Coast & Country April 2017

Vinod Siwakoti of Kiwi Fresh Horticulture Ltd and Denis Gourlay harvesting kiwifruit’s tiny cousins on an orchard at Paengaroa.

Read about this delicious fruit on pages 4-5. Photo Elaine Fisher.

King Country PAGE 10-11

Mossop’s Honey PAGE 24-25

Dairy Awards PAGE 30-31

Kiwifruit PAGE 33-35

Avocados PAGE 36-37

Travel PAGE 38-39

Country Living PAGE 46-49

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Improved performance up to us all More than half of Auckland’s freshwater streams and one-third of marine waters have been ranked ‘degraded’ or ‘poor’, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s third Environmental Performance Review of New Zealand.

That should serve as a wake-up call to New Zealanders that it’s time to get passed blaming only farming, and dairying in particular, for emissions and pollution, and to take a long hard look at the impacts of our urban areas and industries too.

New Zealand only accounts for a tiny share of global emissions, but intensive dairy farming, road transport and industry have pushed up gross Greenhouse Gas emissions by 23 per cent since 1990.

Agriculture accounts for 49 per cent of emissions, primarily methane from cattle and nitrous oxides from animal waste and fertilisers. Transport is the second largest emitting sector, car ownership rates are the highest in the OECD and the fleet is relatively old and inefficient.

Environmental credentials

The report says there is tension between sustaining economic growth and maintaining our environmental credentials. “One of the major areas discussed is fresh water management. The report encourages the use of innovation and research to develop better

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water management tools,” says Federated Farmers water spokesperson Chris Allen.

“The fact is 80 per cent of New Zealand’s waterways have stable or improving water quality.

“We need to prioritise our efforts around the remaining 20 per cent, supported by real, not modelled data.”

The report acknowledges the pressures on the environment are not just from primary production but also from urban growth and transport. It highlights the immense pressure the development of Auckland is placing on the environment.

Independent advice

Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Bryce Johnson says the report highlights the lack of forward thinking and failure to plan strategically for the country’s longer term future.

“Unfortunately, formally structured, national, transparent, long-term future thinking and planning is simply not happening, and the country is suffering as a result.

“What is needed is a body to provide clear, politically independent advice to the Government on preparing for the future – something that is becoming increasingly essential if we are to protect New Zealand’s future competitiveness in the global marketplace.”

He’s right – but finding “politically independent advice” around such politically divisive issues as greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and water quality may not be easy.

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 3

Trade wars – or new trade blocs – what’s ahead?

United States president Donald Trump’s protectionist policies could plunge the world economy into crisis and lead to trade wars – or, led by Britain, nations will form new trade relationships and avoid global conflict.

Washington change their view.”

He advocates using the “fear of missing out” strategy through trade agreements with other trade partners, which would demonstrate that by not being part of them the US is missing out.

Britain as global leader

Those differing views were delivered by two keynote The world economy, Crawford says, needs a real speakers at the March Zespri Momentum Conference leader that is in favour of advancing the international at Mount Maunganui. trade agenda and this may well be Britain, once the The unapologetically depressing address by Michael Brexit issue is settled.

Every, who is Rabobank head of financial markets “I think it is not unrealistic that Britain will have research for the Asia Pacifi Pacific region, came fi first – folthe capacity to become real leader for global trade lowed by Crawford Falconer, who and show leadership so other economies will fl flock to is professor of International Trade them.” at Lincoln University, saying New New Zealand should pursue Zealand, with its friends can have free trade agreements strategically influence on world trade. rather than country by country Michael believes President Trump’s including what Crawford calls protectionist policies, while underPacific TPP-Minus – the Trans Pacifi standable from the US point of Partnership minus the USA. He view, will undermine international also advocates the New Zealand trade that relies on the US dollar. government create “swat” teams to “The free trade which we have tackle non-trade barriers imposed grown up with started at the end by countries we export to. of World War 2 when the US was “We don’t have to take a fatalist prepared to pump dollars into view of the future – of course we global economy to allow everyone can make it work and New Zealand else to trade. Up until 1945, the needs to make work more than US was one of most protectionist anyone else.” countries in world.

However, Crawford does caution Michael Every, Rabobank Head “Now the entire foundation of of Financial Markets Research for New Zealanders should not be over global trade rests in the hands of optimistic about the way the world the Asia Pacific Region.

Donald Trump.” economy is going. “But don’t get If the US dollar is no longer used to trade then “we lost in the level of abstraction. If you share the view are going to see the global economy split into trading that trade policy is important, then let MPs and the blocs, which use different currencies where political Government know about it. and economic interest come together to repeat the “Refuse to surrender to the fatalist, pessimistic view.

19th Century scenario of carving up the global pie”.

There is a positive agenda to play for out there.”

China could take on the role the US has played and the Renminbi could become the global trade currency. But to do so China would have to operate a trade deficit and Michael doubts that would happen.

Crawford Falco professor o ner, Internatio f Trade at L nal inco University ln .

Elaine Fisher

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Michael says there are other challenges ahead, particularly for New Zealand, and these include tariff and non-tariff barriers. “The rules of the global trade game are first demand – do they want to buy your product? The answer with Zespri Kiwifruit is: ‘Yes’.

The second is can you get the product to them in a condition they will want to eat? Once again the answer is: ‘Yes’.

“However, are they going to be allowed (by their governments) to buy or eat it at all?”

That could be the issue if New Zealand is forced to choose between backing China or the USA, says Michael.

Crawford says while changes in US policies, including around trade, tax and tariffs, will have impacts, he doesn’t predict a huge appreciation in the value of the US dollar overnight.

“Rather than sit back and moan and complain, what we can do is change the dynamic. New Zealand can’t do this by itself. It has got to work with friends to have big enough alliances that makes people in

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 4

Tiny fruit with surprise inside The small, green fruit, hanging in clusters from a leafy canopy on a Paengaroa orchard may appear to have little in common with kiwifruit – until they are cut in half.

Inside each is a miniature version of its much larger green kiwifruit cousin – and there’s even a red-fleshed variety.

Known as KiwiBerry, these fruit are part of the wider kiwifruit family but have a very short harvest season – from mid-February to late-March. The

fruit also has a short shelf-life so is airfreighted to international markets.

Trials are underway into the possibility of using sea freight to Australia.

New Zealand KiwiBerry Growers Association chairman Geoff Oliver says the delicate fruit, still a novelty for many New Zealanders, is available in fruit shops and supermarkets from February to April. “Look for them alongside blueberries.”

There are currently 33 growers in New Zealand with about 36 hectares of KiwiBerry in production. Other growers are in the initial grafting stage

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or have vines that will be coming into production icholson next year.

Praisri N g the The fruit’s botanical name is Actinidia arguta is amon ed c or A. arguta and the three main cultivars grown experien y r r e iB in New Zealand are Takaka Green, K2D4 and iw K i iw K t Marju Red. There are also two Plant and Food team a . e c u d Research selections with Plant Vari- ety Pro Rights under evaluation. It is hoped that with the new selections it may be possible to extend the harvest season and the shelf-life.

Arguta grows wild in parts of China and is also found in north-eastern Siberia, Korea and Japan. Globally, there is thought to be less than 200 hectares planted for commercial production.

Popular with children

The main producing countries supplying the international market are New Zealand – most orchards are in the Bay of Plenty – the United States, Canada and Chile. It is also known to be growing in Russia, China, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

KiwiBerries are very popular with children because of their sweet taste and ease of eating.

They are also a hit with adults and can be used in smoothies, salads, savoury and sweet dishes, in baking, for making jam and especially for decorating pavlova.

Geoff, who has been growing the fruit for about 12 years and is a director of Kiwi Produce at Paengaroa

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The surpr is – KiwiBe e inside rries look just like th eir cousins w bigger h open – an en cut d there’s even a red variety. that packs KiwiBerries for local growers, is a committed fan – despite the fact it’s not an easy crop to manage.

“The vines are vigorous and by winter the canopy is a tangled mass, which isn’t easy to prune. Winter pruning can cost between $20,000 and $40,000 a hectare compared to green kiwifruit at between $5000 and $6000 a hectare.

“The costs of picking are also higher as pickers are paid by the hour because it is necessary to select pick and handle the fruit with care.”

KiwiBerries are trained over a pergola system with each plant growing in a five metre by 3.6 metre canopy area. Unlike their larger cousins, KiwiBerries are not picked all at once.

KiwiBerry flowers don’t open simultaneously so are pollinated at different times, meaning all the fruit doesn’t reach maturity at the same time. Because of this, orchard blocks are visited by pickers at least twice during harvest.

Quality standards

“We may be a small industry but the New Zealand KiwiBerry Growers Association has adopted quality standards, not unlike those for kiwifruit, which means our customers have an assurance of a consistent quality of product,” says Geoff.

KiwiBerries are packed ready for export.

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 5

Cost of growing KiwiBerries is high

As part of the quality standards, fruit is tested by independent laboratories for dry matter and seed numbers before a clearance to pick is granted.

Fruit is handpicked into small containers and then transferred to cartons before transported to a packhouse. After grading to industry standards, fruit is packed into clear plastic clamshell punnets weighing 125grams-175 grams for display and sale at retail.

Packing is a slower process than with conventional kiwifruit and Kiwi Produce has specialist packing equipment and an experienced team trained in quality control and handling the fruit.

The disease Psa-V, which had such a devastating impact on the gold Hort16A kiwifruit variety, is found in KiwiBerry orchards but the vines do appear to have tolerance to the disease.

Fruit drop

Worryingly this season, fruit in some orchards has softened early and dropped onto the ground before harvest. “We’re not entirely sure why but it’s upsetting for growers to lose fruit just prior to harvest.”

Despite the fruit drop, the industry is on target to double last season’s production of about 120,000 tray equivalents of KiwiBerries. Grown under optimum conditions, 15 tonnes of fruit per hectare can be produced.

“Production of KiwiBerries in NZ is increasing and there are concerns about an oversupply in the market, which could affect grower returns – especially since we lost access to the market in China last year.”

Geoff says China was a major market for New Zealand KiwiBerries but authorities changed fresh fruit import rules excluding KiwiBerries. “We are working hard to regain access to China. In a good season, returns per hectare are somewhere near the returns earned by green kiwifruit growers,

New Zealand KiwiBerry Growers Association chairman Geoff Oliver with a red KiwiBerry. however the costs of production are much higher.”

The New Zealand fruit is marketed by several exporters and sold under the names of NZ KiwiBerry and Baby Kiwi.

KiwiBerries, available in New Zealand until earlyApril, contain 20 vital nutrients including higher levels of Vitamin C than an orange, double the Vitamin E of an avocado and more potassium than a banana.

To find out more about KiwiBerries, go to: www. nzkiwiberry.com Elaine Fisher

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COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Set back for fodder beet crop Nick and Lisa MacDonald’s five-hectare fodder beet crop has produced some impressive bulbs, but suffered a setback when the storms of mid-March provided ideal conditions for an insect pest invasion.

caterpillar pests to thrive on the beet leaves.

“The damage to the leaves is quite extensive but the crop is not lost,” says Bryce.

“An aerial application of pesticides to control the insects will allow the leaves to recover. And while the insect damage will mean the crop won’t reach its full potential, the bulbs will continue to grow.”

The couple, who are contract milking 450 cows Bryce, who visited the crop with Nick and Lisa on a farm near Opotiki, planted the crop as a winter shortly after the insect attack, says it’s disheartening supplement for the herd and had done everything to see the damage on what had been a well-managed right in preparing the land and looking after the beet. and productive crop.

But Adama New Zealand Ltd’s northern techniHe and Nick discussed options and worked out cal sales manager Bryce Simpson says the wet, warm what spray was required and the costs of using a weather in March was perfect for native and exotic helicopter to apply it. “We figured out it would cost about 10 cents a kilogram of dry matter for the extra three tonne of dry matter the crop will go on to produce, which means this is still a very economical crop to grow.”

In mid-March, and even though the beet was not yet mature, Nick picked a tuber that weighed about 9kg. “We were encouraged to grow the crop by our farm owner. It’s a high ME feed and I plan to breakfeed it to the cows as a supplement during the winter to keep them milking.”

Bryce says another farmer in the Bay of Plenty began break-feeding his 220 cows on fodder beet in March and in the first five days saw an extra 500 liters of milk in the vat.

“He described the beet as ‘rocket fuel for cows’, which it is, but feeding it does need to be managed carefully.”

Bryce recommends Helping Farmers Reduce OSH Risk transitioning cows during 14 days to give the rumen time to adjust to the high sugar content of the beet and avoid acidosis. “Cows that haven’t been fed beet or turnips

FARMOSH

Large and tasty fodder beet bulb.

Lisa MacDonald and Bryce Simpson.

Nick MacDonald with a 9kg fodder beet bulb. usually just eat the leaves for the first couple of days, until they get a taste for the bulbs.”

Cows should not be put in the beet paddock with an empty stomach but should be given 2kg-3kg of grass of silage first. “During the first one to two days, they should have 1kg to 2kg of beet, and then allowed an extra kilogram of dry matter per day after that, up until 14 days when they should have transitioned well.” About an hour in the paddock is usually sufficient in the first few days.

Fodder beet has been used in New Zealand for many years, first grown as ‘mangels’ in the 1920s. In recent years modern hybrid cultivars have become increasingly popular as a winter feed for cattle, deer and sheep due to their high yields, high ME value at 12-plus MJ ME/kg DM), high utilisation of typically 90 per cent and relative lack of disease pressure compared with brassicas. Under good management fodder beet can yield 30 t DM/ha, but typical yields are 18-24 t DM/ha with reasonable summer moisture.

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 7

New national news website launched national coverage thanks to its media partners.

“They are the eyes and ears of their communities and are committed to feeding a rich variety of important regional news, colourful stories of New Zealanders and some entertaining tales.

“Clickbait is banned; the Kardashians outlawed…

Newsie will have real news about Kiwis and we’ll never ask readers if they can believe what happens next.

The nation’s independent publishers have banded together to create a new national news service.

Newsie is a collaboration of New Zealand-owned and independent news companies, pooling resources throughout the nation to bring a new, balanced and locally owned news organisation (view on-line at newsie. co.nz/), The news service is co-ordinated by Sun Media, the New Zealand-owned publishing company that operates the highly-successful SunLive news website based in the Bay of Plenty and also owns Coast & Country News.

Newsie is also the site to keep up to date with rural news and features videos from the popular programme On The Land.

Presented by rural reporter and commentator Rob CopeWilliams and Tandem Studios, the show provides 24/7 access to the news and information that matters to our farmers. You can catch the episodes every week on Country TV, Face TV, on the website at www.ontheland. co.nz and on Newsie – (click the

“Tramps will not buy Ferraris and celebrities will have to earn a mention, not merely get a haircut or change spouse.”

And why the name Newsie?

Newsie is an old term, coined circa 1875 as a historical nickname for newsboys, journalists and the like whose mission it was to deliver the real, important news to the readers – exactly what Newsie looking to achieve.

videos tab).

Regional newspapers and websites are being added every week to the Newsie stable.

It is a unique and powerful new concept: A cooperative effort of independent publishers the length and breadth of New Zealand, united in their commitment to pool resources and to create a truly independent and balanced national news service.

Newsie is in the early stages of development, says Sun Media director Brian Rogers.

“We’ll be adding many more independent publishers to the pool in coming months, along with freelancers throughout the country and offering New Zealanders their own voice.

“We have secured reliable and balanced sources of international and national news, and sports feeds, so as Newsie grows and expands there’ll be more to read, opportunity to comment and give feedback.

“This is truly a news-site for New Zealanders, by New Zealanders, who at last have the chance to make it their own.”

Brian says Newsie will have an incredible depth of regional and

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Country of Origin Labelling – give consumers the choice Horticulture New Zealand commissioned Consumer NZ to do an independent survey of consumers, asking if they wanted mandatory country of origin labelling on fruit and vegetables.

A survey shows consumers want to know where their fresh fruit and vegetables are grown.

Seventy-one per cent of those surveyed said they did. Interestingly, more than three out of four female respondents said they wanted mandatory country of origin labelling on fruit and vegetables. Only nine per cent of those surveyed indicated they were opposed to it.

The survey respondents also said they wanted to buy fresh fruit and vegetables – totalling 70 per cent – and 72 per cent want to know where it comes from. Of concern is only 82 per cent of the respondents bought fresh fruit each week and only 80 per cent of the respondents bought fresh vegetables each week. We clearly need to encourage New Zealanders to buy more fruit and vegetables.

We did the survey because we wanted to know what consumers want. We are proud of our product and we want NZ consumers to have the choice to buy local and to know when they are buying local.

Having done the survey, we are confident NZ consumers want to both buy local and know where their fresh fruit and vegetables come from.

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Buying local supports both local economies and the wider NZ economy. Horticulture employs 60,000 workers and so by buying NZ-grown produce, we are supporting our economy.

But there is a more important reason to buy NZgrown produce. For more than 20 years, the majority of our fresh fruit and vegetables have complied with international food safety standards that are backed up by an audit regime, as well as meeting the requirements of NZ’s Food Safety legislation.

Both NZ and overseas supermarkets require com-

pliance with these schemes to ensure only the best quality, fresh, healthy and safe fruit and vegetables are delivered for sale. So by buying NZ-grown produce consumers have the assurance of those food safety schemes. Similar or the same schemes do apply to imported food.

Australian requirements

Another reason for the adoption of country of origin labelling for fruit and vegetables is that this is required in Australia, our closest and one of our most important trading partners. So exporters will already be meeting country of origin labelling requirements for Australia. Our food safety and related laws are aligned with Australia, expect for with mandatory country of origin labelling.

The way mandatory labelling can be achieved is through a new piece of legislation being sponsored by the Greens called the Consumers Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill. So the way ahead is straightforward. We are campaigning for consumer choice so that consumers have the knowledge to decide whether they want to buy their food from the country it was grown in.

New Zealand’s commercial growers and consumers want mandatory country of origin labelling on fresh fruit and vegetables and Parliament has the Green’s Bill to make it law. It’s now time for our Members of Parliament to act and make it law for mandatory country of origin labelling.

So contact your local MP and ask them for their support. After all, your clothes and footwear are required to have country of origin labelling, now it’s time for our fresh fruit and vegetables to have their origin identified.

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 9

Find source of contamination and fix it King Country farmers Reon and Wendy Verry fear Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change 1 could make their farming business uneconomic, impacting on staff and others involved with the 1300 hectares farm.

Submissions closed in March on the Waikato Regional Council’s Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1, which the council has instigated to address the problem of water quality in its region.

It wants to set policies and rules to bring about a reduction in sediment, bacteria and nutrients –nitrogen and phosphorus – entering water bodies, including groundwater, in the Waikato and Waipa river catchments, which is an area of 1.1 million hectares.

This proposed plan change for the next 10 years is the first step towards meeting the vision and strategy for the Waikato River during the next 80 years.

In plain-speaking terms the proposal wants all farms larger than 2ha in the Waipa/Waikato area to fence all ‘permanent’ water to prevent stock from entering these waters. This also means water reticulation for paddocks would need to be installed as well.

Social costs

Reon and Wendy run a sheep and beef farm on the southern outskirts of Te Kuiti, which has been in Wendy’s family for 30 years. Reon has investigated the regional council proposal, encouraged other

farmers who will be affected to get involved and even held submission workshop meetings in the wider area to help farmers to get their heads around the proposed changes.

The result was the formation of King Country River Care. Reon says everyone in the group simply wants to run a sustainable business from every point of view – environmentally, financially and socially. “That’s my real problem with this plan,” says Reon. “It looks at the environment but it’s ignoring the economic and social costs, which will come about if it is implemented as it is proposed.”

Reon says every farm faces a different set of challenges.

“Farmers who have to put in place expensive reticulated water before they can fence off water will struggle to meet the timing requirements of PC1.”

Different story

The submission workshops drew 300 farmers but Reon is unsure how many put submissions in. He says the process was tough, submissions had to be detailed and precise; he encouraged farmers to keep it simple but to get something in.

Reon found the plan to be full of inconsistencies and contradictions. It was hard to cope with, hard to get a true understanding of what was wanted.

“You read one part and then the next section tells a different story.” ...continued

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Page 10

Fears healthy rivers plan will make farm uneconomic continued...

He believes once council got the draft plan they should have looked to see if it would or could work.

“But they chucked it out to the public to see what the reaction would be. The implementation team should have had more time to establish if things could really be done.

“They have made it too hard. Farmers are anxious, worried about what will happen; the rules are so different to what we have ever faced before.”

