New pasture guide launched to support farmers in a changing climate
A new publication has been launched that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date resource on commercially available grazing pasture species in New Zealand.
Despite the COVID-19 lockdown, staff at Massey University are busy preparing for the next semester – which will involve a lot of on-line teaching.
Two examples are husband and wife team, Massey professor of dairy production systems Danny Donaghy and Dr Lucy Burkitt – who is a senior research officer in the school of Agriculture and the Environment.
Peter Burke spoke to them about life in lockdown.
The couple are hunkered down with their three children in Palmerston North.
They share an office, but when zoom calls come through, one or other has to relocate to another part of the house.
They have never worked in such close quarters before, but Donaghy says it’s working ok.
He told Rural News that they set down strict times for work, but also schedule in coffee and tea breaks and slip out for a walk with their children.
“We try to start early and not let the day slip away and be distracted by the fine weather we have had recently,” he says.
For Donaghy, the lockdown has given him and other academic staff time to prepare on-line lectures for the next semester. Massey University is renowned for its expertise in distance education and the situation that has arisen with Covid-19 is having less of an impact on them as opposed to some other universities.
“We have strong platform to deliver online and have got some really good resources at Massey to allow us to deliver online material – so a lot of us are preparing to deliver when semester starts again. We have got some really good materials that allow is to upload short video’s and presentations.”
Donaghy was actually delivering an online lecture at exactly the same time as the Prime Minister was announcing the lockdown. He says everyone became distracted by this and in the end, he called the lecture off until the next semester.
“After that, we rushed to work and grabbed extra computer screens so that we could have dual screens at home which makes it easier to shuffle data around,” he says.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
Nationwide rural wellbeing programme, Farmstrong recently celebrated its tenth birthday at Fieldays with an event attended by ambassador Sam Whitelock, Farmers Mutual Group (FMG), Farmstrong partners, and government Ministers.
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding…
OPINION: Did former PM Jacinda Ardern get fawning reviews for her book?