Recognition is urgently needed on a new measure for short and long-lived greenhouse gases and their impact on global warming.
That was the strong message given to attendees at the recent Red Meat Sector Conference by Dr Frank Mitloehner of the University of California Davis – a world expert on livestock emissions research.
He explained how the measure of GWP (100) – the matrix used to calculate the impact of different gas emissions on warming for the past 30 years – is “problematic” when methane levels are falling.
“It has real strong limitations when livestock numbers are constant and/or falling and methane is being reduced.” . .
New research shows that New Zealanders are becoming more open to the use of genetic engineering advances to progress our agriculture sector.
Christchurch-based survey and product development company Research First recently published the results of a survey on the use of GE in NZ. It found the use of gene editing in humans for medical and disease prevention purposes was viewed in an overwhelmingly positive manner. Meanwhile, although it still had majority support, the research found less backing for gene editing to improve biodiversity and farm health.
ACT spokesman Mark Cameron says New Zealand needs to liberalise its laws on genetic engineering to allow our agricultural industry to “lead, not lag”.
“ACT has always said if we want to get serious about reducing agriculture emissions we should be looking at technological advancements like this before taxing and destocking.” . .
Nothing matches carbon-farming economics on sheep and beef land
This last week I spent two days in Rotorua at the New Zealand carbon-forestry conference where I was also one of the speakers. Both I and others presented perspectives on the path ahead for this new industry. There were close to 300 attendees plus an international online audience.
Although there was diversity of perspective as to how the industry might develop, I sensed no doubt that we all saw ourselves as being involved in something big that, one way or another, is transformational for New Zealand
Most of the attendees were either forestry people already in the business, or alternatively service-industry people who either are already or in future want to be part of this new industry. There were also some Government and Climate Change Commission people there to help explain the current regulatory framework. . .
Alternative to ‘unworkable’ government plans has support of industry, says NZPork
New Zealand’s pork sector has come up with an alternative to what it sees as unworkable plans proposed by the government.
They include reducing the maximum time farrowing crates can be used from the current 33 days to no more than seven, increasing the minimum space allowance for grower pigs and eliminating the use of mating stalls for housing sows.
The changes would place New Zealand’s standards beyond those required in the United Kingdom, European Union, United States, Canada, Australia and China – which collectively produce most of the world’s pork and supply most of the pork exported to NZ. . .
Alan Emerson spoke to a few Aussie farmers about taxing burping and farting cows and they suggested he must have been drinking.
We’re currently in Australia and it is great to be here after the winter we’ve experienced.
Boringly, we go to Port Douglas, north of Cairns, and stay in a serviced one-bedroom apartment complete with a full kitchen, bathroom and laundry.
Having done the maths, there’s not a lot of cost differential between a holiday in Port Douglas and one in Queenstown. . .
#Marlboroughdowns finished combining yesterday evening. Just over a month of harvesting, and finishing nearly three weeks earlier than normal. With huge thanks to the great team we have helping us. The combine silhouetted in the rising Full moon yesterday evening. Harvest home!. pic.twitter.com/PZr57DDL1o
The latest Bayleys’ Rural Market Update for the dairy sector compiled by its Insights & Data team points to buyer confidence, buoyant demand, and a positive outlook for the 12 months ahead on the back of strong long-run milk prices and global demand for New Zealand products.
Last financial year, Bayleys transacted over 100 dairy property deals – more than one-third of the total dairy farms sold nationwide.
In releasing the report, Bayleys’ national director rural, Nick Hawken said REINZ figures show the total value of dairying land sold across New Zealand exploded in the 12 months from 1st April 2021-31st March 2022, to $1.524bn – more than double the value sold in the 2020-2021 period.
“In total, 40,958ha of dairying land was sold nationwide in 2021-2022 according to REINZ. . .
As consultation by He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN, the primary sector climate action partnership) has rounded up, there are still a vast number of farmers who are nervous, confused and angry about what the future for managing agricultural emissions in New Zealand might look like, and for good reason.
The fast pace of law-making in New Zealand in recent years is unsettling. Not only for the rural community trying to get their heads around what it all means for them, but for a range of sectors, including participants in New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme.
Farmers are grappling with HWEN’s two options for managing agricultural emissions – an on-farm levy or a processor levy. But the alternative of a blanket inclusion of agriculture in the ETS, which is the option if HWEN cannot convince the Government to adopt its suggested approach, is a particularly frightening prospect.
In its current form, the ETS isn’t working well for participants, particularly foresters. Adding complexity and workload for officials by including agriculture would be a disaster. . .
The clock is ticking towards the end of May deadline for finalising a scheme to keep agriculture out the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), an issue of key interest to Waikato’s extensive dairy sector and other agricultural players.
Ngahinapouri dairy farmer Jim van der Poel, the chair of agriculture heavyweight DairyNZ, believes the final proposal from sector group He Waka Eke Noa will ultimately help farmers and others manage emissions-related financial risk better. Overall, he said it would also do more to assist Aotearoa to meet its international emissions reduction obligations as the world tackles climate change.
Besides his organisation, He Waka Eke Noa involves Beef and Lamb NZ, Dairy Companies Association, Federated Farmers, Foundation for Arable Research, Horticulture NZ, Irrigation NZ, the Federation of Māori Authorities, Deer Industry Association, Meat Industry Association and Apiculture NZ.
Emissions related to nitrous oxide (from the likes of fertiliser and stock urine) and methane (from cows belching) are covered by what will be proposed by He Waka Eke Noa. It doesn’t cover farmers’ fossil fuel-related emissions. . .
West Coast dairy farmer and former Federated Farmers president Katie Milne is making a bid to head up the World Farmers’ Organisation, a Rome-based advocacy group that brings together farmer organisations and agricultural co-operatives from across the world.
Milne has served on the organisation’s board for nearly five years and is standing for election as president at the upcoming general assembly in Budapest from June 7-10.
She is one of three candidates, something she says is positive.
“It’s healthy to have options and a lot of diversity of thought and debate on the way forward,” she says. . .
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has launched an Agribusiness Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) product available to all New Zealand farmers.
The term loan, a SLL available to all farmers no matter the size of their farm or industry, offers interest cost savings for achieving environmental and social targets including: Greenhouse gas reductions; eco-system protection; improved care for staff; protecting waterways; improving biodiversity; and animal welfare.
It is the first time a SLL has been available as a loan product to all New Zealand farmers. Environmental and Social targets are set and agreed with BNZ and progress independently verified annually.
“New Zealand’s farmers are working hard to achieve environmental and social goals and we want to support and incentivise their efforts,” says Dana Muir, BNZ head of natural capital. . .
Kirsten Duess believes the findings of her research work into soil drainage in Southland will have benefits for other parts of New Zealand as well.
The final-year Lincoln University PhD candidate was the 2021 winner of the NZ Society of Soil Science/Fertiliser Association of NZ Postgraduate Bursary Award. The $5,000 award recognises the efforts and likely contribution to New Zealand soil science arising from a doctorate study.
Duess’ postgraduate research saw her lead a long-term field study on soil and catchment hydrology in Southland. The findings will help understand the role mole and tile drains play in that region’s unique landscape.
“We were interested in understanding the hydrology of a small catchment that is drained by a mole and tile drainage system on a sheep farm near Otahuti in Southland,” she told Rural News. . .
More than 3000 people have signed a petition calling for imported pork to meet the same animal welfare standards as pork produced here.
Started by Frances Clement, a policy advisor to statutory industry board, NZ Pork, the petition was presented to parliament on Tuesday.
NZ Pork chief executive, Brent Kleiss said New Zealand’s pork sector had high welfare standards compared to many other countries with less rigorous health, welfare and environmental regimes.
But over 60 percent of pork consumed in New Zealand was imported with most of it being produced in countries that farm pigs using practices that are illegal in this country he said. . .
Rural water schemes need to be exempted from the Government’s proposed Three Waters reforms.
That’s the belief of West Otago farmer and member on the Glenkenich rural water scheme Hugh Gardyne. In a submission to the Rural Water Supplies Technical Working Group on the impacts of the Three Waters reforms, Gardyne says, “the objectives of virtually every stratum of Three Waters reform are contrary to the achievements and intent of rural water schemes”.
