Meat wellness, well done
Newly published research shows overseas consumers have a strong interest in improving their wellbeing through eating red meat, highlighting opportunities to achieve a premium for products with proven health benefits.
CANTERBURY MILK nutrition company Synlait Milk is supportive of the investment by AgResearch in its campus infrastructure.
Synlait milk managing director Dr John Penno says there is recognition of the growing importance of Canterbury as an agricultural powerhouse.
"Canterbury is New Zealand's fastest growing milk supply region, with production growth at an average 11% per season for the last 12 seasons. We acknowledge the technical challenges this growth brings, in particular farmers' ability to manage their environmental footprint.
"As a company we are committed to on farm best practice. We have developed our own certified best practice dairy farm assurance system called Lead With Pride, Australasia's first internationally accredited ISO 65 dairy farm assurance system, to help address these challenges by recognising and financially rewarding milk suppliers who achieve dairy farming best practice.
"We applaud AgResearch's move to consolidate resources around the key agriculture centres and welcome the increased science capacity for the South Island and the focus on farm systems and land use through the investment in the innovation hub at Lincoln.
"We look forward to having the different R&D providers such as AgResearch, Lincoln University and other Crown Research Institutions working together with farmers and the industry to address the challenges and deliver real benefits for the New Zealand dairy industry," says Dr Penno.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.