New scholarship to grow female leaders in dairy
A new $50,000 scholarship fund designed to support and empower women in the New Zealand dairy industry through leadership development has been launched.
Lely regional sales manager Paul Gilling and farm management support advisor Briar Loveridge present at the Dairy Women's Network Step Up Together Taupo Conference earlier this year.
Dairy Women's Network is joining forces with robotics company Lely to raise awareness about milking cows automatically.
Farmers interested in introducing robotics to the cowshed in the coming years need to plan for certain requirements and DWN says the partnership creates opportunities for dairy farmers around the country to learn more about the standards they need to meet and new technology as it becomes available to the industry, through its events and workshops.
Automation and big data are the focus for Lely, while practical events and connection with dairy farmers are the focus for DWN.
Combining these two focuses through a formalised partnership opens up another aspect of technology for farmers to explore – one that complements the existing technology of companies like Allflex and the knowledge hubs that are already provided, says DWN chief executive Jules Benton.
“We’re proud to welcome Lely to the DWN family of partners. Like us, they are driven to meet the demands of the industry and make our farmers’ lives easier,” says Benton.
“Our work happens to intersect at the growing of farmers’ knowledge and we are certain that our members will get a lot of value out of this new partnership.”
Lely Centre manager, Lawrence Holden, is looking forward to seeing the relationship between the two organisations develop to suit the changing needs of the primary industries sector.
“We are excited to see what the future of the industry looks like as more DWN members discover Lely and the opportunities for on-farm robotics.” Lely’s goal is to link all data available on milking, feeding and breeding, enabling farmers to make the right decisions and work even more efficiently.
According to the latest Federated Farmers banking survey, farmers are more satisfied with their bank and less under pressure, however, the sector is well short of confidence levels seen last decade.
Farmer confidence has taken a slight dip according to the final Rabobank rural confidence survey for the year.
Former Agriculture Minister and Otaki farmer Nathan Guy has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE).
Alliance Group has commissioned a new heat pump system at its Mataura processing plant in Southland.
Fonterra has slashed another 50c off its milk price forecast as global milk flows shows no sign of easing.
Meat processors are hopeful that the additional 15% tariff on lamb exports to the US will also come off.