A new white paper says there is significant overlap on the continuum of practices between mainstream and regenerative agriculture. Among its conclusions is that there is a pressing need for scientific testing of the limited evidence and anecdotal claims being made by regenerative agriculture practitioners and proponents. Lead author Dr Gwen Grelet, a senior researcher […]
Wool
Plenty for sheep & beef farmers at the East Coast Expo
The 2021 East Coast Farming Expo is a two-day mid-week gathering (February 24-25) for sheep and beef producers with a focus on farming smarter. It’s held annually at the Wairoa A&P Showgrounds and includes exhibits, outdoor demonstrations and seminars. It’s a chance for farmers to talk one-one-one with industry innovators and leaders and has become […]
Feds survey shows farmer confidence has bounced back
Farmer confidence has bounced back to where it was pre-Covid19 but attracting and retaining staff remains a headache, the latest Federated Farmers Farm Confidence Survey shows. Of the nearly 1,100 farmers who completed the Research First survey in the second week of January, a net 5.5% considered current economic conditions to be good. That’s a […]
Waitangi Day – top seven employment tips you need to know
This year, Waitangi Day falls on Saturday 6 February and is observed on that day or Monday 8 February. Here are seven items you need to know about rights for employees and obligations for employers. Mondayisation for Waitangi Day As Waitangi Day falls on a Saturday this year it means that that this holiday is […]
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 […]
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 […]
A Christmas message of thanks from Federated Farmers
Before Federated Farmers farewells 2020, it wants to salute and thank some generally unsung heroes. “We all got used to talking about clusters of infection with Covid-19, but in another sense that word cluster is somewhat apt for the entire year,” Feds President Andrew Hoggard says. “It could have been a lot worse for our […]
Remarkable lambing performance in challenging year
Despite COVID-19 related processing restrictions and a widespread drought in the first half of 2020, sheep and beef farmers achieved a near record 130.3% lambing percentage. This is the finding of the Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Lamb Crop Outlook report for 2020 that measures the lambing performance and forecasts lamb and sheep exports […]
Farmer bank pressure drops but so do satisfaction rates
Fewer farmers are feeling undue pressure from their bank but satisfaction rates continue to slide, according to the Federated Farmers November Banking Survey. Of the 1,341 farmers who responded to the survey independently run by ResearchFirst, 65.4% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their bank relationship. That’s down from 68.5% from the Feds’ […]
Eat Meat, Wear Wool .. JUMP!
Former Federated Farmers staff member and now FMG’er Angela Hogg took her support for Kiwi farmers to the skies this week, jumping out of a plane in Kerikeri with the ‘eat meat, wear wool’ message firmly front and centre for this photo opportunity. Nice work Ange!