Ballance Kapuni plant hit by gas supply issues
Fertiliser co-operative Ballance has written down $88 million - the full value of its Kapuni urea plant in Taranaki - from its balance sheet in the face of a looming gas shortage.
Ballance chief executive Mark Wynne says criticism of the nutrient management tool Overseer is “very old-school”.
Critics are not aware of where Overseer is today, he says.
“Overseer is moving rapidly into a much more user-friendly tool; the science remains the complex part but the user face is much easier.”
Wynne says New Zealand had a choice: either control the input of nutrients as in Europe, or model the output of nutrients.
“In NZ we’ve chosen the outcome approach that allows farmers to be more entrepreneurial; it’s a messy journey to get where we want to be but the trends are right.
“Overseer is the tool for the job; it’s a modeling approach and works well.
“We have hitched our wagon to Overseer; it will be the core measurement tool used in NZ for a long time.”
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
Environment Southland's catchment improvement funding is once again available for innovative landowners in need of a boost to get their project going.
The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
OPINION: The phasing out of copper network from communications is understandable.