Esther Guy-Meakin Appointed Chief Executive of the NZ Meat Board
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Meat Industry Association (MIA) chief executive Sirma Karapeeva sees no end in sight to the shipping and logistical woes that the meat and other primary sectors are facing.
She says these involve big, complicated global issues beyond NZ's control.
"It's going to become one of those norms that people are just going to learn how to deal with it and in the best way they can," Karapeeva explains. "I don't see it ending anytime soon."
Meanwhile, a study aimed at highlighting the health and nutritional benefits of meat from NZ pasture-reared animals is nearing an end.
In its annual report, the MIA says Pasture Raised Advantage (PRA) programme assesses the health, nutritional and wellbeing benefits of consuming NZ pasture-raised beef and lamb compared to grain finished beef and plant-based alternatives.
The programme has been running for two years and the final clinical trials are about to begin with the food being fed to people and tracking how they react and feel.
Karapeeva says the research is world class and looks at the digestibility of meat and how the body responds to the nutrients it gets. She says it also looks at comparing the wellness and wellbeing implications of meat verses plant-based diets.
"We get a lot of information in the press and social media about what is good and bad for you and what is healthy and what is not," Karapeeva told Rural News.
"A lot of that information is driven off a US or grain fed production system, which is very different to the way we do things here. Part of this project is to put this information in context and say this is how it works in NZ."
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.

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