Global customers to fund new incentives for Fonterra farmers
Fonterra has announced new financial incentives for farmers who achieve on-farm emissions targets.
The biggest number of entries on the first day have been received for the 2013 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards.
National convenor Chris Keeping says 33 entries were received online at www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz yesterday – the first day people could enter the New Zealand Sharemilker/Equity Farmer of the Year, New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year and New Zealand Dairy Trainee of the Year competitions.
"We are pretty happy with that and it's 10 more than entered on the first day last year," she says.
"The first entrant was a dairy trainee from the Hawke's Bay Wairarapa region who must have entered before milking as the entry was up very early in the morning."
Keeping says the Auckland Hauraki region held its first launch event in Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains last night and that had resulted in seven entrants.
Most regions are holding launch events for people interested in entering the awards this month, details of which are on the website www.dairyindustryawards.co.nz.
The Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors Westpac, DairyNZ, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda Motorcycles NZ, LIC, Meridian Energy, Ravensdown and RD1, along with industry partner AgITO.
More than 500 people are expected to enter the 2013 awards before entries close on December 20.
Commodity prices and interest rates play a huge role in shaping farmer confidence, but these factors are beyond their control, says Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre.
DairyNZ is supporting a proposed new learning model for apprenticeships and traineeships that would see training, education, and pastoral care delivered together to provide the best chance of success.
Two agritech companies have joined forces to help eliminate manual entry and save farmer time.
The recent squabble between the Cook Islands and NZ over their deal with China has added a new element of tension in the relationship between China and NZ.
The world is now amid potentially one of the most disruptive periods in world trade for a very long time.
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