India FTA 'still a priority'
Agriculture and Overseas Trade Minister Todd McClay says his government is pulling out all the stops to get a trade deal with India.
WAIKATO FARM consultant Sharlene Charleston is the first to achieve accreditation under a new people management certification scheme launched last month at the NZIPIM's annual conference.
Charleston works for Te Awamutu-based farm people management consultancy, No.8 HR.
NZIPIM chief executive Stephen Macaulay says the programme, supported by funding from DairyNZ, was introduced to provide farmers with confidence that industry standards have been met by the consultant in 10 key areas. They include performance management; coaching and mentoring; recruitment; and health and wellbeing.
"People on-farm are key to productivity and business growth and too often this is stunted by high staff turnover," says Macaulay. "Certified people management consultants can improve the way farmers manage their staff and then everybody wins – the farmer, the employee and the industry."
Charleston is a former dairy farmer who started with No.8 HR in January 2011.
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Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Southern Dairy Hub (SDH), which runs a demonstration farm for South Island farmers, has a new general manager.
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
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