Farmers warned to upgrade as 3G shutdown looms
As the clock ticks towards the 3G mobile network shutdown, farmers are being warned to upgrade or risk losing connection to their supply chain.
A group of Hawke's Bay entrepreneurs have launched StockX, an online rural trading platform for New Zealand farmers.
StockX say they will reduce wastage and inefficiencies in the current, outdated livestock trading system.
The platform says they allow farmers to buy and sell direct, operators to plan and optimise bookings and meat processors to source and buy direct from farmers.
Users have the ability to set up livestock for sale listings and create personalised alerts for listings of interest. Unique to this area, banking is managed through a trust account to ensure security of funds between buyer and seller.
StockX says costs are reduced through direct transactions, value is gained through access to a wider market and relationships and knowledge are built across the whole supply chain.
Managing director Jason Roebuck says "StockX offers farmers choice and control over a key activity in their farming business. Of significant interest to farmers will be the capacity to choose when and whom they sell."
Rural contractors are getting guidance on how to deal with recent rising fuel prices.
An Ōpunake farmer with a poor effluent system has been fined $35,000 with a discount on the penalty discarded after he charged at a Taranaki Regional Council officer inspecting the ‘systematic problems’ on his farm.
The horticulture sector is under threat because of vulnerabilities of the country's transport infrastructure, according to a report commissioned by a collective representing a range of groups in the sector.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Dan Boulton says the meat processor wants to find ways of getting product destined for Middle East markets into those markets as opposed to try and place them elsewhere.
The current Middle East war could not have happened at a worse time for New Zealand.
This week, more than 100 farmers, policy makers, politicians and other industry influencers will gather at the annual Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) Forum to workshop positive environmental change for New Zealand dairy.

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