NZ tractor sales rise 7.5% in first half of 2025, TAMA reports
With June ending and following the most upbeat National Fieldays for several years, tractor dealers are reporting a lift in sales.
The tractor and machinery industry is welcoming a challenge by the Minister of Agriculture to train New Zealanders rather than continue relying on seasonal migrant workers.
Answering questions at the recent Tractor and Machinery Association (TAMA) conference in Wellington, Damien O’Connor said the industry’s reliance on migrant workers during seasonal spikes is “problematic”. He says training labour for the primary sector is long overdue.
“The focus instead should be on the long term and training our own people to be part of the most noble industry – feeding the world,” O’Connor said.
“This industry has invested a lot in land and in technology and machinery, but we’ve invested as little as we can in labour. The system has failed because we just don’t have enough skilled people to deliver what the economy needs.
“We have fewer people going into vocational training and far fewer coming out. We don’t want to disrupt unnecessarily but we do need to change things.”
O’Connor’s plea to train youngsters was echoed by TAMA president John Tulloch who said the tractor and farm machinery sector had to work to develop a strong career pathway.
“There are exciting and challenging career opportunities in our sector, especially in the technology area. But school leavers need to be made more aware of them,” Tulloch said.
The need for skilled workers was the major theme of the conference, with many other speakers pointing to this as a more pressing issue for the industry than rising costs and extreme weather.
The inaugural TAMA conference was attended by about 80 people from across New Zealand, including farm machinery importers, manufacturers and retailers.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
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