Red meat rebound
The red meat sector is poised for a strong rebound this season, with export receipts forecast to top $10 billion and farm profitability to almost double.
Beef + Lamb NZ (B+LNZ) board chair Andrew Morrison has lost his board seat to Southland sheep and beef farmer Geoffrey Young.
In the election, part of the 2023 B+LNZ Annual Meeting process, Young received 8,777 weighted votes while Morrison received 6,587 votes.
Turnout in the Southern South Island director election, in an electorate which covers Southland and Clutha, was 36%.
Morrison’s term will conclude at the end of the B+LNZ annual meeting in New Plymouth on Thursday 30 March and the board will elect a new chair following the meeting.
The meeting will also mark the conclusion of Morrison’s term with the New Zealand Meat Board which will subsequently elect a new chair.
Meanwhile, the farmer director election in the Eastern North Island electorate has been postponed due to disruptions caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.
A new process and deadline for voting for the ENI farmer director role will be announced following the Annual Meeting.
Current ENI director George Tatham, who planned to stand down after nine years, will continue in the role until the rescheduled election is completed.
Among the regular exhibitors at last month’s South Island Agricultural Field Days, the one that arguably takes the most intensive preparation every time is the PGG Wrightson Seeds site.
Two high producing Canterbury dairy farmers are moving to blended stockfeed supplements fed in-shed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to boost protein levels, which they can’t achieve through pasture under the region’s nitrogen limit of 190kg/ha.
Buoyed by strong forecasts for milk prices and a renewed demand for dairy assets, the South Island rural real estate market has begun the year with positive momentum, according to Colliers.
The six young cattle breeders participating in the inaugural Holstein Friesian NZ young breeder development programme have completed their first event of the year.
New Zealand feed producers are being encouraged to boost staff training to maintain efficiency and product quality.
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