Agriculture

Sheep and beef farmers working with nature to create profit

New Zealand agriculture is facing increasing pressure to change how it operates and lower its environmental footprint, with the mantra ‘produce more for less’ thrown around regularly. The pressure is being driven by a growing sense of social conscience amongst consumers, who are developing a greater connection to where their food is from, coupled with significant growth in environmental compliance regulation from government, says farm business coach and Growfarm® Managing Director Brendon Walsh. In response to this, Walsh is urging sheep and beef farmers to be open to change, to get the right support and advice, and focus on farming for profit over production so they can continue to form a strong backbone for rural New Zealand. While dairy farmers have been at the front of queue when it comes to public and government scrutiny, Walsh cautions sheep and beef farmers, “don’t wait to become public enemy number one, front foot the change”. Change is disruptive and it’s happening quickly, says Walsh. “The volatility in markets coupled with the rapid pace of change in technology, farming practices, and government and consumer expectations can overwhelm some people”. However despite an historic perception that sheep and beef farmers are averse to change, Walsh says there is no need to fear the change. There is evidence of farmers successfully using the right systems and the right support to create profitable farm businesses that work sustainably with the environment. Walsh is quick to point out the pressure for change is not simply for environmental reasons; it’s also good for farmers’ business and their lives. “Historically and now business results and profitability have been pretty poor, land values have risen, and farming habits are just not delivering decent spare cash for many in the sector”. As a Growfarm® business coach, Walsh works with sheep […]

Synlait confirms date of new Pokeno site

Synlait has confirmed its new nutritional manufacturing site in Pokeno, Waikato, will be commissioned for the 2019 / 2020 season. The functionality of Synlait’s first nutritional spray dryer at Pokeno has also been expanded as a result of forecast customer demand. The nutritional spray dryer will be capable of producing a full suite of nutritional, formulated powders (including infant-grade skim milk, whole milk and infant formula base powders) and the capacity has increased to 45,000 metric tonnes (MT) from an initial 40,000 MT. The initial capital investment is estimated at $250 million, excluding the land previously acquired. Synlait has the capital required to fund this programme through a combination of cashflow and an increased bank revolver facility. “Our immediate focus is on establishing the nutritional spray dryer and associated services, including a wetmix kitchen and warehousing,” says Mr Penno. “But additional capacity and capabilities may be added in future as Synlait seeks to develop the site to a similar level as Synlait’s Dunsandel site over time,” he says. Initially, Synlait Pokeno will produce infant-grade ingredients while regulatory registration is obtained for infant formula base powder production. Milk supply will be sourced from the Waikato region from 1 June 2019 and Synlait will grow their a2 Milk™ and Lead With Pride™ programmes through new suppliers. “We’ve had a really positive response from dairy farmers looking to supply Synlait, so we’re confident of securing sufficient milk for the 2019 / 2020 season,” says David Williams, Synlait’s Milk Supply Manager. “This was reinforced with our presence at Fieldays at Mystery Creek last week. It was great to meet a number of passionate dairy farmers who are serious about doing more with their milk and adding value on farm, which is exactly what we do,” says Mr Williams. Anyone interested in supplying Synlait Milk […]

New innovations improving primary industry

Fieldays launch NZ Award-Agricom Day two of the 50th New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays kicked off with the Innovations Awards breakfast where a selection of New Zealand’s top innovations were on display, all with creative ideas on improving New Zealand’s agricultural industry. New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation spoke of the importance of innovations at the National Agricultural Fieldays. The entrants were supported by a group of knowledgeable and insightful sponsors who have provided advice around law, research, networking, engineering, technology and science. Judges spoke of how the winners were successful at picking good problems to solve and being very creative in the way they solve them. Innovations that were easy to use, cost-effective, efficient and enhanced value came away with top honours. The 2018 Innovation Award winners are: Fieldays Grassroots Prototype Award – Acuris Systems This prototype robot, autonomously navigates kiwifruit orchards while capturing highly accurate fruit data. This data is then analysed to provide growers with quality information and insights to their orchards performance. Fieldays Grassroots Established Award – Pamu Farming New Zealand Landcorp has just completed its second season of deer milking in partnership with the Peter and Sharon McIntyre. Significant, world first research and intellectual property has been developed from behind the farm gate through to a finished RMP approved product which Pāmu Foods can now use to assess market demand and price tolerance. Fieldays Prototype Highly Commended – Maraeroa C Incorporation Ginseng Berry Gin is a New Zealand first made from ginseng berries grown in wild natural conditions at Pureora. The gineng berry gin has subtle flavours and textures whilst also having some health benefits. Fieldays Launch NZ Highly Commended – Paysauce / Season app Growers, managers, and contract pickers can ditch paperwork with the Season app – orchard supervisors collect timesheet and contract […]

