Dairy power
OPINION: The good times felt across the dairy sector weren't lost at last week's Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting.
Dairy farmers at Fieldays went searching for information on Mycoplasma bovis.
DairyNZ, in the pavilion, were ready for them with a booklet about the disease.
Dr Nita Harding, DairyNZ’s veterinary technical policy advisor, says DNZ had earlier live-streamed a farmers meeting near Auckland and this is now on Facebook. And a technical person on the site answered questions about M.bovis and biosecurity in general.
“Many farmers have called our 0800 number and used our info@dairynz email address so we got a steady stream of queries. These are answered either by our 0800 person who’s very knowledgeable, or… by the technical people in DairyNZ.”
The questions are a mix of technical and general, much in response to information provided by MPI. Farmers in areas where farms are infected are naturally concerned and ask first, what does this mean for me?
“There is a lot of rumour out there so if we can get the right information out to farmers it helps everyone understand what’s going on. It gives them confidence and removes some of the stigma.
“M.bovis is not a highly infectious disease; you are not going to pick this up by talking to your neighbour.
“It’s the cows, not the farmer, who have the disease and the children coming to school are not going to bring it to school.”
Harding says farmers whose properties are diseased need all possible support from their community.
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
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OPINION: The good times felt across the dairy sector weren't lost at last week's Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting.