Husband and wife team’s special love of Ag Aviation
John and Janet Spence are unique in the agricultural aviation scene in New Zealand.
Alan Beck a pilot and chairman of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association, says it’s now socially unacceptable for farmers not to remove electric fence or television wires strung across gullies.
Beck is frustrated that some farmers don’t make a priority of removing wires. And while Federated Farmers – as an organisation -- supports him, some of its members don’t, so he’s now getting the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to take action against farmers who won’t remove dangerous wires.
“CAA is looking at a procedure where pilots have to report an incident involving a dangerous wire and CAA will get WorkSafe NZ to make the farmer deal with it,” Beck told Rural News.
“It’s not acceptable that 27 pilots have been killed including Peter Robb in Whanganui. There have been 14 wire strikes in the last year including one where our vice-chairman hit a wire in Hawkes Bay and was really lucky not to be killed,” he adds.
“A lot of farmers don’t think there is too much risk. It’s only when one of our pilots hits one and gets killed or badly injured that they are very, very, sorry.”
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director general Ray Smith says job cuts announced this morning will not impact the way the Ministry is organised or merge business units.
Scales Corporation is acquiring a number of orchard assets from Bostock Group.
Family and solidarity shone through at the 75 years of Ferdon sale in Otorohanga last month.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has informed staff it will cut 391 jobs following a consultation period.
New Zealand farmers are committed to making their businesses more resilient to climate change and are embracing innovation to help them do so.
Atiamuri farmers Paul and Lesley Grey never gave up their dream of owning their own farm – and in 2020, that dream came true.