WRC is reacting to government legislation on the management of fresh water and Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato – The Vision and Strategy for the Waikato and Waipa rivers – which was adopted by the Government as part of the Treaty of Waitangi settlement

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legislation.

There are 12 main points in the Treaty settlement and WRC chose two; swim-ability and fish-ability.

Reon says even when you read the Draft Plan you cannot be sure what you need to do. “The document contradicts itself. One part says ‘all water bodies must be fenced to exclude cattle, horse, deer and pigs’ but not sheep; another grey area. Any flowing water, any drain, any stream or swamp has to be fenced.”

Alternative mitigation

And then in another section it says everyone has to have a farm environment plan and if the land is over 25 degrees it does not have to be fenced but alternative mitigation can be applied.

“It is just confusing. I don’t know which one I have to go by. These two provisions should have been looked at more closely before they went out to the public. And they should have consulted with farmers as what was practical and do-able before calling for submissions.

“For our farm we have to have it complied by 2023 – that’s six years to fence all water at a conservative cost of $100,000. Our neighbour across the road has to put water in as well as fencing off the natural water – at a cost of about $840,000.

“When you fence off natural water you have to ensure all paddocks have reticulated water. One of the lucky things in this area is the natural water,” says Reon. He agrees with fencing stock out or away from waterways, but is not supportive of the council’s definition of waterways.

The water from Reon and Wendy’s farm goes into the Mangaokewa Stream, which eventually feeds into the Waipa at Otorohanga. The water is tested at Te Kuiti and it presently shows acceptable levels of nitrogen – at the 80-year acceptable level – but high

This swamp/waterway is a good example of King Country farms and would be very difficult to fence. Currently, it is managed to ensure there is little farm animal effect. levels of ecoli.

Between the farm and Te Kuiti there are two meat works and a timber processing plant, sale yards and of course the natural run-off from the township. Farmers would like to see more water testing sites.

Deal with source

The water is not tested at the farm gate but it is only the farm that is being required to change its environment. “Perhaps with more water testing they could find the source of any contamination and deal with it at the source instead of this blanket set of rules to change farming practices.

“I will fence anything if it is really going to make any changes but to spend hundreds of dollars on a ‘might fix the problem’ is hard to swallow,” says Reon.

He says it should be about subcatchments, not a blanket approach. Grand-parenting of nitrogen use rewards polluters and it needs to be removed from the plan change, believes Reon.

“The nitrogen rule is just death by a thousand cuts and the fencing rule is like a sledge

hammer to the back of your head. We just need to know what the problem is and fix it.”

The other grey cloud looming is that this plan is only in place for 10 years.

“If we fully comply – fence everything and then in 10 years, when the water is still not meeting its targets, regional council may try to force us to change from being a sheep and beef farm to growing trees. This would completely finish our business, our lifestyle and those who work for us and with us.

Greenhouse gases

“Is this what they really want – to plant pine trees to replace those taken out for dairy conversions? Is this their way of complying with the greenhouse gas commitments?,” asks Reon.

“Everyone is pointing at everyone else and at this stage there is not enough science to fix it. We don’t want animals in our waterways and we have already minimised the damage.

It is common sense but council has suddenly taken things to the extreme while ignoring how it will affect farmers and farming communities.”

Fritha Tagg

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KING COUNTRY Russell Josiah, 63, beat son Jette Josiah by 14 points to win the Super Motard class at Taupo.

Photo: Mad Love Media.

More than just a job for enthusiasts Establishing a motorcycle business in Taumarunui more than 30 years ago has proved extremely successful for Russell Josiah.

The business, Bike Torque, services the King Country and Ruapehu regions with another office and workshop in Otorohanga. It specialises in farm and motocross bikes, and increasingly side-by-side Utility Task Vehicles.

Bike Torque Taumarunui is the authorised agent for Suzuki, Yamaha, Polaris and Kawasaki brands selling and servicing all their models of bikes and ORVs. The comprehensive service department employs six fulltime mechanics to service and repair all makes and models for work or play.

As a long-time Suzuki dealer, Russell became a highly successful retailer of the brand’s innovative and revolutionary quad All Terrain Vehicles. The move to side-by-side UTVs is another market change he’s been a strong part of and it has become a huge part of the business day-to-day operations in a very short space of time.

Russell says Polaris currently has the highest selling model in the New Zealand ATV and side-by-side market with the Ranger 570 HD, which has almost 20 per cent more sales than the next highest selling model.

Yamaha continues to be a strong player with the Wolverine and Viking models popular due to their strong reputation and three year manufacturer warranty.

“We recently added the Kawasaki marque back into our line-up, which had a lot to do with their extensive range of UTV options, which complement the others,” says Russell.

Farmers on the lookout for a new farm vehicle should take advantage of Russell’s knowledge and experience and speak to him about their requirements.

All of Russell’s staff members are keen on motorbikes and have thorough product knowledge. “We’re all enthusiasts, I try to employ people who have the same passion that I have; it’s not just a job.”

He continues to fuel his passion by racing with his son, Jette Josiah, in Super Motard classes around the North Island. Russell recently won that class at round three of the NZ Superbike Nationals in Taupo, beating Jette by 14 points.

Page 11

SHEEP & BEEF

Page 12

Whole family input increases profitability In the hilly country around Tararua, drystock farmers have long been in the majority. But where many are doing things the way they always have, there are some whose smiles are broader these days. And Bruce and Chrissina Donald are among these cheerful souls.

Bruce had considered himself an ‘ordinary’ farmer, but felt that he had potential which wasn’t being utilised. And his farming systems weren’t delivering what he wanted. Chrissina had long been a secondary school teacher, and their three daughters were rapidly growing up – now aged eight, 12 and 14.

Two years ago a local friend suggested ringing Brendon Walsh of GrowFARM to

see whether this system could offer ideas to improve things. From the moment of this phone call, life for the Donalds took on a whole new way of thinking and running their farming business.

Change in philosophy

Today their 567ha of mainly medium hill country, with 110ha steep and only 20ha flat is running 100 stud Hereford cows, 35 two-year-old heifers, plus calves, 20 R2 bulls, 1300 Romney ewes, 350 twotooths and trade stock when The Donald fa required. Bruce has signifim il y of Tararua – cantly reduced the classes of Molly, Chrissina, Bru stock previously run on their ce , Georgie and Hannah – farm due to the change in enjoy not only philosophy. farming together but th Bruce says he hadn’t fully e great outdoors as w realised that full feeding is ell. profitable, and that he’d been unknowingly punishing his stock for years in favour of grass control, therefore keeping them too long and not calculating the true cost of what was being eaten. Using GrowFARM systems and thinking, Bruce now regards

his skillset as endless.

With the right profit steps in place, Chrissina has stepped out of the classroom, and is bringing her governance, marketing and sales skills to the family business, which they believe will improve and extend their business even more.

This is a real family business, including their daughters. Business meetings also involve them: they bring their own agenda items on what they think should be done. The family has been strengthened through this joint sense of ownership, all of the girls plan to be involved in the many aspects that agriculture has to offer.

Financial literacy

They are gradually being introduced to the idea of financial literacy as they ‘do the numbers’ on raising and grazing their own calves and ewes. They are learning that some scenarios stack up and others don’t.

GrowFARM clients are provided cloud software, which makes it clear when moves will be profitable, plus they also calculate the allocation of all farm working expenses. Brendon Walsh’s availability for phone consultation at all times – particularly in the early stages of change – has been a huge comfort. The knowledge they have never been left on their own is reassuring and critical in the success of transitioning away from prior thinking and old habits.

Personal belief

Bruce and Chrissina stress that Brendon is not handing out answers, but rather making clients think, analyse and work out what should be done themselves. His favourite word is ‘why’.

Like other clients interviewed, the Donalds stressed they had to be ready to do what was required under the GrowFARM system. One of the main effects of this change had been a significant increase in personal belief in themselves. It is not a ‘one size fits all’ system, but one that is individually tailored for each farming business; so looking over the fence at the neighbour or comparing yourself to ‘the farmer of the year’ is futile. “Your own business is your own business,” they say.

They have enjoyed the regional and national mastermind meetings, which allow them to spend time with other GrowFARM clients and swap good news stories and ideas. Key improvements have been destocking, which has resulted in better stock health, better scanning and docking percentages, increased cattle weights, better engagement of the whole family; and of course cashflow and the freedom this brings for development and debt repayment. The farm is also looking much, much healthier with fewer pests, diseases and pugging.

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FERTILISER

Article ‘misleading’ says AgResearch AgResearch’s work is much broader than described in the article ‘Protectionism versus truth-telling’, which appeared in the March issue of Coast & Country News, says AgResearch science group leader Tony Conner.

“We feel people may get a misleading view of AgResearch’s work from the piece, when in reality the work is much broader than described.

“The comments by Sue Edmonds misrepresent the work AgResearch is doing in areas of non-chemical based pasture development, and many of these were featured at the presentation that Sue attended.

“They include the pasture persistence work through the Sustainable Farming Fund in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato, the use of biocontrols and biopesticides to control pests like the Argentine stem weevil and clover root weevil, the use of endophytes – a naturally occurring fungus embedded in the plant – and the Trojan female project the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has recently funded AgResearch to undertake.”

Also highlighted, says Tony, was work on projects in regard to use of effluent on pastures. One of the projects presented covered improving rhizobia

efficiency, which will reduce the need for additional nitrogen application to pastures – and this project appears to be central to the area of work that Sue Edmonds demonstrates concern about. This work is underpinned by science expertise in the area of plant, microbe and soil interactions.

“We have also had success with field trials showing the effectiveness of a new bacterium against two significant agricultural pests, grass grub and Manuka beetles.

“This is part of the Next Generation Biopesticides Programme with AgResearch and is running in collaboration with Lincoln University, Plant and Food Research, the Foundation for Arable Research, Agrimm, Grasslanz and Zespri. The project aims to find new, safe and sustainable solutions to New Zealand’s key insect pest and disease problems.

“As was offered at the seminar mentioned in the opinion piece, Ms Edmonds was invited to speak with our teams about the work we are doing in this area of reducing chemical use in pasture development. That offer stands,” says Tony.

Vitamin C pick-up for plants Enhancing plants with vitamin C could improve both human and crop health, according to New Zealand researchers.

Because most major commodity crops have low levels of vitamin C, the researchers want to take a leaf out of certain superfruits’ DNA – which have high levels – to help fortify staple crops.

There are many methods to turn on genes that boost vitamin C in plants, so a multi-pronged approach should be taken, they say.

Their work was supported by the University of Otago School of Biomedical Sciences Bequest Fund and a grant from the Australian Research Council.

Ascorbate – or vitamin C – is an essential human micronutrient pre-

dominantly obtained from plants. In addition to preventing scurvy, it is now known to have broader roles in human health. For example, as a co-factor for enzymes involved in epigenetic programming and as regulator of cellular iron uptake.

Furthermore, ascorbate is the major antioxidant in plants and underpins many environmentally induced abiotic stress responses. Biotechnological approaches to enhance the ascorbate content of crops therefore have potential to improve both human health and abiotic stress tolerance of crops. Identifying the genetic basis of ascorbate variation between plant varieties and discovering how some ‘superfruits’ accumulate extremely high levels of ascorbate should reveal new ways to more effectively manipulate the production of ascorbate in crops.

Page 13

Page 14

Biological Close to 1000 submit on plan Biological Fertilisers Fertilisers FERTILISER

Solid and Liquid FERTILISERS

Solid and Liquid

Waikato Regional Council has received a little more than 1000 submissions on Healthy Rivers/ Wai Ora: Proposed Waikato FERTILISERS Regional Plan Change 1.

Liquid BioChar Humus Builder Cal-Phos Increase soil humus and biological activity - from $15 /ha Soil Force NEW! Biological Phosphate Fertiliser Re-Charge Nano-Cal Multi-Cal Calcium-Carbon Fertilisers Stock Primer – Mineralised Carbon Drench Build immunity, suppress pathogens; e.g. Rotovirus, E. Coli, for as little as 4c /cow/day Humates/Humic Acid/Fulvic Acid Increased water retention/nutrient release New Biological Controls for - Cricket, Cicada, Argentine Stem Weevil, Clover Flea - all added into solid and liquid fertiliser programmes.

depth of feeling in our community about this issue.”

Vaughan says he’s pleased the community has taken the opportunity to have their say on the proposed plan change.

The council is now focused on entering and summarising submissions and continuing to work with sectors and industry to try and resolve issues ahead of any hearings process, which will happen later this year or early-2018.

Independent commissioners will be appointed to hear submissions and advertising for registrations of interest for those roles will happen within the next month.

WRC chief executive Vaughan Payne Liquid BioChar Humussays Builder Cal-Phos the number of submissions received Increase soil humus and are biological activity well in excess of that for any other plan change process undertake by the - from $15 /ha council to date.

“The number of submissions we’ve Soil Force NEW! received are reflective of the complex Biological Phosphate Fertiliser issues we face in managing water quality in the Waikato and Waipa rivers and the Re-Charge Nano-Cal Multi-Cal Calcium-Carbon Fertilisers Stock Primer – Mineralised Carbon Drench Biological PSA management options.

Build Home immunity, suppress pathogens; e.g.called Rotovirus, Reams Soil Testing, Garden Fertiliser A new electronic tool NCheck has been approved for use by arable E. Coli, for as little as 4c /cow/day and horticulture farmers in the Selwyn Humates/Humic Acid/Fulvic Acid Te Waihora catchment.

Increased water retention/nutrient release It provides an alternative to Overseer for estimating farm nitrogen New Biological Controls for - Cricket, Cicada, losses, and is free, quick and easy use.

Argentine Stem Weevil,toClover Flea - all added NCheck will be available for an into solid and liquid fertiliser programmes. interim period of up to five years

New tool for checking nitrogen loss

while the crop module in Overseer Biological PSA management is being updated. options.

In the meantime, farmers areFertiliser Reams Soil Testing, Home Garden being advised to keep farm data 1 Railway St, Paeroa Office Phone: 07 867-6737, Fax: 07 867-6068 E: info@ef.net.nz W: www.ef.net.nz

from 2009-2013 as they will eventually require this to develop an Overseer nitrogen baseline.

NCheck was designed to enable farmers to access their own N-loss numbers. The tool uses a farm address to access the soil and climate information for farms and then leads owners through a short set of questions about farm system and its management. It then uses this information to estimate a nitrogen loss for the farm. This number is the Nitrogen Loss Estimate for the farm.

N-Check assumes farmers are applying good management practices.

In the background, the tool is accessing an extensive set of Overseer results, generated for Environment Canterbury’s Matrix of Good Management project via each farmer’s set of answers. It is drawing on less farm information than a full Overseer budget, so the N-Loss estimate it produces could be less accurate than the Overseer estimates.

At the end of the process an NCheck report is available. This can be printed off and filed with farm consents, if one is required, and the farm environment plan.

NCheck can be used by all farmers in Selwyn Te Waihora to determine their nitrogen loss number and based on this, whether or not a consent is required.

Additionally, NCheck can be used for two types of farms in Selwyn Te Waihora in the consent process and during on-farm audits.

These are arable and horticultural farmers with cropping rotations on more than 50 per cent of the property or intensive vegetable rotations for more than 80 per cent of the time.

And low leaching/lifestyle farming activities where nitrogen losses do not exceed 15 KgN/ha/year.

(Source: Foundation for Arable Research).

FERTILISER

Page 15

Book focuses on soil fertility and fertilisers On the average dairy farm, fertiliser makes up about 20 per cent of farm working expenses. And expenditure on fertiliser has nearly doubled in the last 10 years.

According to the book ‘Fertiliser Use on New Zealand Dairy Farms’, greater fertiliser use has been associated with increased farm profitability on some, but not all dairy farms.

Subtitled ‘The principles and practice of soil fertility and fertiliser use on New Zealand dairy farms’ the fourth edition of this publication has been created by the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand.

It is important dairy farmers understand the principles of soil fertility and fertiliser use, so this booklet presents dairy farmers with a simple and concise sum-

mary of the role of soil fertility and fertilisers in dairy production.

The information presented has been synthesised from a large volume of historical soil fertility research on dairy farms. There have been relatively few animal grazing trials in which the effect of fertiliser use on animal production has been directly measured. However, those that have been carried out show where nutrient additions increase pasture production there is also an increase in animal production.

On this basis, the relationship between pasture production and soil nutrient levels presented in this booklet can be used to predict likely animal production increases. This assumes any increase in pasture production resulting from fertiliser use will be efficiently utilised.

Introductory sections in the book provide brief descriptions of the major soil groups on dairy farms, the major and minor elements required by plants and animals, and the basic principles of fertiliser use in

pastoral agriculture. The authors suggest these principles should be fully understood before continuing on to other sections.

Basically, the booklet is concerned with target soil fertility levels, how to find out where levels are now, and how to alter them if necessary. There are sections on monitoring soil fertility to ‘fine-tune’ a fertiliser programme and

FINISH AUTUMN WITH N over 6°C. This target is often more achievable in autumn than in late winter/early spring, meaning you can expect a good pasture response in terms of dry matter grown per kilo of N applied.

Lambing percentages increase country wide Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Lamb Crop 2016 report shows the average lambing percentage across the country was up 2.1 percentage points – a remarkable performance given the challenges of the previous season.

The average lambing percentage was 123 lambs born per 100 ewes and was achieved because ewes were in good condition, there was enough spring feed, and more lambs were born from hoggets.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand Economic Service chief economist Andrew Burtt says the report estimates 23.7 million lambs were tailed last spring. They came from a breeding ewe flock that was down 3.1 per cent on last year.

“The smaller ewe flock occurred with the shift towards cattle production and the impact of facial eczema in North Island regions.

“Farmers read the climatic signals and made decisions early and the lamb crop result reinforces the impact of those management decisions.”

In North Island regions, lamb numbers were affected by the impact of facial eczema on breeding ewe condition and numbers, and wet climatic

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conditions which hindered lamb growth rates, says Andrew.

Lamb numbers in South Island regions were slightly ahead of last season, due to good climatic conditions, improved lamb thrift and a lift in ewe lambing percentages.

These factors combined to offset a decrease in breeding ewe numbers.

Around the whole country there was a 1.3 per cent drop – or 0.3 million fewer lambs than last year.

when to apply fertilisers. The use of nitrogen is also discussed.

The research information represents the average over a range of conditions.

However, every farm is an individual situation and putting the results of research into practice will require some modification. If in doubt seek guidance from a professionally trained agricultural advisor or consultant.

Apply nitrogen now to improve pasture covers heading into winter.

After a wet spring it has been a dry summer in the Bay of Plenty with some areas facing water restrictions. This means your pasture’s feed value is likely to be poor. Autumn is the time to rebuild covers, drive a decent feed wedge into winter and set the farm up well for the next season.

“Applying around 30 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare (kg N/ ha) will boost pasture growth and encourage ryegrass tillering, helping pastures to recover,” says Aaron Stafford, Science Manager for Ballance Agri-Nutrients. Using the autumn flush to get some extra quality feed into your farm system is also a good strategy if you are trying to extend your milking season or need to support autumn calving.

To get the most out of your N investment remember: Nitrogen is a growth booster: Pasture needs to be actively growing, with soil temperatures

You need five to 10 mm of rain or irrigation within eight hours of application: Soil bacteria convert nitrogen into ammonium, which in turn can change into ammonia gas and escape into the atmosphere. This process is called volatilisation and it can cause 10 to 20% of your applied nitrogen to disappear into thin air.

Some think that volatilisation is only an issue in warm, dry conditions: not true. It can happen in cooler temperatures, in any season and neither good soil moisture levels nor dew before application reduce the chance of it happening. “Autumn rain can be unpredictable,” says Aaron. “This is why products from the SustaiN range are a sensible choice.”

The urea in SustaiN is coated with Agrotain™ nitrogen stabiliser, which has been scientifically proven to reduce N loss from volatilisation by approximately 50%. “This gives you more flexibility with the timing of your application and more confidence that it will get where it is needed – in your soil, helping your grass to grow.”

If sulphur is a limiting factor and you don’t need to apply phosphorous, then PhaSedN (which combines SustaiN with fine-ground elemental sulphur) is an ideal autumn option.

Page 16

FARM REPAIRS

If you weren’t there you don’t know The “good old days” of manual labour on the farm weren’t so great, according to Alan Simpson, whose memories of those times were sparked by last month’s ‘History Item’.

Alan from England, who is visiting his brothers in New Zealand, one of them in Matamata, spotted the photograph of the implement in the March issue of ‘Coast & Country News’.

