M. bovis - we need to be vigilant
From November 1, 2023, Ministry for Primary Industries’ Mycoplasma bovis Eradication Programme has been contracted out to disease management agency OSPRI, as it enters a long-term surveillance phase.
OSPRI Chief Executive Michelle Edge will leave the organisation in mid-September.
Edge says that over the last three years, the company has achieved significant outcomes.
This includes a complete restructure and change management and business improvement programme.
She says OSPRI achieved significant developments in terms of its focus on its core programmes, TBfree and NAIT, the development of new initiatives and the confirmation of its Strategic Plan, despite the significant funding reduction.
Chairman Jeff Grant says Edge has made a big contribution to the reshaping of OSPRI since joining the company.
This included a restructuring of the TBfree program and dealing with $20 million reduction of funding for TBfree.
“This required downsizing the business to better fit the requirements of risk based testing and the eventual eradication of TB in New Zealand. Michelle has played a major role in also ensuring the NAIT Review was completed which will see changes implemented that give a more usable system for the Industry and confidence in providing the intended outcomes when it was first set up,” Grant says.
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.