NZ nears Mycoplasma bovis eradication milestone
A major milestone on New Zealand's unique journey to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis could come before the end of this year.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says the devastation in the South Island from the Kaikoura earthquakes was worse than he initially thought.
After flying over the area he says there is widespread devastation down the coast and inland and an estimated 100,000 landslips. Extrapolating that number of landslips through rural New Zealand, “it is massive”, he says.
He has seen faultlines through farms and cow sheds just “munted”.
“The devastation down there is bigger than I thought it would be. It will take a long period of time to help rebuild these rural communities,” he says.
They have announced a rural support package of $5 million – they know that won’t cover everything that’s needed.
“A real focus will be on those non insurable items on farm, we will fund the Rural Support Trust, we will fund some coordinators,” he says.
“I am very keen to see if we can get agricultural students from Lincoln and Massey and Taratahi over the summer months to work with the adverse events team from Federated Farmers who provide that coordination.
The initial focus was on human welfare, making sure farmers and families were looking after one another and their communities, animal welfare and restoring water supplies.
A brilliant result and great news for growers and regional economies. That's how horticulture sector leaders are describing the news that sector exports for the year ended June 30 will reach $8.4 billion - an increase of 19% on last year and is forecast to hit close to $10 billion in 2029.
Funding is proving crucial for predator control despite a broken model reliant on the goodwill of volunteers.
A major milestone on New Zealand's unique journey to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis could come before the end of this year.
We're working through it, and we'll get to it.
The debate around New Zealand's future in the Paris Agreement is heating up.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.