PROMINENT MAORI businessman Kingi Smiler, responsible for some breakthrough developments in Maori agri-business, has been named Agribusiness Person of the Year by Federated Farmers.

THE GLOBAL dairy industry is seeing a reversal of fortune; after a lacklustre 2012, this year is shaping up to be an exceptional year, according to the International Dairy Federation.

MASSEY UNIVERSITY is testing a barn farm system with potential for improved productivity and better water quality on dairy farms.

IF CHINA’s Shanghai Pengxin takes a 75% slice of Synlait Farms it will be business as usual for the cows and staff on SF’s 13 dairy properties, building on current capacity rather than rushing to add extra area, says the farms’ chief executive.

SOON MORE dairy cows will be milked in the South Island than the North, says LIC chairman Murray King.

STORIES EMERGED last week at Stratford as the colourful history of the New Zealand Sharemilker of the Year competition unfolded during opening celebrations of the event’s 25th anniversary.

TARANAKI IS now a billion dollar milk producer, thanks mostly to small, well-managed farms, says DairyNZ chairman John Luxton.

DAIRY ENTREPRENEUR Peter Cullinane, principal of Lewis Road Creamery, Mangatawhiri, believes Jersey is to milk what Angus is to beef.

CALF REARING is not for the fainthearted. It is fraught with risk, hard work, aggravation and distress.

KEVIN CLARK as a farmer has always wanted to benchmark himself and his farming methods to see what he could do better by learning from his own experience and that of other farmers. He farms in partnership with his wife Felicity.