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 Merino New Zealand’s plan to market wool internationally on the promise that it is grown “regeneratively”, has been described as a ‘marketing exercise’.
		  	
		  
		  		  
		  Merino New Zealand’s plan to market wool internationally on the promise that it is grown “regeneratively”, has been described as a ‘marketing exercise’.
		  
		  
		  
	  Merino farmers need to be sure of their evidence if they are to embrace a regenerative agriculture label, says Lincoln University Professor Jon Hickford.
Commenting on Merino New Zealand’s launch of its ZQRX programme, which aims to market wool internationally on the promise that it is grown “regeneratively”, Hickford calls it primarily a ‘marketing exercise’.
Hickford told Rural News that he was not against marketing, nor the increased farm performance monitoring which the programme entails. But he says farmers needed to be sure the techniques employed have scientific evidence behind them. “It’s a marketing ploy and I wish them well, but they do need to be cautious in case someone comes asking questions.”
As president of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science (NZIAHS), Hickford recently led a group of mainstream New Zealand agriculture scientists in criticising regenerative agriculture as an ill-defined fad of dubious scientific merit.
“Marketing’s great at making claims about how a product will make you feel, how it might behave, what it might do for you and so on,” Hickford says.
“The problem with it, is if you are ever challenged to actually prove that what you claim is real. If you claim that your farm systems are ‘better’, then the people buying the product may ultimately one day come back and say, ‘prove it, show us that it’s better’.”
Hickford says there has to be an evidential trail to support what you’re claiming “Therein is the tension with regenerative agriculture in New Zealand – because it’s just a claim. There’s no evidential basis to what is being claimed.”
Hickford said there was room for merino farming to improve its environmental performance and some farmers were already moving away from grazing high country, and into more intensive lower altitude grazing with better feed systems. He says that would give better wool while retiring environmentally-sensitive land.
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.
Rural retailer Farmlands has reported a return to profitability, something the co-operative says shows clear progress in the second year of its five-year strategy.

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