RWNZ chief executive to step down
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) chief executive Gabrielle O’Brien will step down at the end of June.
Quarantine free flights, bringing much-needed Pacific Island workers to New Zealand, are being ramped up.
This follows the arrival of two flights from Vanuatu in the past two weeks. The first flight, carrying 153 Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers, landed in Christchurch on October 4. Arrivals were mostly for the Otago region.
Another flight from Vanuatu landed in Auckland last week, bringing workers mostly for orchards in Marlborough and Hawke's Bay.
A third flight carrying Samoan workers was scheduled to arrive in Auckland last weekend.
New Zealand Apples and Pears chief executive Alan Pollard says the Samoan workers will be bound for mostly Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Nelson. "The workers will be supporting industries across the growing regions," Pollard told Rural News.
"The first flights have gone well, and preparation is well advanced for further flights at scale from November."
The Government has given the agricultural sector the green light to bring in Pacific Island workers under a quarantine free arrangement.
People arriving under the scheme must meet strict health conditions, including being vaccinated with at least one dose pre-departure, the completion of a period of self-isolation on arrival, and returning two negative Covid tests, on Day 0 and Day 5. Employers are expected to provide the self-isolation facilities.
If workers have only received one dose of the vaccine, they are expected to complete their vaccination after they arrived in New Zealand.
The scheme is open to workers from Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga at this stage.
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.
Rural trader PGG Wrightson has revised its operating earnings guidance, saying trading conditions have deteriorated since the last market update in February.
It's been a bumper season for maize and other supplements in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Leading farmers from around New Zealand connected to share environmental stories and inspiration and build relationships at the Dairy Environment Leaders (DEL) national forum in Wellington last month.