Fieldays launch NZ Award-Agricom

New innovations improving primary industry. Day two of the 50th New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays kicked off with the Innovations Awards breakfast where a selection of New Zealand’s top innovations were on display, all with creative ideas on improving New Zealand’s agricultural industry. New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation spoke of the importance of innovations at the National Agricultural Fieldays.“One of the main reasons the New Zealand agricultural industry is so recognised and respected around the world is because of the innovations coming from awards like these. The people here today are shaping the future of farming and will be making major changes in in the industry in another 12months.” Says Nation. The entrants were supported by a group of knowledgeable and insightful sponsors who have provided advice around law, research, networking, engineering, technology and science. Judges spoke of how the winners were successful at picking good problems to solve and being very creative in the way they solve them. Innovations that were easy to use, cost-effective, efficient and enhanced value came away with top honours. The 2018 Innovation Award winners are: Fieldays Grassroots Prototype Award – Acuris Systems This prototype robot, autonomously navigates kiwifruit orchards while capturing highly accurate fruit data. This data is then analysed to provide growers with quality information and insights to their orchards performance. Fieldays Grassroots Established Award – Pamu Farming New Zealand Landcorp has just completed its second season of deer milking in partnership with the Peter and Sharon McIntyre. Significant, world first research and intellectual property has been developed from behind the farm gate through to a finished RMP approved product which Pāmu Foods can now use to assess market demand and price tolerance. Fieldays Prototype Highly Commended – Maraeroa C Incorporation. Ginseng Berry Gin is a New Zealand first made from […]

Robotics Plus signs global deal for robotic apple packers

Jamie Lunam and Dr. Alistair Scarfe. Deal highlights demand for agricultural automation technology; follows recent investment from Yamaha Motor Co. to accelerate company’s growth. Robotics Plus, a New Zealand agricultural robotics and automation company, has signed an agency and distribution agreement with GlobalPac Technologies which will see the company’s revolutionary robotic apple packers go global. The deal, which will initially target the US, Australian and New Zealand markets, is fuelling a period of accelerated growth for Robotics Plus as industry demand for its innovation grows. GlobalPac Technologies is a joint venture between United States company Van Doren Sales and New Zealand-owned Jenkins Group. Robotics Plus CEO Steve Saunders says between the two companies, Van Doren and Jenkins have a presence in almost every packhouse in New Zealand, Australia and the US. “We see enormous potential in our new relationship with GlobalPac Technologies. Naturally their global packhouse relationships offer exciting opportunities for us to expand distribution of our apple packers to markets beyond New Zealand, but more importantly, they share our vision for the future of packhouse automation. Together we aim to transform the global horticulture industry.” Jenkins General Manager, Jamie Lunam, says: “Apple packhouses already use automation extensively for sorting and grading, but the process of arranging apples in trays for export is still highly labour intensive. “Labour shortages are a major and growing concern in New Zealand and many other food producing countries. We see Robotics Plus and their packing technology as game-changing for the industry. It is a very exciting time to be involved in helping to affect this positive change.” Van Doren CEO, Brett Pittsinger says the global apple industry has been packing apples the same way for decades. “Labour shortages are now causing major headaches for packhouses in the United Sates. It’s exciting to see the […]

