Fieldays’ sustainability credentials getting greener
The New Zealand National Fieldays Society has achieved a major sustainability milestone - reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and reaching the target five years early.
The Ministry for Primary Industries will host a free seminar on Friday, June 14 at National Fieldays on its work to lift the performance of Māori agribusiness.
Māori agribusiness is a government priority, and MPI has work under way partnering with Māori to support them in maximising the sustainable use of their primary sector assets.
"There is a discernible shift happening in the ownership and management of Māori freehold land," says MPI director general Wayne McNee.
"Māori landowners are taking a more active approach to fully capitalise on huge gains possible by increasing the productivity and profitability of assets, and by making the most of opportunities to develop the value of its primary produce.
"Our estimates show that this could generate another $1.1 billion in export revenue, which would make a real difference to Māori communities and the wider New Zealand economy."
The seminar brings together a range of perspectives from the agriculture sector with a panel of six prominent people involved in Māori agribusiness including Traci Houpapa from the Federation of Māori Authorities; Jamie Tuuta (pictured) , the Māori Trustee; Kingi Smiler from Miraka Ltd; and Ben Dalton of MPI's Māori Primary Sector Partnerships branch.
The one-hour seminar is aimed at anyone involved with Māori agribusiness and will include time to answer questions from the floor.
The seminar will be at 10am on Friday in the Function Centre next to the main pavilion and is one of six free seminars hosted by MPI at Fieldays 2013. As Premier Feature Partner, MPI also has a stand in the main pavilion, with staff on hand to provide information and answer questions about the Ministry's role to grow and protect the primary industries and its major current priority to support growth in the value of exports.
Last month's Agritechnica event led to a wide group of manufacturers celebrating successes when the 2026 Tractor of the Year Competition winners, selected by a panel of European journalists, were announced in Hanover Germany.
According to the latest Federated Farmers banking survey, farmers are more satisfied with their bank and less under pressure, however, the sector is well short of confidence levels seen last decade.
Farmer confidence has taken a slight dip according to the final Rabobank rural confidence survey for the year.
Former Agriculture Minister and Otaki farmer Nathan Guy has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy (SATE).
Alliance Group has commissioned a new heat pump system at its Mataura processing plant in Southland.
Fonterra has slashed another 50c off its milk price forecast as global milk flows shows no sign of easing.

OPINION: The release of the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill to replace the Resource Management Act is a red-letter day…
OPINION: Federated Farmers has launched a new campaign, swapping ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ for ‘The Twelve Pests of Christmas’ to…