Bikinis in cowshed
OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.
MPI is setting out to connect with ‘unconnected’ farmers to make them aware of all the new animal welfare and environmental compliance regulations.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says the government is putting up $3 million over four years to spread the message about the changes.
MPI has the task of communicating with farmers who haven’t been getting these messages from Beef + LambNZ and DairyNZ.
O’Connor says the government wants farmers to move from volume-based production to a value-based system, which requires a high standard of working conditions and sound environmental stewardship. He admits MPI can’t do the communicating itself so it will work with local farm advisory companies and industry-good organisations to get messages across.
He wants MPI to be in contact with 300 farmers NZ-wide in the first year -- those who have not been contacted by a normal advisory service before, he told Rural News.
“They may be the hardest to get to because they have their heads down getting on with their farm work and may not know of the new compliance issues coming up. The aim is to take a lead to help farmers and turn it into a positive engagement rather than forcing compliance on them.”
O’Connor says many farmers see compliance as a threat, but sooner or later dairy and meat companies will demand compliance so those who don’t comply may face severe consequences.
He says traditionally farmers have believed that the bottom 20% of their colleagues ‘will go broke so let’s not worry about them, we’ll just buy their farms’.
“But we can no longer sustain that approach to farming because the 20% who need to lift their game are the ones that tarnish NZ’s image in the international marketplace. We cannot afford to have people who don’t understand what they have to do.”
O’Connor hopes this new approach will work -- supporting farmers to achieve greater sustainability and value in their operations.
This can help lift water quality, improve biosecurity and help NZ meet its greenhouse gas emission targets.”
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
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