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DairyNZ: Zero Carbon Bill a mixed bag for farmers

DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is describing the Zero Carbon Bill as a ‘mixed bag’ for farmers, while urging all political parties to work together to find consensus on a pathway forward. “The agricultural sector has engaged positively and constructively in this process over the past 18 months to help craft a piece of legislation that is both consistent with a 1.5-degree pathway and fair for farmers” Dr Mackle said. “We support the key architecture in the Bill. This includes the establishment of an Independent Climate Change Commission, carbon budgeting and, in particular, a split gas approach that recognises methane is different to other greenhouse gasses”. The key point of contention remains the methane reduction targets. “Both farmers, officials, and politicians have sought a science-based target for methane, but the sheer breadth of differing scientific opinion and politics has ultimately made this a difficult exercise for all involved” Dr Mackle said. “DairyNZ remain firmly opposed to the Governments methane reduction range of 24 – 47% as we believe it is out of step with what science requires and rural economies can sustain. “That being said, sending the target to the Commission for review could be a pragmatic way to give everyone confidence that a scientifically sound approach has been taken. “Farmers have never been afraid of the facts. They simply want a methane target that is fair and firmly grounded in the best available science, applied in a New Zealand context. “We strongly encourage a review of the methane target by the Commission as early as possible – preferably by 2021 in time for the setting of the first emissions budgets” Dr Mackle said. An independent Commission is best placed to explore the IPCC’s global scenarios, the assumptions they have made, and whether or not broadly aligning with the […]

Alliance Group distributes $15.2 million in loyalty payments

Food and solutions co-operative Alliance Group has paid its farmer shareholders a further $1.67 million in loyalty payments, bringing the total distributed for the season to $15.2 million. The quarterly payments have been made to the co-operative’s Platinum and Gold shareholders who supply 100 per cent of their livestock to the company. The latest payments cover the July to September period. Last season, Alliance paid out $14.6 million in loyalty payments to shareholders. Alliance Group Chief Executive David Surveyor said the increase on last season is good news for farmer shareholders. “Our loyalty payments programme rewards our farmers for committed and consistent supply. As a co-operative, we are focused on ensuring the interests of our shareholders are at the heart of every decision we make. Farmer shareholders also benefit in other ways including yield contracts, priority processing, an opportunity to participate in premium portfolio opportunities and free store stock facilitation.” Platinum and Gold shareholders are paid an additional 10 cents per kilogram for each lamb, six cents/kg for a sheep, 8.5 cents/kg for cattle and 10 cents/kg for deer. Alliance will be holding its Annual Meeting at Orlando Country, 748 Rangitikei Line, Palmerston North, on Wednesday 18 December, at 5:00pm.

Science New Zealand Awards honour Plant & Food Research scientists

A team that has developed a ground-breaking wildfish harvesting system, a leading environmental scientist and an emerging plant geneticist from Plant & Food Research were amongst the 21 scientists and research teams recognised at Science New Zealand 2018 National Awards at Parliament in Wellington. The Precision Seafood Harvesting (PSH) Team* is the recipient of the Plant & Food Research Team Award. The team has created and developed a world-leading technology that is changing the way New Zealand fishes – the Modular Harvesting System (MHS). It answers the need for a more environmentally-sustainable way of fishing that maximises quality and limits impact to non-target catch. The development of the system put the needs of the fish at the centre of the design process, using the team’s deep understanding of fish physiology and behaviour to allow fish to be landed alive. This allows non-target catch to potentially be returned to the sea, and delivers fish that are less stressed and fatigued in better condition for export. Through the PSH Primary Growth Partnership, a collaboration was formed between Plant & Food Research, three seafood companies (Moana, Sanford and Sealord) and the Ministry for Primary Industries to commercialise the MHS. The MHS has since received landmark approvals from Fisheries New Zealand for use in some inshore and deepwater fisheries with species that account for 57% of the country’s $650 million finish exports. Dr Brent Clothier has been presented with the Plant & Food Research Lifetime Achievement Award. As a world-leading soil and water scientist with 44 years of research experience, Dr Clothier has enhanced our understanding of the natural capital that the environment provides to grow our crops and to make informed land use decisions. His work on water footprinting, soil science and climate change has prepared our primary production systems for tomorrow’s challenges. […]

EastPack recognised as Tauranga Business of the Year 2019

EastPack, New Zealand’s largest Kiwifruit post-harvest company had a very successful night at the Westpac Tauranga Business Awards 2019 on Friday, picking up four awards including the ACC Workplace Health and Safety award, the Business Innovation award, the Manufacturing and Distribution award, and the supreme award of Tauranga Business of the Year 2019. “Each of these awards would have been a great achievement in its own right but we were delighted and humbled to be recognised across so many categories and to get the big prize at the end of the night,” says EastPack Chief Executive Hamish Simson. The recognition comes as EastPack moves closer to its goal of increasing fruit volumes to over 50 million trays in the next five years. It’s on track, having doubled throughput from 19 million trays in 2012 to 41 million trays in 2018. EastPack has also celebrated a number of industry firsts in recent years including the opening of the industry’s first fully-automated lights out coolstore in May. EastPack is focused on building people, plant and process capability to maintain performance and employee engagement during rapid industry growth. “EastPack is proud to be part of this business community and with our people, culture and enthusiasm for our industry, we will help keep this region a great place to live and work,” says Simson. “I would like to thank our team for their passion and hard work that has enabled us all to get EastPack to where we are today. This is a celebration of how far we have come in the last few years, and gives us confidence that we have the team, culture and ability to make the exciting future ahead of us a great success. “We are proud to be part of this business community and look forward to supporting the […]

Who will pick up Essential Freshwater’s $80b price tag?

