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Paralympian coaches dairy farmers

Former Paralympic blade runner Liam Malone hopes to inspire dairy farmers to stay strong and continue rising above the challenges facing the sector when he speaks at the South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) next month. The two-day event run by farmers for farmers, with support from DairyNZ, is being held at the ILT Stadium in Invercargill on the 25th and 26th of June. The theme for this year’s event is “Creating Our Tomorrow”. Malone is among a line-up of diverse speakers, including All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka, set to share their experiences and advice with farmers to support them in their commitment to take dairy to the next level. The double-amputee, who was born with fibular hemimelia, is no stranger to overcoming adversity. As a teenager, he suffered anxiety and depression and admits he made some bad choices, but his turning point was the death of his mother. Malone decided to take control of his life, and just three years later won two gold medals at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. “I realised you can’t outrun your problems, you need to face them,” he says. “While the dairy sector has done a good job facing its challenges over the last decade, there continue to be more and understandably this has taken a toll on some farmers. I hope to provide them with tools to help them be more resilient.” Malone likened the journey dairy farmers are on to that of a marathon, not a sprint. He says while the changes are coming fast, they are constant, and farmers need to be prepared to stay the distance. “I’m sure at times farmers feel as though they’re in a race to meet all these new regulations and consumer expectations coming at them thick and fast and that the finish line seems […]

Shot by James Griffin of Edgeline Photography | www.edgeline.co.nz

High recognition of strong contribution to the dairy sector

DairyNZ congratulates passionate environmentalist, Taranaki dairy farmer Trish Rankin, on becoming the 2019 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year. “This is a very well-deserved recognition of Mrs Rankin’s commitment to dairying, her passion for environmental work on farm and the multiple roles she plays in the sector and community,” DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says. “We are very lucky to have Mrs Rankin involved in a number of key initiatives with us that are making a difference.” Mrs Rankin is a DairyNZ Dairy Environment Leader (DEL) – a group of farmers who work to achieve better outcomes for the environment and farming. They make things happen in many areas such as water quality and assist other farmers to improve their environmental performance. They are active in their communities at grass-roots level in different ways, such as on boards and local committees. Mrs Rankin is the chair of the Taranaki DEL group. Among a wide range of roles, Mrs Rankin is a contractor to DairyNZ as a Dairy Women’s Network module developer, a NAIT technical user advisor, and is involved in the Dairy Industry Awards. In 2018 she was elected onto the National Executive for the NZ Dairy Awards and last year was selected as a DairyNZ Climate Change Ambassador as part of the Dairy Action for Climate Change. DairyNZ Climate Change Ambassadors are a group of 15 farmers throughout the country who work with farmers to build their understanding of climate change, and they also provide a farmer voice. “Mrs Rankin is always involved in things that are going to benefit the dairy sector, the environment and the community,” Dr Mackle says. “She is also keenly interested in contributing to the public perception of dairying.” As well as being a part-time teacher, Mrs Rankin and her husband Glen sharemilk […]

Skills needed to remain competitive

-Doug Green, Publisher Every now and again we step outside the square and have a good, long look at what we are doing. So it should be with manufacturing. Specifically, to enhance the awareness of just what it is the modern New Zealand manufacturer does. Part of that, of course, is to recognise the contribution manufacturing brings to the New Zealand economy. The design, original concept processes that add so much to what is eventually made and finds its way on overseas markets. Manufacturers are modernising their technologies, equipment, systems and infrastructure consistently and applying that sophistication to their materials and production in an effort to create jobs and reduce energy costs. The jobs themselves are changing too. New, modern ways of manufacturing require highly-skilled workers. The current Government, to this end, needs to sought out what kind of ITOs will be in place to skill the workforce to play a key role in competitiveness on local and world markets. Developing talent is a real challenge and the changing nature of manufacturing is making it harder for talent to keep up. Government needs to invest more in manufacturers, their suppliers and interested stakeholders to create workforce development programs that train and equip workers with the right skills to remain competitive.

