NZFarmer South Island - 19 March 2024

FROM DESIGN TO ENGINEERING & INSTALLATION

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Global farming community prepares for ‘doomsday’

At the farthest point north that a scheduled flight can travel is a repository for seed samples collected from around the world. Should a disaster capable of wiping out entire plant species occur, the global farming community is ready: It has insurance deposited in a vault ready to be withdrawn to repopulate the plant species

The vault is set 120 metres inside an arctic mountainside in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, and almost every country has seed samples secured there in case unique crops are wiped out by disaster.

The loss of a unique crop is as irreversible as the extinction of a dinosaur, animal or any form of life. The vault serves to protect the seeds of such crops from catastrophes such as natural disasters, war, funding crises or poor management It secures the foundation of our future food supply.

Syria is the only country that has so far recovered seeds from the vault. Civil war forced the evacuation of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in 2012, leaving behind their genebank that contained some of the oldest varieties of wheat and barley

Upon recovery, ICARDA re-established the research centre. The centre soon replanted seeds in Lebanon and Morocco and returned their offspring to Svalbard.

New Zealand’s AgResearch air-mailed a pasture seed deposit to Svalbard recently, marking the 15th anniversary of the vault’s opening. AgResearch deposited seeds from perennial ryegrass, subterranean clover and a standard clover species

Kioumars Ghamkhar, director of AgResearch’s Margot Forde Genebank in Palmerston North, said that aside from protection against disaster, the seeds the agency sent were also “backed up” for use in future research.

“There’s a pipeline of research that we discovered, some traits like drought tolerance, like methane release mitigation from animals. This is a treasure trove, really, and there is no value to put on it.”

He said species such as subterranean clover were important for New Zealand

Deep inside an arctic mountainside, precious samples are stored in case crops are wiped out.

By Eve Hyslop.

to keep safe due to its nutrient advantage to uncultivable hill country. Other unique variants of seeds wee also secured.

“If someone from China marries someone from Indonesia, for example, you have more diversity in the next generations. [NZ seed] varieties are created in that way as well. This is a very important resource of information, which is encoded within DNA. It can create a very unique composition and if we lose that, there’s no way you can repeat it.”

With 1,214,827 seed samples and 1.1 million varieties stored in the vault, it contains decades of seed history. Ghamkhar said there were some seed variants that might not exist in environments today due to the evolution of genes, but existed in the vault.

These historical seeds assisted in breeding programmes and future climate change research. “You can look at those seeds and say well, this can persist in a difficult environment, for example. So you bring it to a breeding programme over time, and transfer that trait to the current varieties and develop newvarieties for adaptation to climate change.”

The vault exemplified something greater than the security of seeds – countries acting without political boundaries for the good

Kioumars

Ghamkhar visited the seed bank in 2016, depositing ryegrass and white clover seeds, along with their wild relatives.

of humanity. “A few years ago, it was quite ironic to see a deposit from North Korea sitting next to a US deposit It just tells you that there’s no political tension in the air, it’s all for humanity.”

With the capacity to hold 4.5m varieties and each packet containing an average of 500 seeds, the vault can hold a maximum of 2.5 billion seeds.

AgResearch has so far sent 2497 seed samples. Ghamkhar said it aimed to store 10% of the 170,000 samples it had at the Margot Forde Genebank, prioritising seeds with the most important genetic information to researchers. “What is priority No 1, we have already backed up. So if a disaster happens today, the top things that people are looking for are backed up.”

While the risk of a crop being wiped out by war is low in New Zealand, a unique collection of seeds can be destroyed by something as simple as a poorly functioning freezer.

Out of 1500 national genebanks, the Margot Forde Genebank is the sixth biggest and is considered the sixth most competent in the world. Ghamkhar said this reputation was a credit to the bank’s leading research in climate change adaptation and the conservation and replenishment of plant germplasm. ■

The entrance to the international gene bank Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

PICTURE ALLIANCE VI

AGRESEARCH

KioumarsGhamkhar,left,withtheCropTrust formerexecutivedirectorMarieHagaatthe entrancetotheseedvaultin2016

Contents

03 Prepared for disaster

Should there ever be a major crop catastrophe, the world has insurance

10 A monitor from space

MethaneSAT launched will help track methane emissions

13 Disruptions

Agricultural industry disrupted by various factors

14 Tasty topping

Chinese restaurants serving up our cheese

23 Clever invention

Innovative and edible bale netting a sustainable solution

32 Winning dairy farmers

First lot of regional winners named in the Dairy Industry Awards

36 Bula

The island paradise of Fiji

Contact us

NZ FARMER EDITOR

Sonita Chandar 027 446 6221 sonita.chandar@stuff.co.nz

DESIGN

Kwok Yi Lee

Sam Davenport

COVER PHOTO

MethaneSAT

HEAD OF REGIONAL & RURAL MARKETS

Kate Boreham 021 279 5361 kate.boreham@stuff.co.nz

Investment or a waste?

Sonita Chandar EDITOR

Let’s face it, methane is potent. And since the Industrial Revolution, it has accounted for a third of net warming.

But the good news is it’s a relatively short-lived greenhouse gas which has a lifespan of seven to 12 years, especially when compared to carbon dioxide which can persist for hundreds of years.

The agriculture and energy sectors contributed the most to New Zealand’s emissions at 49% and 41% of gross emissions in 2021, respectively. Emissions from road transport, a sub-category of the energy sector, made up 16% of gross emissions.

Methane is produced naturally, and through a number of human activities. Natural sources include wetlands, wildfires and the digestive tracts of some plant-eating animals and insects, such as termites.

Human activities that produce methane include the extraction and transportation of fossil fuels, the decay of organic waste in landfills, and agricultural practices such as growing rice and farming ruminant animals.

The Government has set a target of reducing methane emissions to 10% below 2017 levels by 2030, and 24 to 47% below 2017 levels by 2050 – and although there is

still work to be done, we are getting there.

The world’s five largest methane emitters are China, India, the United States, Russia and Brazil. Together, they are responsible for close to half of all methane emissions globally. New Zealand currently ranks 34th in the Climate Change Performance Index, (CCPI) and stays among the low-performing countries.

Compared to those top five countries, New Zealand is doing our part and better. And not only that, we are more committed than most of the top five emitters to reducing methane

The Global Methane Pledge (GMP) was launched at COP26 by the European Union and the United States. Participants joining the pledge agree to take voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. This is a global, not a national reduction target.

With more than 155 country participants, representing a little over 50% of global anthropogenic methane emissions, we are well on our way to achieving the pledge goal. Only the US and Brazil from the top five list are part of the Global Methane Pledge.

And it could well become easier for our agricultural industry to reduce emissions. We now have an eye in the sky, a big brother watching if you like, to find where our greatest methane emissions are coming via a purpose-built satellite. This should

help us act even faster to take remedial action.

The Government’s $29.3 million investment in MethaneSAT, is a way for it to show the world it is being pro-active in meeting our climate change goals and in particular, methane reduction, as well as being a leader in this field.

Is the $29m investment too much?

Could that money have been put to better use elsewhere and is it a flagrant waste of money during a time when many are struggling? Some would say a resounding yes. But it is important to point out that some of those people are the same moaners and whingers who repeatedly single out the agriculture industry as the only culprit of environmental damage and climate change and call for reductions in stock numbers.

And if emissions got worse, they would moan even louder. If our sheep and beef and dairy farms began to reduce stock to numbers that meant farming was no longer viable and farmers shut up shop, their howls of protest would be deafening if the price of imported groceries became untenable.

So is the $29m investment worth it?

Will we get bang for our buck? Time will only tell. ■

Get in touch with us at nzfarmer@stuff.co.nz

Understanding the cost to farmers

Iwould like to respond to Andrew Luddington of Lincoln over his savaging of the cost estimate by Colin Hannah of Feds for the imposition of Freshwater Farm Plans on farmers in Northland.

According to farms in the Northland region from Figure.NZ, there are approximately 3000 farms in Northland, so Colin’s estimate of an aggregate cost of $250 million to $300 million for these plans averages out to about $100,000 per farm.

The undated document Freshwater Farm Plans: what you need to know (wynnwilliams.co.nz) estimates the cost of farm plans to average $6000 That does not include implementation costs, which may be expensive depending on geography and type of operation

This is also a repetitive process and can involve fines. And as we know, everything has become more expensive in the past year while the economy has slowed, making it increasingly a burden on already hard-pressed farms.

The annual cost of this new regulation probably averages to a fraction of the estimate, but there will also be more inspectors, and more remedial work

Have your say

Letters to the editor are welcome and should not be more than 250 words. If you have an opinion you would like to share or ideas for what you would like to read in future issues of NZFarmer, get in touch with us at: nzfarmer@ stuff.co.nz or write to us at:

to do. It galls me that farmers, whom international climate treaties seek to insulate from the costs of ameliorating global warming, as their production is essential to human life, have borne the brunt of carbon regulation in New Zealand.

We are told that our livestock are the culprits, not the millions of cars, trucks, heavy equipment, fossil-fuel-powered generators, boilers, processing equipment, etc that, aside from what they are already paying in fuel tax, much of which the government co-opts for general expenses, go scot-free.

This farming season, insult has been added to injury by MetService advising we were headed for a hot dry summer, causing many livestock owners to get their stock to the slaughterhouse to avoid the expected rush and falling payout

Instead we have had plentiful rain and green pastures. While all the experts can chalk up their bad advice to unpredictability, they are always ready to offer more of it, and it’s farmers who suffer the financial loss.

Part of the problem here is the abysmal productivity of our legislatures, carried

The Editor, NZ Farmer

Level 7 Cider Building, 4 Williamson Ave, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1021

“ It galls me that farmers ... have borne the brunt of carbon regulation in New Zealand.’’

Jon Turner

on through many industries, with the resulting non-competitiveness

The cost of, and time consumption, of a building permit, or the price of building materials, manufactured goods, or whathave-you, results in our vaunted “grass-fed beef’’, for instance, being predominantly sold as manufacturing beef; a commodity, where the market dictates the price to the producer, rather than vice-versa.

As someone who moved here from overseas, I can attest that local beef does not smell appetising to the foreign palate.

Ninety-five per cent of our timber production is sold as logs, not the finished products that would add value, and therefore be doubly profitable to the country.

A $100 million plywood plant was built in Tokoroa. Great idea, but expecting $70 for a sheet of exterior ply, which would nonetheless have made our houses 100% better, went down like a lead balloon with international buyers, and the facility is now shuttered and a giant loss taken.

We are simply not competitive aside from a few categories of products, and our consumers are the sacrificial cows for this lack of productivity.

Our farmers, meanwhile, are not unproductive by world standards They are well organised and hard working. Try not to discourage them, or this lynch-pin of the New Zealand economy will shrivel up and go away, with a parting shot to the effect of: “let the politicians grow the food and raise the foreign exchange”. ■

Jon Turner, Rotorua

A refreshing change

It was very refreshing to read Doug Edmeades’ opinion in the last NZFarmer At last we have someone educated who is speaking out about the warm fuzzies that have been circling agriculture like eagles on a path of destruction.

To put things in perspective, it was

only 40 years after the Treaty was signed that frozen meat was exported from New Zealand. Technology had arrived in our wonderful country.

Thanks for printing an opinion of insight and honesty. ■

Philip Brown. Rakaia

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Soil scientist Doug Edmeades wants to know why more farmers are not growing this “magical” plant.

Sometimes I feel like I am teaching Grandma to suck eggs, when I mention the importance of clover-based pastures. Then again, sometimes I think Grandma needs to be told how to suck eggs. This is one of those occasions

Our New Zealand pastoral industry earns about $21 billion annually. It is the biggest game in town. And the reason we can compete in the international food market, despite the tyranny of distance, lies curled up in our competitive advantage: all-year grazing of clover-based pastures

The bedrock that anchors this enterprise is the magical clover plant, which not only fixes atmospheric nitrogen, that is then added to the soil, but which is also a superior stock feed for ruminants

Clover-based pasture is the cheapest feed stock for ruminants. It costs about 4 to 5 cents per kilogram of dry matter, far cheaper than the alternatives: crops (15 to 20 cents/ kg DM) and supplements, like maize and PKE, are more than 30 cents/kg DM

For these reasons you would think we’d be good at growing and managing our competitive advantage. I fear we are not. We have, for numerous reasons, ‘lost the plot’. I have good reason to express alarm.

About 70% of the farms that AgKnowledge Ltd has visited in the past 10 years or so, have initially presented with one, or a multitude of, nutrient deficiencies. The most common nutrient limitation is potassium, followed by sulphur and molybdenum.

These nutrient limitations greatly limit the growth of the clover component of the pasture. Not only does clover have a higher requirement for all nutrients than grasses, but it, like all plants, can grow only as fast as the most limiting nutrient. In this sense clover is the canary in the soil fertility mine – it is the first component to disappear from the pasture if the soil fertility is not optimal.

And we are not talking about playing around with the fine-tuning knob.

