Beef + Lamb NZ director voted out
Sitting Beef + Lamb NZ farmer director Scott Gower has been voted out by farmers.
A brand-spanking new administration building will greet visitors to this year's South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) at Kirwee.
Replacing a battered old Portacom, the new 12m by 20m building houses an office, lobby, large committee room, and accessible toilets with shower.
The building epitomises the steady development SIAFD has put into the Kirwee site since it was bought about 10 years ago as the permanent home for the biennial event.
This year's committee chair Andrew Stewart is coy about the price but says they always wanted a permanent office and finally took the plunge, knowing building costs would only get dearer.
They have also renovated many of the shingle tracks, with a new track into the carpark and a new loop through the lifestyle section, to help weather-proof the site.
"What we found the worst was everyone trying to set up on the Tuesday when it was wet.
"All of them coming in their cars and that was what made the most mess. It tended to be the smaller sites.
"We just keep chipping away. Every year there's something new happening," he says.
Following this event, they will also install an irrigation well, removing their reliance on water from the neighbouring farm.
While there are power lines across the property, they are not connected to the national grid to avoid year-round fixed charges and are powered up with generators for each event.
But a permanent connection is now being established for the new administration building and the well, and they need fewer generators this year.
"Now that we're putting the well in, we've got quite a big transformer going in," says Stewart.
"It's always been in our thinking that we needed to be self-contained at some point.
"Working through consents and stuff is a bit challenging but we're getting there."
Farmer-owned co-operative Ravensdown is winding down the operations of its agritech subsidiary C-Dax following a long decline in sales.
The recent East Coast Farming Expo, held over two days at Wairoa, offered an insight into the current state of agriculture on the east of the North Island, at a time when the locals are remembering the second anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.
A Research programme supported by Beef+Lamb NZ is investigating the potential of ‘accelerometer’ sensors for early detection of conditions such as facial eczema (FE) in sheep.
In the past year, the Farmer Time for Schools programme which seeks to connect New Zealand school students with farmers, has experienced further growth.
Fresh Carriers Co. Ltd (FCC) and Zespri have completed the first ever kiwifruit charter powered by a low-emissions fuel.
New Zealand lingerie brand Rose & Thorne is expanding its virtual bra fitting service in an effort to provide rural women in with better access to specialised advice.
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