A WAIRARAPA agribusiness consulting company, Baker and Associates, is setting up a special unit to meet growing demand from farmers for help in dealing with new environmental regulations.

THE LABOUR Party and the Green Party recently announced plans to establish a new agency, New Zealand Power, to act as a single buyer of wholesale electricity.

SUPPLIERS TO Synlait Milk can earn 6c/kgMS more for their milk next season, and possibly 12c/kgMS after that, if they achieve new, internationally accredited assurance standards.

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.