Correcting these limitations can often increase total pasture production by 20% to 30%, depending on the severity

We’ve ‘lost the plot’ about clover

of the problem. As I see it, there is a lot of unrealised potential in the pastoral sector.

Given the important role of clover in pastures, I am perplexed by the overwhelming emphasis in the pastoral sector on grasses, and, in particular, rye-grasses. Sure, all the seed companies sell clover seed, but it occurs to me that their research and marketing efforts are largely directed at developing new ryegrass cultivars

This is reflected in their sales pitch. Farmers are told their pastures have run out and the remedy is to cultivate and resow with the latest ryegrass cultivar. This is done at great expense and after a couple of seasons they are back where they started. The new pastures do not persist.

The problem is exacerbated by the fertiliser salesperson, who, seeing the run-out pasture,and anxious for a sale, recommends nitrogen fertiliser. The downward spiral continues into grass-dominant, N-fertiliser-dependent pastures. The cost of production rises, because 1kg of bag-feed ryegrass pasture costs 10-12 cents per kg DM

This knot of farm management stupidity needs unravelling if we are to capture the unrealised potential in the pastoral sector.

In my experience the reason clover-based pastures are run out, or are not persisting, is poor soil fertility. One or a combination of nutrients is limiting clover growth, and

hence the amount of free, and dare I say it, natural, nitrogen going into the soil, and hence limiting the vigour and persistence of the N-hungry ryegrass.

Sure, the pastures look N-deficient –because they are! But the expedient, costeffective, long-term solution is not to add more bag N, but to optimise the soil fertility to maximise clover growth.

But therein lies another technical knot. Time and again when I visit a farm, I am presented with a bunch of soil test results that, on a cursory inspection, suggests the soil fertility is optimal. I should expect to see some healthy,vigorous pastures. Alas, often the pastures are poor and lack vigour, the dung and urine patches are obvious, the companion species are low-producing grasses and flat weeds.

This discrepancy arises when proper soil-sampling protocols are not followed, resulting in inflated soil test results, which give the impression that the soil fertility is optimal when in fact the pastures are poor.

And hence some sage advice: “Never believe a soil test result until you have inspected the pastures.” Alternatively, “if the soil fertility levels on your farm are fine, but the pastures are poor, is it time to rethink?”

It is only when we have unravelled these two technical knots that we will capture the unrealised potential in the pastoral sector. ■

Farmers need to create a plan for bad times

Costs are up and profit margins are down: It’s time to take action, says economist Gordon Stuart.

Inflation is still a long way from the magical 2% the Reserve Bank is targeting. Costs are up sharply, from fertiliser to freight to labour, and profit margins are down.

To get rid of inflation, you beat the economy up to discourage spending As a result, corporate tax receipts are down 11% on last year.

Agriculture and Dairy Non-Performing Loans are up 45% and 25% respectively. These may seem large rises, but they are off a low base and well below where they were in 2010, let alone 1991

We can hope inflation disappears but hope is not a reliable strategy. That real pain is now emerging as households tighten their belts.

At the same time, New Zealand is over-reliant on China, which is under its

own pressures. Recent lifts in dairy prices have soothed nerves. But pressures on agricultural bottom lines remain.

As a former banker, who has worked with distressed customers (in “bad bank”), I’ve seen a few cycles. This cycle has a way to go.

The most common reason for failure is that businesses run out of cash. Borrowers need to be fleet-footed, and on top of things.

Principle 1: Avoid ‘bad bank’ in the first place

Maintain liquidity in the business.

Have three months of cash to cover working capital. Your overdraft is for the unexpected or Plan B or C. Fleet-footed means continually tracking and reassessing your position.

Understand trends and where cash is absorbed in your balance sheet. Executing is not just implementing the plan but also adjusting it.

Understand your business’ sensitivities, so you can identify trigger points for actions. This can be done by using a financial model to calculate:

■ Sales by category or division

■ Gross margin before labour by category,

product or division

■ Overheads

■ Direct and indirect labour

■ Your headroom or breakeven under a best, worst and likely scenario.

Principle 2: In troubled times, have a plan If you are headed for trouble, even if you only suspect so, have a plan, go early. Cut the fat, but invest for the future. Over-communicate to the bank.

does this mean family? Can we change our debt amortisation profile? Can we reduce space, outsource or contract? How can we grow our A and B product/sales lines and cut our Cs and Ds?

Principle 4: Be positive and innovate

Farmers are early adopters of technology and data.

The bank wants to hear the following: This is the problem; this is what has caused the problem; this is what I am doing about it; this is what I need from the bank; and this is how the bank will be paid back. The bank will normally support anyone who can demonstrate they are on top of the situation.

Principle 3: Plans go awry so have a plan B and C if possible Questions to ask include:

What surplus assets can be sold? How can we cut stock levels or debtors to release cash? How can we get new equity

Continually question the way you do things. Team NZ used cycling muscle to power the hydraulics rather grinding with smaller arm muscles. Innovation, technology and data can grow new and better revenue streams, reduce costs and enable timely correct decision-making.

Banks support businesses that understand and manage their risks. Bank don’t take equity upside so their entire assessment of your farm or business focuses on downside risk – or put more simply “why the bank might not be repaid on time”. ■

Gordon Stuart is an economist at Chaperon Financial Services.

Gordon Stuart

Clover-based pastures, which fix atmospheric nitrogen, also give New Zealand farmers the competitive advantage on global food markets HEATHER CHALMERS/STUFF

Clover-based pasture is the cheapest feed stock for ruminants. It costs about 4 to 5 cents per kilogram of dry matter

Doug Edmeades say farmers need to optimise soil fertility to maximise clover growth.

With low sheep meat and wool returns, fourthgeneration farmer Andrew Stewart says it’s time to make some changes.

At the beginning of this summer it became apparent to me that 2024 was going to be a challenging year for sheep and beef farmers.

While beef prices have remained strong, sheep meat and wool returns have declined to a point not seen in a long time. Coupled with this is the rapid increase in key farm costs such as interest rates, insurance and labour, which have combined to see significant financial pressure on many farmers’ balance sheets.

But as in any challenging times, there are a number of ways farmers can reduce this pressure by analysing ways to save themselves money, if they are prepared to ask some hard questions.

Take our annual shearing costs, for example. We have used the same shearing contractors for more than 20 years. They have done a very good job to a high standard preparing our wool clip for sale, but when I compared the per-sheep cost with that of another local contractor, it became apparent that I could save nearly 10% of our annual shearing costs by changing gangs.

So, I needed to have a difficult conversation with a loyal and hardworking contractor and explain to them that I had decided I no longer needed their services. I also explained that the decision was solely financial and not based on any reflection of previous work done

While they were not happy with my decision, they accepted it based on my reasoning and we have both moved on

This may sound harsh, but the current harsh times demand such conversations Like any small business, farming can only stand on its own two legs if it is profitable. So, farmers need to remember that loyalty can go only so far, and opportunities to save money in the current climate should be explored and captured if at all possible

One of the benefits of a tough financial year for me is the heightened awareness that brings to every aspect of the farming business. So now that product prices have

In challenging times, farmers must ask hard questions

dropped, I have also been analysing the way I currently farm. What that means in practical terms can be outlined in a number of key questions, the answers to which will be different for every farming business.

With sheep prices at their lowest in many years, is there an opportunity for me to purchase more stock at a cheap price and increase or change my stocking policy to capitalise on this?

This could be a short-term trade, longterm increase in stock numbers, or change of stock class to add extra value to the bottom line.

Likewise, are there key farm inputs that can be reduced in a tough year? Fertiliser is a big one for farmers but cutting such key components should be done only if a farmer knows the current status of the fertility.

Savings may also be made in key areas like weed control and fencing if you are willing and able to do more of the work yourself, but you need to be mindful of taking on too much on your own.

“ Farmers need to remember that opportunities to save money should be explored and captured if at all possible

Andrew Stewart

Can I save money on the cost of labour? Many sub-contractors and casual employees have increased their hourly rates dramatically in the last few years, as their own costs have increased as well.

One contractor whom I used put his rate up 25% in one hit, which of course he was entitled to do. This meant it was time for me to have another difficult conversation as

I felt I could no longer afford his When he told me new hourly rate he was charging, I explained to him the percentage increase he was asking for and also that, from my perspective, he had just priced himself out of doing any future work for me. Again, he had done a very good job a high standard but I could no longer justify sheer financial cost. While some of the key input costs seem set in stone, I am yet to find one that cannot be challenged. If you are not happy with your current interest rate, ask your bank if there is anything you can do to reduce it. Failing that, contact other rural lenders and see if you can reduce interest costs by changing banks.

Insurance is exactly the same, and there are many brokers who can tell you if you are getting the best deal or not. Rates are constantly increasing as well but how often do we challenge the valuations that are sent to us for our sheep and beef farms? Again, they may be uncomfortable conversations to have but the resulting financial saving can go a long way to reducing that discomfort.

While these decisions may seem constant and daunting in some regards, tough times demand tough courses of action.

But perhaps the most important piece of advice I can give is to try not to take on too much yourself. In many situations, farmers are working on their own and they need to be mindful of their physical and mental wellbeing.

Sure, there seems to be a never-ending list of challenges that we face, but we live and work in one of the most beautiful countries on the planet. And sometimes we all need to take a step back and consider how lucky we are to raise our families in such an amazing environment. ■

Sheep meat and wool returns have declined this season, leading to a drop in farm revenues.

Sheep and beef farmer Andrew Stewart and his wife Kylie run Rangitīkei Farmstay and The Mudder as successful diversifications on the family farm. He also writes regular columns for NZ Farmer.

Without farming, where would our country be?

Kate Acland says the Government needs to incentivise, not penalise, farmers.

In the year to June 30, 2023, export revenue from the food and fibre sector increased by 8 % to $57.4 billion. That represents 81.9% of New Zealand’s total merchandise exports.

The export of agricultural produce underpins our economy and has done so for many generations.

Our global markets have always been cyclical, but sheep and beef farming in New Zealand is now facing significant challenges from nature, such as extreme weather events, poor policy such as carbon farming incentives, and weaknesses in global markets.

Remaining profitable in the face of these challenges is the key to continuing to farm successfully, and lifting performance in every aspect of our production is the way to achieve that.

We know New Zealand farming is world-leading but we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. Change is happening at pace, and as global competitors step up to the plate, there is the risk New Zealand could slip behind.

We must continuously push the boundaries of excellence and convey that clearly to our global customers.

Regulation has a role to play to provide confidence – domestically and internationally – that farmers are good stewards and custodians of our environment

However, we know heavy-handed regulation does not work. To achieve what our sector and all New Zealanders want for our environment, we need regulation to be light on bureaucratic processes.

Rules cannot be so prescribed that they stifle farmers’ ability to manage individual catchment and farm risks. They need to provide the space to innovate and solve challenges – in the ways farmers have done for generations – for the benefit of the land and the economy

There are many innovative and passionate farmers who can lead that charge but we need policy settings that enable them to do that, and encourage others to follow them, to create enduring meaningful change.

On water, catchment communities are critical. Farmers working together to tackle the specific risks to the waterways in their region is the most effective way to

achieve improvements. It is essential that the Government continues to support these groups.

Farmers need to be provided with confidence and certainty so they can plan effectively and that means creating enduring regulation, without the risk of major upheaval with every change of government.

That means finding ways to achieve cross-party support on environmental issues to create workable. achievable longterm policy focusing on the outcomes all are looking for.

That would provide farmers with the confidence to innovate, invest and adapt farming systems to achieve those goals.

The topic of climate change in agriculture is contentious. Most farmers accept they have a part to play, but they want to see fair methane targets, which are achievable and grounded in good science that recognises the different impacts of different gases.

Scientific understanding of methane is evolving rapidly, including its warming impact and views on how it should be dealt with. Recent research undertaken for B+LNZ by climate scientists from Oxford University concluded that current climate methane reduction targets for New Zealand agriculture are too high.

The coalition Government has pledged to review these targets, based on no additional warming, and we look forward to the outcome of that.

New Zealand has long been a world leader in farming techniques and innovation With the right policy settings, we can also become a world leader in

Farmers are the stewards and custodians of our environment, therefore they need rules and regulations that work and enable them to care for the land in a manageable and innovative way.

Rather than pricing agricultural emissions, most other countries are now looking at ways to incentivise change, says Kate Acland.

CLARE TOIA-BAILEY

Again, New Zealand needs to be incentivising the integration and management of biodiversity as part of productive farming systems, not penalising it.

setting appropriate targets for biogenic methanes, which recognise the warming impact of gases.

Thinking around pricing agricultural emissions has also changed. Rather than pricing agricultural emissions, most other countries are now looking at ways to incentivise change.

The Canadian Government is considering an option for farmers to earn carbon credits through strategies that support more efficient animal growth, such as improved diets.

In California, farmers can earn carbon credits by using bio-digesters to convert methane from manure into a fuel gas

In the EU, plans to introduce a price have been dropped and they are looking at other ways to incentivise farmers.

New Zealand could start by removing the threat of a price on agricultural emissions. If farmers are on track to meet the methane-reduction targets, there is no justification for an emissions tax.

