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2015 NZIAHS AGMARDT Technology Transfer Award

Diana Mathers from FAR is the recipient of the 2015 New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science AGMARDT Technology Transfer Award. The award was made in recognition of the significant impact of her work around environmental and economic sustainability on cropping farms. Diana is FAR’s Cropping Systems Research Manager, a role she has held for the last six years. In that time has worked hard to support cropping farmers in the areas of economic and environmental sustainability. The Technology Transfer Award recognised the significant impact of her work in both these areas, especially with regard to effective on-farm environmental management. The testimonial highlighted her work developing and delivering nutrient management plans, and more recently, a Farm Environment Plan template, for cropping farmers. Also mentioned was her work investigating cropping options and opportunities in relation to the proposed Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme, on-farm biodiversity projects and looking into the impacts of winter grazing on cropping farms. Diana’s extension work is backed up by her involvement in a number of national and regional research projects, which focus on ensuring high quality information is made available to farmers in a format that is easy to understand and apply. As well as the dairy grazing and biodiversity projects, Diana is involved in a national project assessing drainage and N loss from crop systems, national projects on Overseer evaluation and regional projects such as those assessing crop options for the Ruataniwha, and the Matrix for Good Management in Canterbury. In all these projects she focuses on using data collected on farm and farmers’ own records to inform improved on-farm decision making. Diana is also a representative on a number of regional council groups throughout New Zealand where she helps to ensure policy is practically aligned with farm practices, particularly in relation to nutrient management, […]

New Zealand Merino’s market-making model pays dividends

The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) has significantly lifted full-year profit and the dividend it will pay to its shareholders in 2014/15. NZM booked a $2.3 million net profit for the year, a 21% increase on the previous year. Shareholders, including 536 wool growers, will receive a total dividend of $1.15 million, up 23% on 2013/14. NZM chief executive John Brakenridge said the strong performance showed the company’s approach of value creation, as opposed to volume play, was a winning one. “Two decades ago fine wool was being dumped on the commodity market and sold at a discount to Australia. The growers knew they had a product that was undervalued and unrecognised. “So NZM was set up to maximise profitability and sustainability right across value chains; from market to grower. Key to this has been confronting volatility head on and establishing multi-year forward contracts that guarantee more stable prices for brands and growers alike.” By removing the boom-and-bust of commodity price cycles, NZM had generated more than $30 million in additional income for growers, across wool and meat programmes, in the past three years compared to returns via traditional commodity systems, said Mr Brakenridge. “This past year we’ve continued to grow our business through establishing new contracts with luxury and active apparel brands such as Loro Piana and Reda in Italy, New Zealand brand Icebreaker and Colorado-based SmartWool. “We’ve also extended our offering into strong wool, where we see excellent potential across the board through innovation. There’s great complementary between strong wool and our fine wool business. “It’s no good sitting back and waiting for the market to come to you. We want to shape it and secure exclusive deals with the world’s leading brands.” In April, NZM secured a two-year contract with Danish footwear firm Glerups to exclusively supply […]

China still burns brightly for NZ agribusiness

“China is far from finished as a key driver of growth for the New Zealand agribusiness sector,” says Hayden Dillon, Head of Corporate Agribusiness for Crowe Horwath. Despite recent negative market commentary coming out of China, Dillon, who recently toured our largest trading partner with the BNZ’s Port to Plate tour, was optimistic for the future of New Zealand agribusiness, while acknowledging the challenges that go with doing business in China. “China is large, complex and changing faster than we can possibly understand. There is no simple headline or strategy to sum up this market, but there is also no doubt it is still the most valuable opportunity to New Zealand agribusiness,” said Dillon. In reference to reported drops in Chinese import numbers, Dillon points out it’s important to read between the lines and focus on the key numbers for New Zealand exporters. “While Chinese imports did drop year-on-year to August 2015 by 13.8%, food imports grew by up to 25%. This might be bad news for the likes of Prada, Audi and other luxury brands, but the story for New Zealand, who is exporting food and food technology, is very strong,” said Dillon. Dillon does not see this trend of rising food imports changing anytime soon. “It’s about feeding the dragon. China has a rapidly growing population with rising incomes and is far from reaching its satisfaction point in regards to food demand,” he said. The changing diets in China were explained to Dillon and his tour party of New Zealand agribusiness specialists by the Agricultural Development Bank of China. The Bank indicated growing demand for edible oil, meat and dairy will continue to increase, while rice consumption per capita will decrease. Dillon notes that China is also beginning to see demand increase for what it calls “green” products, […]

Tasman Young Farmers focus on development at inaugural event

Tasman regional Young Farmers are gearing up for one of their biggest events of the year. The Tasman Regional Skills Weekend will take place on 26 and 27 September at the Mandeville Sport Grounds. The two day event aims to upskill it’s Young Farmers and TeenAg members across four main areas: Animal Health, Maintenance, Agronomy and Personal Development. New Zealand Young Farmers (NZYF) Tasman Field Officer Teaghan Lourie says the inaugural event is the first of many events dedicated to development in the region. “The Tasman Region is focused on developing our member’s practical and technical skills. This event is the first step on that journey”. The other unique aspect of the event is the deliberate involvement of TeenAg members, the Secondary School version of Young Farmers. “The inclusion of TeenAg in this event was a no brainer. The transition between TeenAg and Young Farmers can be a bit scary, so this is about bridging that gap between the two levels and continuing to build our talent pipeline”. The Saturday is solely focused on learning new skills from industry experts. The four categories are broken down into 18 different modules: Animal Health – Velvet Grading, Q+A with a Vet, Rousie Skills, use of animal drugs and Breeding. Maintenance – Farm Implements, Motorbikes, Welding, Fencing and Chainsaws. Agronomy – Pasture, Seeds, Irrigation, Soils and Fertiliser. Personal Development – Debating, Interview Skills and Public Speakers. Each module runs for 20 minutes except the Personal Development modules running for 35 minutes. There are 90 participants registered for Saturday activities. On Saturday night the Waimak Young Farmers Club are running a “Traffic Light Dance” at the Mandeville Sports Club while TeenAg members will have a movie night. Most participants are camping onsite. Sunday morning will see some of the skills put into practise for […]