Farm Safety Improves Through 'Incremental Gain', Says Birkett
Improving health and safety is about incremental gain rather than a sudden decision, says Leeston farmer and Federated Farmers health and safety spokesman David Birkett.
Federated Farmers' new national president Wayne Langford (right) with new vice president Colin Hurst.
At the end of their conference, Federated Farmers held their AGM and Wayne Langford, the 40-year-old dairy farmer from Golden Bay, was elected as the organisation's new national president.
He says it is a huge honour to be elected to lead Feds, but adds he is already feeling the weight of responsibility that comes with it.
"Federated Farmers are the largest rural advocacy organisation in the country and farmers are looking to us for strong leadership as they try to navigate their way through an increasingly complex world," Langford says.
South Canterbury mixed arable farmer Colin Hurst was elected as vice-president and North Canterbury arable farmer David Birkett joins the board as arable chair. Sandra Faulkner, Mark Hooper, Toby Williams and Richard McIntyre were all re-elcted to the board.
Oamaru-based livestock handling specialist Te Pari has bought Combi Clamp, the New Zealand manufacturer of Combi Clamp manual sheep handlers.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.
A new app designed in New Zealand aims to help sheep, beef and deer farmers capture, analyse and use body condition score data more effectively.
Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.
For over 50 years Mel Ewers has been supporting the apple sector navigate through compliance and quality assurance issues.
The apple sector is enjoying a bumper harvest season.