New Dairy Research Unlocks Better Fertility and Herd Performance in NZ
New research is helping farmers better understand and manage fertility, with clearer tools and measures to support more robust, productive herds.
DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel says the latest SOPI report shows that NZ still relies on the agricultural sector for its wealth.
Speaking to Dairy News just after the launch of the report at Fieldays, he pointed out the significance of the fact that more than 80% of NZ's export earnings come from the ag sector. He says, despite the challenges in front of the sector, its contribution continues to grow and be the major contributor to our export earnings.
Van der Poel says its dairy exports that make it possible for Kiwis to buy cars and medicines and all the items that people take for granted. He says if it wasn't for the dairy industry the country would be a very different place.
"People don't connect the dots and realise this," he says.
He says the numbers in the report don't surprise him and says this illustrates just how resilient farmers are, despite the challenges outlined in the SOPI report.
"We have to take the challenges head on and try to work through them. We have confronted these all before and we will continue to find ways through them," he says.
New research suggests sheep and beef farmers could improve both profitability and emissions efficiency by increasing lamb weaning weights, with only marginal changes in total greenhouse gas emissions.
With six months until the election, Federated Farmers says the Government is running out of time to deliver its long-promised reform to the country's freshwater system.
Herd improvement company LIC has entered the Indonesian market.
Two forestry companies have been sentenced for road failures that led to the death of Coromandel truck driver Greg Stevens.
The situation in the Middle East has been a major influence on markets over recent months and the market for key farm inputs continues to move at pace, with pricing and availability shifting quickly across several key products, according to a major stockfood seller.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) has signed on to a formal complaint filed with the United Nations requesting an investigation into whether the government's changes to New Zealand's pay equity laws amounts to systemic discrimination against women.
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