Hose runner saves time and effort
Rakaia-based equipment manufacturer Pluck’s Engineering will soon start production of a new machine designed to simplify the deployment and retrieval of temporary water troughs used in winter break feeding.
Choosing pasture seed at bargain prices may seem an attractive way for farmers to reduce autumn or spring re-sowing costs, but it comes with significant risks, says the NZ Plant Breeders and Research Association (PBRA).
As the autumn re-grassing season approaches, the association is urging farmers to choose modern proprietary cultivars which are supported by years of investment, testing and development.
Choosing uncertified or unknown cultivar options can result in poorer strike rates and weed infestation. Cheap pasture seed may also contain unknown and potentially low or non-existent endophyte, crucial for pasture persistence and good livestock performance.
Newly appointed PBRA chief executive Sarah Clark says modern ryegrass cultivars are inoculated with new and known endophyte strains which are designed to reduce the effects of some performance-limiting livestock challenges and enhance persistence.
Clark says PBRA member companies deploy specific managment systems to ensure endophyte levels and seed quality are maintained, and they also come with support and advice from experienced field staff. "It might be tempting to consider buying cheap, uncertified seed, but the risk of poor pasture performance is high, as is the risk to on-farm biosecurity from the introduction of unwanted weeds," she says.
"Buying seed of unknown quality and provenance buys a risk of high weed control costs and reduced pasture and animal productivity. The cost of additional management inputs and lost animal productivity can far exceed the premium paid for buying known and proven cultivar pasture seed."
Many PBRA member companies make significant long-term investments in proprietary cultivar development, and she says the support of farmers is vital to maintain those programmes, so they continue to provide cultivars which perform better and mitigate some of today's farming challenges.
The general manager of PBRA member company Germinal New Zealand, Simon Larsen, says many of the proprietary cultivars have also been included in multiple National Forage Variety Trials across several regions, so farmers can compare their performance against other options in similar farming areas to their own.
![]() |
---|
Newly appointed NZ Plant Breeders and Research Association chief executive Sarah Clark. |
"Those trials are independenly run and audited, so farmers can view the results, maker their own selections with confidence and know the cultivar choice they make will provide value to their farm," Larsen says.
PBRA member companies have good supplies of their proprietary ryegrass cultivars available for sowing this autumn after last year's challenging season resulting from lower farm gate prices and the hike in input costs experienced over the past two years.
Larsen expects improving farmgate prices will have a positive influence on the volume of seed sown in this autumn's re-grassing period.
"The cost pressures on farms mean there's been a lot more short-term crops repeated over the past couple of years and pasture renovation deferral. At some point those paddocks will return to perennial pasture as part of the farms re-grassing programme," he says.
The PBRA represents plant breeders, intellectual property owners and managers of proprietary agricultural seed. Association members are companies whose primary focus is the development and marketing of plant intellectual property through demonstrating the strength of research-proven standards of performance.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…