He argues that because rural water schemes (RWS) vary so much, it is so impossible to get consensus and “one size does not fit all”. The working group was set up by Local Government Minister and architect of the reforms Nanaia Mahuta to work with officials from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and Taumata Arowai to develop policy options and advice in respect of rural community schemes around the new water entities proposed in her Three Waters reforms.
It was expected to report back to DIA at the end of April. . .
Federated Farmers is joining the fight against yet another case of politicians intruding with unnecessary, inflexible, one-size-fits-all legislation – this time over workers’ wages and conditions.
“There’s nothing fair about so-called Fair Pay Agreements,” Federated Farmers national board member and employment spokesperson Chris Lewis says.
“They’re just a straightjacket that lock employers and employees into a national set of pay and conditions rules that might suit a minority but remove all ability of businesses and staff to agree on terms that suit their own needs and local conditions.”
The threshold for initiating an FPA is 10% of workers or 1000 workers in the identified group, whichever is less. Once an FPA is agreed, all employers and employees across an entire industry or occupation are locked into the conditions of that FPA. . .
Under the Paris Accord on climate change, Article 2 (b) states:
The aim of the agreement is to have a stronger response to the danger of climate change; it seeks to enhance the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change through:
(a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;
(b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production; . .
The recently released draft welfare code for pigs will not only have a negative effect on farmers and piglet welfare, it will also affect the staff who look after them and consumers who want to buy fresh NZ pork, Manawatū pig farmer Andrew Managh says.
The recently released draft welfare code for pigs will not only have a negative effect on farmers and piglet welfare, it will also affect the staff who look after them and consumers who want to buy fresh NZ pork, Manawatū pig farmer Andrew Managh says.
Managh, who farms about 700 hectares near Halcombe, with about 6000 pigs on the property on any given day, says despite the draft code seeking to improve pig welfare, in a practical sense it means farmers are being asked to invest money into something that will not achieve that goal.
He says under the proposed changes, farrowing pens at his and his wife Geraldine’s Ratanui Farm property will need to increase from their current 4.5 square metres to 6.5m2 and he can’t see the benefit in that. . . .
The drought conditions plaguing Southland farmers have eased, after some much-needed rain in the region.
NIWA’s latest hotspot watch shows dry conditions have lessened after rain in the region, though it is still dryer than usual for this time of year.
As of 3 May conditions were dry in parts of the upper South Island, much of Otago, eastern Southland, and Stewart Island, NIWA’s New Zealand Drought Index map showed.
Mike Renner, who runs Renner Fencing in Marlborough and sits on the board of Fencing Contractors NZ, said he had to order some materials three months in advance. . .
Farmers: What’s your plan if someone in your family or among your staff tests positive for COVID-19?
As COVID-19 vaccination rates build and New Zealand begins to transition to coping with the disease without lockdowns and less reliance on managed isolation facilities, the agri-sector and Ministry for Primary Industries have been working together to ensure farmers are prepared.
The latest initiative is a checklist for farmers so that they can tick off preparation readiness in terms of personal wellbeing, and everything a neighbour or someone else coming onto the farm would need to know should key people have to go into MIQ or hospital – right down to the names of dogs and where their food is located.
The checklist is available on the Federated Farmers website and from the other groups that helped put it together: DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, NZ Pork, Deer Industry NZ, Poultry Industry Association of NZ and the Egg Producers Federation of NZ. . .
Couldn’t help but notice how superb the farmland is down here. In between Dunedin and the Catlins we consistently saw fenced off wetlands and waterways, fenced off regen bush areas and a lot of shade trees planted (and fenced). Very healthy looking lambs as well. pic.twitter.com/1a2LI7WO1a
A New Zealand sheep milk producer with 13 Waikato-based suppliers has signed with a new Chinese distributor following an international trade expo in China.
The China International Import Export event is normally one of the largest expos each year, and despite Covid-19 forcing organisers to scale things back, it was still a significant show.
Twenty-two New Zealand companies took part in the event, including honey, wine dairy and fruit exporters.
Covid-19 restrictions limited expo visitors this year, but Maui Milk chief executive Leah Davey said there were still about 35,000 potential customers through the doors. . .
A new partnership between Ford Ranger New Zealand Rural Games and Farm 4 Life Hub will allow participants in the third annual Allflex Clash of the Colleges to practise their skills before they take the field to compete against secondary students from throughout the mid and lower North Island.
The online video learning platform, Farm 4 Life Hub, has more than 750 videos, all focused on providing people with a better understanding of life and work in the rural sector. Founded by Dairy Farmer Tangaroa Walker, a Kiwi legend with an online social media following of over 250,000, Farm 4 Life Hub videos reach up to 1.6 million people per month, and the total viewership has surpassed 67 million since inception. Farm 4 Life is currently in the early stages of gaining accreditation for its educational videos.
Walker is an avid supporter of the New Zealand Rural Games Trust, and both parties are dedicated to lifting skill levels across the sector. . .
A tomato plant virus is among seven organisms in line for deregulation, having recently established themselves in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) sought feedback on which new organisms should no longer hold regulatory status as “new” because they are effectively resident in Aotearoa. This deregulation process is conducted under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act, for species that arrived after 29 July 1998.
“We have carefully screened the shortlisted candidates, and no longer consider that they are new organisms because they’ve been present in Aotearoa for some time. This is not an assessment of whether or not we want them in the country, just a recognition of their presence here,” says Dr Chris Hill, General Manager of the EPA’s New Organisms group. . .
Young grass looking good.
Note the outside 2 rounds……Didn't run the covering harrows as they would have got tangled in the fence.The seed is there, but germination is sure slower, and with a poorer rate. pic.twitter.com/ac4Gs3Optq
Three years ago, Taranaki sheep and beef farmer Graham Fergus began investigating the reason for frustratingly poor lamb growth rates and discovered an underlying drench resistance problem.
It’s a problem that has been impacting on productivity and profitability and is proving difficult to reverse.
In May 2018, Graham carried out a full faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) and found black scour worms (a species of Trichostrongylus ) were resistant to all drench families tested. All other parasites were susceptible to all drench families tested.
After seeking advice from his vets, Graham implemented three parasite management tools targeting pasture, refugia and drenching. . .
After a rough ride since Covid-19 struck, the New Zealand economy is in better shape than might have been predicted at the onset of the pandemic. Yet labour shortages, an energy crisis in Europe and China, and massive inflationary pressures suggest that the passage ahead will be anything but smooth.
With the government abandoning the elimination strategy and moving towards living with endemic Covid, the country is adjusting to the prospect of a new normal. But without any sign of the number of cases of the Delta variant diminishing, restrictions may persist for longer than might have been imagined just weeks ago.
It’s a blow to industries looking to inflows of workers to ease labour shortages, particularly in the rural regions, which last season sustained the economy with the production of commodities that were in relatively tight supply in world markets, fetching excellent returns. . .
Anchor Food Professionals – Fonterra’s foodservice business – has defied Covid challenges to become a $3 billion annual revenue business.
Fonterra says the milestone was pleasing, despite restaurants around the world being affected by Covid-19.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell said the success was down to the the co-op’s strong connection to customers.
“Our people have worked hard to find new ways of working with customers and new product applications to suit the pandemic environment, and we can see this has been a success. . .
Kiwifruit growers are taking Gisborne District Council to the High Court for including the licence to grow the gold variety in rating land valuations.
The national body representing growers, NZ Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (NZKGI), has brought a judicial review proceeding of the decision to the High Court, and is supporting a grower on Bushmere Road, who has lodged an objection to their property valuation before the Land Valuation Tribunal.
Gisborne was the first region to adjust land valuation methods to include the value of the gold kiwifruit growing licence, known as the G3 licence, on the rateable value of the property.
The move has resulted in a rates hike Gisborne growers called “absurd” and inequitable, with reports of rates tripling for some. . .
Regenerative farming: only one person knows what it means (and it’s not you), writes Vincent Heeringa, but it is vital that it becomes known and understood
A new report by Beef and Lamb NZ sheds fresh light on the role that regenerative farming could play in growing our primary sector exports. The news is encouraging. Conducted by US food researcher Alpha Food Labs, the report shows that ‘conscious consumers’ in Germany, the UK and the US have a strong appetite for sustainable foods – and are even hungrier for foods labelled regenerative.
