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Primary Industry Minister Nathan Guy has paid a glowing tribute to outgoing DairyNZ chairman John Luxton.
Luxton is stepping down from the DairyNZ board after serving as chairman for eight years.
Addressing the industry-good organisation's annual meeting in Morrinsville today, Guy thanked Luxton for uniting the industry.
"It hasn't been an easy job at times; to make farmers realise they have to make changes to farming practices," he says.
He says under Luxton's leadership, DairyNZ has taken a lead role in improving the industry's environmental credentials.
Luxton also served as a National MP for 15 years, including nine years as a Cabinet Minister and a stint as Minister for Agriculture.
Guy says the relationship between DairyNZ and Government has been great under Luxton's leadership.
It is also important for DairyNZ to have good relationships with other primary sectors, he says.
Luxton is soon jetting off to see the Rugby World Cup in the UK.
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The dairy industry cannot rest on its laurels despite providing one in every four export dollars earned by the country, says DairyNZ chief executive Campbell Parker.
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”.
