A step too far
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
For ten years quads have been getting bigger and piling on cubic capacity: it’s no surprise now to see machines of 750, 800 or even 1000cc.
Although conditions in the agricultural machinery sector continue to be difficult, the family-owned Austrian firm of Pöttinger was still able to increase sales by 2% to Eur 308 million in the 2016-17 financial year.
Matt Walker, of Barrhill Dairy Ltd in Mid-Canterbury, runs a mixed operation that focuses on 2200 cows milked through two dairies, producing 1.3 million kgMS per annum.
The subject of quad safety is never far from the news media, but recent recommendations by Wellington coroner Brigitte Windley following the death of a 56-year-old Otago worker in 2014 do nothing to advance a solution.
Adopting the Ravensdown whole-farm soil testing (WFST) programme may enable farmers to make smarter nutrient input choices, says Dan Copland, a senior agri manager at the fertiliser co-op.
The Irwin family -- Geoff, Lee and son Steve -- milk 330 cows on 83ha at Kiwitahi, near Morrinsville, in what Geoff describes as “a relaxed farming system”.
A tool that could reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is heading steadily towards commercialisation.
Wet, wet, wet: that’s the message I’m getting from contractors all around the country.
When I started work 20 years ago on a system to improve farm profitability I had no idea it would lead to ways of increasing soil carbon and reducing GHG emissions.
This old mutt suggests that if the polls are correct in picking a change of government at the election, then the farmer voice in Parliament is likely to get even smaller.
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Meanwhile, the Hound hears that the supposedly kind, caring, friendly-to-everyone Labour leader Jacinda Ardern is showing none of these qualities towards her fellow female leader Katie Milne, Fed Farmers national president.
Your canine crusader hears that Labour candidates and MPs are failing to front farmer meetings to defend the party’s proposed water tax policy.
The Hound reckons while most in farming are focused on the election on September 23, another interesting poll is in view for the Fonterra board on October 31.
Despite challenges from competing land use and a drop in the national deer herd, the industry is well positioned to fulfil New Zealand’s goal to provide high quality protein products to the world’s best-heeled consumers.
The Hound
Save us from SAFE
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.
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