Editorial: Time for a reset
OPINION: The Government's recent announcement that methane targets will be reviewed is bringing relief to farmers.
For Kiwifruit growers globally, climate change is the number one issue.
That's the view of Colin Bond, chief executive of NZKGI - which represents all of NZ's kiwifruit growers' interests.
He has recently returned from Chile, having attended the annual international conference of kiwifruit growers from most of the world's major kiwifruit growing countries.
Bond told Hort News that while climate change has always been a concern for growers, in the past, labour and costs have been rated ahead of it.
"But at this conference, climate change was seen as the biggest challenge the global industry is facing and is now top of the list."
Bond says every kiwifruit growing region around the world has experienced extreme weather events in the last growing season. He says for NZ it was Cyclone Gabrielle and for other it was extreme heat waves or flooding.
"Growers around the globe are all starting to see the impacts of climate change," he explain.
"The differences may be in Greece where they are starting to expand more, and the Chileans are saying that every ten years, they are moving to locations 100km south, to areas that are cooler and where there is more access to water."
Bond says NZ is not at the point of moving crops to colder regions and the Bay of Plenty will remain the hub of the sector.
However, he adds that SunGold 3 can be grown in a lot of regions around NZ.
With the last two warmer winters in the Bay, some people are looking to the Waikato and Tasman regions, which are colder.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
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