Excessively stringent freshwater policies that won’t achieve significantly better water quality outcomes will cost New Zealanders more than $80 billion over the next thirty years, says DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle. “The water quality limits under Essential Freshwater are so severe that the net result is a significant economic loss, both regionally and nationally, potentially without the environmental gains they are hoping for,” Dr Mackle said. “An $80 billion price tag equates to a cost of over $38,000 for every household in the country, according to independent and robust economic analysis of the Essential Freshwater proposals. “These costs are more than three times higher in Southland, Taranaki and the West Coast. Here, they rise to around $120,000 per household. “This will have a devastating impact on regional employment, too. Our analysis shows that there will be an extra 800 households in Southland and 1000 in Taranaki left with a breadwinner out of work. “These are significant costs to be borne, particularly in rural communities, and they should not be taken lightly. “These points emphasise the role of dairy farming as the economic engine of the regions where there is no guarantee another sector will replace it. “By 2050 this will be costing the country $6 billion per year – equivalent to the cost of unmitigated climate change in that year, predicted by the OECD. “Our current scientific understanding and economic modelling indicates there is a more pragmatic way to achieve similar environmental outcomes at less cost to the economy and communities,” said Dr Mackle. “To be clear, the Essential Freshwater policy isn’t all about economics or money. Healthy and swimmable waterways are important to all New Zealanders, including dairy farmers, who share the same aspirations to protect our rivers, lakes and wetlands.   “Up to twenty percent of New Zealand waterways run […]

Jim-Curran-of-Alliance-Groups-Lorneville-Plant-near-Invercargill-tries-out-the-exoskeleton-NZFood-website

Meat processing sector trials ‘wearable’ technology to reduce injuries

New wearable technology designed to reduce the risk of injury is being trialled by New Zealand’s meat processing sector. The Suit-X Exoskeleton is a spring-loaded, non-mechanical device worn by workers to provide strength and support for mechanical and repetitive tasks. The suits reduce forces, cutting the risk of injury and increasing productivity, especially during periods of sustained bending and overhead reaching. The back and shoulder suits, which can be worn on their own or together, do not impede everyday tasks such as walking, driving or climbing a ladder. They do not require the use of computers or batteries. A study using surface sensors on the muscles during scaffold building demonstrated a 45 per cent reduction in muscle activity required for the task. Developed in the United States by Suit-X, the Exoskeleton technology was recently demonstrated at a series of workshops across the country by the Australian-based company Biosymm, supported by the Meat Industry Association (MIA) and WorkSafe New Zealand. Tim Ritchie, chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, says investing in technology is playing a pivotal role in the sector’s efforts to improve its health and safety performance. “We have significantly reduced the injury rates over time, with the number of ACC injury claims more than halving since 2004. However, we are committed to lifting our performance further by exploring new technologies to remove or reduce risk. “We believe good health and safety is more than compliance. We have a responsibility to look after our people to ensure they go home safe and well.” The MIA and WorkSafe New Zealand signed a Partnership Agreement in April 2018, says Mr Ritchie. “We are committed to sharing intelligence on critical harm and injury trends and issues, facilitating industry-good research to reduce injuries and illness, assisting in worker involvement, and supporting health and […]

Fieldays significant economic contribution

Fieldays continues to contribute significantly to the regional and national economy, according to the recent Economic Impact Report conducted by Dr Warren Hughes of the New Zealand Institute for Business Research at the University of Waikato. An impressive $549M in sales revenue for New Zealand firms was generated by the event with $183M going into the Waikato region alone. This national sales revenue figure is an increase of over $50M from last year’s figures. Based on the official event attendance figures for 2019 of 128,747, it shows that each person though the gate contributes around $4,200 to the economy. New Zealand National Fieldays Society General Manager of Commercial Nick Dromgool speaks of the fantastic results shown in this year’s Economic Impact Report. “It’s really encouraging to see such great numbers in terms of economic contribution, employment and GDP from this year’s Economic Impact Report of Fieldays. We heard from several of our bigger exhibitors that this was a good year for them so it’s great to have this backed up by the numbers,” says Dromgool. The report states that over 2,000 full-year jobs have been sustained in the New Zealand economy from the 2019 event with almost 900 jobs sustained specifically in the Waikato region. Another impressive figure from the report was that $247M of additional GDP was generated for the New Zealand economy which is an increase of $21M from 2018. $80M was also added to Waikato’s GDP. The event also proved hugely beneficial to the Waikato region with it estimated that every gate entry resulted in $312 in direct spending in the Waikato hospitality sectors including accommodation, restaurants, bars and retail trade. The estimated brand value of Fieldays continues to rise with it being estimated conservatively at $610M following the 2019 event. This is a promising increase of […]

