Frontline biosecurity 'untouchable'
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard has reiterated that 'frontline' biosecurity services within Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will not be cut under the Government's plan to reduce the public service.
John Roche, chief science advisor at the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), reckons despite all the local and international challenges facing the New Zealand farming sector, it has a lot of positives going for it.
He says NZ has a really strong and proud history of collaboration between farmers and scientists and that has served us extremely well. He conceds there are challenges around climate but thinks our innovation will see us through that.
Roche acknowledges the effects of climate change around the country, such as droughts in the Waikato and Southland and heavy rain on the east and west coasts of the country.
He says in the Waikato the soil is fertile and warm and with rain the landscape will look very different in a months' time. "I don't want to play that down it is a challenge. These episodic rainfall events do seem to be coming more frequently," he told Rural News.
"One swallow doesn't make a summer, but we have had more than one swallow in the last 12 months alone."
Roche says the country's farmers and orchardists will have to adapt. He explains this will involves looking at their system - specifically at those points at which the climate puts pressure on the operation - and then seeing how that can be managed. For some, that might mean de-intensification and for others it may mean having a feed supply available when they didn't in the past.
Roche says farmers worldwide are learning to adapt to similar situations and adjust their farming systems accordingly. He says farmers are smart enough to work out the best solution for their individual enterprises.
Roche says he's interacted with farmers a lot and believes they want to address environmental issues but they also want solutions.
He claims the recent budget announcement to spend $339 million to set up a new government-funded organisation in partnership with industry to fast track solutions that farmers can use to deal with climate change emissions is a great idea.
Roche says climate change is reall and claims that NZ's average rainfall has dropped by an average of 10% over the past 25 years, and in some areas - such as Northland - it's dropped by as much as 20%.
"Change is needed but as one farming leader told me, 'panic slowly'.
"This is not a time to run off and sell the dairy farm tomorrow," Roche told Rural News.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.