PGG Wrightson Revenue Tops $1.1b as Profit Jumps 46%
After delivering a strong financial year, rural trader PGG Wrightson says the coming months will depend on customer confidence and weather.
The categories have been finalised, the schedules have been sent out, and it's now time for cheese makers across the globe to get their entries in for this key industry competition.
The Global Cheese Awards, which are hosted by the annual Frome Cheese and Agricultural Show, are open to everyone in the cheese industry, from the smallest specialist producers who use unique recipes handed down over generations, right through to large creameries and major manufacturers.
This important dairy industry event will be held this year on September 7 in Somerset, UK where judging will take place and trophies are presented to class winners. Organisers want to see more entries from Australia and New Zealand.
It will build further on the unprecedented success of the 2011 Awards, which saw a spectacular 60% rise in entries, and attracted suppliers, retailers and manufacturers from across the UK and, for the first time, internationally.
The Global Cheese Awards are now firmly established as one of the UK's most significant calendar dates for all those involved in the cheese and dairy industry.
Competition chairman, Nigel Pooley, is keen to build on last year's success and raise the bar even higher in 2012.
"We're totally committed to maintaining the momentum this year" he says. "We are encouraging more retailers to compete for these prestigious awards, and new producers from overseas, too. And we hope that the outstanding range and variety of traditional artisan cheeses, the cornerstone of this great show which is now in its 151st year, will be greater than ever."
If you would like to enter a cheese for The Global Cheese Awards, simply visit www.globalcheeseawards.com and fill in the online form. The deadline for submissions is August 8 2012.
Testing confirms H5 bird flu in a single northern giant petrel, found dead on a remote Cape Palliser beach in the Wairarapa, says Dr Mary van Andel, the Ministry for Primary Industries' (MPI) Chief Veterinary Officer.
"What's for dinner?" may sound like a simple question, but for many Kiwi parents, answering it has become a job in itself.
Fifty Eight years ago, on the 16th of August 1968, August Claas, the founder of the harvesting company and father of Helmut Claas, personally presented a Claas Senator combine harvester to Scottish farmer John Steven.
New Zealand consumers are paying more for beef mince than ever before, with the average retail price now sitting above $24 per kilogram, according to Rabobank.
State farmer Pamu has delivered its strongest operating result on record.
Four years since it was first detected in New Zealand, researchers and growers now know much more about management of maize pest fall armyworm (FAW).