Former Beef+Lamb NZ CEO appointed head of Foundation for Arable Research
Former chief executive of Beef+Lamb New Zealand Scott Champion will head the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) from July.
The weak NZ dollar is providing an unexpected windfall for the country’s sheep and beef farmers.
Beef + Lamb NZ chief executive Scott Champion says the weak dollar benefits the farmgate price significantly, a 10% depreciation of the NZ$ equating to a theoretical 14-18% increase in price.
But Champion warns there are downsides to the weaker dollar – imported machinery, fuel and fertiliser costs farmers more.
Meanwhile, the latest BLNZ statistics show that the weak NZ$, high NZ beef production and strong demand for beef have resulted in a 37% rise in beef and veal export revenue in the first nine months of the current season vs the previous season.
BLNZ says dry conditions early in the summer and low milk prices led to an earlier and extended dairy cow cull than in previous years. From October 2014 to June 2015, NZ beef and veal exports reached 340,430 tonnes shipped weight – up 8.8% on the same period last season.
The strongest demand for NZ beef and veal in 2014-15 came from the US, which took 57% of total shipments, and China which took 12%. Export tonnages to the US and China increased by 23% and 38% respectively.
For the first time, beef and veal exports to China overtook mutton exports in volume.
Despite more lambs being processed, NZ lamb exports decreased 4% to 237,780t in the nine months to June 2015 vs the same period in the previous season. This was led by a fall in demand from China where lamb exports fell 12% in the first nine months of the current season vs the previous season.
Lamb exports to the European Union were up 4.7%. This reflected higher tonnages to Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, offset by lower exports to Britain – still the largest market for NZ lamb.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.