Red meat sector battles on
It's a bloody tough year for sheep farmers, but the worst may be over, and the future looks optimistic.
Quarantine free flights, bringing much-needed Pacific Island workers to New Zealand, are being ramped up.
This follows the arrival of two flights from Vanuatu in the past two weeks. The first flight, carrying 153 Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers, landed in Christchurch on October 4. Arrivals were mostly for the Otago region.
Another flight from Vanuatu landed in Auckland last week, bringing workers mostly for orchards in Marlborough and Hawke's Bay.
A third flight carrying Samoan workers was scheduled to arrive in Auckland last weekend.
New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard says the Samoan workers will be bound for mostly Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Nelson. "The workers will be supporting industries across the growing regions," Pollard told Rural News.
"The first flights have gone well, and preparation is well advanced for further flights at scale from November."
The Government has given the agricultural sector the green light to bring in Pacific Island workers under a quarantine free arrangement.
People arriving under the scheme must meet strict health conditions, including being vaccinated with at least one dose pre-departure, the completion of a period of self-isolation on arrival, and returning two negative Covid tests, on Day 0 and Day 5. Employers are expected to provide the self-isolation facilities.
If workers have only received one dose of the vaccine, they are expected to complete their vaccination after they arrived in New Zealand.
The scheme is open to workers from Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga at this stage.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the relationship between New Zealand and the US will remain strong and enduring irrespective of changing administrations.
More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.
The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) says securing more China label registrations and developing its own nutritional manufacturing capability are high on its agenda.
Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.
As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.
Livestock can be bred for lower methane emissions while also improving productivity at a rate greater than what the industry is currently achieving, research has shown.
OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…