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 […]
National
Positive start to export onion season
The 2021 New Zealand export onion season is off to an early and positive start. ‘Amongst all the turmoil created by Covid and the weather, it’s great to be able to report that exports of New Zealand onions to Indonesia are underway, two months earlier than last year,’ says Onions New Zealand Chief Executive, James […]
The underground army
New Zealand is recognised as the world’s leading pastoral agricultural producer. Pasture-based exports account for almost half of our total exports and given the state of the rest of the world, we are quickly becoming globally recognised as gold standard food producers. Unfortunately, all that productivity puts us in the shit…. tonnes of it. It’s […]
No ordinary day for this shearer
It was an ordinary Thursday for most of us this week, but not for Southland shearer Megan Whitehead. Yesterday Megan spent nine hours tackling the women’s world lamb shearing record near Gore. Former women’s world record holder Jills Angus Burney (and the only woman to have beaten David Fagan) was supporting Megan as her mentor. “Megan achieved the […]
Specialty grains and pulses trialed in Canterbury
By Annabel McAleer, Senior Communications Advisor, Our Land and Water (this article is from the National Science Challenges website). Buckwheat, soybeans and quinoa trials were undertaken in Canterbury last year, comprising three of the six ‘star’ specialty grains and pulses identified by Our Land and Water research as having high potential for New Zealand farmers. […]
Putting the bite on five myths about meat
If one of your New Year resolutions was to do better for your health and the planet by eating less meat, thumbs up to you. Can’t fault the desire to be a more conscious consumer. But before you entirely swap out beef steaks and rack of lamb for eggplant and lentils, you might check out […]
Fonterra responsible dairying award nominations open
Nominations to a national award that flushes out dairy farmers who demonstrate innovation and passion in their approach to sustainable dairying are open until March 20th. 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 […]
Hold on to your wallet – bumpy council rates ride ahead
By Nigel Billings, Federated Farmers Senior Policy Advisory With local authorities due to roll out their Long-Term financial Plans in early 2021, a hard road beckons for rural ratepayers. This isn’t just a Covid-19 thing. Some councils, particularly in tourism centres, took big hits on their revenue in 2020 but new demands on council coffers […]
Dairy notches record milksolid production in tough year
It’s been another record year for New Zealand’s dairy sector, with total milksolids production at a record high. The DairyNZ and Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) statistics show that in the 2019-20 season, New Zealand dairy companies processed 21.1 billion litres of milk containing 1.90 billion kilograms of milksolids (kg MS). This is a 0.6 percent […]
WOMOLife Wins Wool Harvesting Training Contract
Kaiaka Wool Industry Training NZ has awarded the contract for its new $1.8 million pilot training programme to multi-format training provider WOMOLife. Kaiaka will train up to 270 shearers and wool handlers and create 150 new jobs. At least 70% of new employees will be Māori. Kaiaka will also establish two wool harvesting (shearing and […]