Mountain Warrior's words of wisdom
The Mountain Warrior Shane Cameron is coming back to his roots as key note speaker at the East Coast Farming Expo Property Brokers Evening Muster in February.
East Coast Farming Expo organisers say the two-day event in Wairoa starts tomorrow, despite torrential rain in the past 24 hours.
However, organisers have cancelled the trade exhibits, because of poor ground conditions.
Expo director Dave Martin says the two full days of seminars were set to go ahead indoors at the Wairoa A & P Showgrounds Pavilion, as well as the popular Evening Muster tomorrow night with guest speaker Neil Gardyne.
Martin says the forecast is for more heavy rain, with no improvement expected in the weather for the next 12-24 hours.
“For us, the safety of expo attendees and our exhibitors comes first and so the management team with the A & P Society have decided it is unsafe to hold the exhibit side of the expo,” says Martin.
“Our concerns are around getting people, vehicles and exhibits onsite safely and the use and protection of electronic equipment onsite. We are incredibly disappointed that we have had to do this as we realise the effort and energy exhibitors have put into planning their site at the 2017 expo.”
Martin hoped the poor weather would however encourage more farmers in the district to take a day or two off the farm to enjoy the seminar programme and evening muster.
“We have a fantastic variety of speakers set down for the two days and their presentations will be of huge value to farmers throughout Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast,” says Martin.
“Plus of course we have Neil Gardyne, the ‘drone farmer’ coming from the deep south, for the Evening Muster which will no doubt be a fabulous social event.”
For more information on the East Coast Farming Expo and to purchase tickets go to www.eastcoastexpo.co.nz. Tickets will also be available at the gate.
While the District Field Days brought with it a welcome dose of sunshine, it also attracted a significant cohort of sitting members from the Beehive – as one might expect in an election year.
Irish Minister of State of Agriculture, Noel Grealish was in New Zealand recently for an official visit.
While not all sibling rivalries come to blows, one headline event at the recent New Zealand Rural Games held in Palmerston North certainly did, when reigning World Champion Jack Jordan was denied the opportunity of defending his world title in Europe later this year, after being beaten by his big brother’s superior axle blows, at the Stihl Timbersports Nationals.
AgriZeroNZ has invested $5.1 million in Australian company Rumin8 to accelerate development of its methane-reducing products for cattle and bring them to New Zealand.
Farmers want more direct, accurate information about both fuel and fertiliser supply.
A bull on a freight plane sounds like the start of a joke, but for Ian Bryant, it is a fond memory of days gone by.

OPINION: If you ask this old mutt, the choice at the next election isn't shaping up as a contest of…
OPINION: A mate of yours says we're long overdue for a reckoning on what value farmers really get for the…