Editorial: Cutting red tape
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.
Global animal health company DSM says it has a product that can help reduce emissions from cows by up to 30% but surprisingly the Government is not keen.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says the product “needs to be fed with every mouthful of feed so there’s no guarantee we can use it in NZ farming systems”.
But DSM says that’s false. It blames MPI for feeding the wrong information to the minister.
Milking It also believes DSM had been trying to contact him directly for a year or so to brief him on the product, called 3-NOP.
Someone is well behind the eight ball on this.
Controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill have been lifted.
Fonterra farmer shareholders and unit holders are in line for another payment in April.
Farmers are being encouraged to take a closer look at the refrigerants running inside their on-farm systems, as international and domestic pressure continues to build on high global warming potential (GWP) 400-series refrigerants.
As expected, Fonterra has lifted its 2025-26 forecast farmgate milk price mid-point to $9.50/kgMS.
Bovonic says a return on investment study has found its automated mastitis detection technology, QuadSense, is delivering financial, labour, and animal-health benefits on New Zealand dairy farms worth an estimated $29,547 per season.
Pāmu has welcomed ten new apprentices into its 2026 intake, marking the second year of a scheme designed to equip the next generation of farmers with the skills, knowledge, and experience needed for a thriving career in agriculture.