Meyer Cheese invests $3.5 million in state-of-the-art Waikato facility
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.
Exploring how agricultural biotechnologies can benefit small-holder farmers particularly in developing countries will be the subject of an international symposium next month.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is hosting the symposium 'The Role of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition' at its headquarters in Italy from February 15-17. The event will be webcast live.
The contribution of a wide spectrum of biotechnologies to sustainable food systems and nutrition will be covered. A high-level ministerial segment will take place on February 16.
The symposium focuses mainly on the broad range of biotechnologies that could result in yield increases, better nutritional qualities, improved productivities of crops, livestock, fish and trees.
These biotechnologies encompass a wide range of low-tech to high-tech approaches which can make the development of improved varieties and breeds that adapt to the effects of climate change, faster and more efficient.
The focus is on agricultural biotechnologies that are currently available and ready to use by smallholder producers, including low-tech approaches involving artificial insemination, fermentation techniques, biofertilisers etc. up to high-tech approaches involving advanced DNA-based methodologies
While the symposium encompasses genetically modified organisms (GMOs), they are not its main focus.
Students from several universities around the world will be able to participate in an online interactive session to identify and convey key messages to policy and decision makers.
In an ever-changing world, things never stay completely the same. Tropical jungles can turn into concrete ones criss-crossed by motorways, or shining cities collapse into ghost towns.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.