Dairy

South Island dairy farmers embrace a dynamic future

Over 420 dairy farmers gathered in Oamaru on day one of the South Island’s largest dairy sector event – SIDE 2022 – to build their skills and discuss solutions to challenges facing the farming sector. The SIDE theme is dynamic and SIDE chair Anna Wakelin opened the event by saying that farmers across New Zealand are taking control of their futures and standing up for positive change. “We’re on the right track. It’s tough, but we can be proud of our low carbon footprint, our innovation and progress, and our work which supports communities through the bad times and the good. “It’s staggering that just 11,000 dairy farms contribute almost $21 billion to New Zealand’s economy,” she added. The first keynote speakers farmers Geoff and Justine Ross of Lake Hawea Station shared their story of how they became New Zealand’s first carbon positive certified farm. The couple developed 42 Below vodka, then later left their Auckland home to farm in Otago. They applied their knowledge of marketing and branding to their farming businesses and visited their international customers to understand their needs. “We saw an opportunity to create carbon positive wool produced to the highest animal welfare standards, using a new shearing model based on care for the sheep, which fashion brands would be prepared to pay a premium for,” Geoff explains. “Having to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is creating a lot of anxiety amongst farmers, but we can also see this as an opportunity.” The couple are excited about the opportunities to reduce emissions by using voluntary native carbon credits, asparagopsis seaweed, vaccines, selective breeding, changing stock diets, and other emerging technologies. Justine finished with the message that farmers can contribute to finding climate solutions, and that they should be brave and share their stories with the world as […]

Farmers continue to deliver, despite the odds

Today’s primary sector report shows New Zealand dairy farmers have overcome the odds – despite rising input costs, labour shortages, fewer cows and less production they have still delivered for our national economy. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said MPI’s Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report projecting the dairy sector will be worth $21.6b this year – trending toward $24b by 2026 – is a significant milestone for farmers. “Farmers really are being challenged right now. Input costs and staff shortages are testing our farmers as we head into the busiest part of the year, when the impacts of stress will be felt the most. Farmers are also delivering on environmental work and implementing policy changes on farms too,” said Dr Mackle. “So to hear that their work is truly delivering for New Zealand – and there’s a bright future for our food products – will buoy farmers as they refine their farm systems to continue delivering product that’s in demand.” The report said farm management and advancing technology will help deliver increased on-farm productivity. “Cow numbers are falling but the work being done by farmers to improve dairy cow genetics and adopt new technologies is expected to pay dividends. It’s a signal that our on-farm productivity can continue to thrive, thanks to advances in farm management practices. “Importantly, this bodes well for work to be done for climate change solutions. We are actively exploring technology solutions and today’s report sends a positive message just how well our sector does that.” More importantly, Dr Mackle said the report is a reminder of the value of New Zealand’s primary industries to our national economy. “The work our farmers do daily to deliver a world-class product that is low carbon footprint continues to be sought-after,” says Dr Mackle. “We know […]

Fonterra provides 2022/23 opening forecast Farmgate milk price and update on business performance

Fonterra has announced its 2022/23 opening forecast Farmgate Milk Price and provided an update on its third-quarter performance. The opening forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the 2022/23 season is set at $8.25 – $9.75 per kgMS, with a midpoint of $9.00 per kgMS. CEO Miles Hurrell says the strong opening forecast reflects continued demand for dairy coupled with constrained global supply. “The long-term outlook for dairy remains positive, despite recent geopolitical and COVID-19 related events impacting global demand in the short-term. “On the supply side, growth from key milk producing regions is expected to remain constrained as high feed, fertiliser and energy costs continue to impact production volumes. “These demand and supply dynamics are expected to support dairy prices in the medium to long-term. “However, we are operating in an increasingly volatile global environment and are managing a wider range of risks than usual. “This includes the potential for further impacts from COVID-19, financial markets and foreign exchange volatility, global inflationary pressures, a tightening labour market, increasing interest rates, geopolitical events, as well as the possible impact on demand from higher dairy prices. “This is why our 2022/23 forecast range is so wide at this point in the season.” For the 2021/22 season, Fonterra has maintained its 2021/22 forecast Farmgate Milk Price of $9.10 – $9.50 per kgMS. “At a midpoint of $9.30 per kgMS, this would be the highest forecast milk price in the Co-op’s history and would see us contribute almost $14 billion into the New Zealand economy through milk price payments.” Business performance For the nine months ending 30 April 2022, Fonterra’s sales volumes were down as a result of lower milk collections and the timing of sales due to short-term impacts on demand including the lockdowns in China, the economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the Russia-Ukraine […]

