Beef prices climb as supply contracts in key markets
With production volumes contracting in most major beef-producing regions, global cattle prices have continued to rise across recent months.
A leading Australian banker says commentators that keep pillorying farmers for not doing enough for the environment have a negative effect.
Lachlan Monsborough, head of sustainable business for Rabobank, believes such negative comments tend to put farmers off and they will remain on the outer, instead of gaining more knowledge and information and being part of the solution on environmental matters.
Monsborough was one of the keynote speakers at the recent Agricultural Climate Change Conference held in Wellington, which attracted more than 300 participants. The focus of his presentation was on aligning climate ambitions with realities.
Speaking to Rural News at the event, Monsborough noted that farmers are extremely pragmatic people and respond positively when presented with unassailable facts. He added that everyone is a part of environmental matters and finding ways of mitigating emissions and adapting to climate change.
"Farmers want to do things, they don't want to sit back waiting," Monsborough says. "Once they understand the issues and the options, then a lot of the emotion that has driven the debate in the past comes away."
He sas, in terms of climate change, governments, industry bodies and markets have invested heavily in getting the message out. Monsborough says it is up to farmers to invest and collaborate to get the right answers "We see our role as bankers to challenge their investment decisions and make sure it's the right choice. As part of that, we provide information and networks to support those decisions so that farmers have the products to fit those decisions."
Monsborough acknowledges that there is a lot of misinformation out in the public arena, especially on social media.
He says Rabobank is trying to counter this by sourcing the best objective minds in the business to give their clients' the best information.
"For example, in Australia we are trialling our 60 sessions in the country with Professor Richard Eckard of Melbourne University - who is a highly regarded expert in sustainable agriculture."
He says Eckard's role is teaching 'carbon 101': how the emissions are generated on farm, what the sequestration opportunities are, and helping farmers to know their actual number as a farming business.
Monsborough says it's not widely recognised that farming is and always has been constantly evolving.
"This is in a number of areas, including efficiency and dealing with the environment, but ultimately it's about meeting societal and other expectations."
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
OPINION: Ageing lefty Chris Trotter reckons that the decision to delay recognition of Palestinian statehood is more than just a fit…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly recently met someone at a BBQ who works at a big consulting firm who spent…