Why Now Is the Time to Plan Farm Succession, Findex Says
OPINION: Succession and long-term planning are perennial topics because it is perpetually sidelined on busy farms.
The result of two probes into the supply of bad sire semen to over 1100 LIC farmer customers will be made public next month.
Following the semen quality issue LIC experienced in October last year, a thorough investigation was done, looking at all operational processes and possible improvements. An independent review was also carried out to look into LIC's response to the issue.
LIC chief executive David Chin says the outcomes of the investigation and independent review are being finalised and will be presented to the board next month.
Following that meeting, all farmer shareholders will be informed of the outcomes and any improvements that will be made to our business as a result, Chin says.
“We thank farmers for their patience and understanding while we work through this.
“We are disappointed as a co-op that we didn't deliver to the high standard farmers expect of us, and we continue to take this situation very seriously,” he says.
The farmer-owned co-operative has already paid out over $2 million to farmers as compensation for supplying some dairy farmers bad sire semen.
Two batches of bad semen were delivered to 1127 farms around the country; semen collected, processed and packed into straws and then sent to farms on October 15th and October 21st failed to pass quality control tests on day three. The straws were used over three days to mate herds and resulted in lower pregnancy rates. Fifteen of the 39 straws collected on October 16th and five of 31 straws collected on October 21st were affected.
New Zealand's citrus growers were challenged to build their future on the value embedded in their fruit rather than the volume they produce, at Citrus New Zealand's annual gathering in Gisborne on 17 September.
Leading John Deere technicians and apprentices from New Zealand and Australians were recognised at the recent sixth annual JD Technician of the Year Awards, held in Brisbane.
In Dacre, near Invercargill in New Zealand’s South Island, Bruce Dinnington is running a dairy operation unlike any other.
A free online platform aggregating governance vacancies across rural and regional New Zealand has been launched.
Environment Minister Nicola Grigg has announced details of a new rural plastics recycling scheme.
Agricultural drone operators say that a government decision to allow lower-risk drone work without certification won’t lower standards but drive innovation and efficiency.

OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…