M.I.A.
OPINION: The previous government spent too much during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite warnings from officials, according to a briefing released by the Treasury.
Rural Support Trust chair Neil Bateup says it has had very few calls from farmers wanting help to deal with Covid.
He says the trust had geared itself up to be able to provide support for farmers. However, the phone lines have been largely silent and Bateup reckons it appears that farmers are managing their own situations on farm.
He believes the difference is that when the trust started gearing up, the Delta variant was around and isolation periods were 14 days. They were looking to move people off farm into managed isolation or quarantine facilities.
"The possibility of taking some or all staff off farm to MIQ for 14 days and potentially 28 days - if it spread within a family - could have caused major problems," Bateup told Rural News.
"But as time has gone on, the isolation periods have shortened, and with Omicron not being the same beast as Delta, most people seem able to manage trhough any outbreak on farm."
Bateup says he accepts that most farmers can work - even if they have Covid - or just take the odd day off just to relax and just do the important things. He says they can normally get other staff, family or neighbours to cover for them for a couple of days to make sure their businesses carry on.
According to Bateup, other rural service industries have also been affected with trucking companies down on staff and some of the meat works operating on shorter hours.
He believes the situation is being managed, but reckons farmers are lucky that the Omicron outbreak has not occurred at a crucial and pressured time - such as lambing or calving.
ANZ New Zealand is encouraging farmers and businesses impacted by the recent extreme weather that hit Southland and South Otago last week to seek support if they need it.
When Professor Pierre Venter takes up his new role as vice chancellor at Massey University next February it will just be a matter of taking a few steps across the road to get to his new office at the Palmerston North Campus.
Two rural data organisations - DairyNZ’s DairyBase and Farm Focus - have formed a new partnership that aims to remove data duplication and help provide more timely, useful benchmarking insights for farmers.
BNZ says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through an innovative new initiative that helps make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking a little easier.
LIC chief executive David Chin says meeting the revised methane reduction targets will rely on practical science, smart technology, and genuine collaboration across the sector.
Lincoln University Dairy Farm will be tweaking some management practices after an animal welfare complaint laid in mid-August, despite the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigation into the complaint finding no cause for action.

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