India FTA 'still a priority'
Agriculture and Overseas Trade Minister Todd McClay says his government is pulling out all the stops to get a trade deal with India.
WAIKATO FARM consultant Sharlene Charleston is the first to achieve accreditation under a new people management certification scheme launched last month at the NZIPIM's annual conference.
Charleston works for Te Awamutu-based farm people management consultancy, No.8 HR.
NZIPIM chief executive Stephen Macaulay says the programme, supported by funding from DairyNZ, was introduced to provide farmers with confidence that industry standards have been met by the consultant in 10 key areas. They include performance management; coaching and mentoring; recruitment; and health and wellbeing.
"People on-farm are key to productivity and business growth and too often this is stunted by high staff turnover," says Macaulay. "Certified people management consultants can improve the way farmers manage their staff and then everybody wins – the farmer, the employee and the industry."
Charleston is a former dairy farmer who started with No.8 HR in January 2011.
Visit www.nzipim.co.nz
The sale of Fonterra’s global consumer and related businesses is expected to be completed within two months.
Fonterra is boosting its butter production capacity to meet growing demand.
For the most part, dairy farmers in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairawhiti and the Manawatu appear to have not been too badly affected by recent storms across the upper North Island.
South Island dairy production is up on last year despite an unusually wet, dull and stormy summer, says DairyNZ lower South Island regional manager Jared Stockman.
Following a side-by-side rolling into a gully, Safer Farms has issued a new Safety Alert.
Coming in at a year-end total at 3088 units, a rise of around 10% over the 2806 total for 2024, the signs are that the New Zealand farm machinery industry is turning the corner after a difficult couple of years.

OPINION: Meanwhile, red blooded Northland politician Matua Shane Jones has provided one of the most telling quotes of the year…
OPINION: This old mutt has been around for a few years now and it seems these ‘once in 100-year’ weather…