Best practices for optimal pasture application
Good effluent management on a dairy farm combines a well-designed system with proper processes to ensure the right amount of effluent gets applied to pasture at the right time.
DairyNZ says its focus on farm profit last year is paying dividends.
Chief executive Tim Mackle says over 2000 regional discussions groups with case study farms were held during 2014-15.
He says the exercise achieved an average gain of $90,000 after implementing action plans; an increase of 50% over the previous year.
This year DairyNZ will spend $17 million on farm profit activities, 2% more than last year.
Mackle says the activities include field days to help farmers weather the low milk payouts.
Other top spends this year will be R&D ($18m), biosecurity and product integrity ($17m), environmental stewardship ($13m) and people ($8m).
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…