BEFORE YOU make costly changes to meet environmental regulations ask your regional council some key questions, delegates at an ATS Federated Farmers nutrient seminar in Ashburton last week were told.

WILL FONTERRA shareholders eventually have to “do a Mighty River and sell 49%” to meet the capital gap needed for industry growth?

I HAVE recently been involved in an industry forum on safety and well-being in the primary sector. This was prompted by recent reviews of mental health in rural communities which identified some disturbing statistics regarding the incidence of depression and suicides in our rural communities. 

FOR 40 YEARS, we at ANZ have been pulling on our gumboots and getting in among it at National Fieldays. 

A Tatua director and Waikato sheep farmer Ross Townshend has been appoint chief executive of Wools of New Zealand.

A NEW pasture meter launching at Fieldays by C-Dax is automated, coming with a control console. It can be used on the company’s spreaders and sprayers.

RUNNING A profitable farm is always a ‘work in progress’, says Grant Wills, co-winner with partner Karen Preston of the Supreme Award for the Waikato region of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

THE JERSEY breed was one of the foundation stones of the New Zealand dairy industry; not so today with the number and popularity of these brown cows diminishing initially in favour of the larger-framed Friesians but more latterly for crossbreds. 

Federated Farmers is encouraging South Island farmers to enter a competition to discover who could become the South Island's farmer of farmers.

The recent decline in the NZD, low interest rates, a good breaking of the drought, plus good dairy prices have left farmers in good heart at this year's national Fieldays, says BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander.