Open Country opens butter plant
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
The categories have been finalised, the schedules have been sent out, and it's now time for cheese makers across the globe to get their entries in for this key industry competition.
The Global Cheese Awards, which are hosted by the annual Frome Cheese and Agricultural Show, are open to everyone in the cheese industry, from the smallest specialist producers who use unique recipes handed down over generations, right through to large creameries and major manufacturers.
This important dairy industry event will be held this year on September 7 in Somerset, UK where judging will take place and trophies are presented to class winners. Organisers want to see more entries from Australia and New Zealand.
It will build further on the unprecedented success of the 2011 Awards, which saw a spectacular 60% rise in entries, and attracted suppliers, retailers and manufacturers from across the UK and, for the first time, internationally.
The Global Cheese Awards are now firmly established as one of the UK's most significant calendar dates for all those involved in the cheese and dairy industry.
Competition chairman, Nigel Pooley, is keen to build on last year's success and raise the bar even higher in 2012.
"We're totally committed to maintaining the momentum this year" he says. "We are encouraging more retailers to compete for these prestigious awards, and new producers from overseas, too. And we hope that the outstanding range and variety of traditional artisan cheeses, the cornerstone of this great show which is now in its 151st year, will be greater than ever."
If you would like to enter a cheese for The Global Cheese Awards, simply visit www.globalcheeseawards.com and fill in the online form. The deadline for submissions is August 8 2012.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
OPINION: No one messes around with Winston Peters, more so in a general election year.
OPINION: Staying on Federated Farmers, this week's annual general meeting in Auckland is shaping up to be an interesting one.