Help available for flood-hit farmers
The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.
As the five year mark of the programme to eradicate M. bovis is reached, a new discovery has been made.
MPI’s director of the M.bovis eradication programme Simon Andrew said the infected farm in Mid-Canterbury has clear links to previously infected farms.
"The new confirmed infected property neighbours a cleared confirmed property with strong links to the Wakanui cluster,” Andrew says.
“We are continuing to investigate the infection source and are working with the farmer to depopulate the property in a way that minimises disruption as much as possible.”
He adds that as a result of the new infected property, MPI will be tracing animal movements and other risk events.
“This will likely see an increase in the number of farms under movement restrictions while we ensure the risk of disease spread is mitigated," Andrew says.
This new case has dashed hopes that the country could finally be rid of the cattle disease.
Since 2017 when the disease was found in New Zealand, 280 farms have been cleared if it. Since then, $641 million has been spent on eradication efforts out of a total $870m budget.
Andrew says it is vital that farmers continue animal tracing through National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT).
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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