Incoming SFF chair's vision for the future
Incoming Silver Fern Farms chair and King Country farmer Anna Nelson wants the future of farming and rural communities to be thriving, healthy and happy.
Silver Fern Farms plans to upgrade its coldstore facilities at its Pareora site, in South Canterbury, and close its leased Canterbury Coldstore.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Dean Hamilton says the achievements the company has made in inventory management has meant the company does not require as much cold storage as it has in the past. Therefore it makes little sense to redevelop what are old facilities on the leased site when the company is redeveloping existing cold storage at its owned Pareora site.
"With the $5m redevelopment of our Pareora plant to accommodate new venison processing, which we announced last month, we will be upgrading our cold storage and blast freezer space. During the planning of this redevelopment it has become clear that we no longer require the storage space at Canterbury."
The Canterbury Coldstore is on leased land which is part of the Belfast Business Park. The company plans to close the site and is consulting with the 28 staff and their union to discuss the proposal and transfer options within the company.
"Our people at Canterbury are needed in our company and we want to retain their skills and experience. We have options for them at our Belfast beef plant, at our Fairton lamb plant and at Pareora which we will discuss with them as we work through the consultation process."
Plans are in place to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the legendary Flock House opening its doors for the first time.
The mood in horticulture is cautiously optimistic, according to the chair of Horticulture NZ, Barry O'Neil.
New Zealand’s major primary industry exporters have secured shipping capability to export $160 billion worth of products over the next 10 years.
The mood in the deer industry is very positive and on an upwards trajectory.
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says the Government is always working to ensure that our food exporters are treated fairly under trade agreements signed with other countries.
Coronet Peak, Queenstown, was the venue for the 2024 NZ Dairy Industry Awards.