“After learning about the benefits of regenerative agriculture, the proportion of consumers willing to pay 20 percent or more increased in the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as the proportion willing to pay substantially more (i.e. 30 percent more) at least for the United States and Germany.” . . .
As World Iron Awareness Week comes to a close, New Zealand Pork is reminding Kiwis of the many benefits of enjoying New Zealand pork as part of a healthy balanced diet.
“There are several misconceptions about pork, so this campaign has been designed to bust a few myths and give consumers simple easy facts around some benefits of enjoying delicious New Zealand pork in their diet,” says New Zealand Pork’s nutrition advisor Julie North of Foodcom.
“Some people believe all pork is a fatty meat, thinking of a pork roast with a thick layer of crackling or a juicy pork belly. However, most cuts of pork are quite lean when the external fat (which is easy to remove) is cut off. By trimming off the outer layer of fat, New Zealand pork is quite a lean meat.” . .
If New Zealand is going to move towards a more sustainable primary sector, then media, politicians and fringe groups need to stop stoking division, writes Laura Walters.
Last week thousands of farmers descended on towns and cities across the country for the so-called Howl of Protest, a demonstration against government policies that farmers say are severely damaging the rural sector. The Southland town of Gore was gridlocked with 600 tractors, 1200 utes, and about 50 truck and trailer units. Overhead, four helicopters and a plane got in on the action. Similar scenes played out all over New Zealand. A resident of one provincial city described it as “the best Santa Parade, ever”.
To some onlookers, the protests would seem illustrative of a rural sector that is resistant to change, a far cry from the sorts of innovative, sustainable ideas – a whiskey distillery on a sheep and beef farm, for example, or an organic co-op with a reduced environmental footprint – that are celebrated on the likes of Country Calendar.
Ahead of the Howl of Protest, many left-wing politicians, farming industry bodies and even portions of the rural community itself predicted the protests would be dominated by this staunchly conservative rural minority. In anticipation of division and backlash, they distanced themselves from the protests. . .
Just as Southland farmers were receiving praise from local authorities on their improved winter grazing practices, new photos surfaced of cows knee-deep in mud.
While there is debate about the authenticity of the latest photos, reportedly taken by environmental activist Geoff Reid, the truth remains that not all farmers are following winter grazing rules to the fullest.
Sadly, it is this small group of farmers who are trashing the reputation of hundreds of others doing the right thing.
Such farmers are only providing ammunition to activists roaming dairy paddocks with cameras and drones hoping to find distressed cows lying in mud and reigniting the debate on banning winter grazing practices. . .
More cute lamb pics – our moorit ewe had her first lambs yesterday. Sadly not moorit themselves but tiny and kind of adorable anyway. pic.twitter.com/eV2kbXrvES
There’s alarm in New Zealand’s pork industry following the discovery of the devastating pig disease, African Swine Fever, in Germany’s commercial pig farms.
The disease forced China, the world’s largest pig producer, to cull about half its herd after an outbreak two years ago.
NZ Pork chief executive David Baines said Germany now found the disease had gone from its wild herds into commercial farms.
Germany is the EU’s largest pork exporter, with product coming to New Zealand. . .
Thousands more Kiwi homes will be carpeted in wool following a landmark agreement between Wools of New Zealand (WNZ) and leading retailer Flooring Xtra.
Other independent retail stores are also in the partnership mix with WNZ in its bid to get affordable wool carpets into NZ homes.
Starting this month, WNZ will manufacture and supply wool carpet to Flooring Xtra’s 61 stores and independent flooring retailers across NZ.
Priced competitively compared with synthetic carpets, means New Zealanders have a genuine choice between a synthetic product or a natural product direct from WNZ’s 730 farmer-grower shareholders, WNZ chief executive John McWhirter says. . .
Livestock Improvement Corporation (NZX: LIC) announces its financial results for the year ending 31 May 2021, reporting increased revenue, profit and a strong balance sheet with no debt at year end.
The farmer-owned co-operative will return $17.8 million in dividend to shareholders, which equates to 12.51 cents per share. The fully imputed dividend represents a 14.4% gross yield based on the current share price of $1.21. The dividend will be distributed on 20 August.
“The LIC Board is proud to present another strong result to our farmer shareholders for the fourth consecutive year,” said Murray King, LIC Board Chair.
“This result is in line with our market guidance and a credit to our shareholders for their support of significant initiatives in the last five years to transform LIC into a modern, progressive co-op. These initiatives have delivered the benefits we said they would, including focussed investment in the business and a better return for our farmers. . .
Just had our local @BallanceNZ rep over to finalise our fertiliser program for the year…🤙🏻🤙🏻
Going the extra mile by jumping on the bike with us to have a look around the farm and then stopping by our harrowing experiment…he was impressed! pic.twitter.com/tMaSpz2RYc
I recently had a conversation with one of our member dairy farmers who has been a patient in at least two different hospitals. At one of those hospital, he asked for whole milk with his lunch. He was told that milk “ is not good for you.” He asked to see the dietician who met with him and told him milk is not good for you.
Several weeks later, this farmer was admitted into a second hospital and again, at lunch, he asked for whole milk. He got the same reply, “I am sorry, milk is not good for you.”
So this time he asked to speak to the hospital’s top dietician who claimed that milk was not good because “it is 100% fat!” He told her that you would need a knife and fork to eat it because it would be hard cheese.
Most hospitals and their personnel provide good service to their patients, but their dieticians know very little regarding the value of milk. The whole milk we buy in the store has only a 3.25% fat content. . .
New Zealand Pork has launched a petition asking the Government to force producers of imported pork to meet the same animal welfare standards as pig farmers in this country. Reporter Shawn McAvinue asks North Otago pig farmer Ian Carter why he wants people to sign the petition.
North Otago pig farmer Ian Carter has joined a call for new legislation to force producers of imported pork to meet New Zealand’s animal welfare standards.
Mr Carter, who runs about 2000 pigs, including 200 sows, near Hampden, said he wanted New Zealanders to show their support for farmers by signing a petition.
Earlier this month, NZ Pork policy and issues manager Frances Clement launched a petition seeking Parliament to urge the Government to apply the same animal welfare standards to imported pork as is required by New Zealand pork producers. . .
Fruit growers stretched for labour are desperately seeking a Pacific bubble for workers as demand for MIQ allocations outstrip supply. More than 3 million cartons of fruit will to go waste, they warn.
Apple and pear orchards have large blocks of fruit still sitting on trees in the Hawkes Bay, weeks before pruning season starts.
“It looks a bit depressing, really,” NZ Apples and Pears chief executive Allan Pollard says.
The labour shortage will have a “huge” financial cost with the industry expecting more than 3 million cartons of unpicked fruit going to waste. . .
It’s been a remarkable 18 months for New Zealand, and for the world. For a country like ours that is reliant on exports, many predicted the pandemic would result in a broad slowdown in international trade, due to border closures, logistics challenges and reduced demand dampening the economic outlook.
But given our country’s status as a quality food producing nation, we finished 2020 in a stronger financial position than expected, and that’s thanks, in large part to New Zealand’s rural sector.
Despite predictions of a sharp fall, New Zealand goods exports finished the year in a resilient position. Data from our ASB economists shows that over the past 12 months regions that are more reliant on agriculture and exports have been benefiting from this. . .
The kiwifruit industry has successfully reached the end of its harvest with a record crop now headed for overseas markets – if not already there.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc. CEO Colin Bond says the sector weathered the labour crisis that affected the country’s horticulture sector well – “but that was down to a combination of good practice and good fortune.”
Bond says the 2021 season’s domestic operational practices weren’t disrupted by COVID-19 to the same extent as last year’s, but continued border closures meant Working Holiday Visa (WHV) holder numbers were down significantly and RSE worker numbers were limited – meaning an even heavier reliance on Kiwis filling the roles. . .
Country music legends Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings might have sang the line “mammas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys”. But thank goodness those mammas didn’t listen.
