MPI defends cost of new biosecurity lab
The head of the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) biosecurity operation, Stuart Anderson, has defended the cost and the need for a Plant Healht and Environment Laboratory (PHEL) being built in Auckland.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy will attend agricultural conferences on a four-day trip to Australia and China.
Today Guy travels to Beijing to attend and speak at the Development Research Centre (DRC)'s Food Security and Food Safety Strategy Summit.
"The DRC is a government policy, research and consulting institution that focuses on China's economic and social development," says Guy.
"This conference is a good opportunity to build closer links with China and outline how our two countries can work together on issues of food and agricultural policy."
On Monday he visits Hong Kong to meet with New Zealand companies, and a meeting with the Hong Kong Jockey Club. New Zealand race horses are one of our most important exports to Hong Kong with exports worth $29 million in the most recent year.
He departed yesterday and is back in New Zealand on Tuesday 17 November.
Thirty years ago, as a young sharemilker, former Waikato farmer Snow Chubb realised he was bucking a trend when he started planting trees to provide shade for his cows, but he knew the animals would appreciate what he was doing.
Virtual fencing and herding systems supplier, Halter is welcoming a decision by the Victorian Government to allow farmers in the state to use the technology.
DairyNZ’s latest Econ Tracker update shows most farms will still finish the season in a positive position, although the gap has narrowed compared with early season expectations.
New Zealand’s national lamb crop for the 2025–26 season is estimated at 19.66 million head, a lift of one percent (or 188,000 more lambs) on last season, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) latest Lamb Crop report.
Farmers appear to be cautiously welcoming the Government’s plan to reform local government, according to Ag First chief executive, James Allen.
The Fonterra divestment capital return should provide “a tailwind to GDP growth” next year, according to a new ANZ NZ report, but it’s not “manna from heaven” for the economy.