“I guess I must have been about three when I first saw it being used at the bottom of the farm cutting up a hay stack of loose hay. Dad swept up the hay from the swath – sometimes made by a hay rake – he had a sweep in front of a

Standard Fordson tractor,” Alan writes.

“Shortly after I seem to remember him getting the contractor’s stationary baler to do the job – he normally did the threshing of the corn sheaves – to make it into bales – about the size of a big bale now – before stacking. This went onwards in time to an International B45 baler and the rest is history as they say.

“Further use of this item involved cutting silage from a pit. This involved such unbelievably hard work cutting and carting that after a few years we went back to hay, which in hindsight was a real shame because silage was the future – even then we could see it. There was a lot of waste hay because of the rain etc. How I wished there had been round balers then.

“Its last use for us was by one of my brothers who, before loaders and skid steer Bob Cats came in, used to slice up the layers of muck and straw bedding in horse loose boxes prior to using a ‘gripe’ and throwing it on the trailer. To those who say it was the good old days, you weren’t there. Ha.” Judy McLaughlin remembers using a silage knife 37 years ago when she first moved to Rerewhakaaitu, which is 34km south of Rotorua.

“I still have one in the shed. It brings back

memories – and I still have the calluses on my hands from using the knife.

“In those days we never had a feedout wagon so also had to fork the silage off the trailer,” writes Judy, who has won admission for two to the Western Bay Museum in Katikati.

This month’s History item is from the Te Aroha Museum. If you have a story to tell about this item, or a similar one, we’d love to hear from you.

This coron a from the T tion jug Museum is e Aroha – and man a rare item know exact y readers will ly your mem why – send in ories of th is time in history and a visit to th be in to win e museum .

To be in to win admission for two to the Te Aroha Museum, email your memories to: elaine@ This old silage thesun.co.nz with ‘History item’ ade in the subject line, or post to knife or hay sp rn ‘History Item’, Coast & Counfrom the Weste as Bay Museum w y try, PO Box 240, Tauranga or 3140. Entries must arrive no last month’s hist . em it later than April 18.

A $5 million pledge for Waikato medical school Businessman and philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn is pledging $5 million towards the creation of a medical school in the Waikato.

The school has been proposed by the University of Waikato and the Waikato District Health Board

to address the shortfall of primary care doctors in provincial and rural areas. The Waikato proposal would require medical students to have an undergraduate degree in any subject and four years’ medical training, with the primary focus

on community healthcare in high needs communities. Currently, only 15 per cent of New Zealand medical graduates choose to become GPs – and Sir Owen says something needs to be done to address the lack of primary care providers.

FARM REPAIRS

Page 17

Stabilising enzyme new solution for lining ponds machinery, FirmaMent is a cost-effective, highly versatile roading solution.

FirmaMent can be laid on almost all soil types and is being used in the United States, Asia and New Zealand to create

Contractor Andrew Neilson using FirmaMent to construct an effluent pond at Te Awamutu.

When Victoria Lake in Hagley Park, Christchurch, developed major cracks and water drained following the 2011 earthquakes, a product called FirmaMent was selected by the Christchurch City Council to provide a permanent solution to sealing the lake.

Since 2011, the 20,000m2 lake has withstood some 17,000 quakes and aftershocks with no damage or leaks. The success achieved in restoring Victoria Lake has led to a growing number of effluent ponds being built or re-built with FirmaMent.

SBL FirmaMent director Patrick Egden says FirmaMent is an organic stabilising enzyme which binds with clay to create a dense base resistant to water, weathering, erosion and wear.

“The impermeable base will remain solid and stable. Lab testing has shown FirmaMent-treated clays exceed accepted permeability standards. The treatment is environmentally safe and completely harmless to plants, animals and humans, is non-toxic and non-flammable.”

Andrew Neilson is a contractor using FirmaMent to construct an effluent pond at Te Awamutu. He has also built cow lanes and roadways with FirmaMent.

“I’ve been using FirmaMent for the last couple of years on several projects and am more than happy with the way it works –it is just as described.”

hurch Restored Lake Victoria in Christc since kes has withstood some 17,000 qua ent. aM Firm it was lined with weight of water on the stabilised clay liner equalling more density and sealing.”

Laboratory testing has shown FirmaMent treated soils exceed New Zealand permeability standards for pond liners, says Patrick. It can also be used as a base for standoff or foundation pads or in water races or in conjunction with synthetic liners to provide extra impermeability.

Patrick says for cow lanes for moving stock or a road that can stand up to the punishment of heavy

Fifty years

Patrick says leakage from irrigation dams is not an option, because it shows weakness in construction and a possible danger.

“The biggest cost of building a pond may be having to dredge and re-line it in five, 10 or 20 years’ time due to leaks or poor design when a permanent solution such as FirmaMent is not used.

“A FirmaMent stabilised clay liner should last for 50 years or more while the life of synthetic liners may be measured in years if damaged by flow action or torn by vermin or damaged while scraping out effluent and sludge.

“A FirmaMent stabilised clay liner should withstand most earthquakes. It has a great deal of self-sealing ability. If there is damage it can be repaired by mixing more treated material outside the pond and applying it to the damaged area.

Deeper ponds

“FirmaMent effluent and reservoir ponds can be built deeper, thus reducing the amount of land used and surface evaporation. More depth means more

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Page 18

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Page 19

Native seaweed provides tonic for bees Cold, wet, windy weather across the country has cost beekeepers millions of dollars as the unseasonable conditions affect the honey harvest.

With close to a million hives now in New Zealand, the poor summer has hit the apiculture industry hard when it was already struggling with failing bee treatments and diminished feed stocks.

But beekeepers have found AgriSea Bee Nutrition to assist in brood development and produce more robust bees.

Three years ago AgriSea noticed beekeepers were purchasing product and discussions were held to determine how this was adding value to their opera-

tions and trial work was commenced.

The New Zealand native seaweed species Ecklonia radiata is batch-brewed with specifically selected essential herbs for up to 90 days to make Bee Nutrition Tonic.

As a result of listening to their customers and learning about their methods of bee feeding, AgriSea partnered with MSugar and created a unique pollen substitute – Apifeed+.

Stu Ferguson from Hunter Reilly Limited was finding it “ridiculously expensive” importing American product when he came across AgriSea – and he’s been impressed with his trial results.

“I achieved low losses in 2016 and it just makes sense that the nutrients, amino acids and vitamins in AgriSea must be assisting the health of the hives when compared to using straight sugar syrup.”

De Graaf Apiaries is conducting a study to assess the optimum concentration for bees and initial results are

promising and point to 30ml per litre of sugar syrup being the optimum concentration for increasing brood during the spring feeding rounds of 2016.

“We are aware of the decrease in pollen sources around NZ so supplying the bees with additional nutrition is common practice,” said Bennie De Graaf from De Graaf Apiaries Limited.

“Using locally made seaweed makes sense – we add AgriSea Bee Nutrition

whenever we feed our hives all year round to keep the hives healthy and strong.”

Early in 2016 AgriSea met with Plant and Food Research. AgriSea general manager Tane Bradley says the aim is simple – to scientifically assess what beekeepers had been noticing in their hives – fat bees, healthy hives, increased production and increased brood.

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FIELDAYS ® PREVIEW

Page 20

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Alistair says all functions can be easily monitored through the central ‘i monitor’. This means the operator controls all implements, GPS, cameras, transmission and engine function through one central terminal. The ‘i monitor’ has the ability to assign button controls through the armrest, when operating implements via ISOBUS. Power Farming national tractor The 9340TTV is also ‘TIM’ sales manager Alistair Horrocks says it ready. The new ‘Tractor Implefeatures an impressive 340hp TTCD The operator of the 9340 ment Management’ system uses data TTV Deutz-Fahr tractor 7.8 litre Deutz-Fahr, six-cylinder exchange between the implement enjoys all-round visibility engine. and the tractor. and a smooth ride.

“The engine reacts immediately, “The maxi vision cab offers plenty and its maximum torque remains of room for the driver while a panoramic windscreen offers all-round visibility. The constant from 1200rpm-1600 rpm. Deutz-Fahr newly designed front bonnet allows the front hitch to has designed the TTCD engine to provide immense be clearly visible from the driver’s seat. power with minimum fuel consumption.”

“Because the cab is pneumatically suspended The electrically controlled, continuously variable and isolated from the bonnet, engine heat, vibration TTV transmission provides exactly the right speed for and noise do not reach the driver creating a quiet all work applications. “The result is a flawless transwork environment.” mission which, when coupled with the For more details contact your local Power Farming Deutz-Fahr engine, gives amazing fuel savings dealership or see: www.powerfarming.co.nz in addition to seamlessly smooth power available at your fingertips.”

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Page 22

LIFESTYLE FARMING

Funding to encourage teens into agriculture TeenAg, an agriculture sector youth programme run by New Zealand Young Farmers, will receive $146,000 of support under a new partnership announced by Youth Minister Nikki Kaye.

“This is about supporting more young people to develop skills such as leadership and learn about potential career opportunities in the primary sector, which is such a vital part of our economy.

“TeenAg aims to promote a positive picture of agriculture and raise awareness of agricultural careers from an early age.

The funding will support about 500 more young people to participate in the programme.”

TeenAg consists of two core elements: TeenAg clubs, which provide a context to learn about agriculture and develop leadership and broader life skills; and TeenAg competitions, which extend

and challenge competitors outside of their comfort zones to build character and leadership skills.

“It’s great to be able to support TeenAg to extend its reach, including into urban centres, and provide additional youth development opportunities for more young New Zealanders in such a pivotal sector as agriculture,” says Nikki.

“This investment is being made under the Partnership Fund, which sees the Government co-invest with business, philanthropic, iwi and other partners to grow youth development opportunities.

“The Government is contributing $50,000 towards the programme, alongside $96,000 cash and in-kind support from partners including Red Meat Profit Partnership, DairyNZ, Lincoln University and Southfuels & Northfuels.

“More than $2 million of partnerships for a range of youth development opportunities have been announced so far in 2017, which shows the partnership model is delivering great results.”

Autumn time to assess trace elements and minerals It is well-known trace elements are important for normal animal function. And during April and May is an ideal time to assess the mineral status of dairy and beef cattle because they transition out of the autumn and head into winter.

Mineral deficiencies can result in subclinical and clinical ill thrift affecting production, growth and reproduction.

Becoming complacent about mineral status is all too common – and, because disease may not always be obvious, testing and essential treatment is not done.

For instance, recently we organised a mob of beef animals to be liver biopsied at the freezing works for copper status. On the surface they appeared to be healthy but tests showed the livers to be significantly copper-deficient.

This valuable information allowed the farmer to take appropriate action to ensure on-farm animal production

and reproduction is not limited by copper, particularly during winter when copper is least available to animals.

Another important point to note is there is a wide range of mineral supplement formulations currently available on the market and some may not be meeting animal requirements.

It is important to use a scientifically-based product with good merit and research behind it.

To discuss an ideal mineral supplement or to mineral testing, phone your local vet clinic to talk to a large animal vet.

LIFESTYLE FARMING

Page 23

Digging in to help address climate change A love of gardening was the inspiration for Rotorua resident Jenny Lux to start Lux Organics six months ago. And already the 1.1ha plot in Ngongotaha is producing plenty of produce and work to keep Jenny fully occupied.

“One of the important reasons why we decided to move here and do this was to do something positive to address climate change.

“My husband and I are very concerned about the future of the world’s atmosphere as we continue to burn fossil fuels. So growing food for a very local market and transporting it only a short distance is one way to improve the situation.

Jenny, husband Richard “We also don’t use any Gillies and their two boys fossil fuel-based fertilisers. have also embraced the In future, we would love organic lifestyle. They to use an electric vehicle started the certification for deliveries, powered process with Organby our own solar panels. icFarmNZ just a couple of But at this stage it’s just days after taking over the too costly because there property and will follow are not many affordable organic management electric vans in NZ.” systems to ensure they Currently, only a small become fully part of the family’s 1.1ha certified in the required block is under cultivation three-year term. but it’s already producing Jenny, who has a master’s plenty and Jenny is selling degree in plant ecology, her produce at the Rotorua changed her lifestyle by leavJenny Lux in her organic garden in Rotorua.

Farmer’s Market and suping her job when her second plies Brown Owl Organic Club, a non-profit organic child was born. Then she decided to use her experience organisation. and love of gardening to set up what will become a

Sharing knowledge

In the large shed on the property there is plenty of room to wash and prepare produce for market and a very large

chiller, which ensures the produce is kept in perfect condition between picking and transporting to market or purchasers.

“The key to survival is to be a bit diverse. I’m already selling the food and seedlings and in future I will also run workshops to share the organic knowledge.”

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“My aim is to supply good quality nutritious food.

There is such a growing demand for it. There is also quite a good restaurant market I can tap into here in Rotorua as well,” says Jenny, who is already supplying two local Rotorua cafes with salad, herbs and microgreens.

Along with the outdoor crops she has a greenhouse for germinating seeds, bringing on seedlings and for growing the increasing stock of microgreens.

The garden beds at Lux Organics are all 80cm wide and dug to double the depth of a normal spade. Jenny has an intriguing implement for aerating the soil – a broadfork. The width of the beds enable a walkway

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“I’ve been a backyard gardener all my life and with this change in location from residential Rotorua I can live and learn, get to know my land.”

Jenny has taken all the help she can, attending courses, workshops and following organic principles from various schools of thought: the bio-intensive method, Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamics and small-scale intensive market gardening as taught by Jean-Martin Fortier and Curtis Stone.

“I’m following examples of organic, small-scale gardens all around the world. There is plenty of information and people are very helpful with suggestions. I intend to do everything sustainably.

between – never stepping on the actual beds, which are wide enough to plant and reach to the other side without impacting the actual growing area.

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Page 24

MOSSOPS 70 TH ANNIVERSARY

Sweet celebrations for bee family dynasty Rheumatism and a desire to put the frighteners up some noisy partygoers played a big part in establishing one of the Bay of Plenty’s largest family honey businesses.

Mossop’s Honey celebrates 70 years this autumn. Its roots started on the other side of the Kaimai Range, migrated across to the Bay, and now have hives spread throughout the central North Island and East Coast.

Back in 1947 Neil Mossop’s father Ron, who worked at Waharoa dairy factory, had heard about the positive effect on rheumatism that bee stings could have thanks to the venom’s ability to ease inflammation of joints.

Ron was well ahead of his time, with researchers only today starting to learn more about how the venom increases anti-inflammatory hormones in the body.

“Dad decided to get a few hives and subject himself to stings while he looked after the bees, and sure enough he found the stings did help him with his joints,” says Neil.

The cheesemaker and boiler operator-turned-backyard beekeeper soon learned bee hives could also

have a positive effect keeping other unwelcome ailments away.

“It was the days of the 6 o’clock swill, when people would drink as much as they could and then pile out of the pub, continuing to drink at home. We had a bunch of rowdy people who would always congregate at the end of our street once the pubs shut. Dad asked a beekeeper if he could put a few hives there – it soon dealt to the noisy parties!”

Neil Mossop helped pioneer the use of bees for kiwifruit pollination and Mossop’s Honey was an early member of the Unique Manuka Factor association.

800 hives

Ron’s passion for beekeeping grew and he leapt at the opportunity in the early1950s to buy 800 hives off a Te Aroha beekeeper.

“In those days that was a lot of hives, enough to be a full-time business and he bought the lot for 22 shillings and sixpence.” Today a single hive can be worth up to $1000.

Most honey collected then was predominately pasture-based, but Ron’s passion for variety and innovation shone through when he tracked down the source of a sweet tasting, light-coloured honey that The well-known had appeared in his hives.

Mossop’s Honey “They followed the bees Shoppe at right up into the top of the Tauriko has been Kaimai Range to find the source, on the same site which turned out to be Tawari. since 1961.

It’s less common today, but the Tawari tree had a flower that yielded this beautiful butterscotch-type honey.”

Honey supply

During those early years Ron worked hard building relationships with landowners and farmers through the Waikato, running hives in return for a generous supply of honey.

In today’s increasingly competitive honey industry it is a tradition Neil and Wendy continue, along with making hive rental payments that provides valuable income for farmers on some of the tough hill country around the East Coast and central North Island.

Ron had also been retailing Mossop’s Honey around shops in the region, and in 1961 the family

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opened their store on the site they continue to occupy today at Tauriko.

Ever innovative, Neil, like his father Ron, was also the first beekeeper in New Zealand to commercially provide hives for kiwifruit pollination, moving eight or nine hives at a time around on his Ford V8 truck. He was a pioneer working with the families who planted the first kiwifruit in the Bay of Plenty.

Kiwifruit pollination

“Today, we cart 400-450 hives at a time on a 44 tonne truck, travelling and returning in a day to places Dad would have stayed overnight at, given how

rough the roads and routes were back then,” says Neil.

These days kiwifruit pollination is still an important part of the business, but not as significant given honey’s increasing value.

Those honey sales expanded well in the 1980s, after Neil and Wendy bought the business from Ron in 1981. This also included their first exports.

“Hong Kong was relatively easy to export to in those days and today we export to 10 countries with Asia and the United States really strong market for us,” says Wendy.

MOSSOPS 70 TH ANNIVERSARY

Page 25

Manuka honey’s benefits now in skin care range Their pioneering ventures continued as the Mossop’s closely followed early research on Manuka honey done by the late Professor Peter Molan at Waikato University.

“Until then field honey and Tawari were the main honey types; Manuka was really a bit of an unknown, seen as a bit different,” says Neil.

A group of beekeepers, however, saw Manuka’s potential – forming the Unique Manuka Factor association, which Mossop’s was part of.

Antibacterial power

Meanwhile, Wendy witnessed the antibacterial power of Manuka when she saw how it healed an ulcer her mother had struggled to have healed conventionally.

“I saw how the skin around the ulcer was softened and that was the seed of an idea to develop a skincare range using Manuka.”

But it was not until 2007 when she met a cosmetologist capable of developing a genuinely natural range of products that she saw the birth of the company’s ‘Natruél’ range.

“The 1980s really became the decade where Manuka was discovered and better understood,” she says.

Wendy and Neil recount the many challenges the business has faced during the years, from the Whakatane earthquake, to the vine disease Psa-V in kiwifruit – but perhaps the biggest one was learning varroa had infected New Zealand beehives in April 2000.

“At one stage all beekeepers in the North Island were going to have to burn their hives, but fortunately that did not eventuate.

“Now we have learned to manage it, although it has come at significant extra cost,” says Wendy. The family also dealt with the loss of their iconic store to arson attack in 2008, doubly painful as it had been the Mossop family home. Rebuilding it with a fresh new image has played a big role in giving the Mossop brand a new look and created even stronger interest in the busy state highway shop.

with his own bee operation, Beelieve Enterprises. Their daughter Charity has also been closely involved in the business during the years.

Wendy says their focus on providing a consistently high quality product, with minimal stirring or treatment, has lent Mossop’s honey a different texture to most commercial honeys and earned them many dedicated customers in New Zealand and around the world.

Meanwhile, the innovative couple are looking forward to the forthcoming launch of another honey-based product for winter,

Third generation

Today Wendy and Neil are proud to see their own family taking over as the third generation, with sons Ryan and Duane employed, and youngest son Joshua working alongside the business

Duane,Wendy and Ryan Mossop with some of the company’s popular honeys.

Comb honey and the Natruel skin care range are among Mossop’s Honey products.

a specially developed cough elixir that promises to help ease the usual winter colds thanks to Manuka’s now well-known healing properties.

“We feel we’ve been very blessed to work where we are, in the business we are in and to have our family close and involved, with plenty of challenges and opportunities for all of us to be involved in,” says Wendy.

Richard Rennie

FORESTRY

Page 26

Douglas-fir essential oil a winner in timber design awards ForestPlus has won the Scion-sponsored Novel Application of wood fibre category in the NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards for its ‘essential oils from pines’ product, an essential oil distilled from New Zealand Douglas-fir.

The ForestPlus team use the roadside trimmings and wilding trees from Douglas-fir forests to distil oil using their own uniquely designed distilling equipment. The

tree material they use would otherwise be considered a waste product, adding a potential new profit stream for some forest owners.

Scion’s Doug Gaunt, who sat on the judging panel, says the oil project has a close alignment with Scion’s strategy to use as much of each tree as possible, not just the wood.

“This product takes a small amount of side stream material from a tree and turns it into a very valuable item.

“Novel uses like this can change the profitability of some forestry crops and have the potential to create a whole new type of short rotation oil/chemical producing crop. It’s exactly the kind of thinking we prize at Scion.”

