Double standards
OPINION: Imagine if the Hound had called the Minister of Finance the 'c-word' and accused her of "girl math".
Dry conditions are also beginning to bite Fonterra’s North Island milk collection, which last month was 110 million kgMS – 1% lower than January last season.
The exceptionally low milk price has dealt a blow to Landcorp, forcing it to post a half year profit to December 31, 2014 of just $1 million, down 92% on the same period in the previous year.
Losing family to cancer has prompted two Central Otago farmers to hold a fundraising ‘Shear for Life’ marathon on February 28 to March 1.
The drought in South Canterbury has prompted one non-irrigating farmer in the Opuha Water area to question the irrigation firm’s first-come, first-served water allocation.
The Global Dairy Trade will still have “to travel a lot of distance” to sustain Fonterra’s current farmgate milk price of $4.70/kgMS, Fonterra’s chairman John Wilson says.
The South Island drought has already hit most drystock farmers hard in the pocket and the concern over winter feed is mounting.
A new device which combines robotics, mechanics and chemistry is set to hit the market to combat one of the biggest problems on dairy farms – nitrogen leaching from cow urine patches.
Farmers in New Zealand are starting to ‘cotton on’ to the concept of farming within environmental limits.
Official declaration that the South Island’s drought is a medium-scale adverse event has been widely welcomed by farmers and their representatives.
The South Island drought doesn’t seem to have had too much impact on crop yields to date, particularly where irrigation’s been available.
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Now that drought has been declared by the Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, Inland Revenue says it will exercise discretion towards affected farmers.
The mission of mymilk is to “mix it up” with competitors rather than lose that milk, says Fonterra’s chairman John Wilson.
The director of Massey University’s Fertiliser and Lime Research Centre (FLRC), Professor Mike Hedley says while intensive farming puts pressure on New Zealand soils he believes they are presently capable of handling that pressure.
The Ministry for Primary Industries denies holding ‘special’ meetings with New Zealand dairy product makers in the light of claims that China has rejected 60 batches of our dairy products in the past year.
The Hound
Debt monster
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