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A couple of the machines that will be on show at the 2023 SIAFD have effectively already done their live demonstration.
These have been used for planting out the maize that will used by other machines in harvesting at the event.
Ashburton-based Euro- Agri brought a Lemken combination consisting of an Azurit precision planter and Solitair seed wagon to the site in mid- October to plant out two of the three varieties of maize.
Product specialist Eliot Schofield says EuroAgri is the sole South Island distributor for Lemken, a German brand with a 243 year history. He says R&D on the Azurit line has been done in New Zealand.
“New Zealand has some of the most varying conditions in the world,” Schofield told Rural News.
The planter features what is called DeltaRow technology, in which each row effectively becomes two close rows, with seeds set in a zig-zag pattern and with the fertiliser band between them.
Commenting on the logistics of getting machines to customers, Schofield says it’s still quite difficult.
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SIAFD chairman Hayden Dorman reviews the layout at the Kirwee field days site. |
“But getting into the country isn’t the hard part now, it’s build slots.”
With gear being purchased all over the world and the continuing knockon effects of Covid, some machines are 12 or even 18 months away between ordering and coming out of the factory, he says.
Then, they are 12 weeks on the water before they get here.
Schofield says freight costs have “pretty much tripled” on what they were three years ago.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (BLNZ) says the release of New Zealand's latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory clearly shows agriculture is playing its part in emissions reductions and there is no need for a price on agricultural emissions.
While opening the first electrode boiler at its Edendale site, Fonterra has announced a $70 million investment in two further new electrode boilers.
Fonterra says its ongoing legal battle with Australian processor Bega Cheese won’t change its divestment plans.
With an amendment to the Medicines Act proposing human medicines could be approved in 30 days if the product has approval from two recognised overseas jurisdictions, there’s a call for a similar approach where possible to be applied to some animal medicines.
The Government wants to make sure that rural communities get a level of service that people who live in cities often complacently expect.
As the New Zealand Government launches negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with India, one Canterbury-based vegetable seed breeder is already benefiting from exporting to the world's fifth-largest economy.
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