Farmers like facts. They will respond to achievable targets, underpinned by solid science. Realistic future-proofed policy will give them the confidence to pursue and invest in new technologies.

Policy approaches around biodiversity also need an overhaul The fact that 24% of the country’s native vegetation is on sheep and beef farms speaks volumes about farmers’ passion for biodiversity.

Yet, the National Policy Statement for Biodiversity currently penalises those farmers who have done the most to protect their biodiversity.

Those with considerable amounts of land designated as a Significant

We welcome the pause on the implementation of the Biodiversity NPS, to enable the development of a new workable and effective framework. This could include support around fencing and fence control and consideration should be given to establishing a biodiversity credits system.

We can achieve these goals, alongside continuing to meet the demand for high-quality, sustainable protein from consumers around the world. We can continue to be profitable with the correct policy settings and the entire sector getting behind achievable targets for change. Without that combination of effective policy to create sector goodwill and momentum, we will struggle.

For the sake of our rural communities and our economy, New Zealand decisionmakers need to find a balance where a healthy environment that meets climate goals is in tune with continued and increasing profitability and productivity for the agricultural sector.

That will need to recognise the significant progress farmers have made over the past decade to lift environmental performance, at considerable cost to their farm businesses, and continue to recognise and reward the many changes that need to come.

Our politicians hold in their hands the opportunity to enable truly effective long-term change that will empower New Zealand’s farmers to be the solution. To do that, they need to be looking to work collaboratively to generational cycles, the way that farmers do. ■

Kate Acland is chairperson of Beef+Lamb New Zealand and a sheep, beef and dairy farmer.

Natural Area (SNA) Area face major restrictions on what they can do on that land, and substantial costs.

The topic of climate change in agriculture is contentious and although many farmers accept they have a part to play, they want to see fair methane targets put in place.

Cutting our emissions is crucial to climate change goals and now, Kiwi scientists will have better information.

By Sonita Chandar.

Main:Developedbya subsidiaryoftheglobalnonprofitEnvironmentalDefense Fund,MethaneSATwillhelp scientiststrackmethane emissionsfromagriculture. Inset:Thegroundbreaking satelliteisdesignedtohelp protecttheEarth’sclimate byacceleratingreductions ofapowerfulgreenhouse pollutant,focusingfirstonoil andgasoperations,amajor sourceofmethane.

Kiwi space mission tracks the world's methane emissions

New Zealand has taken a giant leap into space with a $29 million investment in MethaneSAT – a satellite that monitors and pinpoints where agricultural emissions are the greatest.

The project is New Zealand’s firstever government-funded space mission, however, it’s primarily funded by US-based non-profit Environmental Defense Fund. It is also the first satellite developed which can see methane emissions other satellites cannot, paving the way for heightened accountability and faster reductions.

Their mission is simple: To slow the speed of warming through faster action to reduce methane emissions. MethaneSAT is designed for two purposes: to give companies and regulators data to find and fix emission sources faster, and secondly, to make it easy for stakeholders – such as civil society organisations, industry investors and buyers in major gas markets – to see and compare the results.

MethaneSAT was launched in early March aboard SpaceX Falcon9 rocket with its mission control based in Aotearoa. It will orbit the globe approximately every 95 minutes, 15 times a day and collect data

from 300 targets. It can detect methane emissions as low as three parts per billion.

High sensitivity together with high resolution and a wide field of view will enable MethaneSAT to see the whole emissions picture. And with more than 150 countries having signed the Global Methane Pledge to cut their collective methane emissions at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, MethaneSAT will help ensure targets are being met, and where claimed reductions fall short.

Some in the industry are hailing it as a game changer.

“Knowing how much methane is

coming from where and how the rates are changing is essential,” says scientist and MethaneSAT project leader Steven Hamburg.

“MethaneSAT’s superpower is the ability to precisely measure methane levels with high resolution over wide areas, including smaller, diffuse sources that account for most emissions in many regions.”

Scientists in New Zealand will use the satellite to study global emissions from agriculture, while the US-side is focused on finding and measuring methane leaks from oil and gas production.

“The primary purpose of the satellite MethaneSAT is to locate large point sources of methane, like leaks in naturalgas facilities and pipelines. Such leaks could be quite easily repaired, reducing methane emissions immediately and thus reducing global warming.

“The idea is that by publishing the satellite findings, the operators of leaky facilities will be put under pressure to take action,” says Dr Johannes Laubach, a scientist from Manaaki Whenua –Landcare Research.

“However, about half of the global methane emissions related to human activities are from agriculture (mainly livestock and rice-growing). These emissions are often much more diffuse, ie when looking from space they appear as of low intensity spread over large areas.

“In New Zealand, over 80% of methane emissions related to human activity come from cattle and sheep.”

Professor John Cater, from the faculty of engineering at University of Canterbury,

says measuring this country’s methane emissions is “an important part of understanding our contributions to climate change”.

“Our Government has made a significant investment in the capability to operate spacecraft from New Zealand, starting with MethaneSAT, which will initially be controlled by RocketLab USA, then the University of Auckland’s Space Institute. This satellite is designed to provide data on emissions from large releases that can occur at oil and gas facilities.”

Professor Richard Easther, of the University of Auckland’s physics department, says “The launch of MethaneSAT marks a major step for New Zealand. It is our first governmentbacked space mission, and it will make a big contribution to tracking down a key contributor to climate change across the globe.”

Industry leaders are not as enthusiastic, with some saying MethaneSat will not help Kiwi farmers reduce emissions. “The satellite is unlikely to help us reach our emission goals in agriculture in any way,” DairyNZ general manager of corporate affairs Nick Robinson says.

“However, it will help reduce global anthropogenic methane losses by identifying point source emissions from fossil fuel sources. Overall, it’s good to get a better look at the major sources of methane and put this in perspective compared to biogenic methane from ruminant animals.”

The satellite will provide vast quantities of methane emissions data on all of the world’s major oil and gas regions. Information from the satellite will be public for anyone to see – in fact it will even be carried on Google Earth Engine, a premier tool for thousands of analysts.

MethaneSat combines the ability to precisely measure methane levels with high spatial resolution over wide areas, it can detect emissions from small, widely dispersed sources other satellites can’t see today. It will also identify larger emission sources in places that other satellites may not be looking. For the first time, we’ll be able to calculate total global methane emissions and track how emissions change over time for a production basin, a country, or the world. ■

Circling the Earth 15 times a day, MethaneSAT will measure changes in methane concentrations as small as three parts per billion.

The MethaneSat satellite was built in Colorado by the Space & Mission Systems unit of BAE Systems and Blue Canyon Technologies.

Food and fibre sector under pressure

The Government is aiming to double agricultural exports in the next decade but global and environmental challenges are disrupting the sector, reports

Bethwyn Littler

As the global population soars and food demand becomes more consumer driven, the farming sector is busy with discussions about the future.

Traditional dairy systems are facing major challenges; climate change, water, land use and consumers concerned about sustainability.

At the recent New Zealand Economics Forum at the University of Waikato, three panelists explored what might be ahead for New Zealand food growers.

“We don’t know what it will be like in 100 years,” Massey University’s Professor Harjinder Singh said. “But in the short to medium term dairy and meat very much have a place.

“At the moment the market is consumer driven and demand for animal-free food is growing, but it will not replace current farming.

“We are discovering more and more about the nutritional value of dairy, not just proteins but micro-nutrients, minerals and

many other bio-compounds which will be hard to replicate in other situations.”

Global population growth, expected to reach nine and half billion by 2050, means the demand for higher quality food will increase but with technology, food options are increasing.

According to the speakers, New Zealand needs to adopt new innovations and practices to make the most of these opportunities.

Wayne McNee of AgriZero NZ said the area of reducing emissions in ruminants was attracting a lot of funding.

“It’s about value not volume,” he said. “We don’t have the space to grow more of everything so we need to look at areas where we can raise the value. It needs focused support from government, but ultimately led by the industry.

“It is the people who are growing, the people who are processing,the people who are selling, who will do it.”

Lain Jager of Te Puna Whakaaronui

urges private and public sectors to invest in farming because New Zealand is facing economic and social anxiety.

“There is a growing sense that the country is going backwards. Economic investment is required to de-carbonise.”

He also said the Government’s ambitious aim to double food and fibre exports in the next 10 years was not unreasonable but it would be harder than it was in the last decade because of the global environment.

“Although the dark silver lining is that climate change may be good for the New Zealand food sector. We are seeing a massive change in the global food industry with four main drivers: climate change, technology, consumer and market segmentation, and geo-politics. The demand will be strong but the implication is that we need to protect this sector. We need industrial policy for this growth to achieve,” Jager said.

“The NZ food and fibre sector remains the backbone of the NZ economy. Strong actions and investments are required if we

are to de-carbonise and grow this important sector.”

Singh described the technological disruptions that may have an impact on our primary sector in the future. He said companies such as Perfect Day were using new technologies and genetic modification to create food.

“Cultivating cells from animals, making meat without animals, and precision fermentation, where microbes can produce milk protein through genetically modified micro organisms.

“Plant molecule farming, where plants can grow animal protein, this is gamechanging technology starting to receive massive investment from the private sector in the US and Europe but it won’t become mainstream for 30 or 40 years.

“Plant-based protein and lab grown meats are disrupting agriculture but they are not replacing it,” Singh said.

The speakers agreed that national genetic modification regulations needed to be reviewed in order for New Zealand to actively participate in the food revolution. All three urged action in the food sector.

“We could just wait but I believe that we should actively develop our own capabilities, skills and international partnerships to diversify food exports,” said Singh. “This could open up new innovations for New Zealand based on high-quality, environmentally friendly production in both new and traditional methods.”

“We need to be bold and have good conversations around genetic modification,” McNee said.

Jager was more direct. “If we think we can drift into the future, we are out to lunch.” ■

From left: Lain Jager, Harjinder Singh and Wayne McNee speak at the New Zealand Economics Forum 2024

China snaps up New Zealand

Pizza topped with cheese made in New Zealand is fast becoming a regular menu item throughout China.

By Chris Tobin

Eating pizzas topped with cheese produced in Aotearoa New Zealand is becoming increasingly popular in China, says Fonterra, as pizza shops open even in the country’s smaller cities.

The Kiwi dairy co-operative is the biggest supplier to the Chinese market of IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) mozzarella, the highest quality cheese used in pizzas.

“The use of mozzarella in hot pots and dumplings is also becoming increasingly popular around Lunar New Year,” says

Tom Jones, Fonterra’s manager of consumer and food service.

“Demand for IQF mozzarella into China is currently forecast to grow 10% year on year. Fonterra will continue to support this growth.”

The dairy co-operative started mozzarella production on a large scale at its Clandeboye factory near Temuka in South Canterbury in September 2018 when a third and final production line was commissioned as part of a $240 million project

The technology enabled natural mozzarella to be produced in just six hours, rather than the traditional time of six months.

Once the production line was commissioned, the Clandeboye factory became the largest producer of natural mozzarella cheese in the Southern Hemisphere, producing enough to top 500 million pizzas a year. Clandeboye produces 90% of Fonterra’s IQF mozzarella.

Connecting farmers to experts to

Taranaki Catchment Communities has launched a new hub to support farmers with compliance needs.

By Kiah Radcliffe.

Farm planning has become much more manageable with Taranaki Communities Catchment’s (TCC) new resource hub Good Farm Planning. Developed by TCC members, this initiative is a collaboration tool that connects farmers with experts in the industry and helps them understand the external requirements for their business. Offering free resources, events and

advice, Good Farm Planning aims to help farmers plan for their future.

Programme lead Paul Turner said the aim was not to be the experts on every subject but to guide farmers to the experts who could help them. “There’s a lot of industry assurance partners that have a platform and they’re talking to the rural community about what’s coming up, and we want to make sure that message is consistent.”

Good Farm was not about “overwhelming farmers” rather it was about providing “actual data” that told farmers what the minimum requirement was for them to be compliant and meet all government regulations.

Turner said currently the biggest regulation change farmers were seeing was on fresh water farm plans. “We’re pretty confident that a lot of people are going to want to know more about that.”

The hub takes a three-stage approach to

mozzarella

“Clandeboye exported around 56,000 metric tonnes of IQF mozzarella in the 2023 financial year, with China being the main export market at over 60% share,” Jones says.

“That’s about 1.2MT (metric tonnes) of mozzarella for every person in Timaru district, which has a population of 46,296.”

Due to commercial sensitivity, Jones would not disclose production figures each year since production began, nor the financial figures.

However, fourth quarter results released by China’s largest restaurant company, Yum China, on February 6 showed growing uptake in China’s pizza market.

Yum China said Pizza Hut, one of its six brands in China, opened 402 new stores in 2023, bringing its total to 3312 stores by the end of the year.

Yum China chief executive Joey Wat said the company reached a third of China’s population and aimed to extend

this reach to half the population by 2026.

A total of 170 people are employed in mozzarella production at Clandeboye, out of more than 1000 employees at the site. Milk supplied for the cheese comes from about 895 farms in the central South Island.