Some women like surfers, some like sportsmen, but for me there is nothing better than a man in wranglers, dusty boots and working hands to sooth the soul.
With the ever-popular television series Farmer Wants a Wife set to hit our screens again this week, it begs the question: Are country men better than their city counterparts?
Let’s look at the facts (my facts). Firstly country blokes are jacks-of-all-trades. They can fix a fence, fridge, car, nail together a high heel shoe and if country songs are anything to go by, they can mend a broken heart. . .
Orchardists say more than $600m is set to be lost to from regional economies like Hawke’s Bay’s as a result of the massive shortage of workers to pick fruit.
The region’s orchardists, exporters and growers reliant on seasonal work say they’ve worked through the season with “anxiety and desperation beyond belief”.
And they are calling on the Government to open a travel bubble with the Pacific islands to allow the free flow of what would normally be up to 14,410 workers arriving as part of the recognised seasonal employer scheme, in time for the 2022 season.
Thousands of tonnes of fruit is now being left on trees in Hawke’s Bay. . .
The pork industry is calling for the Government to recognise a different emissions policy approach for pigs.
In its submission to the Climate Change Commission (CCC), NZ Pork says a one-size-fits-all approach for livestock does not take into account non-ruminant livestock such as pigs.
New Zealand Pork chief executive David Baines says the unique nature of the pork industry in NZ means policy designed for the pastoral sector and ruminant livestock will not necessarily be the most effective means of facilitating emissions reductions from farmed pigs.
While welcoming many of the recommendations in the CCC’s draft advice to the Government, he says a blanket policy could disproportionately impact NZ pig farmers. . .
Entries open now – are you the next plant producers Young Achiever?
NZ Plant Producers is very pleased to announce that the Young Achiever of the Year competition is back for 2021.
After being forced to cancel in 2020, the next competition will be held on July 14-15, at Growing Spectrum, Hamilton.
Young Achiever allows young people involved in plant production to gain an entry to the prestigious Young Horticulturalist of the Year competition. Entrants are tested on their practical industry skills, knowledge, and public speaking. . .
Even before his most recent win a few weeks ago, there was no doubt Sam Heaven was a young chef going places.
Despite border closures late last year, he won the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award for best chef in Australia and New Zealand aged under 25 in a virtual grand final cook-off.
After winning the title Heaven, 23, who works at the Park Hyatt in Auckland, thought that was it for competitions.
“After that last one I thought ‘that’s it, I’ve done heaps, it’s time to focus on my career’,” Heaven said. . .
The Government’s announcement it’s allowing 2000 horticultural workers enter New Zealand through the RSE scheme is better than nothing, but it’s still just a drop in the bucket of what is actually needed, National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop says.
“Overall this is a poor deal for New Zealand’s horticulture industry, for New Zealand, and for the RSE workers themselves. Firstly, 2000 workers is not enough, it’s less than one seventh of quota (which is more than 14,000) of RSE workers the sector would normally have available to pick these key export products.
“Secondly, it’s far too little and far too late. Spring and early summer crops have already missed out on these workers, but the Government has known about these problems for months, and is only acting at the eleventh hour.
“The time has come to allow RSE workers from Pacific countries to isolate in bubbles in RSE accommodation, like sports teams, provided by the industry. The countries where these RSE workers come from are Covid-free so there is little to no risk of transmission in transit as workers will come direct to New Zealand. . .
An influx of seasonal workers is a relief for the horticulture and wine industries with the government giving a border exemption to 2000 seasonal workers.
The experienced workers will begin arriving from the Pacific in January and will spend two weeks in isolation before starting the harvest.
So after months of angst, the horticulture and wine sector will get some of the seasonal workers they are desperate for.
But they come with a cost. Employers must first pay for managed isolation – currently estimated at $4722 per person and pay at least $22.10 an hour – the living wage. . .
Former New Zealand Pork chairman Ian Carter is saddened by a High Court ruling that the use of farrowing crates is unlawful, saying they save “millions” of piglets globally every year.
Animal welfare groups Safe and the New Zealand Animal Law Association took the Attorney-general, the Minister of Agriculture and the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) to court in June saying the use of farrowing and mating crates breached the Animal Welfare Act 1999, RNZ reported.
In its decision, the court said the agriculture minister must consider new regulations phasing out the use of farrowing crates and mating stalls, and improve minimum standards.
Mr Carter, who farms in North Otago, said no other system got close to meeting the needs of farmed pigs. He estimated farrowing crates could save more than 200 piglets a day in New Zealand if they were universally used. . .
Switching from milking goats and cows to milking sheep has been likened to swimming three lengths underwater by Te Aroha dairy goat and cow farmer Paul Schuler.
He is one of four Waikato based farmers that this season have taken on milking sheep for Maui Milk.
Come June, as his new sheep were about to arrive on the former cow farm, he was still completing a milking shed and fixing fences.
Covid slowed developement down, but Schuler says the ram didn’t know that. His lambs were going to arrive on time. . .
Just two years after the bread wheat genome was finally mapped for the first time, a crack team of international scientists, including researchers from the University of Western Australia, have sequenced and analysed the genomes of 16 key wheat varieties from around the globe.
The research, including varieties that represent different breeding programs from around the world, provides the most comprehensive atlas of wheat genome sequences reported to date.
The genomic study, published in Nature Journal by the University of Saskatchewan, involved an international effort by more than 90 scientists from universities and institutes in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, the U.K., Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Israel, and the U.S. . .
Like many in the pork industry, North Otago pig farmer Ian Carter is dependent on experienced and skilled migrant workers to run his 318ha, 2000 pig, 700 cattle operation.
If farmers cannot access migrant workers with the needed skill sets and experience, including from the Philippines where there are large commercial pork operations, he predicts a “massive drop in productivity” within the industry.
As a result of Covid-19, workers who would ordinarily be arriving to work here on three-year visas had been unable to fly into the country.
Although the former New Zealand Pork chairman was pleased to see the recent visa extensions introduced by the Government, he did not think those changes would be enough to meet the needs of the industry. . .
The number of properties infected with Mycoplasma bovis has dropped to an all-time low, triggering a wave of confidence that the plan to eradicate the cattle disease from New Zealand is on-track.
Three years on since the disease was first confirmed in NZ, industry leaders are confident the world-first attempt to eradicate the disease is making positive gains towards eradication being within reach in the coming seven years.
As of July 22, the M bovis programme had just four confirmed active properties on its books.
Of these, two are dairy and one beef in the North Island, with one beef property in Canterbury. . .
A former Trade Minister is hopeful he can play his part convincing Britain to open its farmers up to increased competition from New Zealand and other rival producers once it leaves the European Union.
Lockwood Smith credited his appointment to a new commission advising the British government on trade agreements and agriculture to his long experience as a farmer and former trade and agriculture minister, as well as his knowledge of the British farming and political scene as a recent High Commissioner to London.
“There is a realisation that (British) agriculture needs to move forward and this is an attempt to find a consensus on how best to do that,” Smith said. . .
Dairy effluent is being used to power an Isla Bank milking shed and mitigate methane emissions at the same time.
Dairy Green and Scandrett Rural owner and consultant John Scandrett has been overseeing a biogas conversion project at Glenarlea Farm, Isla Bank, since November 2016.
Glenarlea Farm, which is owned by the Fortuna Group and managed by Brendon and Lorelai Santos, milks about 900 cows at peak.
Bacteria convert effluent solids into biogas, of which methane and carbon dioxide are the main constituents.
The methane fuelled a converted diesel motor, which drove a generator to make electricity, Mr Scandrett said. . .
WHILE the agricultural industry has made great progress in advancing women in the workforce, little work has looked into shifting traditional patterns of patrilineal farm succession, which act as gender barriers for daughters growing up on farms.
That’s according to a new report by 2017 Nuffield scholar and Morawa farmer, Katrina Sasse, who investigated the position of daughter successors in United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark – a study that was motivated by her own keen interest as a daughter successor and desire to help women in Australia find a pathway back to the family farm.
It’s an unfortunate fact that in rural communities some people continue to view daughter successors differently to sons and more needs to be done to empower young Women to remain in family farming operations. . .
