Kilter AX-1: First Autonomous Weeding Robot Lands in NZ
Claimed to be the first autonomous robot for New Zealand vegetables growers, the first Kilter AX-1 unit has arrived in the country.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority Amendment Bill passing its third reading in Parliament on Tuesday.
“Horticulture is now New Zealand’s fourth largest export industry and this bill provides an improved framework for producers and exporters to collaborate in marketing their products,” says Guy.
“The changes provide more clarity around the entry and exit requirements, and more efficient methods for the authority to collect fees and levies from producers and exporters.
“Growers and exporters of horticultural products like avocados, summerfruit and buttercup squash will be able to better target their marketing strategies to different markets.
“It’s about choice and empowering industries to optimise their returns from different markets.
“The global market has changed a lot since 1987 and these changes have been made following consultation with the New Zealand Horticulture Export Authority and the nine product groups which use this export framework.
“Horticulture is a star performer of the New Zealand economy with export revenue just under $5 billion, and a goal of becoming a $10 billion industry by 2020.
“It’s very fitting for this bill to be passed just a week after Horticulture New Zealand celebrated 100 years of representing growers, starting as the New Zealand Fruitgrowers Federation in 1916.
“I want to thank the members of the Primary Production Select Committee for their work on this bill, and the good suggestions made by industry as it has made its way through Parliament.”
New Zealand's pest problem has reached crisis point, according to Federated Farmers' second National Pests Survey, which shows farmers are spending more money and effort on control — yet pest numbers keep climbing faster than they were two years ago.
Testing confirms H5 bird flu in a single northern giant petrel, found dead on a remote Cape Palliser beach in the Wairarapa, says Dr Mary van Andel, the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI) Chief Veterinary Officer.
"What's for dinner?" may sound like a simple question, but for many Kiwi parents, answering it has become a job in itself.
Fifty Eight years ago, on the 16th of August 1968, August Claas, the founder of the harvesting company and father of Helmut Claas, personally presented a Claas Senator combine harvester to Scottish farmer John Steven.
New Zealand consumers are paying more for beef mince than ever before, with the average retail price now sitting above $24 per kilogram, according to Rabobank.
State farmer Pamu has delivered its strongest operating result on record.