Honey sector strategy aiming for sweet spot
While confident that the apiculture sector can meet its target of doubling honey exports by 2030, chair of ApicultureNZ, Nathan Guy, says it will be challenging.
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES Minister Nathan Guy says though much of the country is now in a ‘green drought’ phase, overall the drought has been very ‘patchy’.
Speaking to Dairy News during a visit to farms in Manawatu and Tararua, he noted that while many pastures have ‘greened up’, the country is nowhere near the end of the drought. Some regions have had very little rain – “Northland, parts of Waikato, King Country, Rangitikei and parts of Hawke’s Bay”.
Guy says he is impressed at farmers’ incredible resilience, given the challenges they face: “… drought, floods, snowstorms and earthquakes. They will get through this present crisis and the feedback I am getting is they are happy with the government response to their plight and the packages we have announced. Most farmers aren’t interested in a handout, what they want to know is that the government cares and responds.”
Most New Zealanders are sympathetic to the situation rural New Zealand families find themselves in, Guy says. The barbecue season has been too long this summer, and urban New Zealand understands the drought has caused heartache for rural families
Guy says it’s too early to quantify the overall effect of the drought on dairy farmers.
News of the Fonterra advance payment has been well received and will help farmers pay for the additional supplementary feed they need.
During a recent visit by Guy to the West Coast he heard from “older” farmers that “in living memory they have never experienced a drought of [this] magnitude. One said it was like whole areas had been sprayed with Roundup – brown and dreadful looking. But since the recent rain it’s turned around incredibly quickly and now all the green tinges are appearing.”
The Coasters, like farmers elsewhere, are worried about the winter rapidly approaching and soil temperatures falling because of frosts.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has informed staff it will cut 391 jobs following a consultation period.