AN ORGANICS agreement between the USA and EU is a wake-up call to Government we are missing out on a $US60 billion global industry, says Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (Oanz).

THE UNITED States’ red meat juggernaut is on a roll, setting export records for pork, beef and lamb in volume and value in 2011.

CORPORATE-STYLE farm businesses are no barrier to young farmer career progression and offer a new pathway to the traditional goal of ownership, says the promoter of an innovative dairy investment fund.

Farmers are currently seeing high product prices and, in most cases, high productivity. As a result, profitability is above the long-term average, making this an ideal time to consider how you can maintain this profitability on your farm over the longer term.

You could almost sense the relief among Lincoln University Dairy Farm’s management team at the Focus Day held recently on the showcase 160ha irrigated property.

AS OWNERSHIP of farming businesses becomes more complex and the amount of money involved increases, clear understanding of the long term personal needs of the owners compared to the business's overall equity becomes more critical.

People change behaviours when the rewards are right. These rewards can be economic and/or emotional – but they have to be greater than the cost (including energy) of implementation of the change, and the cost of not changing. 

IN THE shadow of the sprawling Massey University campus, on the outskirts of Palmerston North, farmers and scientists cluster around an old tin garage which is doubling as a lecture theatre during an unseasonal shower of rain.

WITH THE final piece of the National Animal Identification and Traceability (NAIT) scheme jigsaw in place – the legislation – I decide it's time to bite the bullet and register our 10ha farmlet.

FEWER, BETTER fed cow looks set to deliver much more milk for little extra cost on Lincoln University's Dairy Farm this season, judging by a field day late last month on the showcase irrigated Canterbury unit.

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