Paul Greaves from ForestPlus Oil says the team is really excited about their essential oil from pines product.

“The vacuum distillation technology we’ve developed has never been used before, and it has some definite advantages compared to other techniques. The award is recognition of this.”

ForestPlus has sent more than 3300kg of oil to the United States, where it’s used for aromatherapy, skincare and massage.

And in that process they’ve removed and processed more than 1.3 million kilograms of biomass from road edges and wildings since July 2015.

“In many ways this is another Kiwi can-do story, solving a waste problem, designing and building a plant, securing a

market and making it all work,” says Doug.

The NZ Wood Resene Timber Design awards are the only timber design award in NZ. Run by the promotional arm of the forestry industry, NZ Wood, the awards have been going since 1975 and remain a great opportunity to recognise excellence in timber engineering, innovation and highquality building design using timber.

The Novel Application of Fibre award was judged for use of a new wood product or system which contributes to the use of wood fibre derived products in a manner that characterises its unique features via an innovative application of design, science or technology. The category was open to entries from any sector.

Assessing value of trees

An online tool has been launched to help landowners in the Lake Rotorua catchment understand the potential economic gains from converting all or parts of their property to pine or Manuka.

Toitu Te Waonui, a Maori forestry initiative group comprising of Interpine Innovation, Tuia Group and iwi leaders have developed dNITRO with funding from Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Ministry for the Environment as part of the Low Nitrogen Land Use Fund.

BOPRC general manager integrated catchments Chris Ingle says the purpose of the fund is to assist landowners with reducing nitrogen discharged on to their land and entering Lake Rotorua.

“We are committed to supporting landowners to do their part to protect lake water quality. The decision to award funding to Toitu Te Waonui aligns with our key priority for the fund by promoting uptake of existing low nitrogen land uses such as pine and Manuka.”

Toitu Te Waonui Project manager Andy Dick says the user-friendly, spatial tool is particularly useful for Maori landowners.

“It fills a knowledge gap that exists for landowners who are looking to plant out less productive land in to trees.”

The next phase of the project will see Toitu Te Waonui reach out to Maori landowners and guide them through the tool to show opportunities and funding avenues available. The dNITRO Land Use Change Tool is now live at: www.dnitro.co.nz

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FORESTRY

Page 27

Policy stance is ‘potentially far reaching’ Forest owners say the new Federated Farmers’ policy on climate change is a major step to help farmers understand trees are not an alternative to farming, but rather trees are tools to assist farming’s survivability.

Federated Farmers has announced a new policy accepting the reality of humaninduced climate change, after years of policy uncertainty from the farmer organisation on the issue.

New Zealand Forest Owners Association chairman Peter Clark describes Federated Farmers’ policy stance on the use of trees as ‘absolutely correct and potentially far reaching’.

The Federated Farmers’ policy states: “Soil erosion control plantings on steep hillsides will see emissions sequestered in new forest plantings, reduce sedimentation and phosphate in our waterways, and could also achieve biodiversity objectives”.

Peter says more farmers will now see trees are beneficial and helpful but it will be beyond locking up land for erosion control or riparian planting.

“Planting trees for later harvesting also achieves the aims of carbon sequestration, improving water quality, biodiversity and erosion control. So long as the land is again replanted in trees after harvest.

“And, for a well-managed woodlot, farmers will get a substantial return on their planting investment. The return will be easily comparable with pastoral farming, either through eventually selling

their logs, or selling a farm with tree assets on it.

Peter says planting trees now will also enable farmers to positively enter into the Emissions Trading Scheme and sell carbon credits if and when they are required to meet their greenhouse gas liabilities by this or any future government.

“It’s not a competition for land use between stock and trees, any more than it used to be a competition between farming sheep for meat or wool. There’s a place for both on farms.”

Peter says in this context he’ll be keen to share with farmers an upcoming New Zealand Institute of Economic Research report on the plantation forest industry in New Zealand.

“From preliminary analysis, it’s clear the NZ forest industry now ranks economically at least as important as the meat industry or horticulture. But we are increasingly seeing, and being able to measure, the beneficial envi onmental effects of forestry as well.

“This is what Federated Farmers are obviously turning their attention to as well,” says Peter.

Minister inside cabinet will give forestry voice The Forest Owners Association says it’s looking forward to a higher profile in government with the appointment of Louise Upston as holder of the forest portfolio in her role as Associate Minister for Primary Industries.

Louise replaces Jo Goodhew, who was a minister outside cabinet. Forest Owners Association chair Peter Clark says the industry had a good relationship with Jo Goodhew, who he says always put a high priority on the forest and timber processing industry.

“But we were frustrated, as I’m sure she was frustrated, that our issues did not get to be raised in Cabinet by a minister directly concerned with forestry,” says Peter.

“We are New Zealand’s number two primary industry, with forest product export returns running ahead of horticulture and meat, as well as being a large

domestic industry. I’m sure Ms Upston will appreciate that and remind her colleagues of it.

“Besides being MP for Taupo, a major forest region, she is also Associate Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, which fits in ell for addressing the developing skills and labour shortage in our industry.”

Peter also says it is significant that n w Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett had retained the Climate Change Issues portfolio.

“There is an emerging understanding in the Government that more planted trees are the only way New Zealand can fully meet its Paris Agreement climate change commitments.

“That means we will be having a lot of discussion with the Deputy Prime Minister and de facto Forests Minister during the next year or so about how we might achieve a sufficient g owth rate in planted forests and accomplish it profitably for those plan ing those trees.”

DAIRY

Page 28

Phosphorus – have farmers become p addicts?

Phosphorus is recognised as one of the four contaminants Waikato Regional Council’s Plan Change 1 and other councils are seeking to reduce. And although much fuss has been made of nitrogen, in the Waikato region the majority of waterways are more phosphoruslimiting than nitrogen-limiting as far as algal growth is concerned.

Yet phosphorus hardly gets a mention.

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Because a lot of the phosphorus entering waterways comes from particulate run-off, fencing off waterways and having wetland areas on farms will have a big impact on reducing this. But there are some other mitigation strategies that should be considered.

At the moment regional councils, I believe, are falsely relying on Overseer to determine if a farm is high risk as far as P losses into the environment goes. Because Overseer is partly-owned and funded by the two big fertiliser co-operatives these companies have an econometric model attached to Overseer, which their reps can use to help establish best options for fertilising properties.

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My observation from using Overseer, though, is it overestimates the amount of phosphorus needed to sustain or improve production and underestimates potassium.

I often fi find dairy farmers in particular, after entering their soil test data and other farm operational factors into Overseer, are advised to

Robin Boom

CPAg MBSPC

Independent Agronomy & Soil Fertility Consultant

apply excessive amounts of phosphorus and not enough potassium.

The reason for this is Overseer estimates that where a farm has high Olsen P levels, to maintain the current level of production high levels of P are needed for maintenance. And it doesn’t factor into the equation whether the farm is already above the biological optimum levels or not. P is a recognised contaminant in waterways, whereas K is not.

And P is also the most expensive element to apply. When soil particles from high P farms do enter waterways this becomes an environmental problem, whereas soil particles from low P farms do not cause as much pollution.

Another problem is the almost universal use of the Olsen P test to measure soil phosphorus levels. There are better soil tests for acidic soils like ours used internationally. The Olsen P test was developed for alkaline soils in the mid-west of America by Dr Olsen of Colorado State University back in the early-1950s.

More than 20 years ago I abandoned the Olsen P test in favour of the more modern Mehlich III phosphorus test, which I believe is a much better predictor of determining a phosphate response, and is now the most common assay used on acidic soils worldwide and also the favoured method used in the international scientific literature.

Acidic soils

Because the Mehlich III – or M3 – extractant is a multi-element test, it’s been used in some countries and states for environmental monitoring for determining what is sometimes called the Phosphorus Saturation Index or Phosphorus Saturation Ratio.

The scientific literature shows the PSR/PSI is determined by the equation P/(Al + Fe) which is phosphorus divided by the total of aluminium and iron. On acidic soils, aluminium and iron are responsible for fixing water soluble phosphate fertilisers such as superphosphate, DAP, Triple Super, MAP and animal manures, into non-soluble forms. Low water soluble phosphate fertilisers such as dicalcium phosphate, serpentine super and Reactive Phosphate Rock fertilisers avoid or delay this fixation or locking up of the phosphorus and their direct application into waterways is therefore less environmentally damaging.

The benefit of doing M3 soil assays is one can quickly determine if the soil phosphorus levels are already beyond what the soil can hold and has the potential to be environmentally harmful. The international literature suggests the PSR or PSI threshold for causing environmental harm is as low as 0.1.

This would mean if the total iron and aluminium levels using the M3 extraction was 1000ppm, then phosphorus should not exceed 100ppm. Since this research has already been done overseas, it can easily be used and checked here as the scientific methodology is the same.

Seriously flawed

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All of the major soil testing labs in New Zealand now have the ICP technology to do Mehlich III tests.

This will be a much more accurate way of determining whether a farm’s phosphate status is likely to cause environmental harm compared to using the Olsen P values typed into the Overseer model.

The Overseer model is seriously flawed as a tool and model for environmental bench-marking for nitrogen, as explained in my column last month, and similarly for phosphorus. Having a better, more modern phosphate test using the Mehlich III assay, where iron and aluminium are also measured from which Phosphorus Saturation Indexes can be determined, is – I believe – a much better tool for reducing phosphorus contamination of waterways.

Also for farmers, because the Mehlich III test is a better predictor of a phosphate response it means they will not be wasting their money applying phosphorus when it is not needed, but can apply it when it will give an economic production response.

Robin Boom, CPAg, member of the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists. Phone 027 444 8764.

DAIRY

Page 29

It’s easy to throw stones at easy targets When everyone in the farming industry is either hurting, or at least feeling like it might be their turn soon, it’s easy to let rip.

And at the moment, the dairy industry resembles a barn door and therefore an easy target.

What’s important to remember is the dairy farming industry is made up of individuals, with families, and they are all affected to a greater or lesser degree by continued criticism.

I don’t know of any farmer that’s deliberately and wilfully damaging the environment. That’s not in the nature of any of those I work with, and they’re all aware that short-term damage leads to bigger problems further down the track.

It’s the dairy industry that’s been largely responsible for this country continuing to enjoy a standard of living the envy of our closest neighbour and many other countries, yet those of us with some influence have felt the right to find fault.

Time for innovation

I could argue that the industry has provided plenty of ammunition and alternative resources have been offered, but that’s missing the point.

The farming sector is just a small group in New Zealand, which by international standards is no more than an extended village. Our greatest resource, outside of climate and productive land, is the ability to solve issues through innovation. And in my view it’s time to pool all available resources.

This may mean swallowing pride and being prepared to share with those we’ve butted heads with. However, the resources are available for the things that require sorting, and collectively, plans with positive outcomes

can be hatched.

A politically wellconnected client recently acknowledged the wellcoordinated and concerted campaign focused on the environmental shortcomings of rapid dairy expansion has started a popularity battle the farming industry will almost certainly lose, and with it the support of many urban folk.

Polarising debate

A lengthy and polarising debate could do irreparable damage to our international reputation. Would it not be better to put our heads together, sort the real from the perceived, fix whatever is required and get on with the next stage of development?

Further fencing of waterways will look good and make a difference, but the really big issue no-one currently wants to address is carbon. Carbon is the filter in the soil; in its stable form it’s also the sponge that holds nutrients and moisture.

And here’s what is really happening.

In a recent phone call with a Landcare Research scientist, he stated all irrigated land in this country “without exception” is losing carbon. The work

by Louis Schipper and his team at Waikato University shows intensively farmed dairy land in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty has been losing carbon for more than 30 years at the average rate of 1.0 tonne of carbon per hectare annually.

Storing carbon

It’s not the fault of individual farmers. The issue lies with the advice they’ve been given by industry leaders.

But there is an alternative that looks

Unmitigated stress for future oceans Climate change-driven stress to marine ecosystems could extend to more than four-fifths of the world’s oceans by 2050 if no mitigating actions are taken, according to research published in ‘Nature Communications’.

However, measures to slow the pace of climate change could extend stress-free conditions by 20 years, the study suggests, giving marine ecosystems more time to adapt to climate change.

Marine ecosystems provide the primary protein source for one in seven of the world’s population, yet the structure and functioning of this ecosystem is under threat from climate change.

Marine ecosystem structure, functioning and capability to adapt is affected by four primary drivers, or stressors: pH, temperature, oxygen concentration and food availability. How the combined effects of these stressors will respond to future warming has been uncertain.

Stephanie Henson and colleagues use a group of numerical simulations to determine when the influence of climate change on these drivers leads to the emergence of conditions under which the marine ecosystem is unable to adapt and species migration is likely to occur.

Under a business-as-usual scenario, the authors show by 2050, conditions in 86 per cent of the ocean will exceed natural variability, threatening the marine ecosystem as we know it.

The authors also run their simulations under a mitigation scenario – based on Nationally Determined Contributions submitted during COP21 – and show if mitigating action is taken the proportion of ocean susceptible to multiple drivers within the next 15 years is reduced to 34 per cent.

If implemented, such mitigating action could provide

the marine ecosystem with enough time to respond to climate change, and protect human livelihoods and wellbeing, the authors conclude.

ST CHOICE

increasingly promising as more measures are conducted.

Carbon under intensive livestock management can be sequestered, or stored, in the soil-reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. With increased storage capacity soils are more resilient, growing increasingly more feed of higher quality.

We’re prepared to put all the measures compiled during the last 15 years, along with our technology, on the table for those genuinely interested. If, because of our commercial interest, we personally are unacceptable, the presentation can be done by a group of long-term farmer clients prepared to vouch for the authenticity of the data. For more information, contact Peter on 0800 843 809.

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DAIRY

Diverse careers strengthen farm skills The major winners in the 2017 Bay of Plenty Dairy Industry Awards, Cameron and Margaret Bierre, see their academic qualifications and previous careers as a strength.

The couple were announced winners of the region’s Share Farmer of the Year competition at the Bay Of Plenty Dairy Industry Awards annual awards dinner in March. The other big winners were Hayden and Linda McCartie, who were named the 2017 Bay Of Plenty Dairy Managers of the Year; and Hayden Goodall, who is 2017’s Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee of the Year.

Cameron and Margaret Bierre, are 24 per cent sharemilking 800 cows for Scottie and Jill McLeod at

Whakatane and won $12,500 in prizes.

They’ve been in the industry nine years, with Margaret also working in the kiwifruit industry for post-harvester Eastpack, utilising her BSc Ecology and Horticulture. Cameron holds a Bachelor in Science Agriculture and Agribusiness and has previously worked for Dairy NZ. Both have numerous industry certificates and accreditations.

“Our academic qualifications coupled with a proven experience in running low-cost profitable dairy systems is one of our strengths, along with pasture management and tight cost control.”

Their goal is to develop and maintain a resilient business that’s profitable across variable payout years and to continue to build equity to have land holdings, which will allow a rural lifestyle for their family.

Hayden and Linda McCartie hoped entering the competitions would enable them to meet new people in the Bay of Plenty region’s dairy industry.

They won $8725 in prizes and are farm managers for the Gow Family Trust 215ha farm, milking 710 cows in Whakatane.

“Taking a close look at how we manage the farm identifies our strengths The 2017 Bay of Plenty Dairy Industry and weaknesses and where Awards winners are Managers of the Year we need to improve,” say Hayden and Linda McCartie, Share Farmers the couple. of the Year Cameron and Margaret Bierre and The McCarties believe Dairy Trainee of the Year Hayden Goodall. their strength lies in their team. “Everyone works well “It’s also helped with setting together, there’s good communication future goals.” between everyone and it is a positive He has been in the industry for three place to work,” says Hayden. seasons and is currently herd manager And it’s third time lucky for the for Matt Gow on his 750-cow property 2017 Bay of Plenty Dairy Trainee of at Matata, and won $6525 in prizes. the Year Hayden Goodall, who says Keeping a good work-life balance is entering the awards has given him the important to Hayden, enabling him to opportunity to network with other spend quality time with his wife and entrants, farm owners, sponsors and two young daughters, aged five and one. their representatives.

From Philippines to top NZ farmers Carlos and Bernice Delos Santos are the 2017 Central Plateau Dairy Industry Awards Share Farmers of the Year.

Carlos and Bernice are 50/50 sharemilking 300 cows for Andrew and Dorothy McPherson at Ngakuru and won $20,484 in prizes.

The other big award winners were Anthony Kiff, who is the 2017 Central Plateau Dairy Manager of the Year and Taylor Macdonald, who is this year’s Central Plateau Dairy Trainee of the Year.

Originally from the Philippines, the Delos Santos began farming in New Zealand in 2001 and progressing through the industry from farm assistant to their current sharemilking position, which they’ve held since 2015.

Bernice was a registered nurse in the Philippines and enjoys raising their two children on a farm, with a new baby due in April.

The 2017 Central Plateau Dairy Industry Awards winners are Dairy Manager of the Year Anthony Kiff, Share Farmers of the Year Carlos and Bernice Delos Santos and Dairy Trainee of the Year Taylor Macdonald.

DAIRY

Page 31

Strives to achieve in all areas The major winner in the 2017 Waikato Dairy Industry Awards, Phillip van Heuven, strives to achieve in every area of his business and always looks for ways to progress.

Phillip was announced winner of the region’s Share Farmer of the Year competition at the Waikato Dairy Industry Awards annual awards dinner. The other big winners were Euan McLeod, who became the 2017 Waikato Dairy Manager of the Year, and Kobus Liebenberg, the 2017 Waikato Dairy Trainee of the Year.

Phillip van Heuven, is 50 per cent sharemilking 230 cows for Brett Coubrough at Tirau and won $14,050 in prizes.

His goal is to continue to progress through the industry by obtaining a bigger 50 per cent sharemilking position, and he believes the strengths of his operation are in pasture and animal management.

“I’m always monitoring the pasture and achieving correct residuals and have an established regrassing programme,” says Phillip. “For me,

happy cows equals a happy farming committed to the dairy industry, who is determined to be a life. Cow condition is a priority and growth rates of young stock are farm owner.

“Long-term I would like to own closely monitored.” a chain of farms and be a Fonterra Euan McLeod is grateful to have board member. Short-term I would a farm owner with a wealth of like to obtain a farm manager posiexperience and knowledge, who tion.” is completely open to trying new Kobus has been in the industry things on farm. for three seasons with the first six Euan, who won $8925 in prizes, months being free labour and relief is currently farm manager for one milking to ‘get a foot-in-the-door’. of Waikato’s most established AB He’s currently herd manager for dairy farming operations, Murray and Janet Gibb’s 122ha farm, milk- Campbell and Susan Thomas on their 420-cow property at Ohaupo ing 380 cows in Taupiri, where he’s progressed from farm assistant to and won $6575 in prizes. farm manager.

“The herd on this farm have been bred to Artificial Breeding since the 1960s, and the heifers have been getting AB done since the early 1980s.

“The farm owner allows staff to take responsibility for their jobs and to have the freedom to make The major winners in the 2017 Waikato decisions within those Dairy Industry are Dairy Manager of roles. That kind of the Year Euan McLeod, Share Farmer of environment is great the Year Phillip van Heuven and Dairy for business.”

Trainee of the Year Kobus Liebenberg.

Kobus Liebenberg is

Goal to be a leader in dairy industry “We support and motivate each other and ensure we are there for one another,” say the couple.

“Another of our strengths are the systems we have in place to monitor all our expenses. We try to run a low-cost system.”

Anthony Kiff hoped entering the competitions would encourage his own personal growth as well as gaining experience and networking.

He won $8620 in prizes and is the farm manager for the Landcorp 385ha, 1180-cow farm at Reporoa.

Anthony believes his strength lies in the financial understanding of sharemilkers’ and landowners’ costs coupled with excellent people skills.

“My long-term goals include being a leader in the industry and growing the next generation of farmers, buying a herd, and running a safe a profitable business,” says Anthony.

And it’s second time lucky for Taylor Macdonald, who says he’s noticed a large improvement in his self-confidence since entering the dairy trainee competition last year.

“I’ve also found it to be a great opportunity to

broaden my view on industry competitions.”

The 20-year-old has been in the industry since 2013 when he stepped straight into full-time employment two days after leaving school.

He’s worked on three different farms to progress his career and is currently second-in-charge for Phill and Diane Herdman on their 470-cow property at Reporoa.

As Trainee of the Year, Taylor Mcdonald won $5395 in prizes.

