Halter goes global, but NZ farmers remain core to innovation
Virtual fencing company Halter is going global but for founder Craig Piggott, New Zealand farmers will always remain their main partners.
A kiwi company that believes its computer software can help reduce farm accidents and fatalities is joining the New Zealand 2019 Agritech mission to UK and Ireland.
Zero Harm Farm will join 20 other businesses representing the sector, taking in the Irish Ploughing Championships. National Fieldays Society will pay for its flights and accommodation.
The company contested the 2019 Fieldays International Innovation Award with its simple, portable and paperless system for better managing safety, communication and compliance in agribusiness.
As participants they were eligible to apply for a $5000 scholarship to take part in the mission.
Fieldays’ international business manager Jim Grennell says Zero Harm Farm won funding because its software application addresses a big problem associated with workplace safety on farm.
“The location based hazard management system can be simply and rapidly adapted to specific workplaces,” he said. “It can work in all farm systems needing hazard management and so is scaleable from a global perspective.”
Zero Harm Farm co-founder Mark Orr says its system can help reduce serious harm and fatalities on farms globally.
“This trade mission will help us understand the nuances of additional markets, and give us a feel for the UK and Ireland’s agricultural future direction in general.”
The company will exhibit in the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Precinct, where it will have a booth and facilities for the three day of the event, and opportunity to present at functions.
Effective from 1 January 2026, there will be three new grower directors on the board of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR).
The National Wild Goat Hunting Competition has removed 33,418 wild goats over the past three years.
New Zealand needs a new healthcare model to address rising rates of obesity in rural communities, with the current system leaving many patients unable to access effective treatment or long-term support, warn GPs.
Southland farmers are being urged to put safety first, following a spike in tip offs about risky handling of wind-damaged trees
Third-generation Ashburton dairy farmers TJ and Mark Stewart are no strangers to adapting and evolving.
When American retail giant Cosco came to audit Open Country Dairy’s new butter plant at the Waharoa site and give the green light to supply their American stores, they allowed themselves a week for the exercise.

OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…
OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…