ACC statistics show 300 children were injured in ATV accidents between 2006 and 2008 while between 2000 and 2006, 212 children were hospitalised and 15 died. The average age of those injured was 9.8 years old. The Agricultural Health and Safety Council Guidelines state in general, youths under the age of 15 years have less […]
The Land and Water Forum, given just under a year to reach consensus on the future of water allocation, has a big task persuading stakeholders to put their weapons away long enough to chart the way forward. Among those eyeballing each other across the table will be Federated Farmers dairy sector head Lachlan McKenzie and […]
Fonterra is forging ahead with its expansion plans in China as it looks to put the SanLu Group scandal behind it and move to take more control of its Chinese supply chain. Its $20.7m Chinese dairy farm - near the city of Tangshan in Hebei province now has 4500 cows and by this time next […]
Dairy and sheep farmers came to the 2007-2009 drought from very different parts of the economic cycle, which probably exacerbated the impact. This is one of the conclusions of MAF’s assessment of the economic impact, which it values at $1.49bn in lost output. The total cost was more like $1.89bn including rising costs of inputs […]
The chief science adviser to the PM is calling for greater emphasis on scientific research particularly in the agriculture sector. Sir Peter Gluckman says NZers have to change their attitude to science to regain the “positivity and innovative strength” of the 60s and 70s and lift the country’s productivity. Sir Peter says he can’t think […]
Finance expert Roger Wilson a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts heavily indebted dairy farmers could fail to survive the current payout slump. He says dairy farms are especially vulnerable as farmers face falling commodity prices, increased costs and some farm asset values which have dropped by 30 to 40%. He notes there are a lot of […]
John Hutchings, Fonterra’s general manager for sustainable production says meeting the proposed new targets for emissions reductions will be “very difficult” for the agricultural sector. He says reducing NZ’s greenhouse gas output below 1990 levels by 2020 will be “impossible without harming the agriculture sector.” This is why NZ’s largest exporter has given its support […]
Dairy NZ economist Matthew Newman says farmers need to focus on the average cost of milk production and operating expenses per kg of milk solids as these are the best indicator of operating profit a hectare. Marginal return decisions are more important in determining profit than the volume of milksolids produced or the total cost […]
The Greens say NZ’s dairy sector should switch to a lower intensity, lower input farming model to help cut agriculture emissions and concentrate of obtaining high prices for the reduced output of milk to compensate for potential loss of earnings. The suggestion is part of a multi pronged announcement from the Greens on how to […]
Analysts and farmers alike are quick to warn against taking too much from the 26% jump in prices at this month’s online milk powder auction, the highest recorded on the Fonterra platform since November. ANZ National Bank rural economist Kevin Wilson says “it’s very encouraging to see the lift, but the market was very short […]
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