increase font size
Ray Smith says MPI will keep on supporting Rural Support Trusts and Rural Advisory Group people.
MPI says it’s looking at increasing its support to Rural Support Trusts and other rural advisory groups.
Director general of the Ministry for Primary Industries, Ray Smith, says it seems like the country is moving from one set of issues to another, which are all challenging to farmers. He cites the droughts in the North Island and the feed shortage in the South Island – along with M. bovis and the damage from earthquakes.
“It feels like the expectations on those Trusts are growing and we are trying to increase our investment in them to help the local people,” he told Rural News.
Smith says the drought can get on top of people, as costs rise and people struggle and are not sure what to do next. He says for some of them the world appears to be closing in and they need to know we are there to support them.
“We don’t want to leave anyone behind and it’s not anyone’s fault that they find themselves in these positions. One thing we can do is keep on supporting these Rural Support Trust and Rural Advisory Group people.”
Smith says Rural Support Trusts have been doing an amazing job and now that most of the Covid lockdown restrictions have been lifted, he hopes that it will be easier for people who need help to contact them.
“The other factor that is driving MPI to support the rural support organisations is that the weather patterns over the next two decades suggest that the areas that are dry now, will get drier and wet ones, wetter,” he adds.
Smith says the extreme position facing the country now is an indication of what the future may hold and thought has to be given to the future because the weather patterns are not going to make it easy for farmers.
"The worst of the worst" is how Richard Kempthorne, the chair of the Nelson Tasman Rural Support Trust, describes the cumulative effects of the two storms that have wreaked havoc across the top of the South Island.
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.
OPINION: Ministry for Primary Industries' situation outlook for primary industries report (SOPI) makes impressive reading.
OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Two butcheries have claimed victory at the 100% New Zealand Bacon & Ham Awards for 2025.
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
The Climate Change Commission’s 2025 emissions reduction monitoring report reveals steady progress on the reduction of New Zealand’s climate pollution.
Another milestone has been reached in the fight against Mycoplasma bovis with the compensation assistance service being wound up after helping more than 1300 farmers.
The Government’s directive for state farmer Landcorp Farming (trading as Pamu) to lifts its performance is yielding results.
The move to bring bovine TB testing in-house at Ospri officially started this month, as a team of 37 skilled and experienced technicians begin work with the disease eradication agency.
OPINION: Spare a thought for the arable farmer, squeezed on one side by soft global prices and on the other…
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts…
