NZ red meat sector hits out at US tariff hike
New Zealand's red meat sector says the United States' decision to increase tariffs on New Zealand exports is disappointing.
The Government is looking into claims by flood-stricken farmers that floating logs were responsible for causing major damage.
After a meeting with about 60 farmers in Kawakawa Bay [South Auckland] last week, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the general feeling was that logging was “a general issue”.
“There are some logging issues where slush has come down hill and come down into local streams and drains,” he told Rural News.
“That’s a concern and I have asked my officials to work closely with the forestry company and the council.”
Guy says water reticulation, fences and slips were the main casualties of the floods that affected the Coromandel and Franklin districts.
“The damage here is significant and the recovery phase will be a challenge for some badly affected farms,” says Guy, who visited a storm-damaged farm belonging to Deputy Auckland Mayor Bill Cashmore at Kawakawa Bay.
Extra funding will now be available if required to coordinate support through the Waikato Rural Support Trust who are already on the ground with Federated Farmers assessing needs to help plan recovery activities.
MPI is also working with the Ministry of Social Development to activate Enhanced Taskforce Green, volunteer workers, and in extreme cases there may also be Rural Assistance Payments (RAPs) available to farmers in severe hardship.
Cashmore says the event was not a one in 100 years event as reported in the media.
“The worst flooding we had was in 1966, about a metre higher than this event,” he says.
He says this month’s floods have caused about $200,000 damage on his farm alone. His farm received 370mm of rain within five days, washing away fences, roads and tracks.
“We have about 200 slips on our property…but there are others who have copped more damage than us.”
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
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