Trade balance with the US a saving grace
New Zealand is so far escaping the unpredictable vagaries of President Donald Trump's trade policies by the skin of its teeth.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander congratulated winners in Rabobank’s FoodBytes! Competition in Sydney last week.
A New Zealand company Knewe Biosystems Ltd was among finalists who pitched their company to potential investors at the Rabobank Food 2 Fork Summit in Sydney last week.
Knewe Biosystems is developing an animal prebiotics product which it says meets critical mineral nutrition needs and also reduces the volume of waste to the environment, both because they cause animals to use their feed more efficiently.
The winner of the event was Australian company Sprout Kitchens which provides a platform for cafe’s and restaurants to rent out their unused kitchen space, outside of normal trading hours.
AgriWebb was the people’s choice winner. AgriWebb is a software company focused on “disrupting antiquated practices in livestock production”.
Their products “enable simplified on-farm, real-time data collection and apply analysis to improve management decision-making, enterprise efficiency, bench-marking and food security transparency, while integrating the farmer across horizontal and vertical supply chains”.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
Buoyed by strong forecasts for milk prices and a renewed demand for dairy assets, the South Island rural real estate market has begun the year with positive momentum, according to Colliers.
The six young cattle breeders participating in the inaugural Holstein Friesian NZ young breeder development programme have completed their first event of the year.
New Zealand feed producers are being encouraged to boost staff training to maintain efficiency and product quality.
OPINION: The world is bracing for a trade war between the two biggest economies.