Stihl Launches BT140, Its First Battery-Powered Auger
With battery tools becoming more widespread and more importantly, productive and reliable, it was only time before we saw augers or post-hole borers.
Norwood has signed an exclusive New Zealand distribution agreement with the Burel Group for the SKY Agriculture brand.
Effective immediately, the deal is an extension of the existing relationship Norwood has with the Burel Group that will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2024.
As previously reported, the Burel Group has consolidated its Sulky, Sky, and Prolog retail brands into the SKY Agriculture, single brand strategy with a new look and feel. This new partnership will mean Norwood has continued access to the traditional Sulky fertiliser spreader range and the range of seeding products, previously imported under the Sky brand by a different NZ distributor.
“The Sky brand, with products like the EasyDrill direct drill, is already well known in the market thanks to the great work done by the previous distributor, Tulloch Farm Machinery, the previous distributor. We thank John and his team for developing the Sky brand in New Zealand and we’re keen to build on their success,” says Rod Gardner, Norwood national product manager.
The refreshed SKY Agriculture brand will see a change in livery across all products, with Sulky’s traditional pale blue and red colour scheme to be replaced with two-tone grey and the new SKY Agriculture badge. Norwood will supply the products across its 19 locations throughout New Zealand.
Farmgate lamb prices are down by 8%, beef cattle by 4.5% and farm expenditure up by 4.2%.
Kiwifruit growers are watchful but remain optimistic as concerns around the potential effects of the El Niño weather pattern this season.
Almond hulls sourced from Australian orchards may have the potential to help New Zealand cows reduce emissions, boost milk yield and lower input costs.
Striking a balance between meeting the needs of industry to speed up approval time for products but on the other hand ensuring that risks are properly assessed.
Surprised, humbled and quite thrilled. That’s the reaction of James Allen, one of the founding partners and now chief executive of AgFirst, on being made a life member of the Institute of Rural Professionals.

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