OSPRI writes off $17m over botched traceability system
Animal disease management agency OSPRI has written off nearly $17 million after a botched attempt to launch a new integrated animal disease management and traceability system.
Deciding which proposed animal welfare standards will become regulation and which will become 'guidance' is a priority concern for DairyNZ.
This is the message from Carol Barnao, general manager policy and advocacy.
MPI has already amended the Animal Welfare Act and now the National Animal Welfare Advisory Council is working through regulations that come out of that and details on minimum standards.
"The question is what needs to be in regulation and what can be in guidance," says Barnao.
"So the issue for us and dairy farmers is... what is the difference between the old system and what they are proposing right now?"
The "devil is in the detail", she says. They are looking at how practical the regulations are and testing proposals with farmers, and will go back to MPI with their views by the May 19 deadline.
Barnao believes the changes to the act, and now the regulations that come out of that, is a modernising strategy by the Government.
NZPork chairman Ian Carter says in general they support the proposals by MPI and respect requirements for farrowing and crate sizes. Farmers need to adapt to the size of their pigs. "That is well documented in the industry and we respect that."
NZPork is concerned about a proposal to bring back 'manipulative materials' such as straw. They have been breeding their animals for 50 generations (one year = one generation) without manipulative materials. Pigs are provided with a warm environment and specialist facilities for the piglets. They meet all the nesting behaviour needs, providing for them more hygienically than does straw.
Just as people want modern technology in their own lives, farming cannot go back to what it was hundreds of years ago, Carter says. New technologies have been developed as they gained more understanding of their animals, environmental and OSH requirements and the consumer.
The pork industry has invested considerably and developed special techniques and facilities for the breeding sow and the survival of her piglets. Safety is paramount, similar to the reasons humans have developed maternity hospitals.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will be fronting farmers at three large public meetings organised by Federated Farmers over the coming weeks.
Federated Farmers and a major Australian-owned bank are at loggerheads over emissions reduction targets set for New Zealand farmer clients.
More locally grown tomatoes are coming to stores this month and you can thank New Zealand greenhouses for that.
Changing skill demands and new job opportunities in the primary sector have prompted Massey University to create a new degree course and add a significant major into another in 2025.
It was bringing in a new Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show board, more in tune with the CAPA general committee, that has ensured that Christchurch will have a show this year, says CAPA general committee president Bryce Murray.
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