$20m facial eczema research funding announced
Government and the red meat sector are teaming up to help eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmed animals.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) says it is calling for the Government to improve it’s latest biodiversity reforms.
In an email sent out to farmers earlier this week, signed by B+LNZ chief executive Sam McIvor and B+LNZ chair Andrew Morrison, the organisation says the Government’s latest updates to the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB) is of particular relevance to sheep and beef farmers.
This, the email claims, is because of the significant amount of native vegetation on sheep and beef farmers.
“B+LNZ, along with other primary sector groups, successfully convinced the Government to pause the initial biodiversity reforms in 2020,” the email reads, adding that farmers had significant concerns regarding the proposed rules, especially those relating to Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) and the potential restrictions on what farmers could do in those areas.
“We believe the latest release [of the NPSIB] is badly timed,” the email states.
B+LNZ says it has undertaken a preliminary analysis of the exposure draft and, the email claims, the organisation will be arguing for the Government to make improvements to the latest proposals and slow down a “deluge of environmental policy reforms”.
The analysis states that criteria for identifying SNAs remains broad and will capture significant areas of sheep and beef farms.
“We previously advocated for the definition to be narrowed to identify habitats that are threatened, at risk, or rare as SNAs,” the emails says.
It claims that if certain areas of land are classified as an SNA, it will restrict farmers’ ability to undertake new or modified activities within or in surrounding SNAS.
In the email, B+LNZ say they are undertaking more in-depth analysis of the exposure draft of the NPSIB released last week and will provide further advice on the implications of the regulations to farmers.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.