rss trending-rn

NZ needs to target top end markets

MEAT INDUSTRY Association chairman Bill Falconer says New Zealand’s future does not lie in feeding the masses. Instead, our food sector should target the top end of traditional and emerging markets with value-added products. Our customers should be prepared to pay a premium for the best.

Big holes in biosecurity safety net – report

A MAF committee set up in 2008 specifically to identify emerging biosecurity risks never discussed a virulent strain of Psa devastating kiwifruit vines offshore. And a MAF risk analysis team responsible for monitoring offshore developments was “unaware pollen imports were even taking place”.

Farms step up effluent management

EFFLUENT MANAGEMENT on dairy farms is improving. A national snapshot, to be released in November, will show the 2011-12 season’s significant non-compliance dropping below 10% from 11% in 2010-11 and 16% in 2009-10.

Plough for profit not for fun

FEILDING farm consultant says many farmers feed animals well, but don’t make any money out of it.

Spanish tilt at sullen Western Australia farmland

A CENTURIES-OLD Spanish farming system is being considered by researchers looking to revitalise marginal land in the Western Australian wheatbelt.

Canada’s meat producers score win over US

CANADIAN BEEF and pork producers are celebrating a victory over the US on country-of-origin labelling (COOL).

Ag training faces reboot

QUALIFICATIONS AND training for the myriad components of the ‘agriculture sector’ have multiplied since 1992 when the new national qualifications, including those run by the AgITO, were set up.

Editorial - ETS common sense!

THE GOVERNMENT has acted sensibly and prudently by deferring the agriculture sector’s entry into the controversial Emission Trading Scheme (ETS).

Cooperatives play vital part in NZ

FINANCIAL CO-OPs, unfashionable in Europe until 2007, have since leapt into favour following the global financial crisis, says the general manager of the European Association of Cooperative Banks, Hervé Guider.

Pressure will keep mounting on farming

DAIRY FARMERS have to accept they are the target of a rapidly increasing number of evangelistic environmentalists.

More...

Cropping know-how lifts livestock output

WAIOURU IS a micro climate, exceptionally cold in winter due to high altitude and proximity to Ruapehu. The township exists mainly because of the army base and now museum. Travelers heading north across the Desert Road pause for petrol and pies, have a pee, and sometimes stay longer due to snow.