Green but not much grass!
Dairy farmers in the lower North Island are working on protecting next season, according to Federated Farmers dairy chair Richard McIntyre, who farms just north of the Horowhenua township of Levin.
Outgoing Federated Farmers president Katie Milne has hit out at Wellington-based government officials for their lack of understanding about farming.
Milne, the first woman to head Feds, says instead of trying to help the farming sector, it feels at times the Wellington bureaucrats are trying to strangle it.
She says the one thing that has blown her away in her three years as president of Feds is the lack of knowledge and understanding of farming by policy makers in Wellington.
“There are some officials that get it, there are some that get parts of it, but it seems to me that a lot of assumptions about agriculture are made by people who don’t understand the nuances of food production.
“Producing food consistently is actually quite difficult and it is so important to have farming voices in Wellington around these decision makers,” she says.
Milne says the decisions that policy makers come up with dramatically affect farmers’ lives. She says the bad decisions are not deliberate, but come as result of fewer New Zealanders having connections to farms.
She says if people Google an issue, quite often the answer they get will have no relevance to NZ whatsoever. Milne says farming is complex and the aspirations and goals of farmers are different.
Coming up with a policy solution is not easy, but she says the solution must be relevant to the NZ situation.
“It is said that we need all of NZ’s economic champions to be firing, so why nobble them – especially agriculture,” she says.
Fonterra has cemented its position as the country’s number one cheesemaker by picking up nine NZ Champion of Cheese trophies this year.
New Zealand dairy processors are welcoming the Government’s commitment to continuing to push for Canada to honour its trade commitments.
An educational programme, set up by Beef + Land New Zealand, to connect farmers virtually with primary and intermediate school students has reported the successful completion of its second year.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has welcomed a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to declare 2026 International Year of the Woman Farmer.
Waikato herd health veterinarian Katrina Roberts is the 2024 Fonterra Dairy Woman of the Year.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.