Celebrating success
The Director General of MPI, Ray Smith says it's important for his department to celebrate the success of a whole range of groups and people around the country.
FEDERATED FARMERS says it hopes to see “some rigour” applied to the Minister for Primary Industries’ independent review of kiwifruit pollen import rules and processes.
The Federation’s vice president, William Rolleston, says he’d also like to see the review extend to all pollen imports “because Federated Farmers doesn’t want any door left ajar.
“Only 13 months ago, the old MAF was so confident in the import health standard for pollen, that it said there was no peer-reviewed scientific evidence pollen was a pathway for bacteria. Even to a layman, it doesn’t seem plausible pollen could transmit viruses and fungi but not bacteria,” notes Rolleston.
He says he’s concerned a 2007 paper, ‘Plant pathogens transmitted by pollen’, may have unduly influenced MAF policy.
“This paper concluded that while certain viruses and fungi could be transmitted by pollen, ‘there are no…bacteria…that are pollen transmitted’.”
Rolleston, a medical scientist as well as farm business owner, says an absence of evidence should be treated differently by decision makers to evidence of absence.
“Categorical negatives are difficult to prove in science and should be treated with some suspicion.
“Having said that, this aspect of the import health standard also slipped past industry scrutiny.
“These are also big lessons to be learnt as MAF Biosecurity ponders the risk of PRRS in imported raw pork, not to mention bee diseases not present in New Zealand but carried in honey overseas, such as European Foulbrood and the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus.”
China’s Ambassador Wang Xiaolong says bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and New Zealand has made significant and rapid progress.
South Waikato farm manager Ben Purua’s amazing transformation from gang life to milking cows was rewarded with the Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer award last night.
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
The 2023-24 season has been a roller coaster ride for Waikato dairy farmers, according to Federated Farmers dairy section chair, Mathew Zonderop.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.