Bikinis in cowshed
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.
Twenty-four new biosecurity detector dog teams graduated from their training last week — the biggest ever boost to MPI's sniffing force.
The dog teams include dog and handler.
"The new dog teams will give us capacity to screen all arriving international flights for biosecurity risk goods," says Steve Gilbert, MPI border clearance services director.
"They will also ensure we can make greater use of dog teams to greet international cruise ship passengers at regional ports.
"This is the largest number of dog teams to graduate at the same time in the history of MPI or its predecessors – so it is a significant day."
The dog handlers are among 57 frontline biosecurity staff who graduated at the ceremony at the Vodafone Event Centre in Manukau.
The ceremony included a demonstration of MPI's new mobile x-ray machine for scanning hand baggage carried by cruise ship passengers visiting regional ports.
"The new staff, dogs and x-ray equipment are part of a MPI biosecurity ramp-up to cope with increasing passenger numbers and the heightened threat of fruit fly-host material arriving in New Zealand," says Gilbert.
"It's been a big year for us on the biosecurity frontline following the government's decision to increase biosecurity funding in its 2015 budget.
"We have employed nearly 90 new staff and have purchased six new x-ray machines for inspecting baggage, including the mobile equipment.
"There have also been moves to improve our targeting of passengers that pose the highest level of biosecurity risk.
"Although you can never totally eliminate the risk of an unwanted pest or disease entering New Zealand, we feel our border biosecurity defences are in good shape to deal with what is going to be a very busy summer."
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
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