increase font size
Bronwyn Muir.
As a dairy farmer I'm looking for a reason at the moment to help me focus on the positive points of farming in Taranaki.
Cashflow is tight and in the immediate future it doesn't look like there is going to be any dramatic improvement on that front.
When I chat with our sheep and beef neighbours the conversation seems to follow a similar theme. Farming profitably and sustainably is proving more and more challenging and Taranaki farmer morale isn't high.
The flipside is we live in a great farming region with many good things going for us that other regions are challenged by.
We are naturally green most of the year and we don't have to turn on machines to make it rain, although it would be handy now and then.
We have high calibre farmer business owners and management and supportive organisations and businesses all striving for the same thing – a successful, sustainable business in this great province.
Taranaki literally is still the land of milk and honey, with a 60% lift in apiculture in the last four years.
Tasty beef, lamb, pork and chicken are also grown here. So why is it if I go shopping for locally grown produce, I struggle to find the Taranaki origin brand on our food.
We are literally transporting our entire raw product out of the province by tanker, truck, container and barrel. Someone else clips the ticket and gets rich off our hard work.
We don't even have abattoir facilities to process local meat to serve up in our fantastic provincial restaurants, but you can get a good rack of Hawkes Bay lamb.
Recently I addressed Food Futures Taranaki 2016 on behalf of Taranaki Federated Farmers and Taranaki primary producers.
Massey University, Food HQ, and Venture Taranaki hosted a well-organised event with some excellent, inspiring speakers. They included Massey University vice-chancellor Steve Maharey, Massey University director of business engagement and establisher of Food HQ Mark Ward and Maori trustee and Te Tumu Paeroa chief executive Jamie Tuuta, research students and farm business owners.
It's a shame more local farmers didn't hear these leaders speak.
Everyone attending the Food Futures event saw the opportunity to work together as a province and look at how we could do Taranaki Food Inc better.
Yes, it needs investment, infrastructure, scale and commitment. As ever, I am an optimist and I know with the right heads around the table it can be done.
• Bronwyn Muir is Federated Farmers Taranaki provincial president.
A rare weather double-whammy has seen many South Island farmers having to deal with unseasonal snow while still cut off from power supplies after an unprecedented windstorm.
OPINION: Recent media commentary from Southland Federated Farmers has raised concerns among our rural communities, particularly around Environment Southland’s approach to winter grazing inspections and nitrogen reporting. But let’s be clear, much of what’s been said simply doesn’t reflect reality.
OPINION: Environment Canterbury's (ECan) decision recently to declare a so-called “nitrate emergency” is laughable.
A shameless political stunt is how Federated Farmers is describing the Canterbury Regional Council decision to declare “a nitrate emergency” on the back of its latest annual groundwater quality survey.
Federated Farmers say Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a 'nitrate emergency' is a shameless political stunt that won't help anyone.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling for nominations for director roles in the Eastern North Island and Southern South Island electoral districts.
Going one better than a frustratingly close second place finish at last year's event, the country's top axeman, Jack Jordan of Taumaranui, last weekend won the Stihl Timbersports World Championship individual event in.
Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show president Brent Chamberlain says a big development for this year is the Wool Zone, first introduced two years ago as a showplace for everything produced from wool, but now greatly enlarged with its own Wool Marquee and more than 30 trade sites.
Salmonellosis is a serious disease in cattle.
Drench resistance is already hitting farm profits; it's not just a future problem.
Applications are open for Horticulture New Zealand's (HortNZ) 2026 scholarship programme, with 20 funding opportunities available.
OPINION: Microplastics are turning up just about everywhere in the global food supply, including in fish, cups of tea, and…
OPINION: At a time when dairy prices are at record highs, no one was expecting the world's second largest dairy…
