Editorial: Testing times
OPINION: Our hearts go out to the farmers and rural communities in Southland and Otago who are battling an onslaught of adverse weather.
Horticulture New Zealand says that while it welcomes plans to extend planning permissions for post-cyclone rural recovery work in Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti Gisborne needs to be included in that work.
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) recently consulted on the proposed Hawke’s Bay Rural Recovery Works Order in Council.
This would extend the period during which land users can complete rural recovery works from Cyclone Gabrielle without a resource consent.
Michelle Sands, HortNZ’s general manager strategy and policy, says the Order of Council is very welcome and much-needed in Hawke’s Bay.
However, she says, there are still growers in Tairāwhiti Gisborne who would benefit from having more time to complete works, adding that the region should either be included in the scope of the Order in Council or a new Order should be created.
“This would enable Tairāwhiti’s recovery to be progressed in parallel with Hawke’s Bay,” Sands says. “There are horticultural businesses in the region that still need significant work, including removing silt, contouring silt that will not remain on the property and digging drains.”
“We are concerned, however, that the potential for council cost recovery would impose a financial burden on communities that are already under huge post-cyclone financial pressures,” Sands adds.
While growers have been resilient and made a strong recovery since the cyclone, some recovery works are still yet to be done and Sands says this regulation would make that process easier for people who have already been through a lot.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
The horticulture sector is a big winner from recent free trade deals sealed with the Gulf states, says Associate Agriculture Minister Nicola Grigg.
OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…