Campaign Urges Growers to Plan Ahead on Resistance
Growers and farmers are being encouraged to have an important conversation before the coming season starts: how to prolong the effectiveness of the crop protection tools they rely on.
Anyone in the Te Puke area who is fit to work and wants a job can probably have one tomorrow, says Seeka chief executive Michael Franks.
The coolstore and packhouse operator is still able to recruit and has a hotline set up 0800 SEEKAJOBS
“If you ring them up and you are available to work particularly in Te Puke we will sign you up. You can work tomorrow,” he told Rural News.
Franks says they are well short of labour.
“We have probably got 400-500 RSE workers that aren’t here and they are really experienced people that have been working for us for a long time. Typically they were working nightshift, graveyard or work through the night to get fruit packed.
“So not only are we missing a number of workers, but also experienced people who have been doing the job for 10 years.
“Getting enough skilled workers, or key staff such as quality controllers, EDI (electronic data interchange), pack line or grading supervisors, that’s tough.”
But for all positions “we still need a lot more people”, he says.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Southern Dairy Hub (SDH), which runs a demonstration farm for South Island farmers, has a new general manager.
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
According to a progress report on the Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan (AHAP), New Zealand's horticulture sector is making real progress on the big issues facing growers.

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