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Page 32

It’s been weird six months of weird weather Weird is the only way to describe the weather of the last six months. It was a weird, cold wet spring, a weird unpredictable summer. And now it looks like a weird and very wet autumn.

The winds first blew from the west southwest and then we finally got some north easterlies in mid-February.

But that stopped and turned to southwesterly again, drying out the good the rain had done – until the heavy rains of mid-March.

That’s when we had 240ml in six days, which put a halt on maize harvest

after an already late and slow start.

Rain has been good news for farmers because it has kept the grass growing and cows in production. But it hasn’t been what we wanted for maize harvesting.

The cold wet spring delayed planting of some crops so we put in shorter maturing varieties to mitigate that. But recent wet conditions have made it difficult to get into paddocks to harvest the crops.

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Farmers with swamp land have struggled with the weather too. Wet conditions in the winter and spring saw grass growth suppressed due to the grass roots being in saturated soil with little oxygen. Then it stopped raining and the westerlies started drying the ground out; so much so it went almost rock hard, causing cracking. So the grass has been struggling all season round for those farmers.

However, with the recent rain most farmers’ grass has been growing increasingly well, enabling them to keep cows milking and production up to make the most of the $6 kg/ms payout.

The challenges ahead going into the winter will be to keep herds well fed, especially as Palm Kernel Extract usage is reduced and supplies could be cut back.

I’m aware that at least two shipments have been turned back recently; one for not having the right paper work and the second, in March, because the ship carrying the PKE had dense fouling of barnacles and tube worms on its hull.

Fonterra has also reduced the amount of PKE farmers can feed milking cows.

Palm Kernel Extract has been what some called the ‘KFC’ for dairying as farmers running short of feed could call up and make an order for delivery in the next few days, and pay for it later when their milk cheque had come in.

Local supplements

That’s not the case with locally produced supplements like baleage, hay and maize silage, which gets paid for once delivered – which is not always when it

is needed to be fed, due to being mostly seasonal supply. Contractors and growers, including our own company, need commitment in advance from farmers in order to determine how much maize to grow. We can store some hay and wrapped silage but that comes with the risks of spoilage caused by a number of pests.

Surprisingly, one of the worst examples of spoilage we’ve seen recently proved to be caused by cats. We had the 33 bales in a paddock near houses clawed by cats.

If it’s not cats its pukeko, which climb all over the bales causing damage by pecking holes in the wrap; or rats looking for a warm home.

Manage supplies

Any tear in the wrap lets air in, which brings with it the risk of affecting the quality of the feed. These are all issues facing supplement supply companies that farmers need to understand.

In the new reality, where PKE will no longer be so readily available, farmers and feed companies including our own – Bill Webb Feed Solutions – need to sit down and work out how to manage the supplies farmers will need in the future, while giving certainty for contractors to grow sufficient crops.

Aside from buying in feed, farmers’ thoughts will also be turning to pasture renewal. Not a lot was done last year partly due to the poor payout and good grass growth, especially last autumn.

Renewing pasture from paspalum or kikuyu could present problems with black beetle, slugs and army caterpillar, so extra attention needs to be given to controlling these.

There are reports of increased numbers of army caterpillar in maize crops this season and after harvest those critters will be on the move looking for their next meal – which could be your newly-sown pasture or fodder crops. Be aware of the warning signs and act promptly to minimise the damage they can cause.

KIWIFRUIT

Page 33

More kiwifruit workers needed The 2017 kiwifruit harvest is underway and the industry is once again facing a labour shortage, especially for night shift and weekend work.

“Harvest is the busiest time of year for the industry and we need many workers to assist in getting the fruit both picked and packed.

“However, the hardest jobs to fill are our night-shift and weekend work,” says New Zealand Kiwifruit Grower Inc chief executive Nikki Johnson.

“The kiwifruit industry faces a labour shortage every year and this year is no different.”

The 2017 harvest has only just started, with only small numbers of kiwifruit being picked and packed at this stage. However, as the season progresses, more fruit will be harvested, opening up more work opportunities. NZKGI recommends that people applying for jobs contact the region’s pack houses directly.

Another good source of job information is the website picknz.co.nz which is an industry initiative with information on seasonal work and careers in horticulture.

Off-shore workers

Nikki says while the industry remains committed to utilising local people as the primary workforce, particularly for permanent work, at peak work periods such as harvest, there are insufficient local workers to meet the industry’s employment need.

“During these times, we need to utilise workers from outside the region including some from offshore such as those on working holidays. Ensuring there is appropriate accommodation for these workers is a priority and we are pleased to be able to work with employers and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council on a range of solutions.

“NZKGI is unaware of any shortages of accommodation for out-of-town workers. However, NZKGI does recognise that it is important to ensure there is sufficient accommodation for seasonal workers, particularly as the industry looks to grow over the next few years.”

NZKGI is involved in a range of short-term and long-term initiatives to attract workers to the industry, says Nikki.

RSE workers – those employed under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme – are important to the kiwifruit industry. These workers, many from the Pacific Islands, fill the roles which are difficult

to fill with local employees such as weekend and night-shift work.

“This year an increase in the RSE cap was provided for by the Government in response to a study showing the deficit of available workers for the industry.

“Nevertheless, our core workforce is based around employing New Zealanders. We will continue to work with Government agencies on the RSE programme to meet the industry’s growing need for labour.”

The Government has increased the number of workers under the RSE scheme to 10,500 for the 2016-2017 season. The scheme, which marks 10 years this year, gives horticulture and viticulture a critical workforce at their busiest times, while allowing workers from mostly the Pacific Islands to gain experience and the chance to send money back to their communities at home.

Raising industry profile

However, with the kiwifruit industry aiming to more than double sales to $4.5 billion by 2025 more skilled people are required.

Nikki says NZKGI is working to meet that need through a number of initiatives.

“These include raising the profile of the industry with secondary students and explaining the wide range of opportunities the industry makes available to them.”

NZKGI is working with WINZ to place unemployed people in seasonal and long-term work.

“This includes the pipeline project where we work with WINZ to transition unemployed people into full-time work in the kiwifruit industry.”

Splash Direct within the indusPromoting good labour practice 2113 Main Road 07 573 6138 try and the importance of looking after Phone workers Te Puke Email info@splashdirect.co.nz is another focus, as is the development of tertiary training to train people and keep them within the industry, providing them a career path.

The kiwifruit industry employs about 18,000 people across the season and generated nearly $2 billion in sales last season.

The horticulture and viticulture industry is New Zealand’s fourth largest export industry and aims to increase exports to $10 billion by 2020.

For employment information go to the website picknz.co.nz

Craig Bell Mobile 0272 931 268

Splash Direct 2113 Main Road Te Puke

Phone 07 573 6138 Email info@splashdirect.co.nz

Craig Mobil

Elaine Fisher

New Zealand Kiwifruit Grower Inc chief executive Nikki Johnson.

My Name is Neil Woodward.

I am a director of Z-Contracting- we are family run business, our team consists of three, being myself, my son and my brother.

Our organisation has been established for over 18 years. I have been involved in applying crop protection programmes within the horticultal industry since 1966.

We specialise within the kiwi fruit industry, We have the equipment to spray orchards with our two Atom sprayers and one recently purchased Tracatom Formula tractor which is also available for mulching and mowing.

My Name is Neil Woodward.

I am a director of Z-Contracting- we are family run business, our team consists of three, being myself, my son and my brother.

Our organisation has been established for over 18 years. I have been involved in applying crop protection programmes within the horticultal industry since 1966.

We specialise within the kiwi fruit industry, We have the equipment to spray orchards with our two Atom sprayers and one recently purchased Tracatom Formula tractor which is also available for mulching and mowing.

Our Atoms are set up with radar speed sensors, this combined with fully automated sprayer controllers and three nozzle rings enhances application efficiency and accuracy.

We also use a quad bike for strip weed spray applications.

We hold all certificates needed to meet Globalgap compliance.

We look at all challenges to help ensure we protect your crop with excellence.

Our Atoms are set up with radar speed sensors, this combined with fully automated sprayer controllers and three nozzle rings enhances application efficiency and accuracy.

We also use a quad bike for strip weed spray applications.

We hold all certificates needed to meet Globalgap compliance.

We look at all challenges to help ensure we protect your crop with excellence.

216 Pongakawa Bush Road Te Puke

To contact us: Phone: 021 907 621 E-mail: zcl@zanadu.co.nz

216 Pongakawa Bush Road Te Puke

To contact us: Phone: 021 907 621 E-mail: zcl@zanadu.co.nz

KIWIFRUIT

Page 34

Diverse primary industry courses offered

Teaching understanding of food production is among the aims of the Pacific Coast Technical Institute.

Pacific Coast Technical Institute in Mount Maunganui may seem like the relatively new kids on the block, but these guys are local educators operating in local iconic industries.

Their focus has been market access in Growsafe, Agrichems and machinery operation. Until 2015 Plant and Food Research had an education and training institute, which is now owned and run by the team at Pacific Coast in the Bay of Plenty.

Director Mark Hellyer worked at Plant and Food for nearly 15 years and is now utilising PFR information and expertise extensively in programmes for the benefit of industry.

“We are in a unique position as an educator, we are utilising people and expertise for fruit production, apiculture and post-harvest

qualifications which are really exclusive. We are passionate about our students/trainees being at the cutting edge of technology,” says Mark.

PCTI is well-known for its short courses for market access and compliance. Now the institute’s New Zealand Certificates in apiculture, horticulture, fruit production and post-harvest have a distinct market access flavour, which will prove popular with industry. The PFR links become evident in focuses on integrated pest management, treatments, GlobalGap and market access.

While based at Mount Maunganui, Mark says the institute delivers apiculture and all of the short courses throughout New Zealand. Fruit production and post-harvest remain as a Bay of Plenty exclusive option. Most of what the institute delivers to industry can also be delivered in Bay of Plenty and Waikato schools as NCEA options.

Part-time options have been designed to serve industry and seasonality and as a bonus, Farmlands cards are welcome.

New Zealand Certificate courses in apiculture, horticulture, fruit production and post-harvest start soon.

To find out more, go to: www.pcti.co.nz

Truck gift model of partnership It could be said the relationship between Zespri and international fruit and vegetable company The Greenery is “trucking along” well – really well in fact, thanks to a rather large gift.

The Netherlands-based company The Greenery has presented Zespri with a truck brightly signwritten in Zespri graphics, which will deliver Zespri kiwifruit throughout Europe from June.

The gift was made

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Trucking along – The Greenery CEO Steven Martina and Zespri CEO Lain Jager with a model of the new Zespri signwritten truck, which will the operating in Europe from June. during the Zespri Momentum Conference in March

by The Greenery CEO Steven Martina, who presented Zespri CEO Lain Jager with a model truck, an exact replica of the real one.

“In 2013 The Greenery was in turmoil and it is times like this that you find out who your real partners are.

We received great support from Zespri, its board and its European team – and our board, co-operative members and team at The Greenery are grateful for that.

“We want to give you this gift – unfortunately the real thing would not fit in the plane,” Steven said as he presented Lain with the model.

Lain, who had no idea the gift was coming, thanked Steven and The Greenery. “Zespri has partnered with The Greenery for a long time.

“Everyone in the fruit industry experiences upsides and downsides when business situations get tough and this is when you do find out who your friends are. We are proud to work with The Greenery.”

The Greenery is an international fruit and vegetable company based in the Netherlands, working with more than 500 growers and supplying and distributing to supermarkets, wholesales, caterers and the processing industry.

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Mood menus and vaporised foods reality now

ESTONE LINERS Robots delivering meals to your door –

“We produce enough food to feed 40 million people but we don’t want to feed 40 million. We want to provide a small part of the diet of maybe 800 million people who want to buy, on an occasional basis, food

the value of wine his grapes go into.

“It is not easy to protect your position and it will get a lot harder in the next 20 years, but I believe you are on right track.”

However, Ian says the kiwifruit industry, along with other primary producers, must be aware of consumer concerns, especially around the environment and food waste.

“Food wasters risk losing their licence to operate. We do not get enough food to feed the world. We are part of a food system that does not work because 795 million people are malnourished or under-nourished every single day.

“The horticultural sector is seen as one of the major wasters of food and wasting food puts the licence to operate under threat.”

AND WATER STORAGE

inhaling vaporised food instead of chewing it – and a restaurant that suggests a tural irrigation, menu based on your mood aren’t the future ge, effluent of food – they are happening rs. stone Warranty now, says KPMG global head of d installations.

See us at the agribusiness Ian Proudfoot.

NZ Agricultural Fieldays

E EPDM pond

Mystery or nationwide “The Door DashCreek robotic delivery Pavilion site PB30

system in San Francisco uses a robot to deliver meals to your door and a group of Harvard University students have found a way Emailfood: and sales@cosio.co.nz to vaporise inhale it.

Website : http://www.cosio.co.nz “They claim they get all of the nutritional benefits without the hassle of chewing,” he told those who attended the Zespri Momentum Conference at Mount Maunganui in March.

KFC has opened a “tech-enabled” restaurant in Beijing, says Ian. “When you visit for the first time it takes your photo and you touch an ‘Emogo’ to indicate your mood. You are then given a menu onscreen to choose the food to suit your mood.”

Ian says these are just a few examples of how quickly the world is changing and they are trends New Zealand’s primary producers, including kiwifruit growers, and forget haverecovering to take note for of. up to 5 years “Bigger cities mean are spending between gh EVA for longer commuters life three to four hours on their daily commute, which ditive to prevent condensation dripping plants. means breakfast and dinner are on eaten on the train, in of 50 metres or or cutcar to –length to suit your house. the bus so there’s opportunity to provide a product which is easy to eat when travelling. A kiwid. Phone 09is820 09the 820go0274 fruit not 0272 easy toFax eat on but a kiwifruit with an edible skin would be.”

Ian believes New Zealand could become “the farmers market for the world” producing artisan foods, thanks to the passion of its growers.

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KPMG global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot

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Ian says Zespri and the NZ kiwifruit industry has done an excellent job in making its kiwifruit stand out in the market and rewarding its growers.

“Zespri returns around 23 per cent of value of its gold kiwifruit to the orchard gate and that stands out as among best in New Zealand. By comparison, an unbranded grape grower receives about two per cent of

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Page 36

AVOCADOS

Critical time for avocado fruit set The importance of the interrelation and balance between levels of hormones, nutrients and carbohydrates – and their effects on an avocado tree’s performance – were emphasised by Just Avocados’ orchard productivity manager Erica Faber at three field days. recent fi

“This pre-flowering and flowering stage is one of those critical stages we, as growers, need to ensure the tree has all the resources it needs in order to optimise production.”

Erica advocates foliar spraying to support the tree through this critical period of specific nutrient demand for bud differentiation, fruit set and fruit growth.

“Solid fertiliser is a traditional choice but foliar application can overcome soil fertilisation limitations such as leaching, runoff, nutrient fixation in the soil, limited root activity fi due to low winter temperatures or poor root health, antagonism between certain nutrients, pH limitations, soil moisture levels etc.

“Foliar fertiliser application also provides a more timely and immediate specific nutrimethod for delivery of specifi ents at critical stages of plant growth.

“Foliar nutrition programmes are therefore valuable supplements to soil applications,” says Erica.

Comments have been made about the waxy nature of the avocado leaf inhibiting uptake of nutrients, but Erica says this is an old belief.

“It’s important for growers to understand that every action they make triggers a hormone reaction in the tree – we want our growers to know that what they are doing has the desired outcome.

“You always have to ask the question – is what I’m doing giving me the returns I want? If not then you need to do something different or you are not getting the best returns for your money,” says Erica.

The sessions, presented in Whangarei, Pukenui and Whakamarama focused on autumn and winter management practices for ensuring optimal flowering and fruit set for the 2018-2019 crop.

They set the scene for growers as Optimum absorption to what Just Avocados’ management “The leaves, as well as fruit and programmes going forward will be fl fl owers, absorb the nutrients and based on. modern foliar fertilisers are “We are working with growers Just Avocados orchard productivity manufactured using very high to set their orchards up for a good manager Erica Faber discussing grade technical elements to ensure 2018-2019 crop set; we started avocado tree nutrient requirements. optimum absorption.” She also with the basics about how the tree advises the use of adjuvants with grows and responds to the managefoliar applications. ment techniques we introduce in relation to hormones, Whakamarama avocado grower Quinton Lanksnutrition and carbohydrates. hear hosted a Just Avocados field day in March was “In order to supply our trees with the correct impressed with the information shared. resources it needs when it needs it, we first need to “We planted 1350 Hass on Dusa in December and understand the tree phenology so we can be two steps I want to manage these to their best potential from ahead. the start. Erica’s information is refreshing and it makes sense to me, it’s practical and not just the same old Hormone triggers stuff,” says Quinton. “The biggest thing I took out of “At this time, there is a seasonal change of lower Erica’s session was how the processes in the soil slow temperatures and shorter day lengths and flower initiadown over the cooler months and the mainstream tion is being triggered within the tree. We need to be solid fertilisers we are putting on are not taken up as supporting this. effectively.”

“Hormones trigger the transition from vegetative to Just Avocados advises that consultation on specific floral buds but it is the nutrient levels and balances orchard requirements is necessary before implementing that drive this reaction and the carbohydrate levels that any programme. determine the stamina of this reaction.

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AVOCADOS

Page 37

Top growers apply winning formula to second orchard

Caleb Watchorn with his parents Maria and Andrew walk through their Prole Rd avocado orchard.

Sitting down with her at her Prole Rd home in Omokoroa, her ears prick up and she quietly asks her husband Andrew if an irrigator has been switched off in a nearby block. It’s this attention to detail, before the interview begins, that illustrates how closely the Watchorns are in tune with every aspect of their orchard.

It’s this management approach that’s seen them rewarded with consistent production and last year, industry recognition. They were judged Top Growers for 2016 after achieving a four-year average yield of 24 tonne/ha – the highest of any export grower in New Zealand.

Consistent production is something the Watchorns, who supply export leader AVOCO, have always strived for since purchasing their property 12 years ago. They believe a combination of pruning, injecting, pest control and water management have been critical to their success.

Having struck a formula that works, they backed themselves 18 months ago to purchase a second orchard north of Tauranga and they’ve been hard at work ever since whipping it into shape.

Dusa clonal rootstock

Their new property on Walker Rd East produces fruit off six canopy hectares and features Hass trees ranging in age from 20 to 35 years old. Some 100 Dusa clonal rootstock were planted five years ago by the previous owner, which Maria says they are learning more about as the trees age, with further Dusa and Bounty being planted in 2017.

“I’m part of a new Bay of Plenty industry group looking at new cultivars and the trials and research into varieties like Bounty and Dusa, which are grown in our new orchard, have been interesting to follow.

“I’ve always been open to learning and expanding my knowledge and our second orchard is a good place to learn about those.”

The decision to take on a second orchard came off the back of careful planning, consistent financial returns from AVOCO and a desire by Andrew to give up corporate banking to join Maria, also an exbanker, in day-to-day orchard management.

“Over the years we wanted to expand and we felt we had the experience and knowledge to take on something more challenging that we could do as a couple and as a family,” says Maria.

“Andrew was involved in banking for about 30 years but since he’s been home, he’s really got stuck in. By nature, he’s a very practical person and he loves the outdoors.

Significant investment

“He’s adjusted to orchard life really, really well.”

With Andrew overseeing the second orchard the couple have installed irrigation for frost protection and tensiometers, to measure soil moisture levels, which alert the couple when their soil becomes too dry.

The orchard’s upgrade has been a significant investment but one they believe will reap rewards in the long run. “For the last 12 months, we’ve worked 10-hour days to get the second orchard to the stage that we’re happy with and where we think it needs to be to do what it does best: grow fruit to produce an income and give us a lifestyle that we enjoy.”

Alison Brown

“Set high standards, gather like-minded people around you and then go for it.”

MARIA WATCHORN, NEW ZEALAND AVOCADO GROWERS ASSOCIATION TOP GROWER 2016

www.avoco.co.nz

CCQP240317

Even when Maria Watchorn isn’t in her avocado orchard, she’s thinking about the health of her trees.

TRAVEL

Page 38

No better time to buy a caravan It may be autumn, but now is an excellent time to buy a caravan, says Peter Raitak of Caravans4U of Tauranga.

Caravans4U has a wide range of new and used caravans po im rted from the United Kingdom.

“Too often people wait until summer to start looking for a caravan and then risk not fi finding exactly what they want.”

Buying now means there’s often more choice, or more time for Peter to import the exact model clients require.

