MPI launches industry-wide project to manage feral deer
An industry-wide project led by Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is underway to deal with the rising number of feral pests, in particular, browsing pests such as deer and pigs.
MPI is doing a needs assessment, but the Rural Support Trust, along with other agencies, is using its respective networks to double check that all those who need help will get it.
The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.
He says the goal of the trust right now is to ensure that no farmers in need are overlooked.
He says MPI is doing a needs assessment, but the trust, along with other agencies is using its respective networks to double check that all those who need help will get it.
"The trust has had some but not a lot of, direct requests for help, but this isn't surprising, with farmers focused on their immediate need to clear and repair fences and in some cases tracks on their properties," he says.
Pinckney says farmers will also have to re-grass damaged pastures and assess stock losses.
He says some farmers in the worst hit areas may have lost between 10-15% of their lambs.
He says once farmers get their places back to normal and have time to assess what they are faced with, the issue of mental health will start to come to the fore.
He says that's why the trust is expecting the impacts of the floods to play out for some time with all sorts of pressures going on farmers.
The most talked about, economically transformational pieces of legislation in a generation have finally begun their journey into the statute books.
Effective from 1 January 2026, there will be three new grower directors on the board of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).
The National Wild Goat Hunting Competition has removed 33,418 wild goats over the past three years.
New Zealand needs a new healthcare model to address rising rates of obesity in rural communities, with the current system leaving many patients unable to access effective treatment or long-term support, warn GPs.
Southland farmers are being urged to put safety first, following a spike in tip offs about risky handling of wind-damaged trees
Third-generation Ashburton dairy farmers TJ and Mark Stewart are no strangers to adapting and evolving.

OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…