Canterbury Farmer Builds on 160 Years of Dairy Legacy
Gareth Hale is the current custodian of a 160-year legacy that saw his great grandfather dairying in Taranaki since the mid-1850s and grandfather dairying in the Waikato from the early 1900s.
John Deere has enhanced its grain harvesting line-up, covering the 600C corn heads and 600F Hydraflex draper units.
There is also a new 12 row folding corn head for the 2016 campaign, of interest to larger producers as it allows outputs of around 0.4ha per day more than a traditional 8 row set-up. Due to the increased capacity the units have been upgraded to row-unit slip clutches and the driveshaft interfaces have a longer service life.
For soyabean or small grain growers there are improvements to the 630, 635 and 640 FD Hydraflex draper units -- streamlined end-dividers to reduce crop knockdown, a wider centre feed opening to allow up to 15% more throughput, and stronger reel fingers and bearing supports to improve crop pickup and flow.
Minister of Conservation Hon Tama Potaka has appointed Susan O'Regan as Chair of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust (QEII) for a three-year term.
Red meat farmers are welcoming Labour’s plan to review the Emissions Trading Scheme and not to campaign on pricing agricultural emissions.
Where any worker in the kiwifruit industry is mistreated, we expect the authorities to take action.
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.
Seed and grain companies share the concerns of arable farmers about the viability of their sector, says Seed and Grain New Zealand chief executive Dr Sarah Clark.
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) says unnecessary changes to New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) will seriously erode investor confidence and result in significant reductions in forest planting rates.

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