A GOOD WINTER and a favourable weather outlook for spring have boosted confidence across the New Zealand beef industry, particularly after the drought, says Rabobank.

ALLIANCE GROUP will launch a new season programme exporting Pure South lamb to Brazil – the world's sixth largest economy and hosts of the 2016 Olympics - following a successful trial last year.

Fonterra has forecast an increase in its 2014 farmgate milk price by 50c to $8.30 per kgMS.

Listed Dairy processor Synlait Milk has announced an $11.5 million net profit for the year ending July 31, 2013, an increase of $7.1m on the previous year.

SMALL AND medium-size infant formula makers are each losing up to $2 million a week in China as consumer confidence erodes following the false Fonterra botulism scare.

THE INCOMING Coalition Government in Australia intends to revitalise free trade negotiations in key markets.

ADVERSITY MAKES you struggle, so think and look for answers, say horticulture industry pioneers and innovators Fay and Joe Gock.

HIGH PROFILE media coverage is needed in China to get the message out that infant formula products are safe, says Chris Claridge from the NZ Infant Formula Exporters Association.

YOUR OLD mate would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the recent Primary Sector chief executive’s bootcamp conference, coming as it did in the wake of the Fonterra’s clostridium botulinum and nitrate contamination incidents, not to mention Alliance’s labelling lapse and Westland’s own nitrate niggle.

A giant 1,018m² rug made with more than 3,000kg of pure New Zealand wool is headed for the Guinness Book of Records as the largest single-piece rug ever made.