Creating an even stronger future for the New Zealand dairy sector

DairyNZ Farmers’ Forums are being held throughout the country in April and May, showcasing what a bright future the dairy sector has, the opportunities available and how New Zealand dairy can take control of the changes on the horizon. “We strive to be the best dairy producers in the world and we should be proud of what we have achieved so far. We are also always striving to be better and remain the top choice for our international consumers,” DairyNZ Chief Executive Tim Mackle says. “The forums will show how we can stay ahead and the science that is being worked on to ensure we meet environmental and animal welfare goals. New Zealand farmers are committed to looking after their cows, people, land and water, and the forums will help them farm with confidence. “We also want to provide inspiration for the next generation to get involved in what is an exciting sector with a bright future,” Dr Mackle says. The theme of the forums is Future perspectives – local and global impact. Inspirational speakers will explain the developments occurring in New Zealand and overseas, how they may impact local farmers and how farmers can prepare with confidence. Dr Mackle says if farmers know what’s coming, they can adapt to take advantage of new opportunities and respond to challenges. Each year the DairyNZ Farmers’ Forums alternate between a national event and regional events. Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor will speak at two of the six forums – Timaru (by video-conference) and Westport. Regional Economic Development Minister Hon Shane Jones will speak at the Whangarei forum. Keynote speakers will vary at each local event. They include Massey University Professor of Farm and AgriBusiness Management Prof Nicola Shadbolt, NZ Special Agricultural Trade Envoy Mike Petersen and NZX Limited Head of Analytics Julia […]

The critical role of IIoT in the future of food processing

Michael Cahill, Rockwell MES Technical Consultant As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. New Zealand food companies, that often produce high value-add product that is exported around the globe, value their brand and reputation. Things are changing. Customer expectations for food safety and quality are unprecedented. Expectations from regulatory authorities are increasing to meet ever growing market regulation. Demand for high safe products is driving growth at an unprecedented rate. The reality is the number of food recalls has been steadily increasing over the last decade, according to FSANZ’s 2009-2018 reporting. The lack of visibility in the early stages of production is leading to an increased amount of inedible product and is posing serious food safety compliance risks. With headline after headline, product traceability from paddock to plate is becoming more and more important. Any deviation in quality in the product line will involve significant wastage and financial burden on the organisation. A sustainable approach to maintain the highest standard of production quality is sought to meet these customer, regulator and growth challenges. Connecting the dots The rise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has emerged as a solution to this problem. IIoT platforms and advanced analytics now enable users to fuse multiple data sources to provide contextually relevant historical and real-time data. Add in AI and machine learning and food manufacturing is more predictive and intelligent than ever before, giving workers uncanny insight into how to solve issues and predict problems before they happen. The problem isn’t a lack of data but a lack of connectivity from food companies. IIoT has provided the tools to better verify quality, establish batch genealogy and capture meaningful processing data from beginning to end. It’s now the job of manufacturing plants and farms to […]

What do your motors really do?

In 1969, the first home security system was born, consisting of four peepholes and a camera that could be moved to look through any of them, broadcasting the images to a monitor. Nowadays, we can now stream and view a feed of our home security cameras on our mobiles, giving homeowners greater piece of mind. Here, Markus Brettschneider, of ABB’s food and beverage program, explains how food plant managers can add a similar level of connectivity to retrofit most motors with smart sensors to bring their plants to the digital age. Industry as a whole is utilising technologies and solutions enabled through the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Gartner predicts that 25 billion devices will be connected to the internet of things by 2020, with some agencies predicting even double this amount. This presents plant managers with a conundrum. Most food manufacturing and processing plants currently have motors powering essential equipment such as mixers, conveyors and packaging machines. These motors are just motors and do not play in the same league as the other intelligent devices in their factories. With years of service often left in the motors, it’s difficult for plant managers to justify replacing motors that work effectively for the sake of an upgrade with any smart features. However, there are alternatives to a complete overhaul in order to connect motors to the IIoT. Instead of investing in new, more intelligent or smart equipment, plant managers should invest in sensors that provide similar functionality to connected devices. For example, ABB offers smart sensors, which can be fitted to almost any standard low voltage induction motor. The pocket-sized sensor, dubbed ABB Ability Smart Sensor, is directly attached in a couple minutes to the motor’s frame, without wiring. By using sensors that feed performance data to the cloud through a […]

Synlait embarks on business transformation for growth and diversification

Synlait has chosen Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage to support its supply chain and manufacturing operations and growth as part of a five-year business transformation plan. The goal is to modernise and streamline operations for the integrated dairy business, one with over 150,000 metric tonnes of annual sales volumes across domestic and international markets including Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Australasia. An existing Infor customer, Synlait is looking to improve employee engagement and increase operational efficacy and efficiency by aligning to best dairy industry practices. This will be facilitated and enabled by Infor’s food and beverage dairy industry specialised CloudSuite software-as-a-service (SaaS) enterprise solution. “The foundation of our business is all about partnering with other businesses and people who share our passion and commitment to excellence, integrity, and quality,” said Chris France, director of strategy and business transformation, Synlait. “Infor is a strategic partner for our business transformation plan with its ability to help us leverage dairy industry expertise, data insights and real-world knowledge via its innovative Infor CloudSuite F&B solution.” “Infor understands the unique challenges of the food and beverage industry in the Australia and New Zealand markets, and is committed to continue delivering finely-tuned industry-specific solutions in the cloud to help our customers maximise efficiencies and accelerate growth,” said Helen Masters, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Infor Asia Pacific and Japan.

