Keeping cyber attacks at bay
Fonterra says it takes the ongoing threat of 'adverse cyber action' extremely seriously.
Farmers supplying Fonterra’s Wagga Wagga factory in the NSW Riverina have been offered a new pricing agreement aimed at taking the volatility out of milk income.
After years of farmer lobbying, the processer offered a ‘cap and collar’ option, which will put a floor and a ceiling on the farmgate milk price for three years.
About 20 farmers from Wagga Wagga and Finley districts supply the factory that produces Riverina Fresh products for the east coast market.
Euberta farmers Neil and Simone Jolliffe say they’ve sought this certainty since buying their farm seven years ago.
“When we bought the farm we were on A56 cents/L and the following year we dropped to A36c,” Jolliffe says.
“It’s come at a good time for us. We’re looking to grow the business but we didn’t want to grow it and take a big hit like we did in 2009. Now we’ve got an assurance that for the next three years this will be our price.”
Neil Jolliffe estimates this will mean his milk cheque will only fluctuate by about 4 cents/L over the next three years.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
Buoyed by strong forecasts for milk prices and a renewed demand for dairy assets, the South Island rural real estate market has begun the year with positive momentum, according to Colliers.
The six young cattle breeders participating in the inaugural Holstein Friesian NZ young breeder development programme have completed their first event of the year.
New Zealand feed producers are being encouraged to boost staff training to maintain efficiency and product quality.
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