Ben Purua named Meet the Need’s first ambassador
The 2024 Ahuwhenua Young Māori Farmer of the Year, Ben Purua has been named farmer-backed charity Meet the Need's first official ambassador.
Young Maori farmers from Northland, the King Country and Tairawhiti are the finalists in this year's Ahuwhenua Competition for the top Maori sheep and beef farmer.
They are Coby Warmington, Grace Watson and Puhirere Tau.
The award was inaugurated in 2012 and is designed to recognise up and coming young Maori in the pastoral and horticulture sectors.
Since its inception, the competition has proved to be popular and has attracted high quality entrants.
The finalists this year were selected from several entrants from around the country.
Warmington (29) is the farm manager at Waima Topu Beef Ltd, a bull beef finishing farm in Waima, Northland. The farm has 385 effective hectares of mostly rolling hill country. Warmington lives on-farm with partner Holly and their four children.
Watson (24) is a shepherd general on Puketitiri Station at Te Kuiti owned by Verry Farming running 3,500 breeding ewes and 1,200 replacements. She grew up on her parent's dairy farm at Rerewhakaaitu just south of Rotorua.
For Tau (27) it's a second attempt for glory in the competition. Tau is head shepherd at Puatai Station, a bull finishing block on the East Coast, where he plays a crucial role in managing a 650ha farm.
New Zealand avocado growers have received a major boost by securing a collective FernMark Licence for their exports.
Beef + Lamb NZ's countrywide director roadshow arrived in Feilding last week, bringing with it ongoing positivity in the sector, an overview of the work B+LNZ does on behalf of levypayers and a proposed change on how the levy would be collected in the future.
A stronger than expected outlook for dairy has prompted one bank to lift its 2025-26 season forecast milk price by 75c to $10.25/kgMS.
Chinese dairy giant Yili Group says its New Zealand operations are on track for strong revenue growth in 2025 after recording significant year-on-year growth for the first half of the year.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says the US tariff decision appears to be based on a calculation of trade deficits, with countries running a surplus with the US moved to the higher rate.
Alliance Group has announced plans to sell a 65% stake in the farmer-owned co-operative to Irish meat processor Dawn Meats Group for $250 million.
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