The trio came up with the idea after Mr Joyce, who grew up on a farm in Rutland, noticed his parent’s beef herd was creating a lot of wrapping waste. . .
Ewes filling up after belly crutching, ready for swedes late next week weather permitting. pic.twitter.com/DK0gr1yqcn
Zespri’s returns to growers and the industry reached new levels on the back of strong growth in both volume and value and across all fruit categories last season, with operating revenue from global kiwifruit sales and licence release revenue exceeding $3 billion for the first time.
The results reflect continued strong international demand, with Zespri selling a total of 167.2 million trays of kiwifruit in 2018/19, a 21 percent increase on the 138.6 million trays sold in the previous season. Revenue generated by global kiwifruit sales and SunGold licence release increased by 26 percent to $3.14 billion. . .
When Adolf graduated from Lincoln as a valuer and farm consultant he went off to Australia and, by accident, fell into commerce where he remained for forty or so years. Many of my colleagues had come over and introduced Canterbury farming techniques. Some did very well, others not so well
I well remember a crusty old West Australian wheat cocky remarking that ‘those bastards charged us a fee for telling us when we would go broke. . .
The sale of Tip Top to a joint-venture northern hemisphere company, Froneri, for $380 million has achieved almost half of Fonterra’s debt reduction target.
When its Beingmate shareholding is divested and a half share of DFE Pharma is sold, Fonterra should reach its $800m reduction target by July 31.
The Beingmate stake has a market value of about $280m and the DFE share about $200m, based on annual sales figures.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell has therefore made a good start on promised financial reforms of substantial debt reduction, cuts in capital and operational expenditure and 7%-plus return on capital invested by farmer-shareholders and unit holders. . .
Gisborne’s Jo Waugh has won the zig zag hunt at the South Island sheep dog trial championships, the first time a woman has won the event in more than 100 years.
And not only did the 30-year-old and her huntaway dog, Guy, get on the podium, but two other women also joined her in the top seven, clocking up another achievement in the usually male-dominated event.
The South Island Sheep Dog trials were held in Hanmer Springs this week but farmers and shepherds have been competing since the sport first landed in New Zealand in the 1800s. . .
Richard Young was elected to the Silver Fern Farms board on a platform of industry restructuring and agitating for a merger with Alliance. Six years later the Otago farmer is the co-operative’s boss. He talks to Neal Wallace.
Richard Young vividly remembers the induction for new directors the evening before his first meeting as an elected member of the Silver Fern Farms board.
It was 2013 and the newly elected directors were taken through the co-operative’s accounts ahead of the annual meeting the next day.
An Alma family is proud to have set up the district’s smallest dairy farm.
Bethan and Bryan Moore have a herd of just 13 Ayrshire cows with calves on 6ha alongside State Highway 1. They will soon be selling milk in glass bottles.
The Moores bought the land about 18 months ago, after four years of sharemilking in Tasmania. Mrs Moore grew up near Cardiff, Wales and met Mr Moore, a farmer from the North Island, on her travels to New Zealand. . .
(BusinessDesk) – Kiwifruit grower and marketer Seeka has cut its full-year earnings guidance by $4 million due to reduced harvests in both New Zealand and Australia.
Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are likely to range from $32.5 million to $33.5 million in the 2019 calendar year, down from the $36.5-$37.5 million range the Te Puke-based company signalled a month ago.
Seeka, the biggest kiwifruit producer in New Zealand and Australia, said unseasonably hot, dry weather in both countries has reduced fruit size and crop volumes. . .
The work of the Otago Drought Group is a great example of farmers and their organisations collaborating to manage climate challenges locally, Agriculture and Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor says.
The group met again this week to update its discussions on the dry conditions in the Clutha district, how farmers were faring and what actions might be needed.
The group, which included Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead, representatives from Beef + Lamb New Zealand, DairyNZ, Federated Farmers, the Otago Rural Support Trust and the Ministry for Primary Industries, convened early in any adverse weather event. . .
One of the Waitaki district’s most recognisable restaurants is on the market.
The Flying Pig Cafe, with its distinctive porcine pink exterior, has long been a landmark in Duntroon.
It has been closed since illness befell its owners in early 2017, and is now for sale.
An Auckland couple bought the cafe in 2007 after discovering it during a holiday driving around the South Island. Business began to soar after the Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail opened in 2014. . .
“Incredibly clever” technology that elevates cool rooms into a state-of-the-art controlled atmosphere chambers is helping Hawke’s Bay’s growers make the very best of their crops.
It is not just about chilling fruit, it is about controlling the air conditions inside the cooler to hold it in the best possible state until market conditions are optimal; which could be any time over the 12 months after the crop has been picked.
Next week, growers have the opportunity to learn more about that technology from the Europeans who make it. . .
Got to feel sorry for Aucklanders, again. 1 hour ago
RT @NZRuralGames: Congratulations Stephanie McNair - one of this year's finalists for the @Fonterra Young New Zealand Rural Sportsperson of… 1 hour ago
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RT @nzinitiative: The govt has hinted that further tinkering on the demand side is coming, but enabling more building is what is needed, wr… 6 hours ago
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