Oceania Dairy has elected a former head boy of Waimate High School as the inaugural recipient of the Oceania Dairy Scholarship.

An international winemaking competition in China has been won by a Marlborough man, with a second Marlborough winemaker also taking one of the top three places.

In the first part of this series, we looked at the importance of having a brand strategy when marketing and selling your wine in China. In this issue, we explore counterfeit wine in China and what measures are being taken to combat this problem.

While 2015 is barely underway it seems already that the New Year promises to be another important one for the industry.

Strong buying interest for quick shipment underpinned this week's wool market for the 13,789 bales on offer from both Islands, New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd's general manager, Mr John Dawson reports.

Lincoln University hosted senior management from both Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and its subsidiary Oceania Dairy last week.

Dairy farmers are still wary despite three successive lifts in global dairy auction prices.

Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. One is a Kiwi, born and bred on a sheep and beef farm and has gone back to the farm after 20 years. The other is a Chinese woman who had never been near a farm before a New Zealand visit and thinks cows and calves are “so cute”.

Zespri has no financial exposure to Dalian Yidu, the north-east Chinese importer who reportedly has had nine staff arrested by Chinese customs.

Plummeting oil prices haven’t translated into much cheaper fertiliser yet and it’s unlikely they will any time soon, says Ravensdown.