Bumper season for top apple exporter
The chair of New Zealand's biggest grower, packer and exporter of apples says it's been a bumper season.
It's all about relationships.
That's how NZ's latest special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr describes his new role - following in the footsteps of Mel Poulton, and before her, Mike Peterson.
Marr is the fifth generation to work on the family farm at Methven. With his brother and father, they grow a multiplicity of seed crops and also have dairy, heifer and sheep grazing operations on the 500 hectare property.
After completing a bachelor of agricultural commerce at Lincoln University in 2000, he spent five years as a field officer for Ravensdown before doing his OE, which took him to the UK and the USA. In 2006, he returned to the family farm and now lives there with his wife Melanie and three daughters.
In 2019, Marr was awarded a Nuffield scholarship and the subject of his research was glyphosate use, how it is regulated in NZ and what farmers here could learn from others if a ban or de-registration were to occur. He says while glyphosate use is important for arable farmers, it is very important right across the whole primary sector.
"We have got Roundup - like it or not - and it's integral to all the farming in NZ," he says.
Marr has just taken up his new role and admits it's too early for him to make any pronouncements on what he may do, beyond saying his role is to promote and protect the NZ brand, which he says is second to none in the world.
"For me, the job is 100% about relationships and getting to know my counterparts around the world," Marr told Rural News.
"To me, relationships are about viewing things through the eyes of the people you are talking with and somewhere amongst it all i the middle ground.
"That's my challenge, but I will get there," he says.
Recent rain has offered respite for some from the ongoing drought.
New Zealand's TBfree programme has made great progress in reducing the impact of the disease on livestock herds, but there’s still a long way to go, according to Beef+Lamb NZ.
With much of the North Island experiencing drought this summer and climate change projected to bring drier and hotter conditions, securing New Zealand’s freshwater resilience is vital, according to state-owned GNS Science.
OPINION: Otago farmer and NZ First MP Mark Patterson is humble about the role that he’s played in mandating government agencies to use wool wherever possible in new and refurbished buildings.
For Wonky Box co-founder Angus Simms, the decision to open the service to those in rural areas is a personal one.
The golden age of orcharding in West Auckland was recently celebrated at the launch of a book which tells the story of its rise, then retreat in the face of industry change and urban expansion.
OPINION: The appendage swinging contest between the US and China continues, with China hitting back with a new rate of…
OPINION: The irony of President Trump’s tariff obsession is that the worst damage may be done to his own people.