“It’s a proud moment to see products made here at Clandeboye ending up on plates in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, or Hanoi,” Clandeboye site operations manager Conrad Harle says.

“With more than 1000 employees, we’re a big part of the local economy, providing jobs for the region and helping New Zealand succeed on the world stage.”

Fonterra supplies IQF mozzarella globally across a number ofQuick Serve Restaurant customers and through its Anchor Food Professional Brand.

“As long as consumers love pizza, we will continue to support this business,” Jones said. ■

improve planning

helping farmers.

Stage one is about understanding a farm’s business plan. Stage two is for farmers to learn what the minimum requirements are for them to be compliant to government regulations and stage three sees Good Farm pair together farmers and experts to determine the best outcomes for their farm goals.

TCC chair and Awatuna dairy farmer Donna Cram said farmers had the opportunity to join at a stage that suited where they were at in their business plan. Events, workshops and online information was tailored to ensure farm owners and their staff were up to date with the relevant information for them, Cram said.

Good Farm partnered with Taranaki Regional Council and other networks collaborating to help farmers in the most efficient way, Cram said.

“The great thing is that this stuff is not hard, it’s just that there’s a lot of it and it’s all happened really fast.”

The challenge has been making sure they have a service that fits erybody.

The hub is not looking to replicate what existing organisations have but to steer farmers towards established resources, such as Beef and Lamb’s existing modules.

Taranaki Farmers can access more information on Good Farm Planning Hub via their website. ■

Taranaki farming family finds success growing medicinal

Whānau looks to branch out into new business on family land after a promising growing trial.

By Catherine Groenstein

Taking part in a trial growing medicinal plants on their whānau land looks to be the opportunity a Taranaki farming family has been searching for.

Rawiri McClutchie, together with his two sisters, two brothers, their mother, and their partners and children, have long wanted to work their own land at Pukearuhe, north of New Plymouth.

The family farm has been leased out for grazing since the mid 1990s, when changing industry conditions meant the 100-cow herd his parents were milking became unprofitable to continue.

“Prior to that, Mum and Dad were dairy farming, with a small number of sheep and beef,” he said.

He said the land, Rehutai, where some of the family live, has never been in European ownership.

“McClutchie whānau have been kaitiaki of their whenua, since the confiscation of Taranaki lands by the Crown in 1865,” he said.

“We are uri of North Taranaki iwi Ngāti Tama, and whakapapa back to the Tokomaru waka, which was part of the great migration over 700 years ago.

“At the time, the confiscation of lands was appealed by a group of Māori and blocks of land were returned, this block being one of them.”

They are looking forward to continuing to work it together, after the success this season of several crops they’re growing as part of Venture Taranaki’s Branching Out project

There are 11 sites across Taranaki taking part in the trials, part of the project set up to identify and develop crops and products that can be produced commercially in Taranaki, to diversify the dairy-dominated region.

The McClutchie whānau are growing a range of cultivars of angelica and liquorice (gin botanicals), and medicinal plants ashwagandha and Calendula officinalis.

The warm weather over summer had boosted the plants’ growth, but also the weeds, so it was fortunate they had plenty of hands on deck, Rawiri said.

“We have had really good conditions for

crops, and for weeds, but now it’s getting to the point the crops are starting to suppress the weeds,” he said.

And they are excited by the results so far. “We have been through what we could do, and we thought this [the trial] was perfect: It’s new and it looked really sound,” he said.

The project identified potential demand and markets for all of the crops being trialled, including the medicinal and gin botanicals they are growing.

“At the end of the trial we want to get up and running, and potentially go commercial, we have some big plans,” he said.

“Our family history is that we were sheep and beef and dairy farmers now we are becoming crop farmers.”

They knew the trial would be likely to succeed because everything in his sister and brother-in-law’s garden grew well, he said.

Project manager Michelle Bauer said the first year of the trials had been a steep learning curve, but they had seen some excellent results.

The ongoing work will help identify the cultivars most suited to Taranaki, with between three and six different seed lines of each crop being grown at trial sites across South Taranaki, Stratford, New Plymouth, and North Taranaki.

It was hoped trialists who were interested in continuing would be able to take what they had learned and take it forward at scale, along with other landowners, Bauer said.

Part of the project work included quality-testing the produce, and liaising with medium and large gin distillers and wholesalers of gin botanicals, and similar work with the natural product industry, she said.

“There’s so much interest, not just from land owners but industry as well.”

Other crops being grown in the Branching Out project included a sustainable crop rotation involving four different crops, garlic being grown at eight different schools, hemp fibre for cement and hops orchards at Tarata and Tikorangi. ■

Richard, Rawiri and Carolyn McClutchie – with their mother, Shirley McClutchie, and siblings AnneMaree McKay and Davis McClutchie – are excited about the future.

Paul Turner

Donna Cram says farmers can join at a stage that suits

Rural pharmacist shortage limits access to drugs

The pharmacist is often the first health professional people in rural areas see: What can be done about falling numbers? By Bethwyn Littler

With fewer people wanting to work in rural areas, the number of rural pharmacists is declining faster than in urban areas.

However, Health New Zealand’s Martin Hefford says a new initiative from the organisation may help to address the shortage of rural pharmacists.

Hefford says one in four people live in rural areas and he recognises there are barriers such as limited healthcare services.

“Prescriptions and medication are delivered in a variety of ways across the country. Pharmacies in some regions may offer telehealth services and provide additional rural pharmacy funding for pharmacy depots.”

Online services such as Pill drop and Zoom also have their own pharmacists who can provide video and phone consultations.

General practitioners digitally send prescriptions straight to these delivery companies.

Health New Zealand’s Martin Hefford

In order to attract more graduates to work in rural pharmacies, Health New Zealand recently established a new category for graduate pharmacists within the existing voluntary bonding scheme to work outside the main six urban centres.

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New Zealand has seen new business models such as Countdown’s in-store pharmacies and Chemist Warehouse, which rely on high populations – in other words, urban centres.

Northland pharmacist Lanny Wong says although the online services have pharmacists on duty, there may be limitations such as internet access and connections in rural areas.

“They are great initiatives. It increases access to medicine for people but they need to keep in mind that sometimes there is a delay and as we saw with the cyclone and

flooding, access does get blocked.”

Wong has been a practising pharmacist for 17 years and owns Mangawhai Pharmacy in Northland, which sees around 250 people every day. She says the more isolated the rural pharmacy the more widespread the population it services.

“When it comes to health, people still like that personal contact. However, I think that people will use online services. Your local pharmacies often do provide phone orvideo consultation.”

Wong is also on the national executive of the Pharmaceutical Society and is part of the Prescription Access Initiative (PAI), which advocates for pharmacists and lobbied for dropping the $5 prescription charge.

PAI’s work is informed by a Health Services Research study that came out of the University of Otago last year. The study concluded that prescription charges could result in more expensive healthcare, such as hospitalisations.

“This is quite a significant study which demonstrates what pharmacists already knew,” Wong says. “The $5 is a barrier, it can stop people from collecting their medicine, or result in them trying to stretch it out. This is the first time there is a study to quantify it.”

The charge was dropped on July 1, 2023.

The new Government has promised to bring back the charge but we will know when this comes into effect after this year’s Budget is announced.

When the charge does come back, Wong hopes the Government will make it a more streamlined process.

The Pharmacy Council Workforce Demographic Report in 2023 showed that between 2022 and 2023 there was only a small increase of 25 pharmacists (0.6%). New Zealand averages 7.93 pharmacists per 10,000 people.

Wong says it was a nice surprise when Labour dropped the $5 prescription charge. “We always hoped it was in the pipeline, as our professional bodies have always advocated for this.”

“This is really low compared to Australia, which is 10.44, Canada is 10.5 and Ireland is 13.68.”

The report show there are more pharmacists per capita in the larger cities. Auckland had increased to 9 (pharmacists per 10,000) but Waikato has gone to 5.99, down from 6.1, Northland has reduced to 5.89 from 6.5, and Gisborne to 5.89 from 6.6.

“You can see an increase in the main centres but a decrease in the regions,” Wong says. “It would be nice if the regions could hit the average of 7.93.”

Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand president Rhiannon Braund says pharmacies are busy environments, and no two days are ever the same.

“Working in rural and regional New Zealand can provide a breadth and depth of early career experience not always available in urban settings,” Braund says. “There is also the professional

satisfaction of working in communities who appreciate pharmacists and other health professionals taking the plunge and moving to rural and regional areas.”

The proposed University of Waikato medical school will offer different pathways for training pharmacists. It plans to take graduate students and this may have a flow-on effect in encouraging more rural pharmacists.

Speaking at the recent New Zealand Economics Forum, University of Waikato’s Professor Joseph Lane said a change in training was one of the answers to the workforce problems and the health sector had needed more investment for decades.

“If New Zealand wants to be healthier we need a workforce that is healthier too,” he said. “Too few are choosing to work in our regions and too few students are choosing to study pharmacy. The existing training programmes are not meeting the needs of learners.”

Pharmacy owner Jatinder Girn says his first job was in a pharmacy in Otorohanga and being in a small town meant he advanced his career more quickly.

But Girn says attracting qualified pharmacists and technicians to rural areas can be a problem. “You have a nice closeknit community which is supportive and caring so it’s very satisfying to work here.

“The challenge is getting younger pharmacists to experience working in these settings or getting them to stay here long term. With more corporate pharmacies opening in the cities, there is less need for them to move to a rural community.”

He says fewer people are willing to travel these days because they have more options.

“The Government has to come up with an incentive to help people into rural health workplaces through the bonding scheme. This scheme is only for new graduates and they must commit to three years in a rural setting to qualify.” ■

Lanny

Creating a Forestry Right agreement with a forest investor may be a suitable option for you.

Forestry Rights are legal rights granted by the landowner to someone else to establish, maintain and harvest a forest.

Forestry rights typically last 25 to 35 years and create a separate legal interest in the trees.

A Forestry Right agreement will clearly define the tree crop area and all access routes. The agreement will also set out a range of other rights and responsibilities for both parties to ensure they can undertake their core activities, and how costs are to be apportioned.

Typically, the landowner contributes the land and pays the rates. The forest owner then pays the forestry costs and an annual land rental to the landowner and receives the harvest and carbon revenue

The Forestry Right agreement will outline any sharing of the harvest and/ or the carbon revenues. The optimal mix of rental and share of harvest and carbon revenues will vary and needs to be negotiated between the landowner and the forest owner. You should always engage legal advice through this process.

The landowner should be aware of: Any rights and responsibilities they and the

forest owner have under the Forestry Right such as insurance and termination rights.

Any ETS liability on the land after harvesting. This will depend on registration status and accounting approach. If the land is registered as post-1989 or pre-1990 in the ETS, there is usually an obligation on the landowner to replant.

A high-level harvest plan that shows where the proposed roads will be located at harvest time, as well as log extraction methods. (The landowner may still have

responsibilities under the RMA).

The required condition of cutover after harvesting and any other hand-back requirements, such as conditions of fences, roads etc.

It isn’t just outside investors that stimulate the creation of a Forestry Right. Many farm owners will create a Forestry Right to hold themselves (or by a related entity) to enable different shareholdings or investment in the trees than the land. It also can help make a future sale of the tree

crop or underlying land more streamlined.

Tax considerations and succession planning may also play a part in this decision.

Forestry is a long-term commitment and a well thought out agreement at the start is the best way to ensure a successful outcome for both the landowner and the forest owner. ■

• Article written by Scott Downs, Director of sales and marketing for PF Olsen

After hand-knitting 50 metres of flax fibre yarn into bale netting, a Southland farmer has created an edible bale net that is environmentally friendly.

By Eve Hyslop.

It took six to eight months for Southland deer farmer and logger Grant Lightfoot and his partner to finger-knit 50 metres of their edible bale net out of flax fibre. But when he rolled his first bale in it, the patience was worth it

“As soon as it went through the baler, I knew I’d hit the nail on the head.”

After finding plastic netting in the stomach of one of this cattle and knowing the harm it causes to animals, he knew there had to be another alternative.

He has been working on the innovation that he’s called ‘Kiwi Econet’ for three to four years and has trialled about 190 bales already. He had issues with the strength of the yarn and sent multiple tests to labs in his area to check that the netting would be clear of plastic, lead or other inedible materials.

After receiving clear lab results back and reaching a durable strength of the yarn, Lightfoot headed to a factory overseas which could manufacture the netting – the finger knitting could go only so far.

“I told them what I wanted and in eight hours it went from a concept to a roll. They had a roll of netting for me to take home in the plane.”

About six months ago, Lightfoot travelled overseas and met with a possible investor but once that fell

‘Good enough to eat’ net beats plastic

GrantLightfoothas beenworkingon hisediblebalenet forthreetofour years,triallingabout 190bales.Hewon first place at the Southern Field Days innovation awards and donated his $500 winnings to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter KAVINDA HERATH,

ROBYN EDIE/STUFF

through, he said “stuff it” and “took the income out of [his] back pocket”, investing around $50,000.

