Andrew Hoggard with an update on He Waka Eke Noa. “We’ve been pushing for changes that we want to see, that we think make the farm level a better option than what it currently is. But it’s still too early to tell whether we’re going to get this thing in a good enough place that […]
Community
It’s people that we need to value first
By Karen Williams, Federated Farmers Vice-President and workplace health and safety spokesperson Last year we lost at least eight farmers or workers visiting the farm to do a job (figures to September). The year before that 20 people died on the farm, and 15 in 2019. These are not just statistics, this is the end […]
Farmers pitch in after picker plea
By Rebecca Flannery Two years ago, it was a “hail from hell” storm that decimated over 75 percent of the fruit crop. Last year a -4.5C frost destroyed the chance for a decent picking season. This year the threat of the trifecta was looming with a lack of pickers. South Canterbury’s apple harvest was looking […]
High-flying Sydney-sider now ‘living the dream’ in Tapanui
By Simon Edwards A former Sydney homicide detective and Channel 7 TV show producer says she is now living her dream – in Tapanui. Feds head office staff heard Natasha Chadwick’s “high heels to gumboots” story in December at the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators awards evening, where she picked up the […]
Animal agriculture ‘essential to global food system’
Animal foods can form part of a healthy, sustainable and ethical lifestyle, despite increasing claims to the contrary, says Lincoln University Professor of Livestock, Pablo Gregorini. His recent article, Animal source foods in healthy, sustainable and ethical diets – An argument against drastic limitation of livestock in the food system, is sparking discussion worldwide, including […]
Peace of mind a big plus of satellite-linked safety unit
Plenty of farmers know the hassles and stresses of communication in rugged terrain. As the annual Federated Famers Connectivity Survey highlights, cellphone coverage in many rural areas is patchy at best and total blackspots dot many districts. A common workaround is to use radio units but paying to use towers can be a great way […]
Trees in lines cause quarter of all power cuts
Reducing the threat of trees and branches crashing through power poles and lines during storms, as seen recently during ex-tropical cyclone Dovi, is a constant battle for the country’s second largest electricity utility, Powerco. Trees in lines cause 25% of all power cuts – that’s 70,000 customers without power each year because of trees on […]
Plan ahead to defuse panic late at night
A farmer and his mate go out hunting out in the back blocks where there’s no cellphone reception. Time slips away and late in the day they shoot a deer down in a gully. By the time they get it out, it’s dark. Back at the farm’s homestead, the farmer’s wife is fretting. He’s not […]
WorkSafe probing deeper on causes behind ugly statistics
Don’t expect WorkSafe to back off fines and prosecutions for serious failure by employers to ensure practices and equipment are in place to keep workers safe. But there’s a change of culture and direction at the nation’s primary workplace health and safety regulator – and it’s being driven from the top. WorkSafe Chief Executive Phil […]
New strategy to ‘re-design the harm out of farming’
Achieving excellence in health, safety and wellbeing on farm is about much more than “hi-vis and helmets”, Safer Farms Chair Lindy Nelson says. “There’s a complex system of interrelated factors and processes impacting on what happens to our people. So that’s supply chains, government regulations, manufactured stuff….they can’t be separated if we’re to make progress.” […]