Farmers now able to estimate how much carbon their tree blocks

New Zealand farmers can now estimate how much carbon their tree blocks are sequestering thanks to a new addition to OverseerFM. The carbon stock tool in OverseerFM uses data from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Carbon Look-up Tables to estimate the carbon sequestration potential for existing and future tree blocks on a farm. The new tool adds to OverseerFM’s existing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions analysis tool, which models the farm’s biological emissions (methane, nitrous oxide) and carbon dioxide as well as product footprint. “Farmers, rural professionals and the sector have told us they want a tool to help them make more informed decisions around the potential carbon sequestration impact of planting tree blocks on farm,” says Caroline Read, chief executive of Overseer. “The new feature provides an easy way of understanding the positive environmental impact of tree blocks and better representation of their farm systems. “The carbon stock tool is a valuable addition to our OverseerFM GHG emissions analysis suite, whichenables farmers to test different management approaches to reduce emissions on their farm and ton increase their farm sustainability. “The unique capability of OverseerFM enables a holistic approach to farm environment planning inthat you can see the impact on Nitrogen, Phosphorus and GHG at the same time and avoid pollution swapping.” Overseer is also working with Scion to understand if different forest management practices will havea material impact on carbon stocks, she says. “The addition of this tool represents the next step in our strategy to partner with the farming community and enable New Zealand farms to be more environmentally and economically sustainable. “Our software provides farmers and their advisors with better information about nutrient management so they can make better decisions to lift environmental performance. “Using OverseerFM means farmers can understand what they are emitting into the environment and […]

Robust science and partnerships crucial for freshwater

DairyNZ’s submission on the proposed Essential Freshwater package identifies the solutions needed to deliver lasting improvements for water quality and ecosystem health in New Zealand, while protecting our economy. Healthy and swimmable waterways are important to all New Zealanders, including dairy farmers, who share the same aspirations to protect our rivers, lakes and wetlands. “DairyNZ supports targeted efforts to halt further degradation of our freshwater resources, together with improved farming practices which we know will lead to meaningful outcomes,” said DairyNZ strategy and investment leader, Dr David Burger. “Under the Essential Freshwater proposal, there are policies we do and don’t support. Those we don’t support are due to a lack of robust supporting science linking the proposed policy to water quality outcomes, and we believe there are better ways to achieve similar results. “Our economic impact analysis indicates these policies we don’t support could have a very significant impact on New Zealand’s GDP and export income. Addressing New Zealand’s water quality challenges also requires a collaborative approach that goes beyond simply focusing on nutrients such as nitrogen. “We are also concerned that the Essential Freshwater package is not underpinned by a comprehensive economic assessment of impacts on the dairy sector or the broader economy, given dairy makes up nearly one-third of New Zealand’s exported goods and provides 46,000 jobs.” DairyNZ is proposing an alternative to manage ecosystem health, based on strengthening existing standards for nitrogen toxicity to further protect sensitive indigenous species. “Our current scientific understanding and economic modelling indicates this is a more pragmatic way to achieve similar environmental outcomes at less cost to the economy and communities,” said Dr Burger. “The Government and dairy farmers can work together to deliver lasting water quality gains at a more rapid pace, and at significantly less socio-economic cost than some of the current proposals.” Dr Burger said their organisation’s submission spans key elements which will deliver for freshwater – in particular, ensuring changes are based on robust science and partnerships across government, industry and community, and will deliver enduring outcomes. “We all have a shared vision. As […]

Bipartisan support for Zero Carbon Bill gives farmers certainty

DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming todays bipartisan support of the Zero Carbon Bill as a positive step forward for New Zealand farmers. “We are pleased that the Zero Carbon Bill has managed to achieve a degree of bipartisan support that will give farmers certainty into the future” Dr Mackle said. “All the key elements of the Bill, including the establishment of a Climate Change Commission, a split gas approach for methane and the creation of carbon budgets have strong bipartisan support – and the support of the agricultural sector. “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the methane reduction targets. “DairyNZ remain firmly opposed to the Governments methane reduction range of 24 – 47% as we believe it is out of step with what science requires and rural economies can sustain. “This is not a scientific target, but a political one” Dr Mackle added. “We are encouraged that Minister Shaw has indicated he is considering sending the methane target to the Commission to receive independent advice. DairyNZ very much welcomes this. “It is important this is done quickly. The Commission is asked to recommend the first three carbon budgets, out to 2035, by early 2022. We need clarity on the methane target before this is done. “DairyNZ has confidence that the Zero Carbon Bill puts in place the right institutional arrangements to eventually deliver a fair methane reduction target for farmers. “We will be working with the Government and other sector bodies to ensure this happens. “Farmers have never been afraid of the facts. They simply want a methane target that is fair and firmly grounded in the best available science, applied in a New Zealand context” Dr Mackle concluded.

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