Without skilled operators rural contractors risk having millions of dollars of essential agricultural machinery sitting idle this spring.
After an urgent meeting with Primary Industries Minister Damien O’Connor, Rural Contractors is surveying members amid rising concern over the pending labour shortage.
Results so far reveal up to 1000 skilled machinery operators will be needed for the spring and summer.
Many will need to be brought into NZ, Rural Contractors president David Kean said. . .
Pork producers are calling on the Government to urgently review its policies on skilled migrant workers as severe staff shortages hit.
Pig farmers rely on experienced workers from overseas to meet a shortfall in staff with the necessary skills required to work with the country’s herd.
However, they are concerned skilled migrants already working on farms might not have their visas renewed or existing workers trying to return from overseas will be blocked, leaving many farmers with significant staffing shortages.
“The sector’s strong preference would be to have a pool of available skilled and unskilled New Zealand workers,” New Zealand Pork chief executive David Baines said. . .
In common with a record 70 families set to receive their Century Farm awards in Lawrence last month, the Mackies, of South Otago, were unable to share their story when Covid-19 intervened. Here they take the opportunity to do so, looking back over the Copland and Mackie families’ 100 years of farming the same land, with reporter Richard Davison.
Given the ups and downs of farming, it’s no mean feat to stay put on the same land for a century and more.
Every year, though, the Century Farms event in Lawrence marks a swag of families from across New Zealand achieving just that, and last month a record 70 families were due to pick up 100- and 150-year awards.
We all know what happened next, but many of those families’ stories still deserve to be told, helping paint a picture of the gambles, innovations, hard work and lighter-hearted moments of New Zealand farming down the years. . .
Down south, looking more like the North Pole in some places!
Stunning stills coming in from our Area Managers, out and about visiting growers across the region.
The quality of water entering lakes, rivers and streams from farms in the Upper Clutha catchment is improving due to the thousands of natives planted around waterways on those farms. One of the nurseries supplying the plants is Wanaka’s Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust nursery. Kerrie Waterworth reports.
Nestled in the shelter of an extensive QE11 convenanted kanuka forest beside Lake Wanaka, the Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust nursery is at the end of an easy walk through the QEII Covenant Kanuka forest beside Lake Wanaka.
On the Tuesday afternoon I visited, it was one of the two nursery volunteer afternoons held each week during winter, and only the second since the nursery reopened following the Covid-19 lockdown/restriction periods. . .
A petition has been launched calling for the Government to ease temporary work visa conditions for international winery workers impacted by Covid-19.
The petition, started by Cait Guyette, is calling for the Government to allow grape harvest workers already in New Zealand to stay until vintage 2021.
Guyette, who is from the United States but had a permanent job at a winery in Marlborough, said she felt disheartened there had been no leniency to allow harvest workers to continue working in New Zealand’s wine industry. . .
It’s the vast embodiment of outback beauty and heartbreak — a sweeping western NSW cattle station that is, by turns, arid no-man’s land and lush waterbird haven, home to ancient Indigenous artefacts, the ghostly trail of Burke and Wills and now the nation’s newest national park.
“It can be very good and then it can be vile,” said Bill O’Connor, 84, owner of Narriearra station, which has just become the largest block of private land bought for a national park in the state’s history.
With nearby Sturt National Park, Narriearra will create a conservation area of close to half a million hectares, or twice the size of the Australian Capital Territory.
The 153,415-hectare station sits in the north-west corner of the state, with the dog-proof fence of the NSW-Queensland border forming its northern boundary. . .
The country’s pork producers say relaxation of the COVID-19 lockdown rules might still not be enough to prevent an animal welfare crisis on the country’s pig farms.
They say pig farming is geared almost entirely to domestic consumption, depends on weekly throughput with no spare capacity, and unlike red meat has no established export market to take up the slack.
With the forced closure of restaurants and independent butchers, they are hurting, says NZ Pork chief executive David Baines. . .
Tight feed supplies and the ongoing drought has pushed up calls to the Rural Support Trust’s national helpline as more farmers seek help.
The trust’s national chairperson, Neil Bateup, said there had been a 40 per cent increase in calls since the dry weather started to grip the country in February.
He said traditionally the trust records around 35 calls at this time of the year but it was now up to 50.
“Difficulties around the drought, particularly low feed supply, would be the main reasons for the increase but we’ve got all of the other issues around financial planning, wellness, unemployment, relationships that are still coming in too.” . .
Tulip exporter Rudi Verplancke says it was a relief to watch a truck leave his plant in Southland with the hope to fulfil export orders.
The bulb growers have had 150 million bulbs sitting in storage, collectively worth $32 million, that are destined for lucrative northern hemisphere markets.
Triflor operations manager Rudi Verplancke said it was “a very big relief” to see an order leave the company’s plant near Edendale on Thursday morning but it was still a grey area regarding final permission to export. . .
Keeping food on the table is trickier under COVID-19 physical distancing conditions, but Hawke’s Bay’s food producers are focused on the task.
Hastings’ primary industry starred in national media this week, with a call for more workers. The need to keep everyone safe through physical distancing, from pickers in the field to the staff in pack houses and processing factories, means more people are needed across a whole range of steps in the food production process.
Hastings mayor Sandra Hazlehurst is focused on ensuring people who may have lost their normal employment because of the virus are aware of other opportunities available.
“Our economy is our fertile land and what we harvest from it. To keep our economy moving, we must support our primary producers and keep our people in jobs.” . . .
Silver Fern Farms Co-operative has reported a net profit after tax of $34.9m for the 2019 financial year. Its investment, Silver Fern Farms Limited, reported a net profit after tax of $70.7m for the 2019 financial year.
Silver Fern Farms Co-operative Chairman Richard Young said the financial result achieved by the Co-operative and Silver Fern Farms Limited for the 2019 year provides stability for both the Co-operative and the operating company.
“The Co-operative is in a strong position with no debt. Whilst this was achieved last year, we now have a strong platform to weather a period where our country and the world is in a period of considerable economic uncertainty.” . .
NZ Avocado have teamed up with dinner party pop-up professionals, Kitchen Takeover, to uniteseparated friends and family around virtual dining tables during lockdown.
NZ Avocado and Kitchen Takeover want to help Kiwis connect with each other through food whilst they are apart, by providing the tools needed to host a virtual dinner parties at home.
#Avopartyanyway is a virtual dinner experience designed to be as heart-warming and fun as before lockdown began. Participants invite their friends, set up a video call, and get inspired by easy to follow, fun and healthy recipes. . .
. .. If the objective is to stop the spread of COVID-19, then the test should be whether something can be done safely, not whether it is essential. Moving to a test of safety rather than necessity would be a much better way of fighting the virus while salvaging businesses.
‘Essential’ Compromises ‘Safety’
The Government rightly says it is essential to have food available. Once food is available in an area, no other activity is permissible. But making people travel further to visit a smaller number of bigger and busier stores undermines our goal of reducing the spread of the virus. Supermarkets have remained open because they are essential but they have only undertaken safety mechanisms more recently. Under a safety approach, only food stores with safe processes would be allowed to open, but all stores with such processes would equally be able to open. . .
It would be just as safe for butchers and greengrocers to be open, following best practice of allowing one customer in, one out and keeping everyone two metres apart, as it is for supermarkets, perhaps even safer if it meant fewer people in supermarkets.
The bakery supplies about a third of the South’s bread. The plant closure will cause shortages and panic buying. Again, providing the stores have practices which keep their staff and customers safe, they should be able to stay open and lower the pressure on supermarkets.
Instead of the objective test ‘can this be done in a way that is safe’ we are facing a subjective test ‘does the Government think you need this.’ This level of government power is not sustainable.
Breakdown Of The Rule of Law
Subjectivity leads to absurdities and a breakdown of the rule of law. The Government has decided that eating halal meat is a goal important enough to justify opening some butcheries. Driving to the beach for a walk or a picnic is not. Which one is safer? . . .
Halal meat can be bought from supermarkets and a halal butchery isn’t any more or less safe than any other butcheries. It’s the safety practices they follow to protect staff and customers safe that matter, not religious practices.
