Ravensdown partners with Footrot Flats to celebrate Kiwi farming heritage
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
Former Federated Farmers national president Bruce Wills has been elected as the new chair of fertiliser co-operative Ravensdown.
Current chair, John Henderson will conclude his term on May 31, after 8 years in the role and 18 years on the board. Wills was voted in as a Ravensdown director in 2015 and has been working closely with Henderson during the past year.
Wills says he is excited about the co-operative's future, which is focusing on improving farmers' and growers' environmental and productive performance.
"I am passionate about Ravensdown's role as nutrient leaders in the areas of science, supply and solutions for an ag sector striving for more sustainable ways forward."
Wills is the current chair of the Primary Industries Training Organisation, the QEII National Trust, Apiculture NZ and the deer industry primary-growth partnership. He was awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit last year for services to agriculture and the environment.
Wills has thanked Henderson for his work at the fertiliser co-op, describing him as a stalwart leader in the sector.
Henderson had been scheduled to retire from the board last September but was asked to continue on for a further 12 months to provide continuity with new chief executive Garry Diack taking the helm.
He says he is particularly proud of Ravensdown's focus on the science and technology behind its nutrient expertise.
"In my time as chair the issues confronting the co-operative, its farmers and growers have changed dramatically," Henderson says. "Our team is confronting this challenge and establishing themselves as trusted advisors and chosen partners in the ag sector."
He believes the co-op's solutions will assist the ag sector in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and productivity.
OPINION: "We are back to where we were a year ago," according to a leading banking analyst in the UK, referring to US president Donald Trump's latest imposition of a global 10% tariff on all exports into the US.
DairyNZ says the Government’s proposed Resource Management Act reform needs further work to ensure it delivers on its intent.
Overseas Trade Minister Todd McClay says he's working constructively with the Labour Party in the hope they will endorse the free trade agreement (FTA) with India when the agreement comes before Parliament for ratification.
Donald Trump's latest tariff tantrum has again thrown the world of trade into a new round of turmoil and uncertainty, and NZ is caught up in it.
The third edition of the NZ Dairy Expo, held in mid-February in Matamata, has shown that the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) was getting a positive response from exhibitors and visitors alike.
Twenty years ago, South African dairy farm manager Louis Vandenberg was sent to a farm in Waikato to provide training on Afimilk technology.

OPINION: A mate of yours truly reckons rural Manawatu families are the latest to suffer under what he calls the…
OPINION: If old Winston Peters thinks building trade relations with new nations, such as India, isn't a necessary investment in…