Years of trial and error, sore fingers and tested patience paid off when Lightfoot entered his innovation in the Southern Field Days innovation awards and won first place in the open section. He was on the baler until 1am the morning of judging.

Head judge of the innovation awards

Tony Roderique says it is “a hang of an advancement” considering the concerning volume of plastic produced by bale netting.

“You don’t just have to look around Southland to see that stuff lying everywhere in the paddocks. Good farmers pick it up but there’s a lot of people out there who don’t,” says Roderique. “I don’t know why someone hasn’t thought of it earlier

“I used to farm and every time I was ploughing the paddock, I was ploughing that stuff up, whereas the Econet just

“ I don’t know why someone hasn’t thought of it earlier. Econet just rots away within probably six months.’’

Tony Roderique

rots away within probably six months.” Plenty of onlookers at the field days were interested in the product, even a possible investor from Scotland. Lightfoot said the Scot was keen to

promote Econet in his own country. “I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it.”

After the field days, he headed back to his overseas manufacturers who had made another roll On his return, he was set to meet numerous investors via Zoom.

The agriculture sector produces more than 2.1 million tonnes of plastic waste a year. It’s unknown how much of that is bale netting due to its high levels of contamination, which makes it the netting difficult to recycle.

“Some farmers burn it, they bury it, some farmers just leave it lying around and then the contractors come back and you get that stuff hooked up in the machinery, it’s a headache,” says Lightfoot.

He is confident that if it takes off, his product will reduce the use of single-use bale net and wrap. “It’ll be 200% better, ‘cause there’s no more plastic. It’s a winwin, I think.” ■

As a farmer himself, Grant Lightfoot knows all too well the waste left over from plastic bale netting. Pictured is a bale on his Orepuki farm, wrapped in his Econet

TheCalifornian thistle-eating beetle was introduced to New Zealand from Europe in 2007. Its impact on the thistles sincehas been sporadic.

AGRESEARCH

Bug bites into

AgResearch hasfound varyingresults from the beetlethat controls Californianthistles andisundertaking research to improveits effectiveness.

By EveHyslop.

The Californian thistle coststhe agriculture sector millions of dollarstocontrol, occupying grazable land and pasture. Scientists at AgResearch hope to mitigate that with furtherresearch on theleaf-eating tortoise beetle which kills theCalifornian thistle

Mike Cripps, asenior scientist at AgResearch, says theCalifornian thistle is widespread on farms. “Although it’s not common in the West Coast or Northland, it’s one of theworst pasture weedsinNew Zealand.”

The beetlecontrolsthe thistleby defoliatingit, eatingaway at itsleaves, reducing photosynthesis opportunity and overwintering root mass.Itlays batches of five to 15 eggs which hatch intolarvaethat contribute to its control

The beetlewas introduced to StuLoe’s Scargill Valley farm, in Te Puke, in 2015 as part of early research.Loe hasplenty

of green Californian thistle on hissheep and beef farm, which is frustrating for soil moisture and fertility. Despitethis, he says the beetle appears to be working well, with some thistledieback.

TomMaxwellisanother farmer in Scargill Valleywhose finishing beef and sheep farm was introduced to thebeetle in 2014.Itwasn’t until the last year or twothat he noticed significant dieback of thistles, with the beetle spreading agood 7km

Californian thistle problem

beyond the release point on his farm.

“They’ve made a pretty big dent in the thistles at the moment. The problem with cali thistles is the root structure in the ground, they just keep popping up. You can’t really top them or

grub them so you’re either going to use a chemical or have bio-control.”

Cripps and his team at AgResearch visited Maxwell and Loe’s farms on February 9, ten years after the release of beetles. Cripps says what they found impressive.

“We were really surprised with how well it’s doing. Everywhere I looked today, it was hard to see a thistle that wasn’t attacked or covered in beetles.”

He says that while it does take 10 years

for the beetle to spread throughout a farm, the impact is extensive.

Maxwell has friends who want the beetle on their own farm after seeing the results on his property. “You see them cruising around on the bikes and stuff, they latch on and just go to a new area to attack thistles, which is pretty cool.”

The beetle was introduced from Europe in 2007 and has since been spread throughout the country. Despite its extensive use, AgResearch has found its effectiveness to be sporadic.

Maxwell has more dieback in thicker patches of thistles and less on his irrigated land.

It was suggested the climate was to blame for the beetle’s inconsistency, but Cripps says AgResearch’s recent climate niche modelling work has proved otherwise.

This is also backed up by field observations from a recent trip to Southland.

“One paddock had extensive damage from the beetle, every thistle shoot had beetle larvae on it and a high degree of attack, sort of around 50% defoliation. But a neighbouring paddock on the same farm had almost no attack,” Cripps says.

“One paddock’s doing well, and the other one’s not, but they’re pretty clearly experiencing the same climate.”

Climate and weather have an effect on everything but Cripps says that broadly speaking, scientists have found no climatic pattern.

Graeme Bourdôt, principal scientist at AgResearch, says there are other explanations for the beetles’variable performance, such as a lack of suitable habitat for it to survive through winter, predators and thistle control programmes like herbicides that are incompatible with the beetle.

The thistles proved to be an issue for both Maxwell’s pasture and livestock. His sheep and cattle graze around thistles, leaving behind strong patches of grass while his lambs get scabby mouth.

Cripps says thistles are harder to spray or grub in the hill country. Aerial spraying by helicopter is the most effective but is a costly and unsustainable solution.

Maxwell farms rolling country and says the beetle is a better option than herbicides, which kill valuable legumes and herbs in his crops, or topping, which proves to be ineffective.

“Because of its underground root structure, you top it off and it creates more tillers. So they just come back with a vengeance,” says Maxwell.

Because the Californian thistle was wide-spread, the beetles would not “eat themselves out of a home”. While he expected it would take a few years for the beetle to come into full effect, what he was seeing now was impressive.

“It’s pretty tricky controlling thistles, isn’t it? So we’re very grateful for AgResearch coming up with a solution for bio-control which has been amazing.” ■

Left:MikeCripps sayswhileithasbeen suggestedtheclimate istoblameforthe beetles’sporadic impact,broadly speakingthisisnotthe case.

Below: The beetle has proved to be as effective and more environmentally friendly than using herbicides.

AgResearchwasimpressedwiththe diebackofthistlesontheScargillfarms sincethebeetlewasintroducedin2015.

Women get space to share stories

The first Shepherdess Muster gave rural women a chance to discuss topics as diverse as grief, sex, menopause and gratitude. By Gabby Brunton.

In mid-February more than 250

women came together in the village of Mōtū, Te Tairāwhiti, for the inaugural Shepherdess Muster From burlesque to floral crown-making; hatha yoga to skin spot checks; and conversations on topics from sex to gut health, to business planning, it was the first of its kind in New Zealand.

Shepherdess publisher and festival director Kristy McGregor said: “The weekend was a way for rural and farming women to come together, away from the everyday juggle of work, home and farm life – where women often bear the brunt of the responsibilities, wearing many hats at once.

“It’s a rare opportunity for women to have a moment to themselves and that is what The Muster is all about.”

She said it was a weekend of inclusiveness: “Old friend catch-ups and the sharing of stories – on grief gratitude, learning, entrepreneurship, sex, porn, menopause and more.

“It was a chance for women to engage in experiences daily rural life doesn’t always leave much time for.

“Comedian Michele A’Court headlined the Friday night comedy show. The programme included floral crowns with local florist Rhonda Haag of Flora Forms, burlesque dancing workshops and performance with Wellington-based Studio L’amour, and drop-in arts experiences, including a community canvas that women

were invited to paint themselves into, led by Lindy McLachlan

“Local muralist Kelly Spencer led the painting of a gorgeous bright mural, left as a gift for the Mōtū school, who, along with the farmer’s paddocks across the road, hosted us.”

Keynote speakers included sex and relationship therapist Jo Robertson, Wahine Toa Hunting’s Pania Te Paiho (Ngāti Kahungunu Ki Wairoa, Ngāitai) and discussions about menopause with Sarah Connor.

There was also an inspiring business and entrepreneurship panel with Emma Higgins (Ngāti Maniapoto) from Rabobank, Tora Collective’s Claire Edwards (Kai Tahu), agrifood marketer Lucy Griffiths and HR specialist Robyn Young.

Local Jen Mildenhall (Rongomaiwahine) shared her story of losing her son, with the message of hope through grief.

The weekend had a festival format, with keynote speakers in the main marquee and break-out workshops.

There were also market stalls, beauty therapists and access to women’s health services, including a melanoma-checking nurse.

The weekend was more than three years in the making. “I first met with Farming Women Tairāwhiti in August 2020, to kickstart planning for an event. From there, we formed a committee of local women,” McGregor says.

“The inaugural event was pegged for

2022 but was postponed due to Covid-19, and the 2023 event had to be cancelled three days out when Cyclone Gabrielle swept through.

“Which of course, was nothing compared to the devastation folks in Tairāwhiti were experiencing. After such a challenging year for many on the East Coast, it was all the more important for women this year to have a chance to do something for themselves.”

McGregor said she was blown away by the feedback she and the committee had received.

“We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who came along and made the weekend what it was. In the last few weeks we have heard from women who have written in to us, or stopped us in the street, to let us know what a life-changing weekend it was for them.

“Others have commented on how raw, relatable, empowering, it was. I think when you create a space for people to discuss and share issues that you wouldn’t normally have a safe space for, it can be pretty powerful.”

Pulling an event together of this scale took a huge team effort. “Thank you to our speakers, workshop hosts, entertainers and artists, beauty, health and wellness providers, stallholders, sponsors, event committee members, crew, wonderful team of volunteers, mana whenua and the Mōtū community. Tino mīharo te tautoko me te aroha mai ngā wāhine katoa.”

The Shepherdess Muster programme’s manager, Arpége Taratoa, thanked mana whenua from Matawai Marae “for their ongoing support and guidance over the years, and more so following last year’s cancellation”.

“It was a key part of our journey to hosting the Muster in Mōtū, to involve and learn from mana whenua on a cultural

level, with the aim to weave that into the weekend. We thank them for their hospitality to our team upon our arrival to Matawai Marae.”

The event concept was developed by Shepherdess, an independently run magazine that unearths the stories of local rural women Its ethos is about connecting rural women in isolated parts of New Zealand through sharing their stories.

The event is based on the Channel Country Ladies Day in Australia, an event McGregor founded in 2012. It has been going for 10 years and has become known across Australia.

The inaugural Muster was supported by organisations from throughout the rural sector, including platinum sponsors rhe Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust, Ministry for Primary Industries, Trust Tairāwhiti and Rabobank, and gold sponsors: Beef+Lamb NZ, Rural Support Trust, Lottery Community Grants and The Evergreen Foundation.

The Shepherdess Muster will head to the South Island next. The team is looking for a small rural community that might like to play host. If you know the perfect spot, email themuster@shepherdess.co.nz.

Learn more about The Shepherdess Muster on social media @theshepherdessmuster or visit shepherdessmuster.co.nz for announcements on the next event. ■

Inset: Several classes and workshops were held over the weekend, including a flower crown workshop

Main: The Shepherdess Muster committee and project team have been working on the event for the past three years. The weekend aims to bring rural women together for experiences they may not normally have time for.

MICHELLE PORTER/ SHEPHERDESS

Left: An early morning fitness yoga class with Rabobank Below: Studio L’amour from Wellington held burlesque dancing workshops and performances.

SxS rollover: Stop, Think, Do

This article is part of the Safety Alert series, lessons from real-life incidents on farms. They are part of Safer Farms’ Farm Without Harm strategy and action plan, which has been developed by the agriculture sector, for the agriculture sector.

Why has this alert been sent out?

This Safety Alert has been issued after an SxS rollover resulted in the tragic loss of a team of dogs and had the potential for serious injuries to the operator.

The incident highlights the risks of not taking the time to Stop, Think, Do for routine tasks so the tasks are performed safely.

What happened?

A team had been drenching and weighing lambs all day. A shepherd went ahead of the flock to set gates and take some lambs away.

He drove an SxS up to the gates at the top of a hill, engaged the foot brake, but not the hand brake, and got out to open the gate. He heard the brake disengage and tried to get back in the SxS to ‘try and save it’, but the vehicle was already out of control.

The SxS rolled down the hill and overturned multiple times, resulting in the deaths of two dogs, four more dogs in serious condition, and the loss of the SxS.

The shepherd wasn’t carrying the radio on him – it was on the dashboard – and was unable to immediately call for help

Key lessons/points to discuss

■ Make sure yourvehicle is safely stopped every time before you get out. This means at a complete stop, engaging the brakes properly.

■ When stopping on a hill, turn the wheels up hill (or towards something solid) to limit the travel distance if the brakes fail.

■ Be aware of the risks when performing routine tasks and be in the habit of doing routine tasks the safe way every time.

■ Always carry your radio, cellphone and PLB on you at all times. Not on the

Left: When stopping on a hill, turn the wheels of the vehicle uphill (or towards something solid) to limit the travel distance if the brakes fail.

