Market leading side-by-side to be displayed
Can-Am will be using the upcoming Northland Field Days (Stand E6) to give farmers the opportunity to see the Defender HD 10 for themselves.
The Government's decision last week to progressively open the country's borders is a step in the right direction, says Northland Field Days Committee vice chair Basil Cole.
He says for his committee to plan for next year's field days with any confidence, the Government needs to do two things: "They need to open the borders and keep them open," he told Rural News. "The second thing is that the Government must stop the vaccine mandate."
With the 2022 field days cancelled, Cole says the committee has two plans going forward - one around having a show in 2023 and the other around not having a show.
The call was made to cancel the show around January 23, when the Government put the country under red alert level as the first Omicron cases surfaced.
Cole believes the early call led to potential exhibitors not incurring heavy losses.
"What happened in 2021 was that we cancelled the show late in the piece and exhibitors had already moved machinery and products from south."
Cole says to stage the field days next year, organisers need to restore confidence among its exhibitors.
"Right now, that confidence is not there."
Cole, a retired dairy farmer, has been involved with the organising committee for many years.
He told Rural News that canceling the event this year has disappointed many people in Northland and the decision was quite hard on everyone.
Cole says organising committee members are volunteers, giving up their time to plan and run the three-day event.
"We do this for the community and our goal is to hold an exciting event every year," he adds. "Sadly, we haven't been able to do it this year and a lot of people have been left disappointed."
Farmer interest continues to grow as a Massey University research project to determine the benefits or otherwise of the self-shedding Wiltshire sheep is underway. The project is five years in and has two more years to go. It was done mainly in the light of low wool prices and the cost of shearing. Peter Burke recently went along to the annual field day held Massey's Riverside farm in the Wairarapa.
Applications are now open for the 2026 NZI Rural Women Business Awards, set to be held at Parliament on 23 July.
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
Forest & Bird's Kiwi Conservation Club is inviting New Zealanders of all ages to embrace the outdoors with its Summer Adventure Challenges.
Grace Su, a recent optometry graduate from the University of Auckland, is moving to Tauranga to start work in a practice where she worked while participating in the university's Rural Health Interprofessional Programme (RHIP).
Two farmers and two farming companies were recently convicted and fined a total of $108,000 for environmental offending.