Farmers will breathe a considerable sigh of relief over news the government has accepted most of the Southland Advisory Group’s winter grazing recommendations, and will now consult on proposed revised rules. “Everyone wants strong protection for our waterways but from the day they came out Feds had said a number of aspects of the Essential […]
Compliance
Family violence response extends to refuge for pets
by Lauren Hale A 2018 Women’s Refuge survey of victims who had experienced animal abuse found that 53% delayed fleeing violent situations out of fear for their pet’s safety. As an answer to this, the charity Pet Refuge has been set up to offer safe shelters for small or large pets – and even offer […]
Fix, don’t smash, the RMA
Federated Farmers is urging the Government not to try and push through a radical reform of the Resource Management Act during the current pandemic. Vice-President Karen Williams led a Federated Farmers team presenting to the Environment Select Committee this afternoon and agreed all is not well with one of our most important pieces of legislation. […]
Co-innovation project advances irrigation practices
By Gina McKenzie A five-year collaborative project involving NIWA and a pilot group of Waimakariri farmers has seen a shift from a “just-in-case” approach to irrigation to a “justified” approach, where landowners use real time data and forecasts to make science-based irrigation decisions. Throughout the NIWA-led Irrigation Insight programme, farmers have been provided with daily […]
Inconvenient complexities around the review of Overseer
E McGruddy, Senior Policy Adviser, FFNZ The Government’s aspiration to deliver demonstrable environmental improvements in short order just hit a road block. Or did it? The Overseer model has been found wanting by an independent panel – unfit for purpose in regulation. It may or may not be resurrected in a more limited domain, more […]
Disease detective joins TB eradication push
When you hear the word epidemiologist these days you probably might think of the experts who are figuring out how to tackle COVID-19. But the brief is wider than humans. Essentially, epidemiology is the study of disease outbreaks and plays a big part in identifying the source of an outbreak, as well as monitoring and […]
Feds backs the butcher, the baker, and the greengrocer – again
Federated Farmers says the government needs to reconsider and let small business fresh food sellers stay open under level 4. Last year Federated Farmers national president Andrew Hoggard was vocal about Feds’ position. “We pleaded for common sense to prevail, we have had over one year to sort this out – yet it is not.” New […]
Safety project tackles sprains and strains on dairy farms
A three-year DairyNZ and ACC project is underway to identify ways to reduce the occurrence of sprains and strains on-farm. DairyNZ Senior Scientist Callum Eastwood said for this particular project, the focus is on engineering solutions and farm system changes rather than behaviour change. Farm system changes might include practices such as once-a-day or flexible […]
Feds: Be targeted, not revolutionary, about RMA change
Federated Farmers has called for “extreme caution” in repealing or re-writing the Resource Management Act. Targeted and focused change, rather than wholesale replacement, would provide the ability to make changes to address problems with the RMA whilst minimising the disruption to 30 years’ of case law, to councils, resource users and communities, Feds said a […]
Extra compliance burden on small water suppliers unfair
Hawke’s Bay-based Federated Farmers Senior Policy Advisor Rhea Dasent has written this open letter to her local MP: Dear Anna Lorck, MP for Tukituki. I am writing to implore you to vote for an amendment to the Water Services Bill to exempt small water suppliers like my father from an unnecessary and unfair regulatory burden. […]