New pasture guide launched to support farmers in a changing climate
A new publication has been launched that offers a comprehensive and up-to-date resource on commercially available grazing pasture species in New Zealand.
The drought in western parts of the North Island is reaching crisis point with many farmers from Northland to Taranaki having to truck in water and feed for their stock at great expense.
As Rural News goes to press, many areas have had as little as 30% of the rainfall they would normally receive at this time of the year, causing aquifer levels to drop, forcing farmers, where they can, to drill new deeper wells.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director of on-farm support, Dr John Roche, says there's been no appreciable rain since the drought declarations were made a month ago.
"The situation is especially bad in the southwest of Northland south of the Hokianga but there are other places in Northland very dry as well," Roche told Rural News.
"The situation is similar with the Waikato - King Country and certainly Taranaki.
"The whole western seaboard of the North Island is very dry," he says.
Roche says the situation is compounded by the fact that there is no 'drought busting' rain forecast. At the same time soil and air temperatures are dropping and the window for growing grass is declining.
In most regions, Roche says there are places where the ground is rock solid, making re-grassing difficult if not impossible.
He says it raises the issue of the need for more water storage because the climate is getting hotter and drier. He says his team is linking up with various regional advisory groups as well as B+LNZ, DairyNZ, Federated Farmers and the Rural Support Trust to provide help to farmers. This involves running social events to get farmers off farm as well as seminards and, if required, one on one discussions for individual farmers.
"We are guided by regions and if they say they need more support, we'll do more," he says.
Boon for Kumara
While dairy and red meat farmers are struggling with the drought in Northland, kumara growers aren't complaining.
Warwick Simpson who has 40ha of land in Dargaville says the dry conditions are making harvesting easier. He says this is because the kumara are dry and coming out of the ground nice and clean. He says the only potential problem is that the vegetables could get damaged coming out of the hard ground.
"But that is a minor, not a major issue," he says.
Simpson says if it was wet right nmow, harvesting the kumara crop could be difficult. He says for a start, the kumara would have mud attached to it and if it's really wet it would be difficult to get a machine in to get them out of the ground.
He says the present dry conditions will not affect the growth of the kumara.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
Nationwide rural wellbeing programme, Farmstrong recently celebrated its tenth birthday at Fieldays with an event attended by ambassador Sam Whitelock, Farmers Mutual Group (FMG), Farmstrong partners, and government Ministers.
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding…
OPINION: Did former PM Jacinda Ardern get fawning reviews for her book?