The Government’s decision to exclude independent butchers from the essential business list during the COVID-19 lockdown will cause an animal welfare crisis in the New Zealand pork sector, says an industry group.
All independent butchers across the country have been classified as non-essential businesses and been forced to close as part of the Alert Level 4 lock-down for COVID-19.
However NZ Pork said the decision would likely result in the sector having no place to house up to 5,000 surplus pigs on farms every week.
“By not being able to sell fresh carcass pigs to the independent butchers and other segments, we will be faced with a significant animal welfare issue,” said chief executive of NZ Pork David Baines . .
Back to Act:
Trust The People
Underpinning the ‘essential’ approach is a belief that people can’t be trusted to judge what is safe. (Can I do this without coming within two metres of others?, without touching things other may have touched?).
Safety Approach: Essential For The Recovery
We are going to have to recover as an economy. Free Press is approached daily by businesspeople in a state of despair. Their working capital may or may not last the first four weeks, it certainly won’t last further. Being able to operate under a safety approach is, to borrow a term, essential. Essential to what? Essential to people protecting their livelihoods in the coming months. . .
The more businesses that continue operating, the more people who are able to keep working, the less the economic and social damage the lockdown will inflict and the faster the recovery will be.
What Would A Safety Approach Look Like?
A safety approach would involve a basic set of rules that people must follow. A two metre rule (Free Press regrets this would exclude televised dance competitions). Can you do this whilst remaining two metres from others? Yes or no? A ‘touched object’ rule. Can you do this without touching objects others outside your household have touched? Yes or no? A regular testing approach. Can we guarantee regular testing and contact tracing is possible? Yes or no? Obviously there is more to do, but we need to start developing a safety approach rather than an essential approach, pronto.
The only justification for the lockdown is to keep us all safe.
Whether or not a business can operate safely should be the only criteria for allowing it to do so through the lockdown.
That won’t compromise personal health and will help economic and social health.
New Zealand’s pork industry would be “decimated” if African swine fever (ASF) was to hit the country, New Zealand Pork chairman Eric Roy says.
Since China reported the first case of ASF just over a year ago, it has culled more than 131million pigs, or around 40% of the previous pig herd.
Some private sector estimates suggested the culling might have even been larger than official estimates, BNZ’s latest Rural Wrap said.
NZ Pork was concerned the disease was spreading “quite rapidly” and was now in Timor-Leste, or East Timor, as it continued to move south from China. It has been confirmed in the Philippines and South Korea. . .
But make no mistake, the percentage of Kiwis who are vegetarian or vegan remains at 3 percent. Yes, 97 percent of us are still into our meat and so we should be, especially in New Zealand. . .
Two Waikato dairy farmers were elected to DairyNZ’s board last week. Tracy Brown is a new member and Elaine Cook was re-elected at the annual general meeting in Hamilton on October 22.
They are two of five farmer-elected directors and three board-appointed directors who contribute to strategy and priorities on behalf of dairy farmers. DairyNZ now has a board of five women and three men.
Chair Jim van der Poel welcomed the directors and acknowledged their role in “playing a key part in setting the future direction of DairyNZ”. . .
Good to catch up on stock work this afternoon, weigh and drench 18 autumn born beef stock left, nice view from top paddock. Coast in the distance… pic.twitter.com/uOQ0x9oGZf
A strong desire to capture the essence of people and tell their stories won a former West Otago woman the Rural Champion category at the NZI Rural Women NZ Business Awards recently. Alice Scott reports.
Kate Taylor, who now lives in Hawke’s Bay, grew up in the small southern farming district of Dunrobin.
She says entering the Rural Women business awards was a way for her to ”walk the talk” and share her story, as she has for so many years been preaching to the people she interviews.
Mrs Taylor is the youngest of four Rivett girls and grew up on her family’s sheep and beef farm known as The Glen. She attended Blue Mountain College, in Tapanui, and got her first job in Gore, at radio station 4ZG, then did a journalism course at Christchurch Polytechnic . .
An extension to the Brexit deadline is being welcomed by New Zealand lamb exporters, who had been worried about possible disruptions to Christmas trade.
European Union leaders have agreed to extend Brexit until 31 January next year – meaning the UK will not leave as planned on Thursday. The bloc would also allow for a so-called “flextension” – meaning the UK could leave before the deadline if a deal was approved by Parliament.
The UK market is very important for chilled New Zealand lamb exports ahead of Christmas and there had been concerns from industry that the UK’s departure from the European Union during this period could present border delays and increased administrative costs. . . .
An iconic Hawke’s Bay station founded on pioneering spirit and nurtured over 100 years by the same family is now on the market for the first time.
Historic Te Rangi Station, located 50 minutes north of Napier Airport is generating strong interest among farming circles as far afield as the South Island from potential buyers recognising the opportunities a deer fenced station of this scale and summer safe location offers. . .
That is an international major event putting New Zealand’s $750 million commercial pork industry at risk, NZ Pork general manager David Baines said.
“It’s concerning. It isn’t going away. In fact, it’s got bigger,” Baines said.
NZ Pork, the Ministry for Primary Industries and AsureQuality have embarked on a nationwide education campaign to warn people keeping domestic pigs or coming into contact with feral pigs of the risks of the disease.
“The industry is taking the threat of the disease extremely seriously.
“Watching the disease spread through Europe and Asia demonstrates how devastating it could be if it reached NZ,” Baines said.
Though the disease has no effect on human health the only response is to cull infected herds. . .
While there have been no detections of the it in NZ, about 60% of pork consumed in NZ is imported from more than 25 countries including China, Poland and Belgium that are identified as having the fever.
The virus is exceptionally hardy and can survive almost indefinitely in frozen meat.
It can also be carried on clothing, footwear, equipment and vehicles. . .
It’s estimated pigs are kept on at least 5500 properties outside the commercial industry with an unknown number of animals.
“One of the things we’re really emphasising is the importance of not feeding untreated meat scraps to pigs,” Baines said.
“The major risk to our industry is that African swine fever gets into the lifestyle or para-commercial pig population through the feeding of untreated food scraps and from there into our commercial herd.”
In NZ it is illegal to feed meat to pigs unless it has been cooked at 100 degrees, essentially boiled, for one hour.
“This is a key biosecurity measure as African swine fever is a very hardy virus and can survive in pork products that might not have been cooked thoroughly as well as various types of processed pork products.
“It can infect the pigs that eat them.” . .
The pork industry has been calling for an end to imports of pork for years.
Until now that’s looked like a non-tariff barrier to protect the local industry from overseas competitors.
The risk of ASF provides a much stronger case for restricting imports on biosecurity grounds.
An emergency all-agriculture meeting to discuss tighter border controls is being considered after Australian authorities seized imported meat containing foot and mouth disease and African swine fever.
“There’s some pretty sinister things coming in (to Australia) and with New Zealand tourism following similar patterns this is a real wake up call for the industry and needs to be treated with the utmost seriousness by our own border agencies,” NZ Pork chairman Eric Roy said.
“The discovery of FMD in the latest samples of products found in Australia should be of particular concern for anyone in the livestock sector. . .
The area of land devoted to agricultural production fell by almost a million hectares or 7% in the decade to 2012 and will fall further as new Government policies encourage forest planting.
According to the Ministry for the Environment report, Our Land – Land Use Statistics 2018, most of that decline was caused by tenure review of South Island pastoral leases, subdivision and lifestyle blocks.
But between 1996 and 2012 the main shift in land cover was from exotic grassland and shrubland to exotic forest followed by a 10% increase in New Zealand’s urban area, which reached 230,000ha.
Driven by the population growing from 3.7 million to 4.4m, urban areas in Auckland grew by 4200ha, Waikato 4000ha and Canterbury 3800ha. . .
So I was driving 400 sheep down the road today!! And they found the only drive/garden without a gate 😂 well there grass has plenty of muck on it now! Should grow a bit more 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/yh5Qu7DCGf
John O’Carroll worked on his farm until his early 90s, and even then he’d never say he had retired.
O’Carroll was not only one of the best known stockmen in North Canterbury, he was one of the last surviving World War II veterans in the district and put in years of community volunteer work.
