Rural contractors call for national air plan standard in RMA reforms
Rural contractors want the Government to include a national standard for air plans as part of its Resource Management Act reforms.
The new presidential team leading Rural Contractors New Zealand (RCNZ) says the organisation plays an invaluable role educating and up-skilling contractors and promoting their interests.
At its annual conference in Masterton last month, the RCNZ board elected Southland contractor David Kean to be its new president and Waikato contractor Helen Slattery as its new vice-president.
Kean has been on the RCNZ board since 2009 and served as vice-president for the past five years.
Slattery has been on the board for six years and serves on a number of the RCNZ’s subcommittees including health and safety, training and biosecurity.
Both are second-generation contractors. In 2003, Kean took over the sheep dipping and weed spraying business his father Leo started in 1966. In 2016, his two sons, Jarrod and Nicol, joined him in the business.
Helen and her husband Roger Slattery now run the Matamata contracting business that Roger’s father and uncle started in the mid-1950s.
The Slatterys also operate a collection service and compacting unit for Plasback, which recycles waste silage film throughout NZ.
The National Wild Goat Hunting Competition has removed 33,418 wild goats over the past three years.
New Zealand needs a new healthcare model to address rising rates of obesity in rural communities, with the current system leaving many patients unable to access effective treatment or long-term support, warn GPs.
Southland farmers are being urged to put safety first, following a spike in tip offs about risky handling of wind-damaged trees
Third-generation Ashburton dairy farmers TJ and Mark Stewart are no strangers to adapting and evolving.
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.
Fonterra chair Peter McBride says the divestment of Mainland Group is their last significant asset sale and signals the end of structural changes.

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