With less than 10 days to go until entries open in the 2017 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards, organisers of the 11 regional competitions are ready to host launch events.

With Australian farmers focussed on the big wet across the country’s south, let’s look at the background -- how the dairy market is behaving, and what it means for farmgate prices.

The new Southern Dairy Hub in Invercargill will start milking cows next season.

International dairy commodity prices have staged a remarkable recovery in recent months, as global supply and demand slowly return to a more balanced outlook.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy is urging Fonterra farmers to go out and vote on the co-op’s governance and representation plan.

The raw milk movement is gaining momentum despite facing stricter new regulations, according to raw milk advocates Village Milk, Takaka.

Ravensdown has cut its superphosphate price to $310 per tonne and has undertaken to keep a lid on that price until the end of a busy spring.

Lovers of Hawke’s Bay Syrah won’t be surprised to learn that the region has beaten France at its own game, in an international blind tasting of the variety.

The latest New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion shows a further strengthening in business confidence over the September quarter.

Dairy farmers Rachel and Kenneth Short say despite a potential increase in forecast milk price, they won’t be making any changes to their farm budget.