Carrfields expands South Island footprint with Agricentre South Kubota dealership acquisition
Two of the South Island’s agricultural machinery dealers are undertaking strategic changes designed to deliver even greater specialist support to farmers.
A NORSEWOOD farmer whose used Kubota tractor (bought 17 years ago with five years service to its account) refuses to lie down, has relented and bought a new one.
Andrew Young is “pretty confident it’s got at least another 10 years in it,” says Kubota marketer CB Norwood Distributors.
Young still feeds out silage and hay with this tractor. “That first Kubota came with the job when I was share milking,” he says. “I got to like it because it is simple and reliable.”
Five years ago he bought his second farm, buying another second-hand Kubota, an M9580. Then he had one Kubota for the 80ha dairy farm and another for the 170ha beef farm/run-off.
He deals with tractor supplier Trevor Stephenson from Firth and Stephenson in Dannevirke. “The service has always been good and one of the reasons I got the new one was the back-up service. Trevor’s always gone the extra mile.”
The new tractor is a Kubota M110GX with 24 gears. “If you’re mowing a paddock, you have more gears to choose from and it makes it more efficient.”
The M110GX does the mowing, baling and direct drilling of crops. It came with a Kubota loader, designed and matched for the tractor.
The size of the new cab was important. “It’s the biggest cab in its class and it has the option of an instructor’s seat.” Young’s son Jacob (10), who loves tractors, gets to sit there.
“It’s also got a quiet cab…. You can hardly hear it running and you can easily hold a conversation in it.”
“At Central District Field Days I hopped into other brands of tractors and none were better for the size and visibility.”
Power and stability is said to impress Young. “It’s well balanced. I did some topping two to three months ago and on steep slopes the traction was good.”
Fonterra shareholders say they will be keeping an eye on their co-operative's performance after the sale of its consumer businesses.
T&G Global says its 2025 New Zealand apple season has delivered higher returns for growers, reflecting strong global consumer demand and pricing across its Envy and Jazz apple brands.
New Zealand's primary sector is set to reach a record $62 billion in food and fibre exports next year.
A new levying body, currently with the working title of NZWool, has been proposed to secure the future of New Zealand's strong wool sector.
The most talked about, economically transformational pieces of legislation in a generation have finally begun their journey into the statute books.
Effective from 1 January 2026, there will be three new grower directors on the board of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).