Government right to signal need for change in NZ agriculture

A Lincoln University expert says Environment Minister David Parker is right to signal New Zealand agriculture cannot continue with business as usual. Senior lecturer in Agribusiness Management, Dr Nic Lees, said intensive dairying is currently profitable only because it is not bearing the full costs of its production systems. “It is not paying the cost to the environment of its production. We are all picking up the tab, and especially our children for the impact on our waterways and climate,” he said. “Currently intensive dairy farming is addicted to high production per cow. This means adding in concentrated feed such as palm kernel and high levels of nitrogen fertiliser. This increases costs, which means these systems are only profitable with high production and high commodity prices.” Dr Lees said this shows New Zealand’s future is not in maintaining our position as the lowest cost producer of meat and dairy products. “The longer that the beef and dairy industries hold on to a commodity model based on increasing output and lowering costs the greater will be the future farmer pain. “I think we need to have conversations around “peak cow” and the future of our animal production industries.” He said the Labour Government is clearly signalling New Zealand’s future is not in commodities. “Facing up to “peak cows” will benefit New Zealand and farmers in the long term. It is either some pain now or a lot of pain later. “If not, alternative proteins will take out our commodity agricultural products in the same way nylon took out wool as a fibre.” Minister Parker has said there is potential to change towards cropping, horticulture, which are high-value land uses, Dr Lees said. “He is right to say there are too many cows, however the potential for cropping and horticulture to replace […]

Blockchain to Build a Sustainable Food Industry?

Blockchain is taking off, with a growing number of food companies and retailers experimenting with this new technology. Ecovia Intelligence (formerly Organic Monitor) sees blockchain bringing many sustainability benefits to the food industry. A few weeks ago, Carrefour became the first European retailer to introduce blockchain for food products. Initially launched for free-range Carrefour Quality line Auvergne chickens, the technology is being expanded to eggs, cheese, milk, ground beef steak, salmon, oranges and tomatoes. A key part of its 2022 transformation plan, Carrefour believes blockchain technology will revolutionise its supply chains. Its new strategy focuses on food quality and transparency, with it setting an ambitious target to generate EUR 5 billion sales from organic foods by 2022. As will be presented at the Sustainable Foods Summit (http://www.sustainablefoodssummit.com), blockchain has many advantages. It provides transparency and openness to food companies, retailers, and consumers. Described as an ‘open ledger’ for transactions, blockchain gives a secure way to track and transfer assets through supply chains. It has the potential to transform the often opaque and diffuse supply networks for food products. Blockchain helps mitigate risks of food fraud and safety. It is estimated that one in ten food products are adulterated or mislabelled. Tampered products can be easily identified and isolated, preventing expensive product recalls. By pinpointing contaminated batches, safe products can be kept on store shelves and not sent to landfill. The amount of food waste can therefore be reduced. Walmart is working with Nestle, Dole Food, Unilever and Tyson Foods on blockchain pilot projects. The retailer says a 1 percent reduction in food-borne illnesses in the US could generate an additional US $700 million in increased productivity. Walmart believes blockchain will do for transparency what the internet has done for communication. In one of its blockchain projects, it took 2.2 seconds […]

