Leah Prankerd: A passion for dairying and farmer support
It was love that first led Leah Prankerd to dairying.
Kiwifruit growers are throwing their support behind dairy farmers suffering from two successive years of low payout.
Farmer support toolkits, prepared for Psa-affected kiwifruit growers, are being used by DairyNZ in a campaign to help dairy farmers.
Kiwifruit grower and Seeka Grower Council chairman Ian Greaves says after the Psa outbreak, the focus was to preserve life. He told the DairyNZ Farmers Forum that there were no grower suicides in the kiwifruit industry, after the outbreak of Psa.
"The rural sector is over-represented by suicides; it is preventable and we all have a role to play in it," he says.
Greaves says the kiwifruit industry is helping dairy farmers navigate through the downturn in prices.
The kiwifruit farmer support tool kits were prepared by the industry and it is not rocket science, he adds.
Greaves urged dairy farmers to look after each other but stressed it was important to look after themselves.
"No one is alone; you are there for your neighbour but first of all, look after yourself.
"Your cows won't be any good without you; your family and your community won't be any good without you."
Greaves says Psa affected 850 orchards, forcing growers to dig out entire orchards.
While capital value of orchards has bounced back, most growers went without income for several years.
"It didn't change to no profit like most dairy farmers are facing this year; we changed to no income and I picked my first crop since Psa last month.
"We had to pull out stumps and put in new plants; it's like forestry, you have to wait a long time.
"There has been no income for years from our orchards; yes, capital value is back and the banks are ready to lend us more money but cash flow and income have been devastated."
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
A day after the ouster of PGG Wrightson’s chair and his deputy, the listed rural trader’s board has appointed John Nichol as the new independent chair.
The iconic services building at National Fieldays' Mystery Creek site will be demolished to make way for a "contemporary replacement that better serves the needs of both the community and event organisers," says board chair Jenni Vernon.
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