Two new awards open to help young farmers progress to farm ownership
Entries have opened for two awards in the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA) programme, aimed at helping young farmers progress to farm ownership.
While the lowest lamb crop in 60 years should support prices, the market is being swamped by other factors at present.
While the lowest lamb crop in 60 years should support prices, the market is being swamped by other factors at present, says the ASB in its weekly commodities report.
These other factors include strong UK supply and weak Chinese demand, the report says.
In the UK, the high pound is making British lamb expensive in Europe and thus more UK lamb staying put in its domestic market. At the same time, a push to buy local from supermarket chains is hurting prices of NZ imports, the ASB says.
On net, the ASB expects prices to stay under par for the rest of this season.A pick-up in demand next season is expected to lift prices to a more healthy level.
Beef and Lamb NZ's 2015 lamb crop report showed that the crop is the smallest in nearly 60 years. The number of lambs tailed this spring was down 6.7% or 1.73 million on the previous spring to 23.9 million head.
The drought led to fewer breeding ewes as well as a lower number of lambs per ewe.
All up, the smaller lamb crop should help support prices, however at the moment the lower NZ supply is being swamped by those other factors, the ASB says.
Matt McRae, a farmer from Mokoreta in Southland who runs a sheep, beef and dairy support business alongside a sheep stud, has been elected to the Beef +Lamb NZ Board as a farmer director.
Ravensdown's next evolution in smart farming technology, HawkEye Pro, was awarded the Technology Section Award at the Southern Field Days Farm Innovation Awards in February 2026.
While mariners may recognise a “dog watch” as a two-hour shift on a ship, the Good Dog Work Watch is quite a different concept and the clever creation of Southland siblings Grace (9) and Archer Brown (7), both pupils at Riverton Primary School.
Philip and Lyneyre Hooper of the Hoopman Family Trust have tonight been named the Taranaki Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
We are not a bunch of sky cowboys. That was one of the key messages from the chairperson of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association (NZAAA) Kent Weir, speaking at an education day at Feilding aerodrome for 25 policymakers and regulators from central and local government and other rural professionals.
New Zealand's dairy and beef industries say they welcome the announcement that the Government will invest $10.49 million in the Dairy Beef Opportunities (DBO) programme.

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