“It also means new owners can take their time getting to know their caravan on shorter winter holidays, before the busy summer season.”

Caravaning in winter isn’t a problem in modern caravans because they are fully insulated, with double glazing and heating and most have showers and toilets, plus well equipped kitchen facilities.

Caravans4U is a small family run business, which puts the customer first and specialises in new and used caravans imported from the United Kingdom.

“Make the most of the Brexit exchange rate now.

All of our caravans have a comprehensive pre-delivery inspection and a full demonstration will be given on handover to iron out any functionality queries offering complete peace of mind, be it your first caravan or simply an upgrade.

“We can also sell your caravan or motorhome on your behalf from our high profile sales yard in

Tauranga for a very modest fee.”

Caravans4U usually has a wide range of caravans in stock from two-berth to six-berth, new caravans and older caravans. All caravans can be self-contained to New Zealand Motor Caravan Association standard if required using rollaway tanks.

“We can also arrange that any additional extras can be fitted such as motor-movers and solar power.

“If you don’t see anything you like on our site, give us a call to see what’s coming into stock.

We can also source and supply any type of caravan you may be looking for, just call and let us know your requirements.”

Croatia island hopping by bike and boat Beautiful Croatia’s isn’t slick and modern and seems almost 15 years behind the rest of Europe. Photos: Jill Grant

The archipelago of more than 1000 islands studded along Croatia’s coast is an idyllic playground for sailing vessels.

Cruising on board a small traditional vessel and biking almost traffic-free roads to quaint villages and historic seafaring towns, is a great way to discover the coastline and island, because larger vessels wouldn’t negotiate the small canals and tiny coves.

Bikers cycle scenic routes while the vessel moves from one delightful harbour to the next. When not cycling there are pretty fishing villages and historic towns like Zadar, Hvar, Korcula and Sibenik to wander and explore the cultural side with remnants of the Romans, Turks and latterly the Venetians.

These islands exude wonderful charm of small village life with pretty town squares and sea front promenades, yet there are trendy bars and open-air restaurants to cater for tourists.

Local Croatian crew are friendly, no-fuss types which suits this style of trip. Food is fresh and tasty and cabins give simple comforts, private shower and toilet.

There’s spacious decks to relax and sunbathe with the odd dip over the side in the clear blue of the Adriatic Sea. Croatia’s isn’t slick and modern and seems almost 15 years behind the rest of Europe.

To find out more, visit: www.cycling-europe.com

TRAVEL

Page 39

High Country Heritage tour extended to offer even more NZ Adventures 4x4 Tours, which organise journeys through the back country of the South Island, is extending its High Country Heritage from a six-day to a seven-day trip in March 2018.

Connie and Robbie Crickett of NZ Adventures says the extra day will mean there will be more time to enjoy several local attractions on day three.

“It is still a tour down the high country of the South Island from Blenheim to Cardona,” says Connie.

Day one finishes at Hanmer Springs after an afternoon on iconic Molesworth Station and day two finishes in Methven.

The extra day comes in on day three – March 24, 2018. It starts in Methven and will finish in Geraldine at the slightly earlier time, about 3pm.

“The idea is to offer the options of prepaid admission to several local attractions such as the Vintage Tractor & Car Museum and the Lace Museum or the opportunity to just wander about the lovely wee town or have a bit of a rest.

“There will be nothing organised until dinner at the Village Green at 7.30pm,” says Connie.

Day four heads off from Geraldine up the Orari River Gorge in the morning. The afternoon takes in the Macauley River Valley at the head of Lake Tekapo, if river conditions are suitable. If not,

Extra day added to tour.

the trip will include the MacKenzie Pass and a high country sheep station near Lake Tekapo village where the day concludes overlooking the beautiful lake.

The next days are the normal trip with overnights in Omarama, Cromwell and the last night at Cardrona.

‘Wild spots’ now open to anglers Anglers on the east coast of the North Island now have several “fairly remote” streams to fish.

They include Lake Waikaremoana’s Mokau and Hopuruahine streams.

“Angling has been very good on Lake Waikaremoana, with the trout bigger than last season,” says Fish & Game officer Matt Osborne.

“Rainbows are averaging 45cm and 1.25kg, or nearly three pounds.”

But Matt says the large amount of rain in the catchment late last year pushed Waikaremoana’s lake levels very high, to create challenging conditions.

“This is going to make shoreline stalking of brown trout difficult, though not impossible.

One suggestion is the use of small craft such as a kayak to target these fish from the water.”

Fish & Game has also opened new access tracks along the Waikaretaheke River, which runs from Waikaremoana

down to the Wairoa River, and erected new signs.

“This river will suit anglers looking for an alternative to Waikaremoana, or when bad weather makes the lake unsuitable. Fluctuating river levels due to power generation make this fishery a challenge and some caution is required so you don’t get caught in a release of water.

“The fishing in fast, moderate to deep water will suit heavy fly or spin methods.”

Gisborne-based Eastern Fish and Game Council chairman Murray Ferris says anglers moving around the region towing boats are urged to take special care with anchors and trailers to “make sure there are no fragments of weed hitchhiking”.

Attempts are being made to eradicate South African oxygen weed Lagarosiphon from Waikaremoana.

“And we want to avoid it spreading any further.”

To check which areas are open for fishing go to website: fishing.fishandgame.org.nz/

view online today...

www.coastandcountrynews.co.nz

EDUCATION

Page 40

Modern living for Year 13 EPSOM HOUSE Boarding Positions 2017

A new building providing a modern living and learning environment for Year 13 students has recently been completed at Epsom House boarding facility, which is part of Epsom Girls’ Grammar School.

Set in the heart of Auckland on the grounds of Epsom Girls’ Grammar School, Epsom House gives girls from outside Auckland the opportunity to access a leading girls’ state school.

Epsom Girls’ Grammar School provides an excellent education focused on maximising the potential of the individual.

Epsom House reinforces the focus of the school through building independence and achievement. Epsom House students make lifelong connections and develop the social and learning skills to take them right through life.

Epsom House provides boarding facilities for 143 girls from Year 9-13. All students have their own room and easy access to the school for sports and cultural activities. Tutors are Students from Epsom House enjoy provided during prep outdoor movie in the school gro an unds. time to help students if needed.

The hostel is fully staffed, includof students. ing overnight supervisors, tutors, prep Epsom House students are an integral supervisors and a house manager, charge part of the school and participate fully in supervisor and director. activities and co-curricular activities offered The principal has overall responsibilby Epsom Girls’ Grammar School. ity for Epsom House and is assisted by a Weekend activities are arranged for junior member of the senior leadership team students and include trips to Auckland and director of boarding, who has Zoo, ten pin bowling and Crazy Golf. responsibility for day-to-day management Girls can also access the school’s swimming of the hostel and for the care and wellbeing pool at weekends.

Parents can share hostel experience too Sonninghill Hostel provides safe, full boarding facilities for 132 young women from Year 9 through to Year 13 at Hamilton Girls’ High School.

The hostel is located off-site, just a 450m walk from school in beautifully manicured grounds. The environment fostered at the hostel is one of genuine care and encouragement. “Our focus extends beyond education and achievement and we encourage the balance of wellbeing in each girl’s life,” says principal Marie Gordon.

“We are committed to continually raising the level of achievement across the four cornerstones of academic, leadership, cultural and sporting endeavours. Our young women are encouraged to achieve in the classroom and to combine this success with involvement in sporting and cultural activities.” Sonninghill Hostel works in synergy with this philosophy and students have ample opportunity to achieve their

educational and other goals in a safe and supportive environment.

“A balanced education embraces whole-person learning and allows them to be challenged, extended and motivated in all aspects of their life. We employ tutors to prepare and support students in the core subjects for each year level, Year 9-12, and provide a minivan to transport students to a wide variety of sporting and cultural activities.

“Our boarding facilities include computers, wireless internet, a solar-heated swimming pool, a tennis and netball court, a games room with gymnasium equipment and an iMac suite.

The team of staff are experienced and enjoy working with young people and becoming an integral part of their life while the girls reside at Sonninghill.

“Families are encouraged to visit and there is the option to stay overnight in our parent accommodation to share the hostel experience first-hand.”

SONNINGHILL HOSTEL

Sonninghill Hostel is a modern boarding hostel, which provides a safe, supportive environment for girls attending Hamilton Girls’ High School.

The hostel is located in Marama Street, a short walk to Hamilton Girls’ High School.

For more information, please contact:

OUR VISION: Each young woman aspires to achieve her personal best.

Hamilton Girls’ High School embraces the challenges of the 21st century to support our girls to become thoughtful, confident and resilient young women.

Director of Boarding Sonninghill Hostel PO Box 512 Waikato Mail Centre Hamilton 3240

Telephone: (07) 839 0074 Email: director@sonninghill.school.nz

Hamilton Girls’

High School

Hamilton Girls’ High School Ward Street, PO BOX 1267, Hamilton 3204 Phone: 07 839 1304 Fax: 07 834 1394 www.hghs.school.nz administration@hghs.school.nz

EDUCATION

Taking pride in who we are

Friendships made at Tibbs House will be lifelong.

Since its establishment in 1869, Auckland Grammar School’s vision has been for each of the young men who attend the school to reach their full potential in all aspects of their lives. This vision has become known as ‘The Grammar Way’.

The school is unashamedly academic in its focus, steeped in traditional values and committed to offering young men the best opportunity to succeed in the classroom, on the sports field and in musical, cultural and social activities.

“Tibbs House, the school’s boarding establishment,

offers a blend of excellence and proud tradition to young men who live beyond the School’s zone,” says director of boarding Daniel Oram.

Located beside the school in the heart of the Epsom/Mount Eden community, Tibbs House provides modern and comfortable facilities for 120 young men.

Eight full-time teaching masters provide daily supervision, pastoral guidance and assistance during prep sessions, while three matrons meet the maternal and medical needs of the boarders.

Tibbs House boarders are expected to conform to the highest standards of behaviour and maturity, to participate widely in school life and to develop into well-educated and well-adjusted young men.

“The friendships gained at Tibbs House will be lifelong, and their experiences will be richly rewarding.”

Page 41

$5million medical school pledge Businessman and philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn is pledging $5 million towards the creation of a medical school in the Waikato.

The school has been proposed by the University of Waikato and the Waikato District Health Board to address the shortfall of primary care doctors in provincial and rural areas.

The Waikato proposal would require medical students to have an under-

graduate degree in any subject and four years’ medical training, with the primary focus on community healthcare in high needs communities.

Currently, only 15 per cent of New Zealand medical graduates choose to become GPs. Sir Owen says something needs to be done to address the social and economic costs caused by the lack of primary care providers.

Page 42

RURAL BUILDING & FENCING

Tax pooling may help flood-affected farmers The heavy deluge of rain that fell during the Tasman Tempest in March wreaked havoc on farms in the Franklin ward, Hauraki and ThamesCoromandel districts where reports have estimated the onein-80-year event brought from 350mm to 850mm of rain.

Those significantly impacted by the floods that ensued are now dealing

with the ramifications as they assess the damage. Loss of livestock, landslips, debris, broken fences and silt are some of the problems they’ve been confronted with.

Tax Management NZ chief executive Chris Cunniffe says an unfortunate consequence is this will put pressure on cashflow as farmers look to get back on their feet.

“After all, the clean-up costs money and will be a top priority for many right now. At least the Government has provided some relief. With the flood-

ing in affected areas being classified as a medium scale adverse event, Inland Revenue has decided to relax the income equalisation scheme rules to allow early withdrawals for those who have funds in the account –normally one would have to wait at least 12 months – and late deposits for the 2016 income year to be made up until the end of the month.”

That will be of assistance to some.

Another option farmers affected by flooding may wish to consider to free up cashflow is tax pooling.

Chris says an IRD-approved tax pooling intermediary can be used to defer upcoming payments of provisional tax for up to 12 months, without incurring IRD interest – currently 8.27 per cent – and late payment penalties.

Terminal tax

“Many farmers will have terminal tax due to IRD on April 7, and may also have to pay their final instalment of provisional tax for the 2017 tax year on May 7. Postponing payment of the latter might be timely if cashflow is tight or you have a better use for the funds.

“The upfront finance fee, which is based on the amount of tax required and the date in the future you wish to pay, to enter such an arrangement is

much cheaper than most other traditional forms of finance. For $1965, a farmer can make a $50,000 provisional tax payment due on May 7 disappear for a year.

Approval is guaranteed and the fee tax deductible.”

How it works

On May 7 – and on every other provisional tax date – a tax pooling intermediary pays tax into a special account at IRD and this payment is date stamped.

When the taxpayer pays the tax it owes to the intermediary on the agreed upon date in the future, the intermediary arranges for the deposit to be transferred to the taxpayer’s IRD account.

IRD treats the tax as if it was paid on the date it was originally due when it processes the transfer, eliminating any IRD interest and late payment penalties.

“As always, be sure to seek the advice of your accountant. Timely budgeting and financial advice will be essential to help farmers in flood-affected areas manage their cashflow and income tax obligations,” says Chris.

MNZ is a New Zealand tax payment intermediary. Its clients include thousands of small and medium-sized businesses as well as some of New Zealand’s largest banks, state-owned enterprises and well-known corporate names.

RURAL BUILDING & FENCING

Page 43

Optimum environment for dairy goats The Noakes family farm, west of Papakura, has been transformed from the World War II rehab dairy it once was. Hamish’s parents acquired the property in the late 1960s and the family milked cows until four years ago when Hamish, his mother Jean Hamilton and sister Anna decided to convert the property to dairy goats.

That decision saw a radical revamp of the farm, the first of which was the construction of a 114m x 50m goat barn by Aztech Buildings.

Daniel Prestidge, sales ildings tructed by Aztech Bu consultant for Aztech The goat barn cons ed lp he s farm ha on the Noakes family dairy farm.

Buildings says the company er transform the form is acknowledged as a leader in the design and construction of goat barns in New Zealand. framing and external “Hamish wanted a barn which would provide the structure for a 42m x optimum environment for up to 1000 goats. To meet 21m clear-span goat dairy this requirement, the barn was optimised to achieve which is linked to the the temperatures preferred by goats. barn by a laneway.

“Constructed with timber poles, a steel roof system, The conversion from and two 5m wide concrete feed-lanes, the barn also a cow dairy farm to a features clear roof sheets for lighting, and two partial sophisticated goat dairy sidewalls for an open-sided design which ensures pro- is now complete and tection from the weather while maintaining passive the farm is milking 900 airflow. The results – happy goats and even temperagoats. Hamish Noakes is tures day and night. delighted with the goat “We utilise perch-free designs for all our buildings barn and dairy saying and our steel box section rafters and purlins feature they provide the optimum special anti-bird perch flashings,” Daniel says. environment for his goats Aztech Buildings subsequently provided the steel and his staff.

The barn on th e Noa has been design kes family farm ed to temperatures go achieve the ats prefer.

RURAL DRIVER

Page 44

Stacking hay the old-fashioned way Stacking hay, using equipment from last century, will be among the action attractions at the Tauranga Vintage Machinery Club’s Crank Up Day at Katikati on April 9.

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“We can’t be entirely sure the stacker we have is the Henry one but it does represent the kind of equipment used in area in the early days of farming,” says Eric.

The club’s Crank Up Days are highly popular with people of all ages attending last year’s Katikati display.

“We received “We think the hay a lot of posistacker, or parts of it tive comments anyway, may be the same from those who as one operated in the attended, includarea by the Henry family,” ing many from says Eric Green, who is people who had a one of the organisers of direct association the Crank Up Day being with the type of held on a rural property machinery and in Hot Springs Rd. equipment on disLarry Williams is play,” says Eric. currently restoring and It’s also a chance reassembling the stacker for club memand it will be in action, bers who spend along with other vintage considerable time machinery including tracresearching and tors and a stationery hay restoring vinEric Green attempts to balance his Farmall on the tage machinery, baler on the day. tractor see-saw at last year’s Crank Up Day. vehicles and A photograph of the equipment, to demonstrate the result of their work.

Henry hay stacker appears on the website: www.katiMembers of other vintage machinery clubs, including kati.co.nz with a caption reading: “Haymaking with from the Waikato, Hauraki Plains and Rotorua are also a stacker and two-horse gate sweep. The gate sweep expected to take part. gathered the hay and pulled it to the stack. Once The event in Hot Springs Rd, Katikati, runs from done, one side was uncoupled and pulled around to be 10.30am-3pm and will be signposted from State Highhooked up to start again. This photo was taken on the way 2. Admission is by donation.

Henry family farm”.

Extra Police to make our communities safer Prime Minister Bill English has unveiled a significant government investment in Police and the wider justice sector to reduce crime and keep our communities safe.

The $500 million Safer Communities package will provide an extra 1125 police staff, including 880 sworn police officers.

This initiative will make a real difference for our more remote communities.

All Police districts will receive extra frontline officers, with the first recruits beginning training in July to hit the beat in November. As a high-growth area I will strongly advocating for the Bay of Plenty to see our fair share of this new intake. New Zealand is the fourth-safest

country in the world, but we want to make it number one.

Offenders targeted

This package unashamedly targets offenders to ensure they are off our streets – by providing additional resources to resolve more crime and target criminal gangs and organised crime.

The 880 extra frontline police officers will work in areas where we know they’re needed.

This includes 500 to go out on the beat and into community policing. Those officers will improve the speed of Police to attend emergencies. The National Government is also making a commitment that all New Zealanders, from Papamoa Beach Rd to Soldiers Rd up in the Kaimai Range, that there will be officers you can call on 24/7. ...continued

RURAL DRIVER

Private collection one-of-a-kind When the doors of McFall Museum opened to the public for just one day in March, visitors had the chance to lay their eyes on vintage tractors, machinery and memorabilia they might not otherwise see.

“When I reduced my level of involvement in the company it became a bit of a hobby – and I suppose a passion,” says the founder of Mount Maunganuibased petroleum business McFall Fuel.

“I had a couple of tractors for 20 years or so but the museum really started to grow in the last seven or eight years.”

Petrol bowsers

He started off with restoring tractors “and because we’re in the petroleum industry I also had a number of vintage petrol bowsers dating back to the 1910s”.

The tractors represent 15 brands originating from Germany, England, Scotland, Australia, the United States and Morris McFall among his Canada. private collection of vintage And the collecfarm tractors, stationary tion has expanded to engines, petrol bowsers, classic cars. “I have memorabilia and classic cars. a Cadillac, a Rolls Royce, a Ford Thunderbird and a Studebaker. And there are Morris two others outside the collection at the McFall’s private present time; a Mercedes and Jensen collection of vintage farm Healey.” tractors, stationary engines, petrol “They are all classics and all are very bowsers and memorabilia is one-of-alow mileage and mint condition-type kind. vehicle.”

He collects all brands – and spends So how did cars come into the hours painstakingly restoring each item museum? “By accident,” jokes Morris. to its former working glory.

“Well at various stages, because I guess “Everything in my museum is fully people have got to know I collect things live,” says Morris.

Coast and country safety plans continued...

Another 140 officers will focus solely on regional and rural policing, meaning 95 per cent of New Zealanders are within 25km of 24/7 police support, every day of the year.

Responsive service

There will be more specialist investigators in the areas of child protection, sexual assault, and family violence, and more officers will target organised crime.

We’re also providing additional resources to address the underlying drivers of crime – through preventative work by the Police and greater investment in rehabilitation for prisoners.

By focusing on specific areas in this wide-ranging policy we will deliver a more responsive police service, prevent

crime and victimisation, resolve more crimes, and more effectively target criminal gangs and organised crime.

The package comes with a range of challenging targets for the Police. Those include higher attendance at home burglaries, more assets seized from organised crime, fewer deaths from family violence, and a reduction in reoffending by Maori.

The targets won’t be easy to meet – but we don’t shy away from hard issues.

We’re here to make a difference.

Investing more in Police will make our communities safer. It will reduce crime and reoffending, and help steer some of our most disadvantaged young people onto a more productive path. That’s an outcome worth investing in.

and make them new again I’ve had offers from time to time for cars as well.

“But I’m 82 now and as years go on climbing around cars and repairing and servicing isn’t quite as easy as it used to be. Whereas on tractors the working bits are much more accessible.”

Rotary fundraiser

On Sunday, March 19, McFall Museum opened to the public for the second time in two years – as a fundraiser for Morris’ Mount Maunganui Rotary Club.

His son Bryce, who is Mount Maunganui Rotary Club president, is also part of why Morris created the museum.