Steeped in local history,thisiconiclistedbuilding has been lovingly restoredand converted intofive beautifully styled holiday apartments.

dashboard or glovebox.

■ Never try to get in or out of a moving vehicle. It is especially dangerous to attempt to get back into a ‘runaway vehicle’ and get it under control.

Other points to discuss

The shepherd was in the 11th hour of his shift when the incident happened. Although he had taken his morning and lunch breaks, the team had decided to work through to completion and did not take an afternoon break.

Staff are most at risk of making errors:

■ Mid-morning and mid-afternoon (when fatigue levels have risen, and nutrition levels have fallen);

■ After the eight-hour point of any shift;

■ After the fourth day at work;

■ In the first few weeks after taking holidays (when they are getting their mind back in the game). ■

Safer Farms is a membership organisation that recognises that the whole sector benefits from improved health and safety. It brings together farmers and senior leaders from agribusiness, agricultural industry groups and government.

Safety Alerts are a great way to learn from incidents that have happened on other farms. Ask yourself:

■ Could this happen on my farm?

■ What do I have in place to prevent this from happening?

■ What do I have in place to prevent this from happening?

New Safety Alerts are added regularly

To see others, or subscribe to have Safety Alerts emailed to you, see farmwithoutharm.org.nz/safety-alerts

How to

With the sun setting on summer and this season’s harvest ending for many farmers in the agricultural and horticultural industries, businesses are preparing to scale down their operations. We spoke to Hayden McKernan, Employment Relations Advice Manager at Employsure New Zealand, to find out what they can do to be ready for when the cool weather begins.

post-summer harvest

Q. Summer is almost over, which means seasonal hires will no longer be needed by many businesses. What is the process farmers employing these workers should follow when it is time to let them go?

A: If you plan on employing workers only for a particular season, the engagement needs to be documented correctly in employment agreements, including expectations of work hours. This will protect you from potential risks when it comes time to end the working relationship.

Using fixed-term seasonal employment agreements is the easiest way to legitimately end the employment of existing workers engaged for this type of work. From the outset, these documents should outline the reasons the employment is temporary and when

it will conclude. Do this by either listing an exact date or specifying the event that ends the employment, such as a harvest being completed, but the employment must be genuinely temporary and seasonal.

Fixed-term seasonal contracts shouldn’t be used as a means to trial an employee, or to avoid engaging someone permanently. Businesses that do so risk opening themselves up to the penalties associated with non-compliance to New Zealand’s industrial relations laws.

Q. In addition to reducing staff numbers where necessary, how else should farmers prepare as autumn arrives?

A. Aside from scaling down their operations by immediately ceasing the

employment of seasonal hires once the harvest is done, many farmers also do so through consultation to reduce their hires’ hours slowly. Another way to do so is through restructuring your business.

It pays to use quieter periods of the year to review business operations, assess staff levels and ensure all employment, health and safety documents are up to date.

With this lens in mind, autumn and winter can be considered like 90-day trials. For example, dairy farmers may want to conduct a holistic evaluation, including of all documentation and policies, closer to the start of the new dairy season on June 1.

While any time is a good time to check the processes and frameworks in place for employees, it is more practical to do this comprehensively during quieter months Documents may need updating, or staff training may need to be done before winter sets in.

It is essential that health and safety protocols for extreme weather events are up to date – emergencies can happen without warning. Planning in off-seasons means you will be better prepared for seasonal incidents, like bushfires, which can strike without warning.

All staff should therefore know how to manage such situations and employers have a duty of care to facilitate safety training. ■

Understanding mycotoxins

acomprehensiveguide toovercomingthis onfarm challenge

Managing mycotoxicosis on the farm is not as easy as simply introducing a mycotoxin binder.

While mycotoxin binders like Alltech®Mycosorb® are arevolutionary part of mycotoxin risk management, there is still a requirement for the identification and careful management of all the potential risk areas on the farm -including farm storage hygiene, equipment hygiene, diet management and animal monitoring. This process can be overwhelming for farmers, but Alltech is here to help Alltech has ahuge pedigree in mycotoxin research. It has supported over 43 PhD and Masters degree students and has produced over 140peer-reviewed publications.

As such,Alltech is at the forefront of understanding mycotoxin impacton animals: its large-scale surveys of feed in New Zealand found that not only are mycotoxins –poisonous chemicals producedbymould -present in around 90% of feedstuffs, but they occur in groups from different families

“As mould species coexist, and most can produce more than one mycotoxin, there may be several mycotoxins present in any given feed supply,” Alltech Innovation Sales manager Nigel Meads says.

With mycotoxins,it’snot a matter of ‘if’ one is present on farm, but ‘which ones’

“Because of this,the solution to mycotoxicosis needs to be broad spectrum.”

Of the 500known mycotoxins, more than 50 are associated with negative animal health and welfare symptoms.

Symptoms range frommild to severe. All mycotoxins are immunosuppressive, making the animal more susceptible to disease, but they can also affect the animal’s production and reproductive processes

Mostmycotoxins exert their toxic effects by organ damage, causing poor feed conversion, reducedmilk production and fertility problems.

Furthermore, production stress amplifiestoxicity, making high-producing dairy cows and rapidlygrowing beef cattle more susceptible to mycotoxins.

Therefore, the economicimpacts of mycotoxins can be huge with resulting poor performance, lost efficiency and higher diseaseincidence.

With New Zealand farmers experiencing increasing production demands and therefore increased reliance on stored feeds,mycotoxin control is more critical than ever.

“Mould, and potentially mycotoxins, grows both in pastures and on material in storage such as grains,forages and silage, regardlessofhow well-made the silage is,” Nigel says.

“There are some agronomicpractices that can address the risk of mycotoxicosis occurring –such as planting space, crop rotation and soilpreparation –but farm storage and equipment hygiene is also paramount.”

And, at the heart of the matter,is making sureanimals are monitored for any symptoms that may be indicative of mycotoxicosis

Because mycotoxicosis symptoms can be non-specific,such as lost performance, high somatic cell count andhigher disease incidence, Alltech can screen animal feeds for multiple mycotoxins. Some mycotoxins can be screened for rapidly, reducing wait times and allowing the animal’s health to be addressed sooner.

In addition to on-farm management and monitoring of animal health, hygiene and agronomy, Alltech Mycosorb is ahelpfultool to mitigate the risk of mycotoxicosis.

Mycosorb is anatural product, made from the inner cell wall of aspecific strain of yeast. The active component is aspecific compound that has anaturally high affinity and capacity for absorbing mycotoxins.

After the Mycosorb, which must be administered via afeed source, absorbs mycotoxins, the bound complexthen passes throughthe animal’s body. It is also efficacious, so only asmall amount of the product is required. ■

Give Alltech acall on 0800 ALLTECH to receive nutritional support and help with animal health and performance, or when experiencing mycotoxin challenges.

You can also visit www.alltech.com/ Newzealand to fillout aform regarding mycotoxins, email newzealand@alltech. com with any enquiries or visit the Alltech New Zealand Facebook page.

Alltech Innovation Salesmanager Nigel Meads

The no compromise slug control

Ironmax Pro combines effectiveness and sustainability – a first in molluscicides

It also has both scientific pedigree and enthusiastic early adopters: Slugs, snails and farmers.

PieterVan Der Westhuizen, UPL NZ Ltd regional manager for the upper North Island, explains, that Ironmax Pro manufacturers De Sangosse took their already world leading Metarex Inov slug bait and made it environmentally friendly

He says BioGro Certified Ironmax Pro has maintained Metarex Inov’s potency but has been proven to have limited impact on beneficials including earthworms, and the slug predator carabid beetle.

The new product has been very well received, he adds, particularly in regions that are prone to slug damage due to intermittent rain and high humidity. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. People have called to say they’ve seen almost instant results.”

Ironmax Pro’s effectiveness is thanks to Colzactive technology. This was developed from specially selected oil seed rape molecules. 20 plant species were initially evaluated by scientists with two extraordinarily attractive and palatable molecules selected to encourage rapid detection by slugs.

The research showed slugs actively preferred feeding on Ironmax Pro to feeding on seedlings. Pieter adds that it’s a myth that juvenile slugs won’t ingest on the bait “All slugs and snails can, and will, feed on it!”

Grey field slugs (Deroceras reticulatum) and brown field slugs (Deroceras invadens) are significant pests across a range of crops Travelling up to 13 metres in a night, they are ravenous feeders – capable of consuming more than 50% of their body weight.

Pieter says if unprotected, damage to plants – especially seedlings – can happen surprisingly quickly. “Infestations can appear seemingly out of the blue. Population explosions are common as the pests are capable of producing 300 eggs in their 13 month lifespan.”

Ironmax Pro contains the optimized active ingredient 24.2 g/kg ferric phosphate anhydrous, referred to as IPMax. Iron (ferric) phosphate is a natural component of soil. In Ironmax Pro, it works as a stomach poison on slugs and is fatal once ingested. Feeding stops almost immediately.

Pieter says Ironmax Pro is also manufactured using a unique process, which makes it very rainfast which he says is ideal for use in exactly the kind weather that encourages slugs and snails.

To monitor the slugs’ impact, Pieter advises putting down a slug mat or a damp hessian sack. “Leave it there overnight and check it next morning. Even one slug may signal a problem.”

Ironmax Pro has a recommended application rate range of 5 to 7 kg/ha. With 60,000 baits per kilogram, Pieter says the product has excellent ballistic properties.

“The uniform pellet size and innovative Ironmax Pro manufacturing process mean bait can be spread at widths of up to 24m.”

This saves time, passes, and, importantly, fuel.

“All-in-all, that’s a lot of bonuses in one product for users and the environment. And it’s more pleasant to work with – people report that, ‘there’s not that smell’.”

De Sangosse have made a genuine commitment to the environment in other ways too, with their factory in France using up to 33% green electricity, and achieving a 50% energy saving on lighting, by using natural light and LEDs. What is even more remarkable is the fact that the whole factory is run by only nine staff.

Ironmax Pro itself also comes in a double lined paper bag which is not only practical but better for the planet.

Talk to your local technical representative for more details on Ironmax Pro. ■

A juvenile slug feeding on Ironmax.

Slug damage to grass.

What’s on

● March 20, Dairy Women’s Network Knowyourbugs,Manawatū Find out more about the bugs on your farm and ways to use less drugs in this pathogen diagnostics workshop. Join us and industry experts to discuss the significance of mastitis diagnostics and uncover the real meaning behind SCC measurements and pathogens to understand your herd’s health.

Info at dwn.co.nz/events/

● March 20 to April 3, Marlborough District Council Communitypublic meetings

Freshwater Farm Plans in Marlborough

By working with NZ Landcare Trust and MPI on Farm support, the council can provide guidance to support Freshwater Farm Plans development.

Info at marlborough.govt.nz/ environment/freshwater-farm-plans

● March 20-21, Federated Farmers and DairyNZ

Southland/Otago benchmarking event,Invercargill and Balclutha

What are the drivers of profitability on Southland and Otago dairy farms?

Come along and find out.

Info at dairynz.co.nz/events/

● March 20, Federated Farmers and DairyNZ

Composting Barn Mootels – three in-depth case studies,Invercargill Robb Macbeth, in conjunction with Keith Woodford, has results and analysis of three West Coast Case Study composting barns to share with us from financial analysis to

performance and size through to animal performance and environmental footprint. Come along to hear more.

Info at dairynz.co.nz/events/

● March 20 to April 12, Ospri

NAITsupport sessions,Otago, various dates and locations

OSPRI is running regional drop-in sessions throughout Otago. These sessions cover a variety of topics related to NAIT and TBfree, including:

■ Meeting your NAIT obligations.

■ TB testing queries.

■ Signing up to MyOSPRI.

Spaces are limited so registration is essential.

Info at ospri.co.nz/upcoming-events/

● March 21, DairyNZ

Make yourteam and farm efficient, Southland

The New Zealand dairy farmer’s labour productivity has not improved in the last decade – how do we turn this around to increase efficiency?

Info at dairynz.co.nz/events/

● March 22, Eastern Plains

Land User Group

Come along to the EPLUG get-together and hear from:

■ Mark Patterson, Minister of Rural Communities, Associate Minister of Agriculture, Associate Minister for Regional Development.

■ Greg Noller, agricultural manager (South Island) at Heinz Wattie’s NZ.

■ Pita Alexander, well-known rural commentator and specialist in agribusiness accounting

Info at beeflambnz.com/events

● March 26, B+LNZ

Wormwise workshop,Wairoa

This workshop presents the latest information and research on internal parasite control. It is divided into multiple sections dealing with worm biology, drenches and drench resistance.

Info at beeflambnz.com/events

● March 26, B+LNZ

150 Hogget Mating Action Group

Field Day,Southland

Come along to hear from farmers themselves about challenges they have encountered along the way and what they have found enables a successful hogget mating and lambing season. Info at beeflambnz.com/events

● March 27, B+LNZ

Deferred Grazing Field Day: Asustainable and profitable tool to renewpastures and improve farm systems resilience, Rotorangi,Waikato/Bayof Plenty Why use deferred grazing? What impact will it have on pasture production, livestock production, soil health and the environmental footprint of your farming business?

