Rowarth appointed DairyNZ deputy chair
DairyNZ has appointed Jacqueline Rowarth as its first deputy board chair.
Conditions look promising for the start of calving in the Lower North Island.
DairyNZ’s Rob Brazendale says the conditions are pretty favourable and overall pasture covers are on target as is cow condition. He says the area has had a much better winter than last year which saw a lot of pugging damage and notes this hasn’t been the case so far.
Brazendale farmers are generally pretty comfortable and most things are on target and everyone is looking forward to a good spring. He there has been a lot of rain in Central Hawkes Bay and there has also been quite a bit of rain in the Manawatu.
“But it’s the middle of winter so that’s what you expect,” he says.
While things are looking good on farm, Brazendale says farmer morale is mixed. He says farmers are quite positive about the physical things such as the milk price, but says they have concerns about the environmental challenges and some of the other issues such as the restrictions on the use of PKE.
“These latter things have taken a bit of an edge off the other positive factors. I wouldn’t say the mod was really buoyant but it not depressed either - it’s kind of flat. There is a lot of uncertainty around land values across the country and there are lot of farms for sale,” he says.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
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.