FedsNews

FedsNews

Environment

Twelve wilding pines projects to share $2 million

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Twelve community projects across New Zealand will receive a share of $2 million to carry out wilding pine control, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor announced as part of Biosecurity Week. “Wilding pines are a serious problem that threaten many of the unique landscapes that New Zealanders value. Community groups and trusts on the ground can play […]

Research key to improving water quality in Ararira catchment

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Know your catchment before you take action to improve water quality. That’s one of the key findings from a two-year research collaboration between Living Water (a partnership of Fonterra and the Department of Conservation) and the University of Canterbury’s Carex group (Canterbury Waterway Rehabilitation Experiment).  They were working together on the Ararira / LII River […]

Financers starting to ask tough sustainability questions

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The government and consumers of food and fibre products aren’t the only ones asking farmers about environmental and social sustainability.  Increasingly, bankers and financers want to know too. Dean Spicer, ANZ’s Head of Sustainable Finance, told farmers and growers at the Primary Industries NZ Summit that a paradigm shift is underway on the way business […]

Sustainability vision – it’s not just about protecting the environment

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The word ‘sustainability’ seems to crop up in just about every second article on agriculture, usually referencing the environment.  But as Federated Farmers Vice-President Karen Williams said at the Waikato Federated Farmer’s AGM, true sustainability must also encompass social and economic wellbeing. Karen enthusiastically described a future Ag-sector where happy farmers get out of bed […]

SNA laws bad for everyone

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By Don Carson, Forest Owners Association Communications Manager OPINION: The events of 15 and 16 July could not have been more different.  On Friday 15th rural communities throughout New Zealand stood up in protest against the regulatory burdens the government is imposing. The day after the Friday protest, the heavens opened up over central New […]

Farmax adds extra benefit to Ballance Farm Environment Awards

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Farmax is excited to announce they are now a sponsor of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. The Ballance Farm Environment Awards are run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust to recognise innovative and passionate Kiwi farmers who have embedded sustainability into the foundation of their farm businesses. “Farmax is thrilled to be supporting the […]

Mātaitai reserves– implications of customary fishing areas

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By Elisha Young-Ebert, Senior Policy Advisor – North Canterbury Province Federated Farmers occasionally notifies its members when the Ministry of Fisheries has received an application for a Mātaitai reserve on a waterway and invites those who live near the proposed reserve to make a submission. The Federation notifies its members as a service to any […]

At last – a paper that recognises climate and nutrition, with GWP* thrown in too

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By Andrew Hoggard, Federated Farmers President and climate change spokesperson  Very recently a scientific paper was put out looking at the greenhouse gas and nutritional impacts of replacing meat in the average diet. The paper Lifetime Climate Impacts of Diet Transitions, with input from a number of very well respected scientists across a range of fields, found that the emissions […]

Sector confronts ‘Growing Kai under Increasing Dry’

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There’s a helluva lot more we can do with irrigation as we get more and more precise about delivering water in the right spot, in the right amounts, Gavin Forrest says. The Federated Farmers Manager Policy and Advocacy was answering questions put to a panel of primary sector experts at the final Growing Kai Under […]