Campaign Urges Growers to Plan Ahead on Resistance
Growers and farmers are being encouraged to have an important conversation before the coming season starts: how to prolong the effectiveness of the crop protection tools they rely on.
The main beneficiaries of the EU FTA will be kiwifruit, onions, honey, wine and seafood.
The horticultural sector will have $46 million in tariffs slashed from day one, while honey exporters will benefit from the phased removal of the 17% over three years, and for mānuka honey rights from day one.
NZ's two main exports - dairy and meat - have not gained the access they were hoping for. However, butter gets 36,000 tonnes of quota - phased in over seven years. While small in NZ terms, it equates to around 60% of the EU's total annual butter imports. Cheese will have improved access, growing from just over 6,000 tonnes to 31,000 tonnes over seven years.
Beef access again is small, but perhaps understandable given that the EU is a major beef producer. The quota will progressively go to 10,000 tonnes over seven years with a reduced tariff quota.
NZ sheep meat exporters will have access to an additional duty-free quota to the EU growing to 38,000 tonnes over 6 years. This is on top of existing duty-free WTO quota access to the EU of 125,769 tonnes.
Signing up to a benchmarking tool is not about competition, but about improving collectively, says Ximena Puig and Alvaro Luzardo who are 50-50 sharemilkers at a 164-hectare (effective) dairy farm in Eketāhuna in the Lower North Island.
A leading British farming politician says he's impressed with the positive attitude of New Zealand farmers that he met during his recent trip here.
OPINION: With 10,500 dairy farms, New Zealand continues to punch above its weight around the world.
The Southern Dairy Hub (SDH), which runs a demonstration farm for South Island farmers, has a new general manager.
Esther Guy-Meakin has been announced as the new chief executive of the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
According to a progress report on the Aotearoa Horticulture Action Plan (AHAP), New Zealand's horticulture sector is making real progress on the big issues facing growers.

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