Farm Safety Improves Through 'Incremental Gain', Says Birkett
Improving health and safety is about incremental gain rather than a sudden decision, says Leeston farmer and Federated Farmers health and safety spokesman David Birkett.
OPINION: A reader recently called out the Hound for not giving Federated Farmers enough credit for taking Otago Regional Council to task on its dodgy rule changes.
Fair cop - Otago Feds have led the fight with ORC.
They're again calling on ORC to "delay notification of new freshwater rules and lay the full costs bare for the community to see".
Otago president Luke Kane says the council has been about as transparent as a brick wall.
"First they said we were totally wrong, and we didn't understand, then they said it's complicated and we were only partially correct, and now they've gone totally quiet".
Feds say the sheer arrogance on display from ORC is simply jaw-dropping.
"It's not just Environment Minister Penny Simmonds waiting for these costings. It's the entire Otago region."
Oamaru-based livestock handling specialist Te Pari has bought Combi Clamp, the New Zealand manufacturer of Combi Clamp manual sheep handlers.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.
A new app designed in New Zealand aims to help sheep, beef and deer farmers capture, analyse and use body condition score data more effectively.
Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.
For over 50 years Mel Ewers has been supporting the apple sector navigate through compliance and quality assurance issues.
The apple sector is enjoying a bumper harvest season.

A fair question has been raised about how member-funded organisations should conduct themselves when taking a public position on any…
OPINION: It really is getting harder to lampoon government bureaucrats when they do such a good job of it themselves.…