Info at beeflambnz.com/events

● March 28 and April4, Ahuwhenua

Ahuwhenua TrophyExcellence in Māaori Farming Award 2024, Field Days,Mangakino and Wairoa Visit the finalists in the Ahuwhenua Trophy Competition and see what they do behind the farm gate. Info at ahuwhenuatrophy.maori.nz/ field-days

● April4, B+LNZ

The Lean Farm Project –GlenarayStation Field Day

A field day aimed at showcasing the Lean Farm Project approach as adopted by the team at Glenaray Station and a chance to interact with The Lean Farm Project author Jana Hocken.

Info at beeflambnz.com/events

● Dairy Industry Awards

Regional winner’s field days

Meet the region’s winners at the Dairy Industry Awards. Celebrate the achievements of the award winners and learn what they have done The future of the industry is bright with people like this.

Info at dairyindustryawards.co.nz/ and beeflambnz.com/events

● DairyNZ

People,Profit,Planet Field Day, various dates and locations

Robust farm systems for the future.

Over the next three months, DairyNZ will explore changes Waikato farmers have been making to their farm systems with a series of field days.

Info at dairynz.co.nz/events/

● DairyNZ Stepchange,various dates and locations

Efficient farm systems – what elements do you see in the farm system of the future? Summer dryoptions and wintering onversus wintering off ■ Info at dairyevents.co.nz

Check out the various websites for more events

32 NZFarmer DIAAwards

The first group of finalists in the 2024 Dairy Industry Awards have been announced. showing the New Zealand dairy industry is in good hands. By Anne-Marie Case-Miller and Sonita Chandar.

Northland

The Northland Share Farmers of the Year are proud of their high-quality and efficient milk production and remain dedicated to ongoing improvements to ensure their longterm competitiveness in the global market.

Winners and first-time entrants Jeremy and Kate Mounter are 50:50 sharemilkers on Moss and Margaret Pepper’s 131ha Kaeo property milking 330 cows.

They say they feel a strong sense of control and alignment with their career path. “We’ve surrounded ourselves with a community of exceptional individuals and we wanted to showcase the outstanding efforts of our whole team and all the experts we collaborate with.’’

They say it’s great that the industry is striving to become cleaner or greener, and that all farmers are working together to help make dairying more sustainable.

“We are stewards of the Earth, entrusted with the task of nurturing it and ensuring its health and productivity for future generations,’’ Jeremy says. “We promise we will always be responsible guardians of his cherished land.”

Runners-up in the Share Farmers of the Year category are Jordan Brown and Samantha Brown.

Kieran McCahon was named the Dairy Manager of the Year. The first-time entrant grew up on a farm and holds a Bachelor of Agriscience majoring in agriculture and a masters in management, majoring in agribusiness.

He spent two years as a solutions and development specialist with DairyNZ but says “After a number of years pushing a pen I needed a physical outlet”.

“Although farming is often physically demanding, with long hours, there is something very fulfilling about a day’s physical work, when you can see the results of your efforts,” he explains.

Runner-up in the Dairy Manager category was Courtney West, and Dyllan Matthews placed third.

The Northland Dairy Trainee of the Year is Quinn Hewlett, who is a farm assistant for the Rangihamama Omapere Trust’s 560cow, 219ha property at Kaikohe. Runner-up in the Northland Dairy Trainee category was Michaela McCracken.

Manawatū

The Manawatū Dairy Industry Awards Share Farmer of the Year winners are a futurefocused couple who are proud to be building a business which showcases high-quality milk and be rewarded for it.

Will Hinton and Kali Rangiawha are contract milkers for Tim and Victoria Gorton on their 350-cow, 113ha Halcombe farm

Born in the UK, Hinton holds a Bachelor of Science in agricultural business management from Reading University and a National Diploma in Agriculture from Lackham College.

Kali realised dairy farming was her future while relief milking to fund her university degree.

Achieving a work/life balance by sourcing reliable staff has proved challenging, but the couple have now become accredited employers and are looking forward to employing someone fulltime.

Contract milker Kate Dawson is the runner-up in the Manawatū Share Farmer category and Samantha and Thomas Lumsden placed third.

The Dairy Manager of the Year is firsttime entrant Luke Ackerman. He is the herd manager on James

Cream of the crop

Stewart’s 180ha, 383-cow property in Ashhurst and saw the awards programme as a great opportunity to network with like-minded people and grow his support network.

A qualified mechanic, he worked in the automotive industry for 15 years and began working in the dairy industry three years ago.

“I wanted our family to grow up on a farm and have the lifestyle I did as a farm kid.”

Longburn assistant farm manager Benjamin Hayes placed second and Feilding farm manager Rob Kopic placed third.

The Dairy Trainee of the Year is Isabella Panettiere, who is herd manager on Fonterra’s 255ha, 630-cow Longburn farm.

The first-time entrant considered the awards programme an excellent way to benchmark her current skills and where she sits within the industry.

“I want to progress my skills and network so I can continue to move forward in my career and it’s an amazing opportunity to do so.”

Panettiere holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in animal science from Massey University and completed the LIC Artificial Insemination course. She is currently studying towards PrimaryITO Level 3 Livestock Feeding.

Herd manager Holly Powell placed second in the Dairy Trainee category and Reef Western was third.

Taranaki

The Taranaki Dairy Industry Awards Share Farmers of the Year have a passion for dairy farming and a strong track record of farm performance.

The2024ManawatūDairyIndustryAwardwinnersareDairyTraineeoftheYearIsabellaPanettiere,Share FarmersoftheYear,KaliRangiawha&WillHinton,andDairyManageroftheYearLukeAckerman.

Daniel Barnard and Jess Matthews are Lower Order Sharemilkers on Roger Dickie’s 500ha, 1600-cow property at Waverley. Matthews grew up on a sheep and beef station and worked in the agriculture service industry. Barnard entered the industry as a farm assistant in 2003 after attending Taratahi training college, working

his way up to farm manager before moving into contract milking in 2014 He took 18 months off farming to work as a zookeeper at Wellington Zoo.

The couple are working towards farm ownership and are excited to be moving into 50:50 sharemilking next season.

They believe New Zealand will continue

to lead the world in efficient food production and look forward to the evercontinuing advancements in farming.

“We would like to see the general public and New Zealand public proud of farmers again.”

Runners-up in the Share Farmer category were Jeffrey and Sharon Nicholas, and

within the dairy industry. “There is always something new to learn.

“The new research that is being carried out on many farms in New Zealand and around the world is awesome and I look forward to seeing what our industry looks like in the future.

“I hope to be a dairy farmer leading the way in this space, with my governance-level involvement in local research farms having a positive impact on our industry and the sustainability and longevity of dairy farming in New Zealand.”

Runner-up in the Dairy Manager category was Daniel Warren, and Jacqui Smith placed third.

The winner of the Dairy Trainee of the Year category is Eric Fa’anoi, who was encouraged to enter the awards by his employer, Matthew O’Connell.

Fa’anoi is 2IC on Simon O’Connell’s 98ha, 330-cow farm in Hāwera The 24-year-old grew up in Porirua and holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in environmental science and chemistry.

“I’ve wanted to be a farmer since I was a teenager and watching Country Calendar got me daydreaming about working the land.

“I chose to move into farming as it has always been my passion – my granddad and his brothers back in Samoa were revered horticulturists in the village.

“They enjoyed working the land, mainly crops of fruit and taro, and I think that’s why my heart is in working the land also.”

Farm assistant Saffron Astwood placed second in the Dairy Trainee category and Shicaela Kane was third.

Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa

The winners of the 2024 Hawke’s Bay/ Wairarapa Dairy industry Awards have come a long way since arriving in New Zealand as backpackers – their clothes on their backs – and credit their success to hard work, learning, listening and the guidance and advice of good mentors.

Alvaro Luzardo and Ximena Puig were named the region’s Share Farmers of the Year.

The couple are currently 50:50 sharemilkers on Geoff Arends’ and Ester Romp’s 164ha, 480-cow Eketāhuna property.

Luzardo left Uruguay and arrived in New Zealand in 2013 for a working holiday and began work on a dairy farm in Canterbury to save money and continue travelling.

“I spoke no English, so my boss used to draw on a whiteboard what I had to do,” he says.

“This was the beginning of my career in the New Zealand dairy industry.”

Puig joined him in 2018 and believes their teamwork is a strength of their business.

“We complement each other and keep each other motivated to do well,” she explains. “The key to our success is communication.”

Growing up in a city of 40,000 in Uruguay, Luzardo holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering, which is similar to the NZ agricultural science qualification. He has also achieved PrimaryITO Levels 4 and 5.

Puig holds a Bachelor of Architecture and grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay. She works as an architectural designer from home, and makes it work with the farm.

Runner-up in the region’s Share Farmer category is Baljinder Singh and third placegetter was awarded to Chaminda and Thilanka Wijesooriya.

and engineer in his native Holland, before moving to New Zealand in 2013 on a working holiday.

Runner-up in the Dairy Manager category was Emily Cooper, and Kalana Wanigahoranekarage placed third.

The Dairy Trainee of the Year is Kieran Scannell, who entered the awards to meet like-minded people who have similar goals

“They are also a good way to get feedback for areas where I can improve but also what I do well. I also feel it is good to give yourself a challenge and get out of my comfort zone, Scannell said.

He is 2IC on Mike Burmeister’s 323ha, 1050-cow farm at Pahiatua.

Greytown farm assistant Megan Gysbertsen placed second and farm assistant John Mellish was third.

Auckland/Hauraki

This year, Auckland/Hauraki Share Farmer, Dairy Manager and Dairy Trainee entrant scores were benchmarked against the national average, with data collated from the 10 other regions.

Traditionally, when a region has low entrant numbers, places are offered only to the winner and runner-up, or just the winner, and when entrant numbers were very low, the category did not proceed.

However, with entrants wanting to take part in the awards programme and benefiting from doing so, not allowing them to participate goes against the New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards’ philosophy and what the programme is striving to achieve.

While there was no Share Farmer category winner, the judges awarded runner-up to Brad and Courtney Edwards and third place to Casey Meiklejohn.

The Edwards are 50:50 sharemilking for Maureen Martinovich on her 90ha, 240-cow property at Ngatea.

Meiklejohn is contract milking for Jamie Lyons on his 88ha, 222-cow Mangatawhiri farm.

Teagan Gray is the winner of the Dairy Manager of the Uear. She is a farm manager on Neil and Glenda Gray’s 160ha Thames farm, milking 478 cows and is the fifth generation of the Gray family to manage the farm. She cites a united vision for the farm and good infrastructure as two strengths of the business.

The 33-year-old holds a Bachelor of Agriscience from Massey University and believes the dairy industry could do better at accepting females into high management roles.

“You often have to work twice as hard to prove you are capable of the same opportunities on-farm,” she says. “I hope I can be a positive influence for other women coming through the industry. Dairy farming is a sustainable career for females.”

Runner-up is Steven Pratt and third place went to Owen Clifford.

The winner of the Dairy Trainee of the Year category is Emma Williamson, a first-time entrant who entered the awards programme to gain experience, take herself out of her comfort zone and meet likeminded people.

Williamson is 2IC on Craig and Kathy Maxwell’s 274ha Paparimu farm, milking 450 cows, working for 2017 Share Farmer winners Fraser and Amber Carpenter. She initially began training in sheep and beef through Taratahi Agricultural Centre and worked as shepherd for a few years then studied education, gaining a Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education.

contract milker Kingsley Young is the third placegetter.

Winner of the Dairy Manager of the Year category is Sarah Avery, who is farm manager for Carl and Shey Kowalewski on their 130ha property, milking 300 cows at Midhurst. She enjoys the science behind dairy farming and the progression pathway

The Dairy Manager of the Year is Rene ten Bolscher, who is farm manager on Clarence and Elise Stolte’s 170ha, 500-cow farm at Carterton

The third-time entrant placed third in the same category in 2022 and says every time he has entered he has learnt more and became more confident.

“I had to figure out why we use the systems we use and go into more depth with the reasons why,” he says.

“A lot of the puzzle pieces fell into place as I went searching, giving me a much clearerview of the farm and reasons behind each choice.”

He qualified as a plumber, electrician

“I entered the dairy industry in 2020 and see myself using all the new research in the future, improving the quality of milking and discovering what works to get the best benefits from the farm.”

Farm assistant Caitlin Snodgrass was named runner and third place was awarded to Katie Rope. ■

The New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards are supported by national sponsors CowManager, DeLaval, Ecolab, Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Honda, LIC, Meridian, Ravensdown, and Trelleborg, along

with industry partners DairyNZ, MediaWorks and Rural Training Solutions NZ.

Main: The 2024 Northland Share Farmers of the Year are Kate and Jeremy Mounter, who are 50:50 sharemilkers on Moss and Margaret Pepper’s 131ha Kaeo property, milking 330 cows DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS

Below: The 2024 Taranaki Dairy Industry Award winners, from left, Dairy Trainee of the Year Eric Fa’anoi, Share Farmers of the Year Jess Matthews and Daniel Barnard, and Dairy Manager of the Year Sarah Avery.

