Go woke!
OPINION: The Hound reckons the powers at Landcorp (or as they/them like to call themselves, Pāmu) are coming under the microscope with the new government in place.
State farmer Landcorp says it is working on creating a deer milk industry.
The SOE is talking to global customers and trialling products in markets for consumer feedback.
Landcorp general manager dairy operations Mark Julian told Dairy News it’s early days. “It’s [not] like the sheep milk industry which has products in the market,” he says.
The deer milk project is mostly R&D and looking at selective milk powder and skin care products for the global market.
Speaking earlier at the Pioneer Rural Professionals Conference in Taupo, Julian floated two possible futures for Landcorp: either a production-led future or a market-led future.
Landcorp is not looking at wholesale changes to its business model; it recently adapted Pamu as its brand name.
Julian says Pamu “works to establish products and partnerships to give our business the best chance of succeeding moving forward”.
He noted that Landcorp was keen to move from a pasture farming company to a food and farming company.
“Our core business will always be farming; our traditional sales will drive our revenue for the immediate future but brand business will provide us the consumer insights that hopefully take the risk out of our core business of farming.”
Julian says the sheep milk joint venture Spring Sheep, in Taupo, has been a winner: two years since its inception Spring Sheep has won awards for food and innovation.
“It’s a huge boost to our belief that differentiation and unique offerings are areas to target.”
It's been a bumper season for maize and other supplements in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.
AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
Te Awamutu dairy farmers Doug, Penny, Josh and Bayley Storey have planted more than 25,000 native trees on the family farm, adding to a generations-old native forest.
OPINION: The Government's recent announcement that methane targets will be reviewed is bringing relief to farmers.