Help available for flood-hit farmers
The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.
It's time to give complying raw milk suppliers a break by easing the regulations on distribution, says a supplier.
Richard Houston, managing director of Takaka-based Village Milk, otherwise welcomes MPI's crackdown on unlicensed raw milk suppliers.
Raw milk suppliers can only sell direct to their customers, either at the farm gate – often through automated on-farm vending machines — or by home delivery. It cannot be sold at another location.
“Current legislation’s pretty tight on distribution,” said Houston.
“They consider the milk to be a really high risk but we’ve been running seven years now and we’ve never been faulted.
“We’ve got a really good procedure we follow every day, we test regularly and we’ve got great animals and a beautiful little farm.”
Houston said Village Milk is sold at the farm in reusable glass bottles, which his customers were managing “really well”.
“It would be great to be able to take the milk a bit closer to the people. Not everyone can drive to the farm.”
Houston said raw milk is fantastic as a whole food.
“The legislation’s there. The milk’s safe.”
Can discarded beef skins become premium dog food? Would camel milk work for your morning flat white? These are just two of the questions that will be answered next week at an international conference in Palmerston North.
Meat the Need, New Zealand’s dedicated charity delivering locally sourced protein meals to food-insecure communities, is launching an online National Charity Auction.
The turmoil and challenges faced by the kiwifruit industry in the past 30 years were put to one side but not forgotten at a glitzy night for 400 kiwifruit growers and guests in Mt Maunganui recently.
The Government's passing of new freshwater management laws has been welcomed by farmers, but could cause some councils a headache.
Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Vanessa Winning is stepping down after four years in the role.
Free workshops focused on managing risk in sharefarming get underway this week.
OPINION: The country's dairy farmers will now also have a hand in providing free lunch for schools.
OPINION: The abrupt departure of Synlait chief executive Grant Watson could be a sign that Chinese company Bright Dairy, the…