“Bryce is a tetraplegic as a result of a quad bike accident about 14 years ago. And one of the reasons I got involved in building a museum was it was something Bryce could spend time with me, killing the days.

“He has no use of his arms or legs, but there is nothing wrong with his brain – and he just enjoys being with me and watching the progress.”

Merle Foster

Page 45

Page 46

COUNTRY LIVING

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Planning is underway to establish a free food source in Kawerau.

Kawerau’s Urban Food Forest project launched in February and will become a source of fresh produce for everyone.

The project will see thousands of fruit and nut trees, berries and herbs planted in the Monika Lanham Reserve. People can help themselves to the produce at no charge. A nursery and glasshouse will be built and workshops held on seed gathering and sowing, and a community garden planted to provide fresh vegetables year-round.

“The long-term goal is to plant more fruit, berry and nut trees around all the reserves in Kawerau,” says KUFF project co-ordinator Hannah Edwardson. “We want to enable Kawerau locals to help themselves to fresh food from the reserve.”

The project is largely thanks to funding support from Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Environmental Enhancement Fund, which contributed $20,000.

“We really appreciate the regional council’s support,” says Hannah. “It’s a fantastic community initiative and we couldn’t do it without the generosity

of our partners. We’re really excited the project is fully underway.”

Regional council EEF co-ordinator Eddie Sykes says the Kawerau Urban Food Forest project is a great example of a community-driven idea that will enrich people’s lives and increase their sense of wellbeing.

“Our vision is to raise environmental awareness and use the enthusiasm and skills of the community. “Enabling communities such as Kawerau to share fresh, healthy food is a way of bringing people together and building stronger neighbourhood networks.

“EEF – and the regional council – is delighted to support this project. We hope other Bay of Plenty towns will be inspired to follow Kawerau’s example.”

The KUFF launch went really well, with 50 people attending and volunteering to help, says Hannah.

“Everyone was excited by the project. There’s a job for everyone somewhere, whether it’s digging a hole or helping out in the nursery, and we hope this project will involve every person in Kawerau.”

COUNTRY LIVING

Page 47

Golf course and harbour views part of subdivision’s appeal Fairway Views Omokoroa, situated off Western Avenue in Omokoroa, is a new subdivision presenting an opportunity for those wishing to build their own homes to become part of this vibrant harbourside community.

The subdivision, by Rowesdale Developments, offers 41 sections ranging in sizes from 542 to 963 square metres and is situated on the boundary of the Omokoroa golf course, with some sections offering direct views to the harbour and the golf course.

“In my opinion, the Omokoroa golf course is one of the most picturesque locations in the region and together with the Tauranga Harbour, helps to create a lovely setting for this subdivision,” says Alison Rowe of Rowesdale Developments.

“Whether you’re looking for a larger place for the whole family, or a smaller section for a more serene lifestyle, our new high quality subdivision is sure to meet your needs.”

Fairway Views Omokoroa residents will have access to the golf course, through a right of way on the subdivision, and it is also an easy stroll away from sportsgrounds and a local playcentre.

The Omokoroa shops and the harbour, including

the boat-launching ramp, are just a few minutes’ drive from the subdivision.

What also sets this development apart is that, as with all Rowesdale subdivisions, it has been created by the Rowe family with passion, pride and responsibility.

While the sections have strict covenants to protect the investment of

those who build there, each purchaser will be able to build the home of their dreams.

“We have planned the sections to allow space for outdoor living and my son Grant and I would be happy to meet with any interested parties, on-site at a suitable time, to view the development,” says Alison.

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Alison Rowe and Grant Rowe are delighted to be able to show purchasers sections in the new Fairway Views subdivision at Omokoroa.

Low lactose milk powder

Lactose-intolerant consumers can now enjoy their coffee with milk, a dairy smoothie or a creamy glass of milk, thanks to a new low lactose instant whole milk powder that contains less than two per cent lactose.

NZMP, Fonterra’s ingredients business, has developed the low lactose milk powder so people who avoid dairy due to lactose concerns can now enjoy milk and all the goodness that comes with it.

Fonterra consumer powders category director NZMP marketing Andrew Maude says milk powders play a vital role in providing nutrition for a growing proportion of the world’s population.

“Although demand for dairy in developing countries is rising, lactose intolerance has kept many consumers in countries from Asia to South America from benefitting from dairy’s goodness and taste.”

Fonterra brand Anchor Zero Lacto is the first lactose-free fresh milk available in New Zealand.

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COUNTRY LIVING

Page 48

Golden snapper, gemfish and bluenose - caught at Mayor Island Having no day charter on a recent Friday meant we could get away on the overnight trip to Mayor Island at 3pm instead of the usual 6pm.

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Lance Schofield with a monster gemfish.

We loaded up the Te Kuia with supplies and the keen crew of fishermen jumped aboard, charged with anticipation.

With awesome weather we set off for the fishing grounds, cruising at trolling speed on a smooth ocean. A few yarns and a good laugh on the way out and the time passed quickly.

We hit the deep sea grounds at about 6.30pm. With a quick check of the current and drift, and in totally calm conditions, the lines were released, taking the sinker and baits down 350 metres. Within a couple of minutes the bites began, and so did the wind.

We quickly drifted off the mark as the first fish were hauled out of the depths providing a few for the bin.

A couple of bluenose and gemfish hit the deck along with some ruby fish and golden snapper caught on the small keeper hooks. With a quick rearrange of the drift we set off again with similar results.

boiled and the barbecue fired up, a brew and a feed well earned. Driving around the island, we found an area of good fish sign, anchored up and the fishing began again, this time in shallow water for reef fish.

The lumo squid lures allowed us to pull up some huge 40cm squid for eating and fresh bait.

Kahawai were being pulled up left, right and centre during the evening, and with the addition of a spotlight and some burley plenty of mackerel were caught to be used as bait the next day.

All on again

With everyone falling asleep sometime after midnight, I allowed them a little rest before firing up the engines at 4.30am and steaming back to the deep grounds. It was all on again.

A couple of 15kg bluenose came up and plenty of gemfish. Definitely one of the most successful trips of the season and I look forward to taking these guys out again soon!

Jesse Gread, Te Kuia skipper

Smiles and excitement

The fishing was on big time and with each drift, the number in the bin increased as did the smiles and excitement.

As it reached change of light, the tide also changed and the bluenose went off the bite. We gave it one more drift and a few nice gems came aboard. We were then off to Mayor Island for the night. The kettle was

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Page 49

Tips for joint health Sometimes it really is possible to achieve multiple health goals.

A good anti-inflammatory diet will help arthritic joints, help lose weight and improve general health. Just as poor diets can cause systemic disease so good diets can move us to systemic wellness.

In last month’s column we saw that avoiding inflammatory fats while targeting anti-inflammatory can have a profound benefit for our joints. If fats are the most important component of nutritional therapy for arthritis, then antioxidants are a close second.

Many people still adhere to an outdated concept that osteoarthritis is caused by wear and tear of joints. Certainly

If left unchecked by antioxidants this damage accumulates to the point the chondrocyte DNA is damaged and can cause the cell to die. This means the tiny piece of cartilage maintained by the chondrocyte has lost its repair system and will degenerate.

Possibly the most important cartilageprotecting antioxidant is glutathione manufactured in the body from selenium. Others like the grape seed polyphenols and curcuminoids in turmeric are also highly effective. This is why a good multi antioxidant-multimineral can really help. Even better if combined with 800mg of high grade chondroitin, a 95 per cent curcumin,

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• Each capsule of Bettaflex contains 382mg of high grade chondroitin, 425mg of glucosamine and 50mg of curcumin extract

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Turmeric.

injuries and damage can cause or worsen arthritis but the real culprit is a process called oxidative stress caused by free radicals.

Cartilage is secreted and maintained by specialised cells called chondrocytes. They manufacture and maintain the collagenous matrix that comprises cartilage. The problem is chondrocytes are susceptible to damage by free radicals.

turmeric, extract and lots of Omega 3 fish oil. At any given time I actively help hundreds of people with osteoarthritis.

The majority are able to get significant improvements from nutritional therapy. For more information give me a call or email.

For example, patients with severe psoriasis or eczema can experience similar loss of quality of life as those with severe angina, or cardiac chest pain. It can cause loss of employment or productivity, affect sleep quality, stress levels and general wellbeing.

There are thousands of different types of skin disorders so they don’t always behave the same and are often treated differently.

Awareness of the impact of skin conditions on those that suffer from them may assist in providing better care for those affected and for their families.

Protecting our skin from the sun is essential if we want to prevent skin cancers such as melanoma. Up to 4000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with in situ – meaning early – or invasive melanoma per year. Research has shown very high incidence rates in the greater Tauranga region of 70 per 100,000 population, which is higher than Australia or Hawaii.

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John Arts (B.Soc.Sci, Dip Tch, Adv.Dip.Nut.Med) is a nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health Ltd. For personalised advice, contact John on 0800 423559 or email: john@abundant.co.nz Join his full weekly newsletter at: www.abundant.co.nz.

Skin conditions can affect quality of life Skin health is taken for granted by many New Zealanders – and its potential to affect general health and wellbeing is underestimated.

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• Chondroitin and glucosamine are building blocks of cartilage.

• Supplementation with correct levels can support healthy cartilage function and cartilage repair processes.

• Curcumin from turmeric helps to balance joint immune function to support joint health • Research suggests chondroitin is effective only at levels of over 700mg daily.

John Arts comments:

“I formulated Bettaflex based on the latest research into natural compounds that can help with joint support and function. The normal dose is 2 capsules daily but I recommend a double dose for the first 1-2 bottles to saturate joint tissue.”

(John Arts, Founder Abundant Health Ltd)

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Page 50

FARM MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

Guide helps establish feed suitability and traceability All farmers are required to complete a domestic feed declaration form if they are selling locally-grown crops into the dairy industry.

Federated Farmers has developed a guide to help dairy farmers and feed providers ensure the dairy products they contribute continue to meet customer expectations and New Zealand regulations – and it’s

available to download from the Federated Farmers’ website.

The volume and range of products being utilised as dairy feeds continues to grow as farmers look for opportunities to maximise economic returns.

At the same time, customers and regulators continue to increase the scrutiny placed on dairy products; both in terms of what they contain and how they have been produced.

Animal feed can affect milk quality and the customer’s perception of appropriate sourcing, therefore suitability and traceability of all feeds used is an important component of that scrutiny.

The guide covers the requirements for all dairy feeds entering the farm that were not grown or produced under the control of the farm owner or operator. In general this will include all purchased dairy feeds, but exclude feeds grown on the milking platform or support blocks controlled by the farm owner or operator.

Covered by the guide are: forage crops of grass and maize silage, hay, Lucerne; NZ-grown plant crops of

will be supplied in bulk, the requirements described in the guide apply equally to bagged and other forms of product delivery.

Dairy feeds have been split into two categories based on their risk profile.

New Zealand Grown Feeds includes all fresh or conserved NZ grown crops, forages, fruits, vegetables and grains that have not been subject to processes that incorporate additional ingredients.

Imported/Compound and Processed Federated Farmers website.

Feeds includes all imported, compound wheat, kiwifruit, apples; compound and processed feeds such as imported feeds of meal, blends; imported feeds grains, PKE, tapioca, almond hull, of Palm Kernel Extract, corn, tapioca; biscuits, bread, lollies, juices, and and processed foods of bread, confecsauces, as well as any NZ-sourced feeds tionary, biscuits. where the conditions of the declaration Although the majority of these feeds cannot be met.

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Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has welcomed two new investments in smart irrigation projects in the latest Sustainable Farming Fund round.

The first project, led by Irrigation New Zealand, will receive $294,000 to identify the benefits of irrigation good management practice and barriers to uptake.

The results of this will then be used in strategies to overcome these barriers and improve practices.

“Better use of irrigation has economic and environmental benefits for farmers and wider communities, and this project will help drive that,” says Nathan.

The three-year project will begin in July 2017 and have a national focus.

The second project looks at the effects of irrigation on the water holding

capacity of soil.

This project will receive $296,000 and be led by Federated Farmers, representing a large proportion of farmers in Canterbury.

“This study will help develop new knowledge about soil changes under medium to long-term irrigation.

“This will feed into a range of tools and models for irrigation scheduling, and estimations of groundwater recharge and nutrient leaching.

“This will help both farmers and regional Sick of that DANGEROUS old Quad bike? councils by enabling more effective and efficient use of irrigation water, reducing drainage and loss of soluble nutrients.

“Both these projects will help us use water better and protect the environment.

“This Government is a strong supporter of le. modern irrigation and No need to wear a helmet, can safely carry two peop your ce, tenan Main the potential it has.

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“A recent report by Cub Cadet Sales and Service Centre in the Bay of Plent NZIER found that irrigation contributes $2.2 billion to the national economy and this has the potential to increase further.”

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Page 52

PASTURE RENOVATION

Renovation can bring many benefits Pasture growth can decline over time due to a number of factors – and the most successful approach to this is often complete pasture renewal.

Benefits of pasture renovation include increased total pasture yield – of 18t DM/ha/yr to 8t DM/ ha/yr; increased milksolids production if the extra growth is eaten, and improved pasture quality.

Renovation can make pasture management easier by using late heading varieties to minimise the drop in pasture quality as seed heads appear in late spring.

It can also help reduce animal health problems.

To get a return from investment in pasture renovation requires the identification of under-performing paddocks and estimating the potential extra pasture production. For example, where the yield can be increased by 2t DM/ha the return is about 130kg MS/ha. The return will be greater if the extra growth occurs at a time of the season when animal demand exceeds pasture growth.

Assessing pastures

Estimating paddock pasture production can be done from grazing records or pasture cover assessments from farm walks.

With grazing records, farmers can calculate the performance of individual paddocks by adding up the number of cow grazing days during the year. This needs to be corrected for any silage made, from extra

growth, and silage fed out. Because if cows eat silage, they eat less grass.

The best paddocks can show a farm’s potential to grow pasture. The worst paddocks are identified for possible renovation. The difference between the best and worst paddocks gives an idea of the potential pasture production to be gained from renovation, provided these are similar in soil, drainage etc.

The profile for the farm will give quantitative information with which to develop an appropriate pasture renovation strategy. As a rule of thumb, the breakeven return on investment is where renovation can improve pasture production by at least 1.5t DM/year.

Reasons for poor pasture

The breakeven point will differ between farms depending on the cost of renovation and any other benefits from the renovation such as better stock health from selecting a new endophyte like AR1, or improved paddock contour.

Once poor producing paddocks identified, successful pasture are identifi renovation involves identifying reasons for poor pasture production and rectifying possible problems. These include low soil fertility and/or incorrect soil pH; poor drainage; pasture pests such as grass grubs, black beetle, clover root weevil and porina; excessive pugging, soil compaction and, or, overgrazing; and weeds and unproductive grasses, or a lack of ryegrass. For more information, go to: www.dairynz.co.nz

Growing high quality winter green feed Specialty Seeds’ Graze & Hay Pasture Seed Mixes are short-term feed options designed to produce large amounts of high quality winter green feed and spring silage or grazing options.

Stephen Finch of Speciality Seeds says there are two graze and hay options; the standard blend and the premium mix blend.

Components of the Graze & Hay Standard Blend are Devour annual ryegrass and Enrich Persian Clover. Devour is a tetraploid westerwold-type of annual rye grass selected for increased dry matter yields. It gives very high dry matter yields.

“This mix will provide nine months of quick growing, winter graze green feed and, or, spring silage. It is typically sown in autumn after a maize

or summer brassica programme.”

Graze & Hay Premium combines Kano Italian ryegrass with Enrich Persian clover. Kano offers excellent dry matter production and has very strong winter growth even compared to similar Italian ryegrasses.

The premium mix can provide between 12 to 15 months of high quality feed. It is typically autumn sown and can be used to top up run out pastures or after a maize crop or summer brassica programme.

The company recognises that no two farming operations are the same, and so offers expert advice about the right seeds for individual farms.

Specialty Seeds is a major independent seed supplier based in Christchurch and is able to offer its services to both the retail and wholesale seed market so clients can either purchase direct or through their preferred merchant.

Special blends from Speciality Seeds ensure farmers can grow the right pastures for their livestock needs.

PASTURE RENOVATION

Page 53

Addressing the causes of facial eczema It all starts in the soil. Once transitioned, plants grown on a truly balanced soil are healthier and more productive. In turn the pastures fully nourish the animals. Those animals have far stronger immune systems and actually expel parasites without further assistance.

They grow faster. You can buy in infested or infected stock and those animals will self-heal in a matter of weeks. When the soil is healthy – and most are not – the microbial life flourishes. Each fungal or bacterial species cannot get out of balance.

The more variety there is, the better the system works. Everything ends up in equilibrium. To that end, the type of fertiliser you use is critical. Goodbye facial eczema.

Colin Campbell’s grazers did not get facial eczema during the worst outbreak this country has experienced.

In all articles on facial eczema I’ve read, only the symptoms are dealt with – never the causes. The causes are simple: monoculture farming practices, usually through following institutionalised advice.

That’s great for the country and a myriad of other businesses, but rarely does the individual farmer any good. Innovation does not come from institutionalism, but from outside it. Urea, superphosphate and other acid fertilisers bombarding the soil and soil life is the root cause of the problem.

Monoculture and its inherent flaws is the end product. There is not enough investment in the right direction to balance the equation. Balanced soil grows healthy pasture. Healthy pasture produces healthy stock. Healthy animals produce more.

Have you have noticed a plethora of problems with pastures and animals that were not evident a generation or two ago? It’s well past the time to do somethings differently. Kiwi Fertiliser can’t fix the problems overnight, but we can fix them given time.

Colin Campbell of Waikite, Rotorua, sent his pasture samples away to the vets in February 2016 to have facial eczema spore counts done.

Problems fade away

No spores were found. Colin is an ex-dairy farmer, now a grazier of dairy heifers. Colin’s neighbours’ stock was severely affected, but his stock was not. Colin is only one example of the many farmers’ we work with who are not being affected by facial eczema.

Colin’s Kiwi Fertiliser consultant has been balancing the soil fertility for four years. Soil test results

from Perry Agricultural Laboratories and Kinsey Agricultural Services manuals show us exactly what to aim for. We find when the soil is correctly balanced, problems such as facial eczema, army worm, black beetle, grass grub, porina and whatever else you care to name, just fade away.

A deer farmer has now reached the conclusion he does not have to drench the hinds. The correct magnesium applications to the soil are responsible for that, but only as one part of a complex programme. It has taken five years for enough of this property to be ‘futureproofed’ to enable that decision to be made with confidence.

Each fertiliser mix has to match the soil test. Even the products used are important. Some work. Some don’t, and some are in between. Cheapest rarely works best. ‘One size fits all’ is an expensive myth.

Acid fertilisers

The need to drench, dip and dag all increase when acid fertilisers are used. Stock health problems are caused by poor fertiliser practices. Pests and diseases thrive in anaerobic and acidic conditions. Stock are much healthier and productive on an aerobic soil at pH of 6.4, than 5.9. At 6.4, good microbes predominate over the bad.

Futureproofing is preparing your property for adverse events and includes resilience to heat, cold, droughts, floods, insect attack, parasites, fungal diseases, bacterial diseases, plague and pestilence.

a iN &

SEED DrESSi

ID G E CRSEEDS

Gr

NG

qua lity paSturE SEED

Page 54

WINTER WARMTH

The natural insulation qualities of wool is now available to keep homes cosy too.

Natural insulation for Kiwi homes Green Sheep offers a range of sustainable and eco-friendly products, which are all designed to help you live in comfort using natural insulation.

Green Sheep manager Ben Small says the company’s products are sustainable, natural, non-irritating and non-toxic. The innovative company also offers friendly service focused on customer needs.

“Most of all, we offer our guarantee that you will be completely satisfied with your choice of ecofriendly Green Sheep,” says Ben. You can buy online and save. There is a range of Green Sheep products on the website and they can be delivered New Zealand-wide.

Products that can be purchased online include GreenWool Roll-Form insulation for walls,

ceilings and under floors; energy-saving LED lighting including recessed downlights, standard replacement bulbs, exterior fittings and more; replacement filters for HRV, DVS and SmartVent; garage products including garage door insulation.

Green Sheep also has a free home assessment.

This service is available in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Auckland.

“We will listen to your needs and assess your home then provide you with a plan and a fixed quote for products that will make a real difference to your home,” says Ben. Using Green Sheep products means your home can be insulated with natural products giving you the best, cleanest, more sustainable and economic insulation on offer.

With winter just around the corner it is time to make the insulation decisions now and have it installed before the cooler months.