Fonterra to recognise high performing farms

In line with key themes emerging from its new strategy, Fonterra today announced details of its new approach to sustainability on farm. The Co-operative Difference will make it easier for farmers to know what is expected today and in the future, as well as recognise those farmers who are taking steps to produce high quality milk in a more sustainable way. The farmer-owned Co-operative has signalled its new strategy will put sustainability at the heart of everything it does, empower the Co-op to maximise its New Zealand heritage and uniqueness, and help it to remain a globally competitive New Zealand co-operative. Co-operative Affairs Managing Director Mike Cronin says, “Sustainability for our Co-op is about more than the environment. It’s about looking after our people, caring for animals, adapting to changing customer and consumer expectations, and respecting the communities and land where we live and work. “We are proud of the global reputation Fonterra farmers have for producing high quality milk. Farmers have made tremendous progress on farm to date and The Co-operative Difference will help us take that good work to the next level so we can continue to create goodness for generations to come.” The Co-operative Difference will support the Co-op’s emerging strategy direction by: recognising farmers who go beyond the minimum requirements to supply high-quality milk, care for their animals, protect the environment, support their people and community, and engage in their Co-operative; helping other farmers follow suit by making existing on-farm requirements easier to understand and by providing tailored, industry-leading support services to those who want to improve;providing more information and advance notice to farmers about our future aspirations so they can plan and progress towards our shared ambitions; streamlining reporting and auditing to save farmers’ time and energy, and help the Co-op protect its market position, […]

Partnership farm trials show GHG possibilities

An 18-month long project to understand how changes on farm to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may impact a farms profitability and productivity has come to fruition, with the results for the Owl demonstration farm in Cambridge released today by DairyNZ. “Our aim was to model and apply practical measures to see how we can adapt New Zealand’s highly efficient pastoral farm systems to meet New Zealand’s climate change goals,” says DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle. “The outcome of this project is important to helping us understand the impact of making improvements or changes to how a farm operates in order to reduce emissions and nitrogen leaching.” Twelve farms across New Zealand took part in the Partnership Farm Project, modelling 44 different farm systems. The Owl Farm results are the first of a series that will be launched over the coming weeks. The farmers who took part in this project are now looking closely at the changes that have been recommended to them to decide whether they implement these on their farm. “One clear message from the work is that every farm is different and there isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ package of changes that every farmer can use,” says Dr Mackle. “But they can learn from these case studies to compare against their own farm and see what might be possible.” “The other clear message is to measure, or estimate, biological greenhouse gas emissions – to know your numbers – as that is the first step to knowing how to manage them.” On Owl farm, one of the modelled farm management changes involved reducing feed use and lowering the stocking rate. This is expected to result in a 21 percent increase in profitability alongside a 14 percent reduction in nitrogen leaching and 13 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigations modelled on […]

Dairy plays a key role in latest economic success

The dairy sector is thrilled to see that its significant contribution to the New Zealand economy is affirmed in the latest Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries 2019 report. “It is great to see this acknowledgement of the huge part that the dairy sector plays in the economy,” DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says. The Ministry for Primary Industries March 2019 report says dairy export revenue is forecast to rise 5.5 percent to $17.6 billion for the year ending June 2019, up from 13.3 billion in 2016, 14.6 billion in 2017 and 16.7 billion in 2018. Increased milksolids production translated into higher export volumes; and a reversal of declines in key dairy commodity prices at the end of 2018 continued into 2019. Total dairy exports for the six months ended December 2018 grew 3.8 percent to $8.7 billion compared to the previous year. There continues to be strong international demand for dairy, including from China. Dairy exports to China, as our largest trading partner, are up 16.6 percent to $3.2 billion for the six months ended December 2018 compared to the previous year. “For New Zealand’s dairy farmers, the strong production, a recovery of export commodity prices, and a weaker NZD should help ease downward pressure on farm level profitability for the current season. We have accordingly adjusted our all company average farm gate milksolids payout forecast for the 2018/19 season upwards to $6.41 (including dividend),” the MPI report says. Dr Mackle says the dairy sector contributes to national and regional economic development, supports New Zealanders’ wellbeing and employs more than 46,000 workers nationwide. The latest dairy achievements align with the dairy sector’s strategy, Dairy Tomorrow, which has an aspiration to improve the lives of New Zealanders with every drop of milk, Dr Mackle says. “The continuing success of […]

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