$3.3m fund seeks land use solutions
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is asking for help to come up with solutions to reduce the amount of nitrogen entering Lake Rotorua from land use activities.
Top academics and policy analysts from around the world will be discussing some of the most challenging issues agriculture is facing in Rotorua next month.
About 250 economists have registered for the 59th Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society’s (AARES) annual conference.
Chairman of the local conference organising committee and DairyNZ’s senior economist Matthew Newman says the last time New Zealand hosted this major conference was seven years ago.
Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, Thomas Hertel, will open the conference with a presentation on global change and the challenges of sustainably feeding a growing planet.
He is the founder and executive director of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) which now encompasses more than 11,000 researchers in 160 countries around the world.
There will also be sessions discussing the effectiveness of recent drought responses in California and Australia. New Zealand’s Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright will give the conference dinner speech.
Associate Professor Frank Jotzo, Australian National University will discuss why Australia’s climate policy collapsed and what that means for environmental economics, while Professor Alan Renwick, University College Dublin will cover challenges in coordinating agrifood supply chains.
Professor Juan Pablo Montero from Chile and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s chief executive Mike Underhill will consider how countries can make the most of energy resources and opportunities.
“This is about some of the big issues for agriculture – energy, climate change, food poverty and environmental impacts from an economic perspective,” says Newman.
The theme of the conference is ‘transformations in agriculture and natural resources’.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.
OPINION: Canterbury milk processor Synlait is showing no sign of bouncing back from its financial doldrums.
OPINION: It seems every bugger in this country can get an award these days.