November 2007

Trail blazers challenge meat industry mindset
Traditional thinking in our beleaguered meat industry is being well and truly challenged by two of this year's Kellogg Rural Leadership participants.

Fonterra to measure carbon footprint
Fonterra today announced that it will get the co-operative's carbon footprint measured.

NZ sheep meat carbon footprint to be meastured
AgResearch has won a tender which will see it estimating the total greenhouse gases (GHG) or carbon footprint of New Zealand-produced sheep meat consumed in the UK.

NZ wool price strengthens further
New Zealand Wool Services International Ltd reports that prices at today's auction of South Island wool, in Christchurch, generally strengthened, despite a substantially stronger New Zealand dollar, which had risen by 3% against the US dollar since the previous wool sale on 22 November.

OPINION:
Alliance Group board of elections
I, along with many other like-minded farmers and business people servicing the rural sector, have worked behind the scenes for much of this year assisting the Meat Industry Action Group in highlighting the issues...

Accelerated lambing can work
While many sheep farmers might think that lambing just once a year is enough, Professor Steve Morris of Massey University in New Zealand, is keen to have ewes lambing all year round.

NZ to lead greenhouse network
New Zealand is to lead an international network to research greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton and Climate Change Minister David Parker announced yesterday.

DNA markers and cattle breeding
Cattle breeding is slow work. Hereditary response can be accelerated, however, with the aid of gene mapping. Use of DNA markers enables greater precision in choice of the best animals, and the selection of animals at a younger age.

UK farmers making bigger losses
New figures cited by the UK Farmers' Guardian reveal beef and lamb producers are still making substantial losses on each head of production.

Further FMD incident at Pirbright
Another Foot and Mouth Disease-related incident has occured at the Pirbright site in the UK, according to Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn.

Farmers must be involved beyond farm gate
Farmers must take ownership of the issues in the meat industry, that is the message from the new Meat Industry Action Group Chairman Keith Milne, of Western Southland.

Macrocarpa and abortion in cows
... a query from a farmer about abortion in cows and links with soil-borne bacteria and also macrocarpa ...

Co-operative symposium on next week in Wellington
Senior executives from cooperatives across Asia and the Pacific rim will be joining New Zealand cooperative executives in Wellington from 27-29 November for a symposium on "The Cooperative Advantage of Doing Business."

Equal treatment for co-op shareholders?
Should co-operatives treat their shareholders equally and honestly? The smaller shareholders would almost certainly say "yes" ... but then all too often it is the smaller shareholders of co-operatives, particularly in New Zealand, who end up on the short end of the stick.

Meat company, PPCS, finalises closures
PPCS yesterday confirmed that the proposed closures of its Te Kauwhata venison processing facility and its Balclutha-based Windward finished lambskin manufacturing would proceed.

FF: NZ sheep farmers have had enough
"Sheep Farmers have had a gutsful," according to Federated Farmers' President, Charlie Pedersen.

Bee virus not from Australia
US scientists have just found that a bee virus which they had thought was recently arrived from Australia has actually been in the country for about five years.

Brits launch new lamb and beef campaign
A new campaign has just been launched in Britain to encourage shoppers to buy home-grown produce.

Tough times ahead for UK farmers unless prices adjusted
Record increases in feed prices driven by a tightened balance in supply and demand threaten the long-term viability of some livestock sectors unless farmgate prices adjust accordingly, according to the UK's National Farmer's Union.

Farmnews launches opinion section
... the "depressing" Alliance update offering no hope to suppliers ... also in the mail a pamphlet from Dairy Trust seeking suppliers and offering competitive payments and no share requirements...

Bird by-products and mammals able to be moved in UK
General licences allowing movement of bird by-products and mammals in the zones affected by Bird Flu were issued yesterday by Defra.

Exporting to be easier for NZ businesses
New Zealand businesses will find it easier to grow their new offshore markets under a $100 million scheme announced by Economic Development Minister Pete Hodgson this morning.

