We are now at day 106 after the 2021 Canterbury floods, and even though his own farm was ravaged by floodwater in the May 30th floods, Federated Farmers board member Chris Allen still managed to document the journey via a series of short videos. We have put them all together in a short video that […]
Adverse Events
A shepherd’s warning
Pink sky in the morning is a shepherds warning, but today I’d like to give a little warning of my own. This time last year in New Zealand we had five deaths on farm. That’s five families that are absolutely heartbroken this year as they are forced to relive the tragic events that struck their […]
Applications open 9 July for $4 million Canterbury flood recovery fund
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is encouraging all farmers and growers affected by flooding in Canterbury to apply for support from a new $4 million fund. Applications will open this week for the expanded Canterbury Flood Recovery Fund, which was set up to support the region’s recovery from a one in 200-year rainfall event. […]
Gisborne maintenance cutbacks will ramp up fire risk
By Debbie Bidlake, Federated Farmers senior policy advisor The east coast has a lot of forestry and scrub. Both are highly flammable. Fire Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) doesn’t talk about if there will be a big fire in Gisborne, they talk about when – and their inability to control that fire once it takes off. […]
Future drought could drain primary sector profit
New research by the Deep South Challenge and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, with the support of Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, finds a strong relationship between more intense future drought and drops in farm profit. In the year 2100, our 10-year-old children will be 90 years old. Their children – our grandchildren – […]
Imagine if we could store ALL that water
We cannot control the weather, but we can make the most of it and catch it while we can. The recent holiday deluge of rain in the south saw two very different reactions. There was despair from the holiday makers trying to take a break from the year we’d had, right through to joy and […]
Summer fire prevention campaign aims to reduce risk
Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s new ‘check it’s alright’ website allows anyone about to light a fire to check to see if the conditions are right and if they’ve taken the right actions to reduce fire risk. Check out the website here: https://www.checkitsalright.nz/ . It features a quick 3-step ‘Can I Light A Fire?’ tool […]
Resilient Kiwi spirit kept agriculture strong through pandemic
Kiwi ingenuity and a drive to “make it work” have been pivotal in New Zealand’s agriculture sector getting through the COVID-19 pandemic with relatively little impact, according to a new study by AgResearch and its partners. Farmers and others working in the agriculture and food systems in New Zealand and Australia were surveyed or interviewed […]
Farmers walking the talk on climate change
OPINION: With the government declaring a climate emergency, it’s timely to recap what actions farmers are taking to further reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. I say ‘further reduce’ deliberately. We’re already ahead of many other dairy and meat producing nations on the greenhouse gas front. While the global average for emissions from milk production, processing, and transport […]
Be prepared – tips to get your home fire safe for summer
As summer approaches, Fire and Emergency wants people living with a risk of wildfire to act now and protect their homes from the wildfire hazard. This includes people living in rural communities, on lifestyle blocks and near town boundaries or large areas of scrub and bush. Fire and Emergency Wildfire Specialist Graeme Still says identifying […]