From Sky Tower to cowshed
Every morning dairy farmer Sam Waugh sees the Auckland Sky Tower through his window. It's a great reminder of one of his key life goals - giving young people from towns and cities insights into farm life.
Changes have been announced to the FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest.
A four-member contest board that has run the competition has been replaced with a new contest subcommittee that reports to the NZ Young Farmers (NZYF) board.
The subcommittee will consist of two sitting NZYF board members, a principal sponsor representative and three appointed members with staggered three year terms.
NZYF board chair Ash-Leigh Campbell says the changes will bring contest into closer alignment with the NZYF board, organisation and strategy.
Campbell announced a full review of the contest governance at the 2019 annual meeting.
“Since then, a full independent ‘operational and governance’ review has been completed by Sam Robinson and we have adopted a number of those recommendations,” she says.
“We want to ensure there is an adequate structure in place to support all of our amazing volunteers, enable high volunteer engagement and create clear lines of accountability and responsibility for the contest.
“I believe this new model will not only do that, but will also ensure there are still effective leadership pathways within contest and the NZYF organisation and closer align the FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest, culture and strategy for all NZYF members.”
Campbell says the changes are beneficial to ensure the NZYF contest is in the best position to keep moving forward as the flagship competition.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.