Free workshops to bolster farmer financial skills
Free workshops are being offered around the country to help farmers take more ownership of their farm business finances.
Rabobank’s Farm 2 Fork (F2F) summit in Sydney was all about food – but briefly became about fashion as Dutch Queen Maxima took to the stage with husband King Willem-Alexander to congratulate winners in the Food Bytes! competition.
King Willem Alexander also officially opened the conference, speaking about how a small country like the Netherlands had been able to become the world’s second largest exporter of food through technology and considered use of land.
Rabobank executive board member Berry Marttin spoke earlier on how in China today two thirds of all sales are done through web markets. Today the Dutch buy their food through traditional retailers but the internet is quickly changing that.
He says there will be fewer farmers and bigger farms and consolidation in the food companies.
Farmers will need to make sure they product what consumers want to eat. The current model is to produce and sell later. He says if you produce what the consumers want they will pay more – but who will get that money? Farmers need to ensure it comes to them.
The Food Bytes! Competition was for food companies with new innovations competing for investment funding.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.