Red Meat Sector Conference date unveiled
The Meat Industry Association (MIA) have announced the dates for the 2025 Red Meat Sector Conference.
National says the government has turned its back on the major agricultural training provider Taratahi.
The future of Taratahi remains in limbo after it went into interim liquidation just before Christmas at the request of its board of trustees.
MPs Paula Bennett and Nathan Guy say the government is bribing students into tertiary education through its fees-free scheme and yet is allowing this large training provider to fold.
Bennett says this will hit hard the 900 students and 250 staff who were due to start and run courses at Taratahi this summer.
“We believe Taratahi approached ministers for $4 million to keep it afloat, but this government has failed to support it. Taratahi needed just a fraction of the $2.8 billion fees-free bribe or the $3b Provincial Growth Fund and yet ministers couldn’t find the money to keep Taratahi training students while it worked through its issues,” she says.
National’s agriculture spokesperson Nathan Guy says the performance of the primary sector is critical to our economy, and that depends on having well qualified, motivated and high-quality workers.
“We hope Taratahi can be salvaged. The agricultural sector is dependent on farming graduates to serve the industry. Taratahi plays an important role in providing those graduates,” he says.
Questions are being raised about just how good the state of the dairy industry is - especially given that the average farmgate payout for the coming season is set to exceed $10/kgMS.
A leading financial and banking advisor says he doubts if most dairy farmers fully understand the dynamics of banking.
Dairy farmers are shoring up their balance sheets, with almost $1.7 billion of debt repaid in the six months to March 2025.
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A former Fonterra executive is the new chair of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).
New Federated Farmers national dairy chair Karl Dean is looking forward to tackling the issues facing the sector.