Meat Industry Excellence (MIE) chair John McCarthy has stepped down from the role to make way for new leadership of the grassroots farmer group.

The USA has overtaken Australia to become New Zealand wine’s largest export market by value says the New Zealand Winegrowers annual report.

Pottinger has introduced upgrades from the large trailed HIT tedder series to smaller 8-rotor models with working widths of up to 8.86m.

Many farms are running with lower than target average pasture covers (APC) this time of the year. The months of June and July were cooler than normal so pasture growth rates have not been where they would normally be.

Manawatu dairy farmers George and Ellen Bartlett entered the 2015 Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA) because they wanted to support their industry and learn more about sustainability.

For the next couple of years, some dairy farming challenges will be a reality.  It will be a slog for some, financially and psychologically. 

The severity of the recent change in dairy fortunes has certainly been a left-field event. How such a dramatic change has emerged without warning and how businesses can best respond are key issues. 

Effluent irrigation expert Stuart Reid, Spitfire Revolution, was recently called to Southland to attend to a bridge mixing propeller fouled by a rope.

MetService is warning farmers to expect a cold spring or, as meteorologist Georgina Griffiths says, a spring on steroids.

Key signs of lowering production were enough to “wake the market up” out of its downward spiral at last week’s GlobalDairyTrade auction, says ASB rural economist Nathan Penny.