Meeting face-to-face with vegetable, fruit growers
The Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) team is looking forward to connecting with growers at the upcoming South Island Agricultural Field Days, says HortNZ chief executive Kate Scott.
The New Zealand potato Industry remains a billion dollar plus industry, despite the challenges brought about in 2020.
The total value of the NZ potato industry now sits at $1.16 billion, a 58% growth rate since targets were set in 2013.
Potatoes New Zealand chief executive Chris Claridge says the result shows the immense value of the processing sector.
“55% of our locally grown potatoes produce fries and another 12% produce crisps. A strong domestic market for NZ processed potatoes underpins our industry and maintains our growers’ resilience,” Claridge says.
He says the findings from the report into European dumping released by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in May 2021 are disappointing for growers and the Potatoes NZ board.
MBIE found the confirmed dumping of imported potato fries into the New Zealand market were not of material threat to the local industry, which Claridge says signals to New Zealand importers and European exporters that the New Zealand government is leaving the gate open.
“The obvious risk here is a real material threat to our domestic potato processing market and our growers,” he says.
Recent rain has offered respite for some from the ongoing drought.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.