Rural Support Trust dinner raises $300,000
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Fonterra has announced a three-year partnership with the Rural Support Trust (RST).
The partnership seeks to support rural New Zealanders by improving access to wellbeing and resilience services for farming families doing it tough.
The partnership’s first priority is to develop a rural-specific national strategy, which is expected to be in place early next year.
Chair of the National Council of RSTs, Neil Bateup says farmers and growers run businesses that are vulnerable to external factors, many of which are out of their control.
“A good example is the extreme weather and flooding experienced across parts of New Zealand recently. Farmers are also feeling increasing pressures due to things like rising on-farm costs, the labour pinch and increasing compliance obligations,” he says.
“We’ve come a long way in the last decade or so, in that there’s more recognition that mind health is just as important as physical wellbeing, but we know there’s still a lot of work to do in this area.”
Richard Allen, group director Farm Source, says the RST has been standing by rural communities for generations and have a history of showing up and helping when times get tough.
“Fonterra has worked successfully with the RST for some time but more action is needed and this new partnership will help strengthen our wellbeing support throughout the country,” Allen says.
“Developing a national, long-term strategy with clear objectives and actions that address mental health and other rural challenges is simply the right thing to do.
“Farming is an animal and produce business, but it’s also very much a human business. It’s right to show up for communities during events and emergencies, but the partnership also recognises an ongoing need for support of, and commitment to, New Zealand communities.”
On the eve of his departure from Federated Farmers board, Richard McIntyre is thanking farmers for their support and words of encouragement during his stint as a farmer advocate.
A project reducing strains and sprains on farm has won the Innovation category in the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2025.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other sector organisations, has launched a national survey to understand better the impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmers.
One of New Zealand's latest and largest agrivoltaics farm Te Herenga o Te Rā is delivering clean renewable energy while preserving the land's agricultural value for sheep grazing under the modules.
Global food company Nestle’s chair Paul Bulcke will step down at its next annual meeting in April 2026.
Brendan Attrill of Caiseal Trust in Taranaki has been announced as the 2025 National Ambassador for Sustainable Farming and Growing and recipient of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy at the National Sustainability Showcase at in Wellington this evening.
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…