RURAL NEWS // MAY 19, 2020
4 NEWS MEAT PROCESSING BACK TO NORMAL SOON SUDESH KISSUN sudeshk@ruralnews.co.nz
Ray Smith says assistance from the fund won’t help farmers in the short term, but it will help get them back on their feet for next season.
Farmers queue up for drought advice PETER BURKE peterb@ruralnews.co.nz
THE MINISTRY for Primary Industries says, in the space of a week, it’s had over 120 applications for assistance from the special drought recovery fund. The fund offers farmers in areas badly hit by the drought to access $5,000 worth of specialist advisory services to help them get their businesses back on track for next season. The fund, which is administered by MPI, is to help farmers and horticulturalists to get quality advice on such issues as strategic planning, technical advice on soil and pastures and sustainable management techniques. MPI director general Ray Smith says dealing with the drought is incredibly challenging for many
farmers and while assistance from the fund won’t help farmers in the short term it will help get them back on their feet for next season. Smith says the Rural Support Trusts have been doing a great job and in the last week the Hawkes Bay trust fielded more than 160 calls from farmers. “Hopefully at Level 2 Alert, there will be an opportunity for the trust to get out and check if other farmers are facing stress,” he told Rural News. Smith says operating within Level 2 is getting back to a more normal environment which will be positive for rural communities. He says it will see rural supply stores open, sale yards opening and stores such as butchers, fruit and vegetable stores and fish shops also open for business.
But he says these businesses will have to meet the strict protocols that allow them to open. These include maintaining hygiene standards, physical distancing, keeping groups to a maximum of 10 people and having a system of recording anyone who comes into a business. “Meat processing plants are back to normal and some are operating at 100% capacity,” Smith adds. “I think the meat industry has done an outstanding job, along with the packhouses, dairy companies and all the other groups that have worked during lockdowns four and three.” Under alert level 2, MPI plans to phase-in the return of staff to offices around the country. Smith says initially about 30% of staff will be back in their offices – with the remainder still working from home.
FARMERS ARE hoping that processing capacity at meat plants will return to normal within a month. Federated Farmers president Katie Milne says the meat companies are working hard to achieve normal processing capacity. “The works assure us they are catching up fast and will be close to normal soon – sheep much sooner than beef,” Milne told Rural News. “The North Island is further through their kill than the South Island. Hopefully by mid-June things will be near right again.” Covid-19 meat processing protocols, which require physical distancing between employees to prevent the spread of the virus, reduced the industry’s processing capacity in level 4 by about 50% for sheep and lamb and 30% for beef. Longer wait times, up to six weeks in some cases, put additional pressure on winter feed resources as farmers were forced to hold on to stock for longer. Alliance chief executive David Surveyor has told farmers that the
Meat companies are working hard to achieve normal processing capacity.
company is continuing to increase processing capacity across the network. “Our plants are running overtime, extended shifts and at weekends,” he told suppliers in an email last week. “We are also transporting livestock from the South Island to the North Island to ease the pressure in the south.” Surveyor says the co-op is on track to reach its Alert Level 3 target of over 90% capacity for ovine and over 95% for bovine across the network. “The Meat Industry Association is working on a new processing protocol for Alert Level 2 and there is an expectation this will enable
us to increase capacity further,” he says. Meanwhile, Alliance will be offering a deer supply contract from July through to December 2020. Surveyor says this will provide farmers with some certainty, helping manage risk during significant market uncertainty. He says Alliance has been responsibly managing its inventory and sales. “However, there does appear to be some inventory build-up in global markets and we expect this to impact sales prices in the short to medium term. “We continue to have long term confidence in the deer industry,” Surveyor says.
