Displaying items by tag: El Nino

Vets are encouraging farmers to prepare for a dry summer and to figure out how best to manage livestock through this time.

Financial institutions could lead climate change response before science, says Insurance Council of NZ chief executive Tim Grafton.

Risk management is an aspect of strategic planning that many farmers are yet to fully use to its potential. It can offer the advantage of a wider perspective on events that might otherwise be a cause for worry.

Get in now before it's too late. That's the advice on water from North Otago Federated Farmers president Richard Strowger.

The effects of an El Nino this summer – if it hits – will not necessarily be the same as during the last one in the late 1990s because of changes to farming practices, says Beef + Lamb NZ chief economist Andrew Burtt.

The Ministry for Primary Industries have published a brochure to help farmers prepare for what could be a drier summer.

Weather forecasters are predicting an El Nino weather pattern this season which could be the strongest yet, resulting in a drought similar to the 1972-73, 1982-83 and 1997-98 events.

Jeremy Klingender, technical agronomy manager at Ravensdown, on planning for dry conditions.

With predictions the El Nino will continue through summer, Ballance says now is the time to proceed with a pasture and stock feed programme.

Weather in the coming months will determine the size of the drop in milk production, says Federated Farmers Dairy president Andrew Hoggard.