Editorial: Agri's mojo is back
OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.
Fieldays will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year with the theme ‘Future of Farming’.
Chief executive Peter Nation says the 2018 event is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet and will celebrate its wide-ranging contributions to farming since it began in 1968.
“We have a proud history as a world-class agricultural showcase and it has come a long way from an event aimed at getting farmers together and bridging the rural and urban gap,” Nation says.
“Fieldays is continually looking to the future and the advancement of agriculture, agribusiness and agritech, and promoting the primary industries in New Zealand and around the world.”
A committee of past National Fieldays Society presidents and members will help organise the 2018 Fieldays plus extra events, a local museum exhibition and a history book.
Nation is pleased with a survey of Fieldays 2017 showing 96% of visitors rated it “good” to “excellent” and 92 % of exhibitors said they would exhibit again. This year a record 133,588 people attended.
Nation says “we wanted to highlight how broad the primary industries sector is and that came through in the variety of exhibitions and features”.
“The Fieldays careers and education hub is a good example: thousands of school students seeing and learning about jobs and education opportunities. This shows how much the industry contributes on a global level.”
Hundreds of volunteers ensured the four-day event ran smoothly, Nation says. “There were 232 volunteers who generously gave their time to help this year.”
The 50th Fieldays will run from June 13-16 at Mystery Creek Events Centre.
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Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
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