Sparky’s ‘big brother’ delivers more heat Leon is the new freestanding multi-fuel fire from Far North-based Wagener Stoves.

“The Wagener Leon is Sparky’s big brother and has evolved because you asked us for a larger version of this extremely popular wee fire,” says Ngaire McClure of Wagener Stoves.

Leon has many of the features of Sparky but with an increased heat output of 16kw-18kw, an optional wetback delivering 3kw of hot water and a fixed log box base for storage.

The name Leon is in recognition of Leon Kernot, who started the family business and designed the first ever original Wagener Stove some 35 years ago.

“Leon the man was hardworking, entrepreneurial and very popular and that is our expectation for this new stove.”

Leon the stove is designed by son Barry and partner Ngaire, who currently own the business.

And the stove is handcrafted and dispatched by grandsons Troy and Kyle along with the rest of the Wagener Stoves team.

“Leon has been built to work hard and stand the test of time just like his forebear, the original Wagener Stove.

He will keep you warm and cosy on the outside and will boil the kettle or cook a pot of soup or stew to warm your insides too.

“You can buy confidence with confi from Wagener Stoves.

We are a family business who have proudly designed and produced quality and affordable New Zealand-made solid fuel stoves and wetbacks for more than

The stove called Wagener Leon is Sparky’s big brother.

three decades.”

For more information, visit: www.wagenerstoves.co.nz

EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

Page 55

A more scientific, healthier, more productive future There is a lot of talk about science, how we apply it on our farms. And probably to the confusion of who it is supposed to help – the farmer – which science will best suit his or her needs.

I’ve discussed in previous articles the findings our team is discovering repeatedly when applying international science and principles to soil. This is proving a superior path ahead for farmers involved in all aspects of farming.

We’ve travelled to Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to learn more, expand our thinking and advance our techniques to empower farmers to step into the light towards better ways of farming.

Variance in soils

advanced international techniques, which are helping our farmers in NZ become more in control of their destiny.

Big co-ops

The more science we apply to our clients’ farms, the more we understand how farmers, without realising it, have built the two large competing co-

Don’t be fooled into thinking we are better than the rest of the world, or that our cow dung is better or even different from what cows produce in Wales, England or the This US maize crop produces States. I’ve even noticed that 33 to 37 tonne per hectare. all cows moo the same.

It is also a misconception to think soils operatives. They supply 90 per cent of are different in any other parts of the the fertiliser to Kiwi farmers. world. The differences we find in our Ballance can trace its origins back to own country’s soil from Cape Reinga 1954 setting up bases in Southland and through to Invercargill would come the Bay of Plenty, whereas Christchclose to the variances across the world. urch-based Ravensdown began later in The advanced courses we’ve attended 1978 to provide some healthy competihave us working with international tion.

These two giant fertiliser companies tutors teaching fertiliser recommendaare now of similar size turning over tions on different soils from different about $1billion annually. countries and a diverse range of crops Both of these companies over time including avocados, grapes, oranges, have adapted a set of policies or paramwalnuts, kiwifruit, trees and all aspects eters, which have been accepted and of livestock farmed soils. followed by farmers generally known The principles to balance any soil as the Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium by adding nutrients that are lacking is – or NPK – fertiliser approach. And it simply universal. Every soil that will works. grow anything efficiently demands the Our NZ farmers have grown all same approach to give the sufficient aspects of farming based on this nutrients to do the job. approach over many years.

During the last five years many of our However some of their policies, I team have been to between five and believe, have been very cunningly set seven scientific courses to learn these up to sell fertiliser rather than follow

scientific principles. The main product produced by both companies is superphosphate and there would be no surprise to find this is sold wherever there is an opportunity even if it isn’t needed.

Nutrients lacking

Phosphate is the least leachable nutrient in the soil provided it is not in excess to plant requirements.

During these last few tough years, when we find phosphate is at good levels, then farmers are wasting their money applying more when other nutrients are lacking.

I’ve attached the nutrient availabilty chart, (below) which is accepted science, showing the pH line that gives the best availability of nutrients to plant roots in the soil.

Simply if you move a vertical line from left to right, the availabilty of each element changes.

Note how the availability of phosphate is twice as available at 6.4 compared to 5.9 pH. finding that lifting the pH in the soil We are fi will naturally increase the availabilty of phosphate without needing to apply more.

We are also finding in some instances, particularly when calcium or magnesium are low with a correspondingly low pH, the cost to balance your farm and increase grass growth can be

less than what you would expect. Even nitrogen is more effective when more than 6pH. I’d encourage farmers, especially in these tough financial times, to apply some forward-thinking principles.

It starts with some independent international soil testing and will guide you into a more scientific, healthier and more productive future.

EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

Page 56

David’s circular route to farm solutions David Law didn’t plan to be an effluent consultant when he ga e up farming in 2012. He instead set out to be fertiliser rep, visiting farmers, forming relationships and passing on what he’d learned from running his own farm on biological principles.

“One of my clients came across Slurry Bugs developed by Envirosystems in the United Kingdom to treat effluent ponds and when she made contact to order some, she was told the company was looking for an agent in New Zealand.

“The farmer told them to give me a call – I’d be their agent – well that was the first I kn w about it.”

However, when Liz Russell of Envirosystems contacted him, David was intrigued by the concept that a bacteria and enzyme cocktail, not machinery, could break down the crust on effluent ponds.

“So after finding out mo e, I agreed to be the New Zealand agent. Slurry Bugs are a great product. If you correct effl -

Phone: 07 362 8433

“we make farming ezy”

David Law with United Kingdom farmer James Rogerson and one of his very large Friesian cows, which produces 12,000 litres of milk. One of the seminars David addressed in February was held on the Rogerson farm. ent pH and follow the instructions exactly, you will see the crust gradually disappear,” says David.

“After a few weeks, you end up with 100 per cent liquid that is easy to spread with little odour. When they first see this, farmers ca ’t believe where the solids have gone.

“The answer is that they’ve been digested by the effluent bugs and con erted into aerobic bacterial organic matter, suspended in the liquid. On the surface, it looks like pond water.

“That bacterial matter is nectar to soil organisms.

It promotes oxygenation of the soil and, as it breaks down, releases a rich supply of nutrients that feed soil organisms and plants alike.”

However, the bugs didn’t work for all farmers. “Often because, despite what we tell them, they continue to put chlorine used to clean the dairy sheds into the ponds, which inhibits the action of the beneficial bugs.”

Realising it was hard to change farming habits, David and his associates formed a company called TDR NZ Ltd, and set about formulating a stable form of chlorine suitable for cleaning, which wouldn’t kill the bugs.

“This product, which we have called DX50, can be mixed and will stay stable for up to 12 months as opposed to just a few hours for similar products. We

are awaiting Ministry for Primary Industries approval for its use.”

Through his work with effluent ponds, avid also began investigating why the crusting was happening.

“It wasn’t long before I could look at a pond and tell a farmer which fertiliser company supplied his fertiliser and what the farm’s soil pH was.”

David also realised that while Slurry Bugs are very effective in treating ponds, they are not the whole answer farmers need. “Contrary to popular opinion, a crust is not inevitable, but it does tell you there is something wrong.”

Further research has led David to develop a concept he calls ‘BioCircle’ which looks at a dairy system as four interconnected parts – soil, grass, cows and effl ent.

“Fundamentally, this begins and ends with the soil and the ways in which it affects grass quality.

“Whether grazed or conserved, this impacts the cows, then effluent impacts soil biolog , either for good or ill.”

Intrigued by what he’s doing, Liz Russell invited David to the UK in February to talk at a series of seminar to farmers and scientists. As a result of this visit, Envirosystems is franchising David’s BioCircle concept and promoting it through the UK and Europe.

EFFLUENT & IRRIGATION

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The Kiwi disconnect and wilful blindness It occurs to me that there is a lot happening in the world as people go away from globalisation and back to identifying with their own continent and ethnicity. Is it the Brexit and Trumpet effect?

public servants justifying themselves as to why we still do not have any warning system – and it is 18 months away.

• We know we used to “skim” the dairy high payout years to plug the lows. Why, oh why could they have not skimmed the $8 payout year and plugged the following season?

Everywhere in New Zealand there seems to be this • We all know the Resource Management Act has Kiwi disconnect between reality and its good points, but by and large it is what is happening. Examples costing us all a fortune and slowing could include: every due process to progress.

• Friends who are Why do we still have to put NO YOU CAN’T! building a new up with it? It is going to home on a very be interesting to see economic how quickly they can kiwifruit and get State highway 1 avocado block through Kaikoura. only to be • Financial literacy told they have and understanding to demolish is paramount in our the existing, success or failure sound fourin life and it is still bedroom home not being taught in already on the schools. property.

• We need trades people • You build a new like there is no tomorrow house with a basebut we still steer our students ment. Highly suitable for towards a university qualification. a lodger/boarder or homestay Where is the disconnect? only to be told by council: “You • Our school children should walk, cycle can’t do that!” I thought we were short of accommoor run to school rather than being driven. And, yes I dation here in paradise? appreciate there are stranger danger issues but there • Then Waikato Regional Council put all these are walking buses and cycle groups. restrictions on farmers around nitrogen and effluent • The roads are gridlocked in the morning and levels polluting the Waikato only to find there is a afternoon around school start and finish. Why can’t lot of effluent coming from Hamilton City “but that we make it better? doesn’t count!” How is that?

Now it may sound like I am an “old fart” which I • Gorse, broom and privet are spreading like wildam, but I feel there is increasing disconnect between fire. Where are the weed inspectors we used to have? reality and what is really happening or what we are • We live in the shaky isles but we still do not have being told. a tsunami warning system in place and have to watch Life is not easy and we all find that out quickly

enough, but if things were a bit more “connected” and people stopped avoiding and or ignoring the reality, life could get a whole lot better, happier and profitable.

We know there will be more earthquakes and we build multi-storey buildings on fault lines on The Terrace in Wellington and so on. Why do we not build away from those faults and construct lower buildings?

So, in summary, the Kiwi disconnect seems to be taking us away from reality and seem to forget what is important. Maybe we need to focus down and remind ourselves of the fundamentals of life and the economy and get back to basics.

Disclaimer – These are the opinions of Don Fraser of Fraser Farm Finance. Any decisions made should not be based on this article alone and appropriate professional assistance should be sought.

Don Fraser is the principal of Fraser Farm Finance and a consultant to the farming industry. Contact him on 0800 777 675 or 021 777 675. A disclosure document is available on request.

CLASSIFIEDS

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ance and milk supply. Held at Campbell Park, Thames St, Morrinsville 11am – 1.30pm.

Phil 027 483 9820

TO LIST YOUR RURAL EVENT please email: julie@thesun.co.nz with ‘Rural Event’ in the subject line.

Ask Us Workshop

North Waikato, All you need to know about compliance.

Keen to learn more about important industry rules and regulations? Get along to the workshop’ in Morrinsville.

Industry experts will answer any questions in this one-stop shop for all things compli-

March 31-April 2

Plant Sale, 10am-4pm, Hamilton Gardens information centre.

April 3-7

Echo Walking Festival. See: www.echowalkfest.org.nz

cal and discussion modules on sustainable food production from a small block, Tirau, $750. See: www.lals.nz

Pakihi Track, near Opotiki

April 5-7

NZ Tree Crops Association Conference, New Plymouth.

See: www.treecrops.org.nz

March 31

Bat Tour, 6pm-8pm, Waikato Museum and Hammond Park, Hamilton, cost $15 adult, $6 child, family offer.

See: tinyurl.com/j7vakea

April 1-23 April 2

with Rotorua Botanical Society. See: tinyurl.com/h4zph2x

Free Home Composting

for sale

The Great Pumpkin Carnival, Hamilton Gardens.

Living with the Land, practi-

Floral Art Society of NZ Conference, Blenheim. See: www.fasnz.org.nz

April 6

Beef & Lamb NZ Ruapehu Pasture Pest, Focus group

field day at Dan Leary’s property, 748 Parapara Rd, Raetihi. This is a farmer-led campaign, identify and trialling mitigation and management strategies to minimise the impact of pasture pests in the Ruapehu area. To register: http://beeflambnz.com/ news-events/events-calendar/ ruapehu-pasture-pest-focusgroup/

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Workshop, 3pm-4.30pm, Taupo Community Gardens, Richmond Ave. Register: tinyurl.com/gqseptb

High School, Hamilton, $75.

See: tinyurl.com/zqh3j3h

trades & services

S

Native Plant Balm-making Workshop, 9am-1pm, Fraser

Envirofest Autumn Harvestnoon-6pm, 6 Te Ngae Rd, Rotorua. Ph: 07 343 1012.

March 31

April 1-2

King Country Rural Women’s Group.

download your free App today

trades & services

Ladies’ bull buying workshop at Kelly & Tim Brittain’s property, Storth Oaks, 524 Paewhenua Rd, Otorohanga 10am – 3pm. Bring your own lunch, tea/coffee provided.

Spaces are limited, registration essential: http://beeflambnz. com/news-events/eventscalendar/ladies-bull-buyingworkshop/

April 6-9

NZ Gardens Trust Conference, Auckland. See: www.

gardens.org.nz/nzgt-conference

April 7

Bat Tour, 4.30pm-6.30pm,

Waikato Museum and Hammond Park, Hamilton, cost $15 adult, $6 child, family offer. See: tinyurl.com/ z689t72

April 7-8

Bay of Plenty Orchid Show,

Registration essential. See: pakarakafarm.co.nz

April 19

Permaculture Design Process, Plenty Permaculture, Whakamarama, near Tauranga, cost $120. See: tinyurl.com/jj65ffw

April 21

Bat Tour, 4.30pm-6.30pm,

Waikato Museum and Hammond Park, Hamilton, cost $15 adult, $6 child, family offer. See: tinyurl.com/ gw7p9ca

10am-4pm, War Memorial Hall (main street), Te Puke, adults $3. Plant display, plants for sale, growing advice.

April 22-23

Whakamarama Wetlands with Waikato Botanical Society, 9.30am-5pm. See:

Gardens, free. Open Saturday 1.30pm-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.

April 9

Introduction to Biointensive Gardening, 9am-4pm,

April 8

tinyurl.com/jtbduyg

Guided Tour of Koanga Institute, 1-4pm, Wairoa, $20.

See: tinyurl.com/zjn92b5

April 12

Free Home Composting Workshop, noon-1pm, Gis-

borne, includes a free compost bin (one per household). To register ph 06 867 4708. See: tinyurl.com/hul2uzp

April 15-17

Growing Nutrient-dense Food, Koanga Institute,

Wairoa, $460. (And one-day course on June 3 in Hamilton) See: tinyurl.com/n9jcr8f.

April 16

Pakaraka Farm Tour,

9am-noon, Thames, koha.

Waikato Chrysanthemum Society Show, Hamilton

Aongatete (between Tauranga and Katikati), cost $240. See: tinyurl.com/hdnggv3

April 27

Waikato Horticultural Society: Yates products, 7.30pm, Hamilton Gardens (Gate 2), visitors $5. Ph: Carmel 07 859 0158.

April 29

Free Home Composting Workshop, 3pm-4.30pm,

Taupo Community Gardens, Richmond Ave. Register: tinyurl.com/gqseptb

April 29

Morrinsville Chrysanthemum Show, 10am-3pm,

Knox Presbyterian Church hall, free. Ph: Adele 07 843 4485.

April 29

Wild Edible Weeds & Green Smoothie Workshop, 10am-1pm, Ngahinapouri (Waikato), $55. See: www. juliasedibleweeds.com

May 5-7

Planning a Home Orchard,

April 22-25

Tirau, $250 ($400/couple).

See www.lals.nz.

Kaiwaka. See: tinyurl.com/ jzf93bc

Organic Gardening Course,

National Permaculture Hui,

April 26

Franklin Business and Professional Women at the

Franklin Club, Station Rd, with guest speaker Dr Angela Mackie Art Historian from Auckland University on ‘Art from War’. Women of all ages are invited to attend – bookings phone or text Marilyn 0274 799 121 or email: catering@bpwfranklin.org.nz

May 6

four weeks, 10am-noon, Hamilton. See: tinyurl.com/ zty9xac

May 6-7

Plant Sale, 10am-4pm,

Hamilton Gardens information centre.

May 7-13

Fungal Foray, Opononi, Hokianga. All with an interest in fungus welcome. See: www. funnz.org.nz

Rabbits and redbacks threaten beetles The ‘co-habitation’ of rabbits and Australian redback spiders is threatening the existence of an endangered New Zealand species, shows a study led by AgResearch.

Carried out with the Department of Conservation and University of Otago, the study has illustrated the struggle for the ongoing survival of the

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Cromwell chafer beetle – a nationally endangered native species that can now only be found in the 81 hectare Cromwell Chafer Beetle Nature Reserve between Cromwell and Bannockburn, in Central Otago.

The study found numerous rabbit holes that provided shelter for the rabbits were also proving ideal spaces for the redback spiders to establish their webs. Investigation of those webs in Introduced the rabbit holes found Australian re spiders are dback the Cromwell chafer feed on endange ing beetle was the secondmost commonly found Cromwell ch red afer prey of the spiders. beetles.

“Of course the rabbits and spiders aren’t actually plotting together to bring about the demise of the chafer beetle, but these findings do give a fascinating insight into the almost accidental relationships that can develop between species in the natural world; and how that can impact on other species,” says AgResearch principal scientist Dr Barbara Barratt.

“Otago University students doing research in the area found 99 per cent of the spiders had built their webs in the rabbit holes. We don’t know exactly how many of the chafer beetles there are left because they are not easy to find, but research into larval densities tells us the numbers are low.

“It does appear the redback spider, which has established populations in two locations in New Zealand since the 1980s, has been increasing in number over time – and this increases the risks for the beetle population. What we were able to show in our research was that filling in those rabbit holes was an effective way of eliminating the presence of the redback spiders at the treated sites, therefore reducing the rate of the chafer beetle being preyed upon.”

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

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Illuminating Wisdom book prize O U NT R

Making a hay-pool while the sun shines was the subject of the Country Funnies image for February – and the idea appealed to our readers, who suggested some appropriate captions.

N NIE

S

C

FU

Y

from some of the great wisdom and literacy traditions of the East and West.

Craig, who has a long interest in philosophy and the world’s great wisdom traditions, has provided the background about the authors of the quotes, offering deep insight into the meaning of the words.

The book features religious, indig“We are all out on bale for the enous and folk and Greek traditions summer,” came from Doreen Appleton and also has quotes from literacy figures, while Shane Avison suggested: “Dammed science, artists and statesmen and women. cool bunker”.

Thanks to Exisle Publishing, Coast & For her caption “Life’s a beach Country News has a copy of wherever you want it to be,” ‘Illuminating Wisdom’ to give Helen Bell of Patumahoe wins a away. To be in to win email capcopy of ‘Havana Coffee Works’ tions for the photo below and

by Geoff Marsland with Tom send along with your name and Scott, published by Phantom address, with Country FunHouse. nies as the subject, to: elaine@ This month’s book prize is thesun.co.nz Or put these details ‘Illuminating Wisdom’ by Deiron the back of an envelope and dre Hassed and Craig Hassed, post to: Country Funnies, PO published by Exisle.

This photo of ingenious farmers finding Box 240, Tauranga 3140 to This beautiful book is a a way to keep cool in summer was the arrive no later than April 19. result of collaboration between Country Funnies image for February.

Melbourne-based couple Deirdre, a professional calligrapher and Craig, an associate professor and coordinator of mindfulness programmes at Monash University.

Deirdre’s love of handwriting began when she delved into her grandfather’s old sign writing box; a treasure trove of old brushes, gold leaf and finely crafted steel pens.

She’s used exquisite cal‘Illuminating ligraphy, from Wisdom’ is traditional to the Country contemporary Funnies to create artbook prize works from 80 for April.

Caption this photo by Claire Matthews to win. quotes drawn

4

2

2

COAST & COUNTRY NEWS

Page 60

Isla Rose grandad Richards 2 yea rs with g and seco great gra nd cousin Nath reat a ndad’s t ractor. n on

Amelia Neal, 3, in the tractor happy to be out helping popp a.

s cows. e neighbour’

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onths, Leon, 13 m done! ge got the sila

PRIZE UP FOR GRABS!

Pictures and details can be emailed (high resolution jpgs) to kathy@thesun.co.nz “Country Camera” or posted to Coast & Country, PO Box 240, Tauranga. Please include a name, address and phone number with every entry.

Perry William s, 4, a day’s work w is ready for ith da Williams of T d, Matt irau.