Insurance Council urges bold action
The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) is urging the Government to take a leadership role on climate adaptation and build New Zealand’s resilience against the impacts of climate change on lives and property.
For Kiwifruit growers globally, climate change is the number one issue.
That's the view of Colin Bond, chief executive of NZKGI - which represents all of NZ's kiwifruit growers' interests.
He has recently returned from Chile, having attended the annual international conference of kiwifruit growers from most of the world's major kiwifruit growing countries.
Bond told Hort News that while climate change has always been a concern for growers, in the past, labour and costs have been rated ahead of it.
"But at this conference, climate change was seen as the biggest challenge the global industry is facing and is now top of the list."
Bond says every kiwifruit growing region around the world has experienced extreme weather events in the last growing season. He says for NZ it was Cyclone Gabrielle and for other it was extreme heat waves or flooding.
"Growers around the globe are all starting to see the impacts of climate change," he explain.
"The differences may be in Greece where they are starting to expand more, and the Chileans are saying that every ten years, they are moving to locations 100km south, to areas that are cooler and where there is more access to water."
Bond says NZ is not at the point of moving crops to colder regions and the Bay of Plenty will remain the hub of the sector.
However, he adds that SunGold 3 can be grown in a lot of regions around NZ.
With the last two warmer winters in the Bay, some people are looking to the Waikato and Tasman regions, which are colder.
The real winner of this year’s FMG Young Farmer Region-off have been the regional communities.
As calving approaches, farmers need to get their teams ready for what lies ahead in the coming months.
Feeling sluggish this winter? Then try some seasonal fruit, renowned for lifting mood, energy and immunity levels just when we need it most.
The missing link in getting maximum weight gain in your calves may be as simple as keeping them warm, says the Christchurch manufacturer of a range of woollen covers for young livestock.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) and Massey University are joining forces to help raise awareness and funds to combat leptospirosis.
Auckland-based supplement and nutritional company New Image International is celebrating 40 years of business in their home country.
OPINION: In 2021 a group of prominent academics got ’cancelled’ for daring to oppose changes to the school curriculum that…
OPINION: On top of the rural banking inquiry, several as-yet-unnamed banks are facing a complaint to the Financial Markets Authority…