Dairy farmers should be involved with Fonterra plans
Federated Farmers is strongly advising all Fonterra suppliers to get involved in the discussion on important changes to the capital structure of their co-operative, said Frank Brenmuhl, chair of the dairy section of Federated Farmers.

Locked up leasehold land traumatises farmers
The decision of the government to lock 65 lakeside high country farms into pastoral leases in perpetuity is traumatising for many of the families involved, says High Country Accord chairman Ben Todhunter.

Fonterra Shareholders Council to represent farmers
The Shareholders' Council has said it will represent farmers' views throughout the Fonterra capital structure consultation programme that started today.

Gov't to keep eye on Fonterra discussions
NZ Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said today that the government will be following closely Fonterra's discussions with its shareholders about its capital structure.

Fonterra looks toward 'bold' structure change
Fonterra's Chairman Henry van der Heyden said that the company needed to be bold and brave. The company announced today that it is beginning a two-year consultation programme with its shareholders around a preferred capital structure option.

More birds to be culled in Avian Flu outbreak
Four more premises in southern England have been classified as "Dangerous Contacts" in relation to the latest Avian Flu outbreak there. Defra said yesterday that all poultry on these premises will be culled as a precautionary measure.

Declining cow fertility biggest dairy problem
The greatest problem facing the dairy industry today, at primary production level, is the continuing decline in cow fertility.

Farms still selling well in NZ
Farms were still selling flat out in October, according to the Real Estate Institute. The three months to October saw continued demand for rural property with more farms changing hands compared with the three months to September.

New weapon against porina and grass grub
Farmers will soon have a new weapon against porina and grass grub, thanks to a groundbreaking discovery by AgResearch.

Nutrient replacement important after silage
If you've just completed harvesting silage, now's the time to consider replacing the nutrients removed from the soil during the process.

Waikaretu shearer to go for women's world shearing record
Emily Welch will attempt the nine-hour women's lamb shearing world record on November 27, 2007. Emily is the only female shearer in her gang. Emily competes alongside men around the show circuit throughout the North Island and more recently Australia.

Low-cost ways to manage cow manure
There's always money to be made out of grass ... but by the time it's been through a cattlebeast it's not so inclined to resemble dollar notes!

Bird flu strikes England again
An outbreak of bird flu has been detected on a poultry farm in eastern England, British officials said yesterday.

Some grasses have their own herbicide
Some common fescue lawn grasses come equipped with their own natural broad-spectrum herbicide that inhibits the growth of weeds and other plants around them.

Better rat traps make more money
There's more than one way to catch a rat ... and thanks to a better type of trap a tribe in India has benefited in more ways than one.

Farmers need to vote for positive change
at Alliance Group
Alliance Group has done a good job of processing in the past but it is now time to look at new innovative ways of adding value to our premium products, according to Mark Crawford, of Aparima in Western Southland.

Decline in energy and greenhouse gas efficiency
Recent research, which to date has been focused on the dairy industry, has identified an alarming decline in energy and greenhouse gas efficiency in the New Zealand dairy industry.

Aerial spraying report welcomed by PAN ANZ
Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand (PAN ANZ) has welcomed the release of the report into the findings of the Peoples Inquiry in to the Effects of Aerial Spraying Pesticide over Urban Areas of Auckland.

World's biggest biogas plant gets going
The world's largest experimental biogas plant will improve the utilisation of biogas and the effect of agricultural production on the climate and the environment.

Strong support for wool
About 9,800 bales of wool attracted strong support in Napier this week, according to Wool Services International.

Scientists make potato disease discovery
Scientists have made a key discovery into the genetics of the bacteria that causes blackleg, an economically damaging disease of potatoes, that could lead to new ways to fight the disease.

• PPCS plans closures to boost profit
• Automatic help soon for dairy cow hoof problems