How farmers make spring count
OPINION: Spring is a critical season for farmers – a time when the right decisions can set the tone for productivity and profitability throughout the year.
Ballance Agri-Nutrients has started building their new hub in Whangarei, after a pre-dawn ceremony to bless the site yesterday.
The Whangarei hub is phase two of more than $50m of investment in the Northland region which the company says signals it’s long-term intent in Northland.
The existing infrastructure on the site at 223 Kioreroa Road will be upgraded to benefit the Northland regions expanding agricultural sector, including the horticulture industry.
Ballance will use the Kioreroa Road site for blending, bagging and distribution to customers around Whangarei and is the central distribution hub for Northland.
The Marsden Point site, opened 21 June, is a bulk storage and transitional facility for product coming directly from Northport, and a customer service centre.
“Kioreroa Road will be a place where vital nutrients for food production are blended using world leading technology, specifically designed for Northland farmers and growers in the wider region and our distribution network,” says Shane Dufaur, Ballance general manager: operations and supply chain.
Dufaur says the company will move from its current Port Road site to the new site in the 2022/23 season.
“Balance is focused on the future of farming and growing in Northland, that is why we have invested in precision automated technology and digital infrastructure that will enhance product quality and reliability of supply,” says Dufaur.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) has announced Sandra Kirby will take over as the organisation's new chief executive.
Puro, the country's largest cannabis cultivator, has won the Supreme Award at the Marlborough Business Excellence Awards.
Rawhiti Environmental Park Limited has been convicted on eight charges and fined a total of $437,000 for persistent discharges of raw piggery effluent into the environment between February and October 2023.
The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) is expanding its collaboration with TextileGenesis to deliver full traceability for 100% of ZQ certified wool and ZQRX regenerative wool.
According to Federated Farmers, Environment Southland has mishandled the consent process for Waituna Lagoon, leaving the community with numerous bad outcomes.
Metallica's charitable foundation, All Within My Hands (AWMH), teamed up with Meet the Need this week for a food packing event held at the New Zealand Food Network warehouse in Auckland.

OPINION: Winston Peters has described the decision to sell its brand to Lactalis and disperse the profit to its farmer…
OPINION: The Hound reckons a big problem with focusing too much on the wrong goal - reducing livestock emissions at…