Two high yielding wheat cultivars due on the market in 2018

Syngenta New Zealand signals its entry into the New Zealand wheat seed market with the commercialisation of two very high yielding wheat cultivars – Graham wheat and Reflection wheat, which represent a significant lift in yield potential. Developed by Syngenta NZ in conjunction with New Zealand head licensee Cropmark Seeds, the two new wheat cultivars are being commercialised this autumn and are the result of an intensive joint breeding and selection programme by the two companies. The breeding programme is already well known for the quality of its barley cultivars which have been at the forefront of the New Zealand barley seed industry for the last 20 years. Graham wheat is the first of the Syngenta-bred wheats to be marketed in New Zealand and will be available in full commercial quantities from this autumn. Graham wheat has impressive yield and agronomic qualities and has already created significant interest from within the arable farming sector. Graham is very high yielding as evidenced by its very high yields in the cereal seed industry’s CPT trials in 2016/7. CPT Wheat Cultivar Evaluation Trials – average yield results (tonnes per hectare) North Island Canterbury Southland Graham 10.1 13.9 13 Wakanui 8.9 13.3 11.2 Starfire 6.8 12.9 11.8 Inferno 5.1 13.2 11.3 Ignite 8.5 13.7 11.9 Source: Foundation For Arable Research booklet 2016/17 Graham has a wide sowing window from April through to June and is a robust variety that yields well across a range of environments and responds well to inputs. On top of this Graham has excellent disease profile, good resistance to Septoria, leaf and stripe rusts. Graham wheat seed will be available through licensed agents Advance Agriculture in Gore, Cates Grain and Seed in Ashburton and PGG Wrightson from autumn 2018. Being released alongside Graham is Reflection wheat, being another high […]

Government and agricultural leaders gather at Parliament to celebrate 50 years of Fieldays

Town and country came together in New Zealand’s capital last night to mark the 50th anniversary of New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays, which was first held in Hamilton in 1969. Leaders from government, agriculture and business gathered in the Grand Hall in Wellington’s Parliament for the function, which included speeches from Director-General of Ministry for Primary Industries, Martyn Dunne, and New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation. Fieldays is recognised as the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere. The official launch at Parliament is 90 days out from the 50th anniversary of Fieldays, which will be held 13-16 June at Mystery Creek near Hamilton. Mr Nation said it was an honour to be hosted at Parliament’s Grand Hall, which is a privilege only offered to non-profit organisations and community groups. “Parliament is the powerhouse of New Zealand, and the opportunity to have our 50th anniversary launch event there indicates the significance of Fieldays to the country,” said Mr Nation. “Fieldays is important to New Zealand’s primary industries. For 50 years we’ve been bringing urban and rural communities together and working to advance agriculture through technology, education, innovation and internationalisation.” The New Zealand National Fieldays Society board, and its president Peter Carr, also attended last night’s event, along with representatives from top New Zealand agricultural organisations and businesses. In addition, a large group of MPs attended, as well as senior officials from Ministry of Primary Industries and Callaghan Innovation, which demonstrated the strength of connections between Wellington and Mystery Creek, said Mr Nation. “We really value the support we’ve had over the years from local government and central government,” said Mr Nation. “Fieldays has always been a place that prime ministers and MPs have come to talk to farmers and take the pulse of the industry. Fieldays is a place […]

Massey University announced as partner of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society

In the picture:Massey University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Jane Thomas, signing an agreement with New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation. New Zealand National Fieldays Society, owner of the iconic Fieldays event in June, has a new partner in the form of Massey University. The university and Society signed the three-year initial term agreement earlier this month, ahead of the first Society board meeting to be held offsite since incorporation. Fieldays celebrates its 50th anniversary this year during the 13-16 June event at Mystery Creek near Hamilton. Nick Dromgool, GM Commercial for the Society, believes Massey University’s strong focus on the agricultural and health sectors makes it a strong partner for the Society and the Fieldays event. “Fieldays has been bringing rural and urban audiences together for 50 years, and we are very pleased about this connection with Massey University. Fieldays is a truly New Zealand event and we feel Massey’s ethos of being an accessible university through its many campuses and its distance learning is an excellent fit.” Massey University is well-known for agri-related study and research, and also has top equine, vet and food programmes. It has a strong focus on health and has many other unique schools within its campuses. The university was recently recognised in the 2018 QS World University Rankings, placing 22nd in the world’s universities for agriculture and forestry, and 23rd for veterinary science. College of Sciences Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Ray Geor says Massey is excited about connecting with the Society at a partnership level. “We are a strong supporter of Fieldays and have always had a large presence at the event. This year we are very pleased to be able to really cement that relationship,” he says. “Fieldays is a premier event, recognised in world agribusiness,” adds Professor Geor. “It’s an excellent fit […]

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Agriculture