Vintage requiring cooperation
OPINION: A common refrain last year was 'survive 'til 25', including from those in New Zealand's wine industry facing rising costs, surplus wine and sluggish export sales.
OPINION: One of the world’s largest animal health and nutrition companies, DSM, now known as dsm-firmenich, has developed a feed additive Bovaer to lower methane emissions from cows.
Over the years, Bovaer has undergone tests in various countries. Today, it is authorised and available for sale in around 60 countries, including the US, the EU, Australia and the UK.
The company says that by the end of this calendar year 17 out of the top 20 global dairy companies will have the ability to use Bovaer in their home markets if they choose to do so. Unfortunately, NZ and Fonterra are likely not one of those 17.
Bovaer is a classic example of an innovative technology not available to NZ farmers because of red tape.
Announcing a regulatory sector review on the approval process for new agricultural and horticultural products recently, Regulations Minister David Seymour noted that red tape stops farmers and growers from getting access to products that have been approved by other OECD countries. It can take nine years and wrangling government agencies to get the same approval in NZ.
New products need approval from the Environmental Protection Authority and New Zealand Food Safety.
The review will look at the process and the overlap between regulators. In Bovaer’s case, it applied for EPA approval of 3-NOP (the active ingredient in Bovaer) in February 2021. In August 2023, the EPA approved DSM’s application to import and manufacture 3-NOP. MPI is responsible for the next step — assessing the substance before it can be used on farms.
This process has taken too long and our farmers are missing out. Animal and Plant Health NZ chief executive Liz Shackleton rightly points out that innovations don’t belong in a queue, they belong in the hands of our pioneering farmers and growers.
OPINION: The shakeup to the science sector with the proposed merger of four ag related crown research institutes (CRIs) into one conglomerate has drawn little public reaction.
Alliance Group has secured greater access for chilled beef exports to China, following approval for two of its processing plants to supply the market.
The countdown is on to be one of the most anticipated events in the sheep and beef industry, the East Coast Farming Expo.
Applications for the 2025 intake of Rabobank's Farm Managers Programme (FMP) and Executive Development Programme (EDP) are now open.
Dean Smith has been in the role of CEO of Summerfruit NZ for about four months, having succeeded Kate Hellstrom at the end of September.
Beef + Lamb NZ wants farmers to complete a survey that will shed light on the financial toll of facial eczema (FE) at the farm level.
OPINION: Is Canterbury milk processor Synlait back in business?
OPINION: The fate of methane inhibitor Bovaer in NZ farming is still up in the air.