Covid's urban/rural divide
According to a new study from the University of Otago, there was a visible rural/urban divide in Covid-19 vaccination rates.
The biggest threat to the primary sector – right now – is if COVID-19 gets into a processing plant, says Mike Petersen, former special trade envoy and Beef + Lamb chair.
“That is not just in the meat industry; that is in the horticulture sector and the dairy sector,” he told Rural News.
“There is a big risk. We are at peak picking season now with apples and kiwifruit.”
Petersen says the sector has to get it right otherwise it will lose the privilege of food production being deemed an essential service.
“Our number one priority is feeding New Zealanders first and foremost and then obviously exporting our other product to the world,” he adds.
“It is the privilege we have been given, but also a huge responsibility and we have got to make sure we have got it right.
“We shouldn’t take this lightly. We should make sure we are doing everything possible to ensure our systems and processes comply with the physical distancing rules.”
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.
Listed Canterbury milk processor Synlait’s shares have been placed in a trading halt.
OPINION: Even before the National-led coalition came into power, India was very much at the fore of its trade agenda.
A step-by-step guide helping farmers through the process of creating a Freshwater Farm Plan (FWFP) has been launched by FarmIQ.
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