The many farmers who are also landlords will want to check whether and how the second phase of changes under the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 will impact them. The first phase of changes took effect from August last year, with the major reform being that rent increases were from then limited to once every […]
Compliance
Distribution partnership will lead to ‘connected cows’
Herd improvement and agri-tech cooperative LIC has formed a distribution partnership with Israeli-based Afimilk to market its hi-tech cow collars in New Zealand, supporting a global trend towards ‘connected cows’. The AfiCollar, worn around the neck, collects data on animal health, wellbeing and fertility. Afimilk is one of the dairy industry’s leading producers of cow […]
Winter grazing recommendations will work for environment, and farmers – Bernadette Hunt
Southland Federated Farmers Vice-President Bernadette Hunt is confident that recommended changes to proposed winter grazing rules put to the government this week will work for the environment as well as farmers. “We believe freshwater outcomes will be improved by the recommendations [the Southland Advisory Group] have made because they are very outcome-focused and backed by […]
Smartening up our act on environmental data
By Chris Allen, Federated Farmers environment spokesperson OPINION: Have we got the smart environmental data we need to inform smart environmental investments? The short answer is no. Federated Farmers has this week published analysis of the Government’s Our Freshwater 2020 (FW2020) report jointly published by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand. It’s […]
Improving the use of farm technology and data for applied farm management
Watermetrics is continually analyzing and improving its collection andpresentation of hard farm data so that effective farm management decisionscan be made. This year we developed Soil Moisture Analytics which is a new addition to theway data is presented. This tool helps present Soil Moisture, Rainfall andWater Meter data in an easy to understand way. For […]
ACC’s cash back offer on quad bike protection
This year over 35 farmers haven’t made it home safe to their whanau because of a work injury caused by a quad bike accident. Seven of these accidents have been fatal. Every year quad bikes are a major cause of death and injury in rural workplaces with many incidents associated with accidental rollovers. ACC is […]
Changes coming to TB testing programme
From 9 February 2021, OSPRI is updating the TB testing programme, placing greater focus on higher risk areas while maintaining nationwide surveillance. The frequency of on-farm testing will change for some farmers based on different levels of risk. It means increasing testing where the risk is higher and testing less often where the risk is low, such as […]
MPI explains M. bovis/bulk tank milk sample approach
By Stuart Anderson, Director of the Mycoplasma bovis Programme A question asked frequently of the Mycoplasma bovis Programme after a detect result from our bulk tank milk screening, is around the sample sizes when on-farm blood testing is carried out. Bulk tank milk samples are taken at the pick-up of milk from each dairy supplier […]
Compelling case for glyphosate use – with care
A year studying glyphosate here and overseas on a Nuffield Scholarship has convinced Mid Canterbury arable farmer Hamish Marr it is a vital tool in agriculture. But it comes with responsibilities, and if farmers and growers are arrogant about its use, they risk losing it through political pressure. Can we farm without glyphosate? Of course […]
Southland’s freshwater picture brought together in one report
Thriving Southland today released a literature review, The Southland Science Report, detailing the water situation in Southland. The Southland Science Report, written by Landpro Ltd, compiles all the science and data that has been publicly released about Southland’s land, soil and water into one report. Thriving Southland Chair and farmer, Ewen Mathieson, says “it’s the […]