$20m facial eczema research funding announced
Government and the red meat sector are teaming up to help eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmed animals.
Beef + Lamb NZ director Kirsten Bryant is concerned about the perception that hill country farmers aren’t doing well.
Bryant says she and her husband have three hill country farms and financially they have never done as well as they are doing now. Their properties are returning 5% to 8% on capital. “I don’t know where this perception that hill country farming is not profitable has come from,” she told Rural News.
“For a start, let’s not forget about hill country farms that this is where the lambs are bred. So you start focusing on hill country farming as a negative and talking it down and soon you are going to lose your breeding ewes and total lamb production,” she says.
Bryant says BLNZ has work to do to dispel the thinking that hill country farms are not profitable.
She says, in general, things are looking positive for sheep and beef farmers. However, a whole lot of things are changing outside the farmgate and the challenge is going to be keeping farmers abreast of all of these developments and helping them to adapt in a positive way.
Bryant says the big issues relate to environmental performance, climate change, water quality and health and safety
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.