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OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the cogs of Cabinet.
The advent of closed circuit television is now making it easier for farmers to protect themselves from 'industrial sabotage', according to an industry leader.
Federated Farmers dairy chairman Andrew Hoggard's comments follow a recent incident in Manawatu where a dairy farm worker was prosecuted for deliberately contaminating 18,000L of milk worth nearly $11,000, stored in a vat.
Hoggard says such vandalism is not unusual and he is unsure whether the problem is getting worse. The incident in Manawatu coincides with claims by the Council of Trade Unions that some farm workers are poorly paid and have poor working conditions.
Hoggard says farmers are particularly vulnerable because they have to leave their sheds open for the tankers. Now he is seeing more farmers using CCTV at their vats and cowsheds.
"A CCTV camera can be bought for about $120. This can have a motion-sensor built in which sends an email to the farmer so he can find out what's going on. There are cheap technology options available for farmers to keep an eye on their farms."
Hoggard says farmers normally carry insurance to cover any loss of milk because of power cuts or other incidents. The latest case, where the farm worker is paying back the farmer $20 a week in reparation, is an insult to the farmer in question.
Many of the problems farmers face are out on their properties, he says.
"Most farmers would have a story about some illegal [growing] activities taking place on their farms. There is always a risk in harvesting maize too early," Hoggard adds. "Farmers face the dilemma of reporting such activities. If they report them, strange things start happening around their farms."
Hoggard has discovered people have been on his farm at night drinking beer and spirits at the end of a road by the river.
"Often you wonder what sort of strange people go and park up in the middle of the night and drink themselves silly. Weird stuff like that happens," he says.
NZPork has appointed Auckland-based Paul Bucknell as its new chair.
The Government claims to have delivered on its election promise to protect productive farmland from emissions trading scheme (ETS) but red meat farmers aren’t happy.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
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