PGG Wrightson Revenue Tops $1.1b as Profit Jumps 46%
After delivering a strong financial year, rural trader PGG Wrightson says the coming months will depend on customer confidence and weather.
Horticulture New Zealand presented its inaugural President’s Award to lifelong kiwifruit industry supporter and grower Ian Greaves last week.
HortNZ president Julian Raine presented the award at the Horticulture New Zealand conference awards dinner in Rotorua.
The new award is intended to recognise outstanding and inspiring leadership within the horticulture industry.
Greaves has spent his life in the Bay of Plenty where he has experienced the ups and downs of the horticulture industry.
In 2010, Psa disease began wiping out New Zealand kiwifruit crop and Greaves realised that growers needed support. He developed a unique framework to give rural people the opportunity to communicate about their feelings and situations.
“Ian provided life-saving pastoral support to growers during this time,” says Raine.
“He has made a positive difference to our industry by developing a system that deals with the seriousness of life during rural crisis.”
“He has helped rural people to recognise stress is something that does not have to be endured on your own.”
Other awards presented at the event were the horticulture industry’s premier award, the Bledisloe Cup, to Hawke’s Bay consultant John Wilton, and industry service awards to berry fruit scientist Geoff Langford and former HortNZ chief executive Peter Silcock.
John Wilton was recognised for his long-serving commitment to the pipfruit industry.
The industry service awards were also presented for the first time.
Testing confirms H5 bird flu in a single northern giant petrel, found dead on a remote Cape Palliser beach in the Wairarapa, says Dr Mary van Andel, the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI) Chief Veterinary Officer.
"What's for dinner?" may sound like a simple question, but for many Kiwi parents, answering it has become a job in itself.
Fifty Eight years ago, on the 16th of August 1968, August Claas, the founder of the harvesting company and father of Helmut Claas, personally presented a Claas Senator combine harvester to Scottish farmer John Steven.
New Zealand consumers are paying more for beef mince than ever before, with the average retail price now sitting above $24 per kilogram, according to Rabobank.
State farmer Pamu has delivered its strongest operating result on record.
Four years since it was first detected in New Zealand, researchers and growers now know much more about management of maize pest fall armyworm (FAW).

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