MSA triumph
OPINION: Methane Science Accord, a farmer-led organisation advocating for zero tax on ruminant methane, will be quietly celebrating its first foray into fertiliser co-operative governance.
A Te Karaka student has been awarded the Mangatu Blocks and Ravensdown Scholarship, providing three years study at Auckland University.
Roland Taupara Brown completed his secondary schooling at Gisborne Boys High School where in his final year he was named Dux for 2014.
Brown says the scholarship provides him with a unique opportunity to focus on his studies in science and commerce at Auckland University. His Bachelor of Science degree will focus on green chemistry and his Bachelor of Commerce will provide the business disciplines to ensure a balance between environmental and commercial considerations.
“Looking ahead, it’s obvious that we need more efficient and eco-friendly technologies to protect the environment and maintain our competitiveness,” he says.
“Specialist and qualified people who are able to use their knowledge and ingenuity to solve the problems are an essential part of our future. I aim to be one of those people.”
Brown has family connections with the Mangatu Blocks Incorporation, his father Tama is on the committee, his grandfather Michael was the farm supervisor during the 1970s and 1980s and his great grandfather, George was a farm manager for many years.
Brown says he looks forward to contributing to the incorporation in the future.
Mangatu Blocks Incorporation manages ancestral lands inland and to the north of Gisborne and has interests in the agribusiness, viticulture and forestry sectors.
The Mangatu Blocks Incorporation and Ravensdown university scholarship was established in 2012 for Mangatu Blocks shareholders, their children or their grandchildren, to support undergraduate study in an agricultural/ horticultural or related undergraduate degree.
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.