HIGH FARM production and heavy stocking rates need not burden the environment, say brother and sister Shayne and Charmaine O’Shea, this year’s supreme winners of the Ballance Northland Farm Environmental Awards.

A LARGE crowd turned out this month to a field day to see how a young couple won the Manawatu/Horowhenua/ Rangitikei  Farm Manager of the Year Award.

A FARM consultant in Manawatu/Rangitikei questions a belief that because pasture has ‘gone green’, farmers are out of trouble. This is not so, says Lindsay Rowe, who is a vet.

A THREE-YEAR experiment with mixed pastures could have big implications for future management of environmental impacts.

The contest for the Rural Bachelor of the Year is back and better than ever but entries close on Monday.

Taranaki's flagship riparian management programme, which has "gone the extra mile" in developing relationships with dairy farmers, has been recognised for its outstanding contribution to protecting the environment.

Milk production will be boosted up by at least 6% next season, but meat production will take longer to recover from the drought, the BNZ forecasts in its Rural Wrap.

DairyNZ subsidiary NZ Animal Evaluation Ltd (NZAEL), has reached agreement with LIC and CRV Ambreed for a standardised presentation of parentage and daughter based estimates as well as genomic based estimates for bulls this autumn.

The 11 finalists competing for the 2013 New Zealand Farm Manager of the Year title are split between contract milkers and farm managers – as well as age, experience, and farm size.

ORGANISERS OF a second meeting calling for reform of the meat industry say the attendance and feedback strengthens their mandate.