Human activity driving global plant evolution

Urbanisation is changing the evolution of plants in cities worldwide, new research shows. Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE), a ground-breaking study involving Lincoln University ecology senior lecturer William Godsoe, has found the clearest evidence yet that white clover is frequently evolving in cities all over the planet as a direct response to environmental changes caused by human activity. Humans constantly re-shape the environments where they live, dramatically altering ecosystems, with cities being among the most profoundly transformed environments on Earth. The collaborative project, led by evolutionary biologists at Canada’s University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), can be used to help better conserve rare species and allow them to adapt to urban conditions, while preventing pests and diseases from adapting to the same environments. The scientists chose to study white clover, as it is one of the few organisms present in almost every city in the world, providing a tool to understand how urban environments influence evolution. However, the implications reach far beyond the humble clover plant. Dr Godsoe said Christchurch was one of 160 cities surveyed by the scientists to understand how urbanisation shaped the evolution of clover. “In a global sense, the study showed that environmental conditions in cities tend to be more similar to each other than to nearby rural habitats, and Christchurch was no exception. “White clover typically produces hydrogen cyanide, both as a defence mechanism against grazing animals and to increase its tolerance to water stress. “However, when it grows in cities, it typically produces less of it, due to repeated adaptation to urban environments and the lack of herbivores and water stress in these areas.” In that regard, downtown Christchurch could be deemed more comparable to downtown Tokyo than to surrounding Canterbury farmland and forests. Dr Godsoe surveyed 40 sites between Moorhouse Ave and the […]

Fonterra, NZX and EEX enter GDT partnership for future growth

Fonterra has agreed a strategic partnership with New Zealand’s Exchange (NZX) and the European Energy Exchange (EEX) to each take ownership stakes in Global Dairy Trade (GDT) alongside the Co-op. Subject to the approval of Boards, clearance from European or any other relevant competition law authorities, and finalisation of transaction documentation, the partnership is expected to be completed mid-2022, with Fonterra, NZX and EEX each holding an equal one-third (33.33%) shareholding in the global dairy auction platform. Fonterra Chief Executive Miles Hurrell says the move to a broader ownership structure marks the next step in the evolution of GDT – further enhancing the standing of GDT as an independent, neutral, and transparent price discovery platform, giving it a presence in prominent international dairy producing regions, and creating future growth opportunities. “This is good news for our farmer owners, unit holders, and all dairy industry participants and is expected to lead to greater volumes being traded on GDT. It will bring more participants and transactions, stimulating further growth of risk management contracts available on financial trading platforms. “We all know that dairy is one of the most volatile traded commodities,” he says. “This partnership is another step in helping to manage this risk for everyone – from the farmer through to the customer at the end of the supply chain. A more liquid dairy trading environment allows for the growth of financial tools which can be used by all participants to better manage price volatility. “Our focus has been about securing the best partners, and NZX and EEX share our vision for a stronger, more liquid auction platform that benefits all involved. We are also closely aligned on future possibilities for GDT as the world’s most trusted reference point for dairy commodity prices.” NZX Chief Executive Mark Peterson says the price […]

DairyNZ campaign to attract more Kiwis to dairy

A young female farmer with a love of rural New Zealand is helping to launch DairyNZ’s latest campaign, which aims to give Kiwis a better understanding of what it means to be a dairy farmer. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Mackle says DairyNZ’s Join us campaign is part of a wider project – Here for the Long Game – aiming to help communities understand what drives dairy farmers, and how they are working to provide a better future for their farms, the land, their families, their communities, and New Zealand. “Dairy farmers are a core part of the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of communities throughout New Zealand, and our wider Here For the Long Game campaign is a platform for dairy farmers to share with other Kiwis who they are and what they do in a way that’s open and fun,” he says. “Welcoming and supporting new farming talent is vital to the sector’s long game, so we’re excited to launch a new campaign encouraging young Kiwis to get into the dairy sector,” he adds. The Join Us campaign looks into daily life on a farm – from working with machinery and technology, to caring for animals and the land. “It’s about showing young Kiwis that, for those keen to get stuck in, dairying offers a truly rewarding career and lifestyle. By joining us, you’re not only securing your own future, but becoming part of creating a better one for all New Zealanders.” The Join Us campaign is fronted by Eastern Bay of Plenty dairy farmer Shannon Munro, who has been dairy farming for about 10 years. With her husband and three children, Munro says they opted to move away from urban city life to provide a different upbringing for her young family. Her husband Steve was a builder and after the birth of their first son, she says […]

Where’s the meat? Employers and governments should have seen this supply crisis coming

Ema MoolchandPhD Candidate, RMIT University Shelley MarshallAssociate Professor and Director of the RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre, RMIT University Australian Day barbecues are under threat as Omicron infections continue to cripple meat-processing operations. Most off the menu are chicken dishes. Australia’s biggest poultry processor Ingham’s (with a 40% market share) has had to stop producing some items and curtail production of others. It’s affecting clients such as KFC, and supermarket meat shelves are largely bare. The Australian Chicken Meat Federation said last week breast fillets, drumsticks and chicken wings will be hard to find for at least several weeks. The response of employers and government has been to relax health protocols for meat workers, reducing isolation times and keeping them on the line if they have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19, or indeed even if they have the virus themselves. Teys Australia told COVID-positive staff at its Naracoorte beef abattoir in South Australia on January 9 they were required to work “as normal unless you are feeling unwell”. The Australian Meat Industry Employees Union warned this would see all 400 workers at the site infected. Woolworths, concerned about the bad look, suspended supplies from the abattoir (which resumed last week). This crisis in the industry was entirely predictable. Employers and the government should have seen it coming. Now, having failed to pursue reforms that could have helped mitigate it, they are grasping at quick fixes that compound the underlying problem. It’s as if nothing has been learned from the outbreaks of COVID-19 in meat-processing facilities in Australia and elsewhere since 2020. Meat works as transmission hotspots In 2020, meat-processing facilities ranked alongside cruise ships and health-care facilities as hotspots for COVID-19 transmission in Australia. Abattoirs were the major initial source of infections for the June infection wave in Melbourne that led to Victoria’s 112-day […]

