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Federated Farmers National Conference hits Auckland from Wednesday with a packed programme covering the A to Z of New Zealand pastoral agriculture.
"Federated Farmers is excited to return to New Zealand's largest city," says Federated Farmers Bruce Wills, who has himself, just returned from the World Farmers Organisation General Assembly in Rome.
"The conference will give me a chance to share my experience meeting global agricultural leaders. Our chief executive, Conor English, will no doubt share what he picked up for New Zealand farming from the Rio+20 Earth Summit.
"We have an emphasis in our conference agenda of unlocking potential from dairy, meat and wool.
"Our dairy members will hear from a global expert on cooperatives and this is timely, considering Fonterra's Trading Among Farmers vote will conclude today (Monday, 25 June).
"Naturally, animal welfare and farm environmental management are major items being covered as well.
"In a radical development for 2012, we are holding three interactive couch sessions which will energise both audience and panellists. The topics being covered in these sessions are local government, the environment and foreign ownership. These will be moderated by Country99TV's Genevieve Westcott.
"It would not be a Federated Farmers conference without politicians, so we will be getting briefings from the Minister of Finance, Bill English, and our industry's minister, David Carter, Minister for Primary Industries.
"We are also looking forward to hearing from Opposition Leader, David Shearer, who of course enjoys a pretty good surname from a farmer's point of view.
"One of our highlights takes place on Thursday, 28 June, with the Vodafone National Awards dinner. Kicking off with the Beef+Lamb NZ cocktails, we will be announcing 2012's Allflex Agribusiness Person of the Year and the Ravensdown Agri Personality for 2012.
"Central to this great evening is the Vodafone Creme of the Crop Awards, where we assemble almost all of agriculture's major award winners for the past 12-months. It is a huge undertaking but central to us celebrating agriculture's continued success," Wills says.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
Federated Farmers says the final report into banking competition is a significant step forward for rural New Zealand - and a vindication of the farming sector's concern.
Farmer lobby group Federated Farmers has announced it is supporting a new Member’s Bill which it says could bring clarity to New Zealand farmers and save millions in legal costs.
Federated Farmers says climate protest group Greenpeace is manufacturing outrage and attempting to scare New Zealanders with headlines that have no basis in science.
Alliance has announced a series of capital raise roadshow event, starting on 29 September in Tuatapere, Southland.
State farmer Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced a new equity partnership in an effort to support pathways to farm ownership for livestock farm operators.
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
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