Editorial: Farm salaries get a boost
OPINION: The recent Federated Farmers / Rabobank 2024 Farming Salaries Report revealed strong growth in farm salaries over the past two years.
The Parliamentary Select Committee’s delay on the Health and Safety Reform Bill has led to improvements for the farming industry, say the Federated Farmers.
Feds health and safety spokesperson Katie Milne says the Bill overall will make farms safer places.
Specifically she says the Bill has gone some way to recognising that farms are different to urban industrial workplaces.
“Farms are not construction sites but with lots of grass and animals. They are also where people live and use for recreation. We are pleased the Government has signalled a Supplementary Order Paper to acknowledge this. It will make clear that a farmer’s home is not a workplace. Ideally, it should include other farm accommodation as well.”
“We also didn’t want to have a risk imposed on us for people who come onto our properties without our knowledge and have an accident. They parliamentarians have listened to us and the Bill puts the responsibility on recreational users back to those people, where it should be,” Milne says.
Federated Farmers will be studying the Bill for the fine print, but Milne says she has already identified ambiguity and problems with responsibilities and liabilities for a Person Controlling a Business or Undertaking (PCBU).
“The Bill still hasn’t sorted the overlaps of more than one PCBU on a farm, where for instance, a farmer and a contractor are both working,” she says.
More bull breeders are using genetic tools according to the latest research.
Females are dominating the veterinary profession worldwide and many farmers are welcoming this change in the composition of the profession, says Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) Professor Christine Middlemiss.
A five-year randomised survey of herbicide resistance on New Zealand arable farms has found widespread high levels of resistance - with 71% of farms affected in the worst-hit region - South Canterbury.
OPINION: The recent Federated Farmers / Rabobank 2024 Farming Salaries Report revealed strong growth in farm salaries over the past two years.
The low unemployment environment is one of the key factors driving on-farm salaries higher over the past 24 months, says Rabobank general manager for country banking Bruce Weir.
Fonterra has appointed a new chief financial officer, seven months after its last CFO’s shock resignation.
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