Biosecurity award for M. bovis work
A small company which mobilised veterinarians around the country to deal with Mycoplasma bovis was one of the winners in this year's Biosecurity Awards, held at Parliament.
Tax implications for farmers receiving big Mycoplasma bovis compensation payments is one of the issues farmers are raising in meetings now underway NZ-wide.
The MPI-organised meetings include public and closed-door, day-long sessions with affected farmers, described by one MPI staffer as “robust”.
Speaking to Rural News after the farmers’ session in Ashburton, MPI’s director of response Geoff Gwyn acknowledged some anger from the affected farmers but said it was a “mixed bag”.
“Some farmers are standing up and saying this has been the worst experience of their life and they have real examples of it not having worked well for them,” he conceded.
“Then there’ve been other farmers who say ‘actually this was difficult at the time, but it went quite smoothly for me’.”
Gwyn says one issue not previously considered in any detail was the tax implications for farmers getting compensation. He says MPI’s advice had always been to talk to Inland Revenue. “Farmers are more interested in some sort of formal position by Inland Revenue so I’ll be talking to my IRD colleagues about what we can do in that space.”
Gwyn says their aim in the meetings is to listen to farmers to understand how the experience is affecting them and make the process as easy as possible.
“We receive feedback from the farmers on how this process can be better and we make changes to reflect that. [It may be] how we better support them in welfare and recovery, or how we give them more certainty on testing timeframes, which is difficult,” he told Rural News.
Gwyn told the meeting that everyone involved in the decision to go for eradication knew it was “a bit of a punt”, but it was the only chance the country had.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.