The view from the top of Ward Pass is sublime. To the north lie the rolling downs surrounding the Molesworth Station homestead, backed by the drama of the Inland Kaikoura Range. This culminates in the summit of 2885-metre Mount Tapuaenuku.
To the south, the Acheron River stretches into the distance hemmed by arid scree-capped peaks and golden tussock flats. The Acheron Road winds its way across the flats, and far away, the slow crawling dot of a 4WD moves up the gravel road, dwarfed by the landscape that surrounds it.
This landscape belongs to 180,000 hectare Molesworth Station, New Zealand’s largest farm, leased and farmed by Landcorp and managed by the Department of Conservation on behalf of the Crown. It belongs to all New Zealanders and its fate is up for grabs. . .
Happy to see this little hero sucking this morning, born a wee bit early and knuckled on front legs but got the idea once I woke him up this morning after being born outside yesterday. pic.twitter.com/9lW3yDCSu4
In spite of the fast approaching deadline of 29th March, when the UK is due to leave the EU, not to mention the latest shipment date able to meet that deadline, there may be no need to get too concerned. There is a huge amount of media-inspired speculation about the potentially dire consequences of Prime Minister May’s inability to achieve an improvement of the exit terms leading to a No Deal Brexit, but word from Britain suggests this is highly unlikely. After all, both the EU and the British Parliament have specifically ruled out leaving without a deal.
The most likely short term outcome will be an extension of current membership terms under Article 50 which would give time for legislation to be passed either in the improbable event May succeeds in obtaining a new deal acceptable to her own parliament or further negotiation is required to reach a final agreement. . .
Dairy farmers should be pleased with the advice liberally and freely tendered to Fonterra in the wake of the co-op’s board deciding to halt its international search for a new CEO and instead, with an interim CEO, Miles Hurrell, “pause and assess the way ahead”.
Fran O’Sullivan, Head of Business at NZME, which publishes the NZ Herald, says appointing an interim chief executive to run New Zealand’s largest company is an admission of failure that should force Fonterra’s board to look hard at its own performance. And she concludes: . .
LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Does New Zealand’s government understand the opportunity which Brexit presents? Are they and their advisers working tirelessly to realise it?
OK, difficult questions, not least because there are no binding decisions on the shape or timing of Brexit and these are likely to come in a final rush. But the underlying position is so positive that it would be a tremendous shame if New Zealand’s policy was not being shaped to take advantage of it.
Given the scorn critics are pouring on Britain’s post-Brexit trade prospects, the UK really needs an eye-catching trade deal to kick in on leaving. It would be a political coup, more than an economic one. The partner which Britain’s politicians think will deliver this reliably and quickly should get the most attention and the best terms. . .
Lambing time has officially started for our flock! I'm so excited! We are in our early 30's, farming sheep in Mid Canterbury and we love it!
The Primary ITO is challenging schools, school leavers and farmers to open the farm, garden, or orchard gate as this year’s “Got a Trade? Got it Made!” week highlights the huge potential in industry training for a primary sector career.
The Primary ITO (industry training organisation) leads the training in New Zealand’s largest export sector. It is taking part in this year’s “Got A Trade? Got It Made!” week to showcase the advantages of tertiary on-the-job education and to connect young New Zealanders to real employers in the primary industries. . .
The New Zealand horticulture industry has welcomed the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) decision allowing the release of a tiny Samurai wasp into New Zealand, if ever there was an incursion of the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB).
BMSB Council Chair Alan Pollard applauded the outcome as a major milestone against one of the greatest threats to New Zealand’s horticultural industry and urban communities.
“The industry greatly appreciates the positive decision and acknowledges the consideration given by the EPA to the significant number of submissions made on the application. . .
Horticulture groups seeking levy renewals have all had votes of confidence from growers to continue the work of the industry good organisations Horticulture New Zealand, TomatoesNZ, Vegetables New Zealand, Process Vegetables New Zealand, and Onions New Zealand.
The individual groups’ levy referendums closed on 13 August and independent vote counting shows resounding support. The levy orders come up for renewal every six years. . .
A new Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme launched today has its sights on growing a sustainable, high value goat milk infant formula industry in New Zealand.
Caprine Innovations NZ (CAPRINZ) is a five-year, $29.65 million PGP programme between the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ) Ltd.
The end goals include improving the health and wellbeing of families, delivering a range of benefits such as growing research and farming capability, and increasing export revenue across the New Zealand dairy goat milk industry to $400 million per annum by 2023. . .
With New Zealand’s annual honey exports currently valued at $300 million and growing, a new web-based honey blending tool is set to save honey distributors significant amounts of time and money.
The Honey Blending Tool, developed by a team of scientists and data analysts at Hill Laboratories, allows honey distributors with large inventories to easily blend individual honeys to form a target blend to meet specific sales and export criteria.
New Zealand produces around 15,000 – 20,000 tonnes of honey each year. Most honey bought from a supermarket is blended honey. . .
NZ Pork has appointed former Southland MP Eric Roy as Chair of a new board of directors, as the industry-good body positions itself to face key challenges for New Zealand’s commercial pig farming industry.
Mr Roy, who has spent many decades working in the rural sector, was a six-term MP for the Awarua and Invercargill seats. During his time in Parliament, Mr Roy was a select committee chair of the Primary Production Select Committee, chairing the rewrite of New Zealand’s fisheries laws in what was a world first in sustainable management. . .
Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) Board has decided to proceed with the proposed increase in the sheepmeat and beef levies following significant support from farmers.
From 1 October 2018 the levy for sheepmeat will increase 10 cents to 70 cents per head and the beef levy by 80 cents to $5.20 per head. This is 0.4 per cent of the average slaughter value for prime steer/heifer, 0.7 per cent cull dairy cow, 0.7 per cent of lamb, and 1.1 per cent of mutton over the last three years. . .
Marlborough’s Greg Lane was crowned the 2018 Tonnellerie de Mercurey New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year in Auckland last night.
Lane, who is the brand winemaker for Grove Mill fought off some tough competition from three other young winemakers, representing both the North and South Island.
Runner up was Kelly Stuart, Assistant Winemaker for Cloudy Bay based in Marlborough.
Into its fourth year, the competition aims to promote the skills of the next generation of winemakers emerging in New Zealand. The four contestants had already battled it out in either the North or South Island regional finals, prior to taking part in yesterday’s final. . .
To some, being a farmer’s wife or partner sounds an idyllic lifestyle. A beautiful farmhouse to live in complete with Aga, rolling landscapes to admire and cute animals to nurture.
In today’s world women are at the forefront of managing farm enterprises and are sometimes doing so singlehandily.
The reality is a farmer’s other half needs to be patient, know the “lingo” and be the queen of multitasking. . .
(BusinessDesk) – New Zealand sheep farmers, whose fortunes in recent years have been overshadowed by their dairy farmer colleagues, are having a strong season with lamb prices approaching record levels, according to AgriHQ’s Monthly Sheep & Beef report for June.
“This season continues to move from strength-to-strength for sheep farmers, mainly due to the incredible heights slaughter prices are reaching,” AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick said in his report. “Winter contracts within the North Island and lower supplies in the South Island have pulled lamb slaughter prices up by 30 cents/kg in both regions.” . .
Before the Government decides whether Farm Environment Plans (FEPs) should be voluntary or compulsory we in the Rural Advocacy Network suggest a look at recent experience around New Zealand and overseas.
The voluntary farm plan approach is focused on actions to achieve outcomes. It has been very successful in regions like Taranaki where over two-thirds of hill country now has farm plans.
The key to the success of the voluntary model is trusted advisers working in partnership with landowners. Farm plans are tailor-made recognising that every farm is different and that people learn in different ways. The advisers have a wide range of practical knowledge covering all aspects of environmental management – biodiversity, wetlands, water quality, pests, erosion and sediment loss. It is a whole-farm approach. . .
Central Canterbury arable farmers Syd and Chris Worsfold and their son Earl grow cereals in half their farm and are welcoming a $100 a tonne lift in wheat prices this season.
Syd Worsfold, named Federated Farmers’ arable farmer of the year after 30 years of industry involvement, said the increase was a return to more competitive pricing, after two years of poor returns.
