MPI Opens $3m Greenhouse Gas Research Funding Round
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has announced has opened applications for the 2026/27 funding round of the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research (GHGIR) fund.
The director-general of MPI has praised the dairy industry saying its performance in the past year has been tremendous.
Speaking to Dairy News from the Fieldays, Ray Smith noted the sector produced more milk per cow than it did previously and that was outstanding given that livestock numbers are down.
"Dairy has come through this amazingly well and you will see that growth continuing," he says.
Smith says the past 18 months have been challenging and stressful for everyone involved in the primary sector - both in government agencies and the private sector.
He says Covid has thrown up a whole new set of challenges especially around labour and logistics.
His main observation at Fieldays was that people were happy to get away from their day to day business and there was a good vibe amongst farmers and sector leaders.
"We gave a presentation on our programme - Fit for a Better World - and this was well attended and people came away happy that we as a sector had a plan to lift growth, sustainability and attract more NZers to work in the primary sector. Everyone was positive about the fact that we were working to lift all sectors and not trade anyone down," he says.
Smith says people realised that in these difficult times they were not alone.
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson says his party – NZ First - isn’t opposed to the “trade element” of a free trade deal with India.
The managing director of a company seeking to build a solar farm in Canterbury says receiving fast-track approval is a “really positive outcome”.
Retiring MP and dairy farmer Mark Cameron is blasting the Green Party for proposing to ban the use of synthetic fertiliser and cutting cow numbers.
A huge reduction in ACC claims from on-farm accidents over the last five years is due to thousands of small, practical decisions being made in sheds, yards, paddocks and around kitchen tables across the country, says Safer Farms ambassador Lindy Nelson.
Wayne and Ange Moxham of Horowhenua have just been named as Fonterra's top organic performer for milksolids. As well as providing organic milk to Fonterra, the couple also sell Udderly Organic milk to more than 100 outlets in the region and are embarking on another exciting venture producing organic gelato. Reporter Peter Burke went along to see their farming operation.
Certainty and a clear understanding of the needs of rural communities is a critical outcome in the series of government reforms that are taking place at present.
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