Appointment to Milk Price Panel reflects Professorial Chair goals

Professor Hamish Gow’s new appointment to the Fonterra Milk Price Panel sits well with his role at Lincoln of being a leading New Zealand spokesperson on trade policy and global value chains. Professor Gow took up the Sir Graeme Harrison Professorial Chair in Global Value Chains and Trade in July 2021. The focus of the Chair is on excellence in research, teaching, and extension to address the challenges New Zealand agricultural exporters face in becoming integral parts of major value chains and combating behind-the-border trade barriers. Put forward by the Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor for the position, Professor Gow will be the inaugural ministerial nominated independent member of the Panel, as stipulated in the recent Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment Bill legislation. The purpose of the Panel is to provide assurances to the Board of Fonterra as to the governance of the Milk Price and the Milk Price Manual, and the proper application of the Milk Price Principles. The Panel is responsible for undertaking reviews of the Milk Price and the Milk Price Manual and supervising the calculation of the base milk price. Professor Gow has extensive research and industry experience in agribusiness innovation, strategy, and market analysis and has led market development projects in over 50 countries. He has also consulted to the European Commission, OECD, IFAD, USDA, USAID, UNIDO, FAO, World Bank, and numerous multinationals, farmers’ organisations, and governments. Dean of the Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce at Lincoln, Professor Hugh Bigsby, said the endowed chair by Sir Graeme Harrison was driven by his vision that the New Zealand food and fibre sector needed a strong, informed voice that can link education, research, government policy and industry to help inform and grow New Zealand’s exports. He said Professor Gow’s appointment would fulfil that mandate by bringing an academic […]

The Interview:George Moss, farmer

How long have you been farming? My wife Sharon and I have been farming together since 1983 and we are both from farming stock, Sharon from dairy and myself from dry-stock. We share-milked for 10 years prior to purchasing our first farm. What are you running on your properties? We have two small dairy farms running between 170 to 180 cows each plus a drystock unit running dairy replacements and dairy beef. Also leased out is some land to a forestry nursery. We retain calves on the dairy platform till 9 months old and run relatively low input systems by industry standards. How are you finding current business conditions? Climatically the extreme variations in the weather has meant that we need to be both more conservative in our approaches to feed management and more nimble on our feet. Milk prices are at record levels, which is great but inflation pressures are eating significantly into that. There has been substantial cost increases in fertilisers, fuel, wages, contracting costs and significant upward movement in interest rates. However, we are still positive about the future for our businesses and industry. How do you make improvements on your farms? We make improvements on the farm based on the concept of trying to future proof the businesses while working towards meeting changing consumer/public expectations and legislative changes. We endeavour to as a minimum to be at good practice and ideally at best practice when it comes to product quality, staff management and environmental impacts. We have a stated goal of endeavouring to design and manage our businesses to the benefit of all involved/impacted – so that is staff, environment and wider community through involvement and taxes paid through profits. By way of example, we have consciously been managing our nitrogen losses for over a decade […]

Why global food prices are higher today than for most of modern history

Global food prices shot up nearly 33% in September 2021 compared with the same period the year before. That’s according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)‘s monthly Food Price Index, which also found that global prices have risen by more than 3% since July, reaching levels not seen since 2011. The Food Price Index is designed to capture the combined outcome of changes in a range of food commodities, including vegetable oils, cereals, meat and sugar, and compare them month to month. It converts actual prices to an index, relative to average price levels between 2002 and 2004. This is the standard source for tracking food prices – nominal prices, as they’re known, which means they’re not adjusted for inflation. While nominal prices tell us the monetary cost of buying food in the market, prices adjusted for inflation (what economists call “real” prices) are much more relevant to food security – how easily people can access appropriate nutrition. The prices of all goods and services tend to rise faster than average incomes (though not always). Inflation means that not only do buyers need to pay more per unit for food (due to its nominal price increase), but they have proportionately less money to spend on it, given the parallel price increases of everything else, except their wages and other incomes. Back in August, I analysed the FAO’s inflation-adjusted Food Price Index and found that real global food prices were actually higher than in 2011, when food riots contributed to the overthrow of governments in Libya and Egypt. Based on real prices, it is currently harder to buy food on the international market than in almost every other year since UN record keeping began in 1961. The only exceptions are 1974 and 1975. Those food price peaks occurred following the oil price spike of 1973, which […]

‹ 1 2 3 4 ›»

News Ticker

Dairy