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New Zealanders will be able to size up the president of Federated Farmers for themselves this Saturday, with Country Calendar featuring the farm and work of Bruce Wills. The episode airs on TV One Saturday at 7pm.
"I'll be very interested to see what bits they put in", admitted Wills, Federated Farmers president.
"I hope it will show how I juggle my day job as a farmer with my added responsibilities locally and nationally with Federated Farmers. Not to mention being a dad as well.
"I can honestly say I enjoyed working with the Hyundai Country Calendar team. They spent a fair amount of time with us at Trelinnoe on the Taupo-Napier Highway, as well as a bit of time at a Farm Open day in Wellington.
"I am also certain there'll be some comment in farmer circles because my brother and I do not tail our lambs. Many will say we are mad, but we are happy to test the status quo, try something different.
"We started leaving tails longer about five years ago, if we didn't see benefits in doing this we would simply go back to shorter tails. This year we will be leaving tails long again.
"As regular viewers of Hyundai Country Calendar will know, farming is no 'paint by numbers' operation. I guess our ethos at Trelinnoe is based on the specialness of location. That means preserving native bush as well as keeping the soil in place on our hills.
"We have placed 15% of the farm into QEII National Trust covenants and have over 300ha of regenerating bush and reserves. I am a strong advocate for poplars and willows.
"We plant more trees every year and now have some 15,000 trees scattered across our paddocks to give shade and shelter to our stock and stability to our hillsides.
"This costs money and time, in fact lots of both. Not just the initial outlay, but the cost of maintaining trees and protecting native bush from pest plants and animals. It is the unsung work of many a farmer and comes out of the realisation that to be truly green, you must be in the black.
"I am sure Hyundai Country Calendar will deliver their usual high quality and informative look at rural New Zealand.
"I hope you enjoy a bit of a look at my world," Wills says.
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Leading figures from the major political parties will be questioned on their primary sector policies at the Rural Issues Debate at Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton, on 30 September.
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Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers arable chair, Bevan Lill, said Beef + Lamb NZ data indicated that for the last six years, the average arable return on investment was about 0.8% while inflation ran about 4% - so the average arable farm was going backwards at about 3% a year.
Pāmu has released its FY26 Integrated Annual Report, reporting a Net Operating Profit of $113 million, more than double the $49 million recorded in FY25.
Meat Industry Association data, released alongside the Red Meat Sector conference in Wellington, shows export value climbing across the US, China, UK and Canada.
Applications are set to open for the 2027 Zanda McDonald Award, a trans-Tasman award recognised for identifying and fast-tracking talented young leaders in agriculture and agribusiness.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (the College) and Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network are calling for investment in a proposed new training pathway for rural GPs, warning that many rural practices are struggling to recruit while a large share of the existing workforce nears retirement.
Federated Farmers has called on Central Otago District Council (CODC) to drop or vote down a plan to truck sludge from Alexandra and Cromwell to farmland near Lauder, warning it would compound an "outrageous" situation created by a separate council's decision weeks earlier.
Synlait has swung to second-half profit as operations stabilise, but the dairy processor still posted a $75.4m annual loss.
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