Ten Basic Fertiliser Facts You Must Know and Adopt to Meet 2025 Water Quality Limits: Eight basic facts Regarding whether granulating RPR is a good idea to meet the 2025 water quality limits
Dr Bert Quin
Fact 1. The overuse of soluble P fertiliser is by far the largest cause of P run-off and leaching, and therefore of the decline in the quality of Kiwi waterways. Fact 2. Once you have Olsen P levels that are more than a third of the P retention (ASC), application of additional soluble P is very prone to loss to the environment. Fact (ii). True RPRs easily maintain high production as well as soluble P, but are far, far less susceptible to run-off and leaching. And RPR Fact 3.you If you want to build up your soil P in an environmentally-protective way, simply apply RPR. It does not get leached or lost directly in run-off, but saves money! releases P in a sustained fashion for plants. Fact (iii). Quinfert Algerian RPR is the only low-cadmium, internationally- recognised true RPR available in New Zealand. Available Fact 4. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. RPR-based fertilisers are even cheaper than super-based products as well! Added sulphur bentonite throughout (sulphur 90) NZ. is far more efficient than the excess sulphate in super. Fact(iv). 5. Following 1-4meet above will greatly reduce P run-off and leaching. This should be done and nowhere the situation reassessed Fact It doesn’t the obsolete Fertmark 30-minute citric acid solubility test. Sobefore what.anything This testelse, is used outside NZ; it before has spending huge amounts money! been widely criticised asofnot being fit for purpose. Far better alternatives are available. Fact 6. It is nonsensical to give in to pressure to install expensive mitigations riparian strips, excessively large wetlands and ‘phosphorus walls’ when you Fact RPR of is their best long-term used in small-particle form. This ensures thatand all before particles in established contact withwhether the acid in the soil. Its reacts with the have(v). no idea effectiveness and maintenance costs, youget have changing to sustained-release RPR is all RPR, releases the Pinto plant-available form at a sustained rate, maintaining high pasture growth and reducing lime requirements. you need to do! Fact(vi). 7. inMaking any casenormal-sized simple fenced-off 3-metre wide grass strips arethe essentially and vastly cheaper than more with complex strips. Fact granules (4-6mm) out riparian of RPR defeats purposeasofeffective using RPR. Granules make contact much lessBoth of reduce bacterial and sediment losses. Neither will have any significant long-term beneficial effect (on a whole -farm basis) on soluble P and the soil acid that does fine RPR. While the granules themselves will break up sooner or later, this still leaves the landing site of eachnitrate-N granuleloss. But grass strips beparticles, harvested taking in summer to longer be fed out, improve P to and N cycling. overloaded withcan RPR much to betoconverted plant-available form. This was shown long ago. Prills of about 2mm Fact 8. In a nutshell, for maintenance of P levels any genuine RPR (not an RPR/Boucraa mix please!) can be used. Just check the Cd content. For low fertility are a far better idea. situations or low rainfall, use a blend of RPR and high-analysis soluble P. Fact want to totally minimise drift, simply ask immediately for our RPR ‘CM’ RPR),with which has inhibitor. 2.5% moisture Fact(vii). 9. ForIfN,you rather than granular urea, usedust prilled urea, sprayed prior (Controlled to, or during,Moisture the spreading urease Use of evenly N can be added. flows beautifully, with minimal dust. Same price, but the spec is slightly lower of course. literally It cut in half with big savings. Fact(viii). 10. Potash moreaefficient, and must less likely to cause metabolic if applied in small 4 times a year, adding up todo! 50-60% of the total Fact If youiswant wider ground-spread, tell your contractor to problems, optimise his equipment to doses do this, before his competitors annual amount you are using now. Easy to mix with your prilled urea. Leaching of anions like nitrate will be minimised as well.
Fact (i). The overuse of soluble P is by far the largest cause of P run-off and leaching, and the decline in the quality of Kiwi waterways.
For phone021 021-427 572, visit www.quinfert.co.nz Formore moreinfo. info,email emailBert Bert Quin Quin on on bert.quin@quinfert.co.nz, bert.quin@quinfert.co.nz, ororphone 427 572, oror visit www.quinfert.co.nz