The2024Hawke’sBay/Wairarapawinnersare,fromleft,DairyTraineeoftheYearKieranScannell,Share FarmersoftheYearXimenaPuigandAlvaroLuzardo,andDairyManageroftheYearRenetenBolscher.

The 2024 Auckland/Hauraki Dairy Trainee of the Year is Emma Williamson and the Dairy Manager of the Year is Teagan Gray

From barley to beer

Sampled and signed off by brain surgeons, architects, shearers and digger operators, Royalburn Station and Garage Project’s new beer, Swifty, is a crowd favourite.

“It doesn’t matter what your background is, it doesn’t matter what you do for a job, everybody’s just after something refreshing,” says Royalburn Station owner Carlos Bagrie.

Swifty is named after the Swiftburn Stream, which runs through the highly diversified Royalburn Station The 485-hectare alpine station is a large-scale farm-to-plate operation, producing pastureraised eggs,vegetables, honey, oils, seeds, grains, wool and award-winning lamb.

The station has grown high-grade malt barley for more than 100 years. Sitting at 600 to 1000 metres above sea level, Royalburn’s higher altitude gives its barley an edge on quality. Not only does the altitude make its crop less susceptible to disease but it helps the station grow a high yield with “exceptional“ protein.

“The feedback from the maltsters was that this is the Rolls-Royce of the barley that they saw last year,” Bagrie says.

It’s Royalburn’s soil and crop management that improves the quality of barley, he adds. “We’re not spraying the herbicides or fungicides or pesticides across the crop once it’s up and growing. We’re very specific with our fertiliser application.

So I guess it’s almost what we don’t do that makes it special.”

The station is careful not to degrade the source through regeneration and crop rotations. In doing so, it implements natural sources like sunflowers, plantain and clover to add fertility to the soil.

“It’s that old adage; healthy soil grows healthy plants and healthy plants grow healthy beer.”

Of the 300 barley the station produces each Bagrie selects best “Aplu strips of the

Royalburn Station produces eggs, vegetables, honey, oils, seeds, grain, wool – and, now, beer. Yielded from the station’s high-grade barley, the beer is created in partnership with Wellington brewery Garage Project. By Eve Hyslop.

paddock for Swifty, leaving the rest for commodity.

Compared with many other beers he has crafted, Garage Project co-owner Jos Ruffell says the process of creating Swifty was “like an exercise in restraint”.

He says the malt is the hero of the beer and they had to let that shine through rather than playing with spices and fruits

Aside from the balanced flavour, Ruffell says Swifty is set apart in character from many beers. “It’s a beer rooted in people and place, which is actually not very common. It’s a unique place rley at altitude know people wing and producing

the beer. It’s a deeply personal beer and that’s what makes it sort of unique to me.”

The new drop was launched in December and is now poured in restaurants and bars in Queenstown, Arrowtown and Central Otago such as The Fork and Tap, The Dishery, Ayrburn and Cardrona Hotel.

The beer has taken off at Cardrona Hotel, which went through a keg a day on busy days over summer, equal to around 100 handles.

Cardrona Hotel was the first place to pour Swifty from its very first batch. Publican Cade Thornton says Swifty is the kind of beer customers come back to for seconds.

It’s also the kind of beer that someone will try to order at 9.50am on a Friday before the bar opens at 10am, exactly what happened as he spoke to NZ Farmer on the

phone. The keen customer even waited the 10 minutes for the bar to open to get his dose of Swifty.

Bagrie says what surprised him most about the brewing process was the nuanced skill it took to create an “uncomplicated” tasting beer.

“To make a really simple, balanced beer is actually where the skill and brewing really resides because it’s restraining and you’ve gotta take all the elements out of it. Like in food, right? To make really beautiful food, you need to have great ingredients. You need the perfect balance of seasoning and sweetness.”

Thornton says the beer tastes just as it looks, with a textual, seamless pour.

“The lacing effect on the glass shows that it’s a really well-made beer, it retains the right amount of the foam around the glass You put it on the copper and under the lights and if you wanted a beer on a hot day, it’s exactly what you’d picture.”

Like many farmers, the most rewarding part of the process for Bagrie is the pasture to plate, or rather, barley to brew.

“As a farmer, if you take a crop like barley and then you take that the entire way through the process and you end up with that finished product and see people drink it and really enjoy it, there’s no other feeling like that. That is truly inspiring.”

Ruffell says the beer is easy drinking and already among the favourites.

“In some of those bars, it’s going toe to toe with the big mainstream beers owned by multinationals.”

Thornton’s heard many Cardrona customers claim “that’s my new beer”, while out-of-towners are recognising it first pop. “I’ve already heard guys come into the bar, recognise it and go ‘Oh sweet as, I’ll have a Swifty’, which is awesome.”

Thornton says it’s an easy-drinking beer that doesn’t knock you around. The hotel was confident enough to pour the beer at a wedding it hosted recently.

It pairs really well with any food, so much so that the hotel now uses it to batter its fish and chips.

If not fish and chips, Bagrie says it’s a great barbecue beer. It’ll go well with anything from roast capsicum to a rack of lamb. ■

Carlos Bagrie, left, says Swifty was a hit at the Wānaka Beerfest RAY TIDDY

Inset: The taste and pour of Swifty are a credit to the exceptional quality of barley from Royalburn Station, says Garage Project co-owner Jos Ruffell says GARAGE PROJECT

Main: Carlos Bagrie, owner of Royalburn Station, says that with Swifty, ‘‘it’salmostwhatwedon’tdothat makesitspecial’’. BEN RUFFELL

These are Fiji’s best adults-only escapes

ji has more 400 stay – the choice can you’re an

Fiji has more than 400 places to stay – the choice can be overwhelming. If you’re after an adults-only retreat, Brook Sabin has made the decision much easier, narrowing it down to five of his favourites.

Tokoriki Island Resort

Tokoriki Island Resort is one of the best adults-only escapes in the world, with a number of global awards to its name.

The resort is found in the Mamanuca Islands – about an hour’s boat ride from the mainland – and is set on its own beach among a lush tropical garden that’s been developed over 25 years of meticulous landscaping.

It has 36 villas that run the length of the main beach, meaning it never feels crowded.

But the magic really happens at night

The vast dining area and infinity pool are lit by candles and lanterns, with musicians playing gently in the background. The staff are some of the best you’ll come across – remembering everyone’s names, and making all guest feel like VIPs.

See: tokoriki.com. Bures start from around $1200 per night.

Lomani Island Resort

This romantic hideout is tucked away on Malolo Lailai Island, which is also in the Mamanuca archipelago

The sprawling resort, which was a former coconut plantation, has just 30 villas – which offers a sense of space that few others do.

The resort has a large infinity pool, lined with cabanas, which is the centre of gravity for most people. Another highlight is the extensive list of activities included with each stay. You won’t need to pay extra for kayaking, paddle boarding, church visits, windsurfing, using the Hobie Cats, dolphin safaris,village tours, snorkelling and kava ceremonies.

Likuliku

Lagoon Resort

Lomani is also on the more affordable end of Fiji’s luxury escapes.

See: lomaniisland.com. From $669 per night

See: likulikulagoon.com. Rooms start from $1700 per night.

Royal Davui

If you really want to feel like a celebrity, there’s only one destination for you: Royal Davui. The island is found south of the main island, and you get there on a private plane, followed by a launch – then you’ll whisked to your large villa overlooking Beqa Lagoon. The suites have two wings; on one side the bedroom, complete with a spa bath and plush bed. The other has a lounge and a mini-bar stocked with unlimited beverages and freshly baked cookies. These are the kind of villas you won’t want to leave – and could easily spend the day lazing around. But if you do, the snorkelling straight off the main jetty is some of the best you’ll come across in Fiji.

See: royaldavuifiji.com. A five-night all-inclusive stay including air and boat transfers from around $9500 per couple.

Waitui Beach Club

One of Fiji’s most iconic resorts is Likuliku, with its Maldives-like overwatervillas that extend out into a private bay.

The overwater bures are always popular and hard to get, but you won’t be disappointed if are on the beach instead The “land based” rooms come complete with a massive Balinese-style daybed overlooking the lagoon. The delicious

dinners and romantic atmosphere at this resort are hard to beat.

Likuliku is less than 20 minutes away from Monuriki Island, where the Tom Hanks blockbuster Cast Away was filmed. The resort can arrange a private boat that will drop you at the island, but unlike Hanks, you’ll have snacks and drinks to accompany your stay.

The Sofitel Fiji is a popular family-friendly resort in Port Denarau, which is the central resort hub on the mainland.

However, it also has an adults-only wing called the Waitui Beach Club, off to the side of the main resort with its own pool and beach area. Breakfast and dinner are served poolside There are also dozens of places to relax, including loungers, beachfront cabanas and a swim-up bar.

See: sofitel-fiji.com. Rooms from $650 a night including breakfast ■

The author has travelled multiple times to Fiji with the support of Tourism Fiji, and compiled this list on its own merit.

Tokoriki Island Resortis onehour byboat fromPort Denarau Marina.

BROOK SABIN/ STUFF

Lomani Island Resort has just 30 villas.

Likuliku is famous for its overwater villas.

The Waitui Beach Club has an adults-only pool.

Royal Davui has excellent snorkelling.

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Higher prices provide a positive start to the year

Dairy and beef markets have made a positive start to the year buoyed by high prices, while there are also indications sheepmeat prices may finally begin to move in the second half the year, Rabobank says.

Dairy

Global milk supplies are still struggling to get positive momentum, while stronger global dairy prices will help with improved farmgate margins, with global milk supply lifting by the year’s end, Rabobank says in its latest monthly agribusiness report.

Dairy commodity markets have largely continued their positive trend in February.

Butter prices soared, lifting 12% and were 20% higher at the end of February than at the beginning of the calendar year. SMP continues to recover, lifting 8% in February, while gains for WMP slowed to 1% and cheddar prices stalled over the same month

Milk supply growth from global dairy exporters continues to struggle and a return to meaningful production expansion from these regions will take some time

Higher dairy commodity prices will translate into firmer farmgate milk prices in all regions providing welcome relief for farmers who struggled to be profitable in 2023. It’s likely that it will take until the second half of this calendar year forvolumes from the dairy exporting heavyweights to move back into positive territory.

New Zealand milk supplies eased 1.2% year on year on a tonnage basis, while milk solids similarly declined by 1% over the same period. Milk supply is 0.5% down YOY for the season to January, largely driven by weaker North Island collections.

Sluggish demand remains the key influence on commodity prices. Pockets of demand optimism remain in China. Retail and foodservice sales showed some strength through the Lunar New Year – although it is too soon to declare a trend, Rabobank says. Prices will improve as milk production continues to struggle but demand improves Beef New Zealand beef markets are looking positive, and are expected to remain this way throughout the year, with pricing at or above the five-year average This is fuelled by strong US demand and lower-than average slaughter numbers.

Farmgate beef prices have held due to a combination of steady demand and good

on-farm conditions. Conditions have been drier notably in the upper South Island and parts of the lower North.

Due to the overall good growing conditions to date, onfarm pressure to send cattle and cull cows off farm has been lower than during the same time in 2023.

According to provisional NZ Meat Board numbers, the national bull kill till early February was down 4.5% and the cow kill was down 6.4%, the bank says.

Beef exports to the US were up 12% YOY byvalue in January. Exports to China were down 19% YOY byvalue in the same period. This reflects what we expect to be a 2024 trend, with the US driving good demand due to low domestic supply and herd numbers (the lowest since 1961), Rabobank says.

Chinese demand remains soft with less consumption during the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations than expected. Production in Australia and Brazil is up, but lower in Europe and the US New Zealand remains well poised for beef exports to these markets with lower domestic supplies.

“Overall, New Zealand beef markets are looking positive to start 2024 and look to remain this way throughout the year with pricing at or above the five-year average.”

Sheepmeat

The waiting game continues for sheepmeat price rises. Early signals show there may be some relief in the second half of 2024

A small silver lining in the first quarter of 2024 has been on-farm feed supplies in terms of pasture and crops in most sheepmeat-producing regions, most notably Southland, which had good pasture growth.

With lamb prices lower, producers have opted to put extra weight on lambs to make up for a lower price per kilogram.

Sheep meat export markets experienced a notable year-on-year shift in January.

China’s continuing soft demand due to a sluggish economy and reduced consumption saw the total value of exports drop from 41% to 31% YOY for the month, Rabobank says. But there was an uptick in exports to the US and the UK. But total New Zealand exports for January were down 9%

YOY in value and up 1% in volume.

For the week ending February 3, NZ Meat Board national lamb slaughter numbers were down 1.2% YOY. With dry hitting some regions through February there is an expectation that numbers will increase.

Some processors are announcing minimum price contracts for the late April to May period, the bank says. Meat processors appear optimistic prices will lift to global markets later in the year – especially to the UK, the EU, and North America. ■

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