Rural land holders in three areas totalling around 900ha on the outskirts of New Plymouth are being invited to join a possum control scheme that already covers almost all the Taranaki ring plain.

Balclutha will play host to the first regional final of The National Bank Young Farmer Contest this Sunday (February 12) at the Telford Division of Lincoln University on Owaka Highway.

A new "good clean dairying" promotion will feature at this month's Effluent Expo at Mystery Creek, being organised by Waikato Regional Council and sponsored by DairyNZ.

Federated Farmers is concerned the Green Party has misinterpreted the Treasury's Briefing to Incoming Minister (BIM) on biosecurity.

Fonterra farmers want the co-op to get on with TAF (trading among farmers), says chairman Henry van der Heyden.

Judging has begun to select the winners in the 2012 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards from the record 525 entrants.

The rising New Zealand dollar being toyed with on the international currency market is driving local wool values down, says New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd's general manager, John Dawson.

Rainfalls and temperatures around the country are likely to be near normal for almost all regions, says NIWA.

Time is closing in on the search to find the best innovation in the New Zealand irrigation industry.

While the number of agricultural deaths has fallen from 19 in 2010 to 15 in 2011, Federated Farmers is committed to bring it down still further.