Milling wheat contracts for the 2019 harvest were $420 to $450 a tonne, depending on the grade and variety sown, while feed grains were $380 to $400 a tonne. . .
Market demand is slow and pig meat prices have taken a dive in recent weeks as pork producers seriously question their future.
Pig meat prices dropped 10 cents a kilogram in June with cost pressure really coming on from imported pig products, New Zealand Pork farmer spokesman Ian Carter said.
“Imports are coming in really cheap and compromising domestic prices.
“This is where Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) is very important to us,” Carter said.
Misleading domestic food industry advertising is also a concern. . .
Half a million litres of Pahiatua groundwater (about the same as 18 milk tanker loads) will be saved every day thanks to the development and installation of a ground-breaking reclaimed water system at the local Fonterra site.
The site team came up with an innovative way to reuse water from condensation that’s produced during the milk powder manufacturing process.
Robert Spurway, Fonterra’s COO Global Operations, says the water-saving initiative is a testament to the Pahiatua team’s innovative and can-do approach to sustainability. . .
18 tankers can hold half a million litres of water: enough to run 1700 NZ households a day! And thanks to some good old Kiwi ingenuity, that's the amount of groundwater we're saving daily in Pahiatua. https://t.co/TjGjtgxWmipic.twitter.com/dK6PdA0C7N
Synlait has confirmed its new nutritional manufacturing site in Pokeno, Waikato, will be commissioned for the 2019 / 2020 season.
The functionality of Synlait’s first nutritional spray dryer at Pokeno has also been expanded as a result of forecast customer demand.
The nutritional spray dryer will be capable of producing a full suite of nutritional, formulated powders (including infant-grade skim milk, whole milk and infant formula base powders) and the capacity has increased to 45,000 metric tonnes (MT) from an initial 40,000 MT. . .
Presented by Miss Conception films, who focus on female-led stories, this fresh dispatch from the heartland introduces two legendary shearers – and three in the making – as they head for black-shirt glory at the Golden Shears.
When a Kiwi girl sets her heart on becoming a shearer there’s not a lot that’s going to stop her, as the five women profiled in this lively doco happily testify. Central Otago’s Pagan Karauria admits it was tough getting a gig at the start, but with her champion dad staunchly behind her, she’s made the shearing shed the focus of her career, not just as a competitive shearer, but as an ace wool sorter and mentor to other young women. Catherine Mullooly, from the King Country, packs her skills for some enterprising OE. With whānau solidly backing them, each of these women strive, more than anything, to better themselves. . .
The 73-year-old Taieri dairy farmer has spent his entire life on the Momona property originally acquired by his grandparents in 1916.
Tonight, the Thorntons will be among 36 families recognised at the New Zealand Century Farm and Station Awards in Lawrence for achieving 100 or more years farming their land.
Originally from Wigan, in Lancashire, England, Thomas Thornton brought his large family to New Zealand in the late 1800s. . .
Maniototo farmer, Landcare Research board member and former National Party politician Gavan Herlihy was recently elected deputy chairman of the Rural Support National Council, a new national body representing 14 regional support trusts. Mr Herlihy has had a lifetime on the land and says the rural support trusts are a lifeline for many farmers “when the chips are down”. He spoke to Kerrie Waterworth.
Q When were rural support services set up and why?
The first one was set up in North Otago in the 1980s following successive crippling droughts. That period also coincided with the aftermath of Rogernomics that had major consequences for farming at that time. After a series of major droughts in Central Otago in the 1990s the trust boundaries were expanded to take in the whole of the Otago region. . .
An ambitious plan by China to reboot the ancient Silk Road trading routes could deliver significant benefits to Silver Fern Farms, the company’s chief executive says.
China earlier this month unveiled the latest details of its Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013, which will result in billions — and eventually trillions — of dollars being pumped into a new network of motorways, railways, ports and other infrastructure linking Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. . .
(BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s statutory kiwifruit exporter, Zespri, achieved distributable profit for its grower shareholders of $34.8 million in the year to March 31 on a 19 percent increase in turnover of $2.26 billion.
The Tauranga-based business signalled a result roughly three times stronger than is expected in the current financial year, with prospects for an extra interim dividend being paid to growers in August, despite the outlook for total fruit volumes being lower for the season ahead. . .
A rural health road map which sets out top priorities for healthier rural communities is being explored as one avenue to addressing the challenges the modern day farmer faces.
The Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) got together this week in Wellington for their second annual “Rural Fest’, in partnership with Federated Farmers.
For farmers, focus was on increasing pressure related to industry compliance, and the stress from dealing with frequent and intense adverse events. . .
The announcement of additional operating funding for biosecurity is a vital protection for the country’s primary industries, according to New Zealand Pork.
NZ Pork, the statutory board that works on behalf of local pig farmers, says that as one of the world’s leading high-health primary industries, the local pork production sector sees biosecurity as vitally important.
Over $18million of operating funding over four years was included in Budget 2017 to help secure the biosecurity system and protect New Zealand’s borders. . .
“In an industry renowned for seasonal averaging, it is important dairy farmers focus on ensuring all current and new employees have the correct employment agreements, especially with the introduction of new employment laws in April,” says Melissa Vining, Agri Human Resources Consultant with Progressive Consulting, the human resources division of Crowe Horwath.
With Gypsy Day just around the corner, it marks the start of a new season when farms are bought and sold, and new sharemilking contracts signed. . .
Growing xenophobia in New Zealand, as it wrestles with Chinese investment, will be one of the Pacific’s top talking points in 2013, according to a Washington think tank.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies advise observers to keep an eye on the ongoing debate about foreign investment in New Zealand, especially from China.
Under the headline “New Zealand’s comfort with Chinese investment”, the centre has chosen the issue as one of six in the Pacific region particularly worth watching. . .
The New Zealand Large Herds Association (NZLHA) executive committee will not be holding an annual conference this year.
The committee decided to cancel the conference because of the continuing decline in attendance over recent years.
“The last three years have seen a decline in numbers of delegates attending. This has had an impact on how we foresee our conference in the future, for not only the farmer but our sponsors,” association chairman Bryan Beeston said. . .
An article headlined ‘Drought, high feed costs hurt sheep ranchers,’ appeared last Friday in the Northern Colorado Business Report. It makes the problems being experienced currently by New Zealand sheep farmers look comparatively pretty small.
This isn’t meant to denigrate the difficulties here, but it puts things in context. One rancher has cut his 2000 head flock by a third and is losing US$80 on every lamb he sells. According to the article, drought, consolidation of the sheep-packing business, increased feed costs and plummeting lamb prices have created hardship among sheep ranchers across Northern Colorado. The situation has deteriorated so much for ranchers that the federal government is investigating whether meat packers have played a role in the market’s collapse. . .
The Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) is celebrating a second successful year with 14 graduates from its 2012 Escalator agricultural leadership programme.
The 10-month programme aims to create prospective future leaders with the skills and capability to govern and lead agricultural organisations and communities.
Federated Farmers Ruapehu provincial president and 2012 Escalator graduate Lyn Neeson said it gave her more awareness of what she can accomplish for agriculture. . .
Federated Farmers is expanding its highly successful Leadership Development Programme for members and others in primary industries.
Many agricultural sector leaders have been through the Federation’s stage one and two Leadership Courses. These give individuals vital skills to work in teams and understand the technical, emotive, cultural and political aspects of issues.
The level one Getting Your Feet Wet and level two Shining Under the Spotlight courses give participants the techniques and methods to analyse and bring together a compelling case to present their desired outcomes. . .
The annual Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) Crops Expo at its Chertsey site in Mid Canterbury has grown over the years from humble beginnings to become a major event on the agricultural calendar attracting hundreds of grower and industry people.
This year was the second time the event has been held in its expanded format. It’s now an all-day event with agronomy and machinery companies adding their own trials and demonstrations to those of FAR. . .
New Zealand Pork has today released its 2012 annual report, which labels last year a turning point for the industry.
“Although the last financial year has not been without challenges, I believe it has also been something of a watershed for our industry,” NZPork chairman Ian Carter said.
In 2012 the New Zealand Pork Industry Board made a net surplus of $505,165, which included a gain in sale of PIB Breeding Limited of $423,223. . .
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