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Tararua Plantain Project leads way for national use A new $22 million research initiative is under way to help dairy farmers improve freshwater quality through using plantain pastures.

Announced at Mystery Creek Fieldays last June, the Plantain Potency and Practice programme will promote the use of plantain among dairy farmers throughout New Zealand, to help them meet environmental goals, government regulations and market expectations.

One of the key building blocks of the programme is the research into plantain that has already been carried out on dairy farms in the Tararua district.

The Tararua Plantain Project was started in 2018 and is led by DairyNZ with partners Agricom, MPI, Fonterra and Nestlé.

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Delivery partners include AgResearch, Horizons, and Massey University.

The project, which will

continue until 2023, aims to help Tararua farmers improve water quality while operating thriving businesses and thereby boosting the economy.

It includes helping farmers adopt plantain on their farms, testing its beneÿ ts in pastures, and sharing their ÿ ndings with other farmers.

As well as measuring plantain productivity, the farmers are also monitoring their own streams monthly to understand where they should focus their environmental e° orts.

Sixty-six Tararua dairy farms grew plantain during the 2020-21 season, with a goal of increasing that to 118, as well as increasing the amount of plantain grown on the farms.

One of the farmers involved is Mark Diamond whose 110 hectare farm at Dannevirke has been used in the project.

When Mark was approached

by DairyNZ to take part, he jumped at the opportunity.

Mark is constantly looking at ways to improve feed production on the farm which supports 240 cows.

“But they are still looking to make signiÿ cant environmental reductions to achieve regulatory and community objectives. With the introduction of the One Plan, further improvements are needed so they are looking at mitigation options.”

The farm is mostly selfsu˛ cient in its feed requirements, apart from occasional supplementary feed.

Part of Janine’s role as extension co-ordinator is to share the knowledge accrued over the past two and a half years with other farmers in the Tararua district and beyond.

The project o° ered the chance to experiment with plantain, which Mark had never used before, at no cost to the farm.

But Mark was also keen to see how plantain could help reduce nitrate levels to within the requirements of the One Plan of Horizon Regional Council.

“The key thing is that farmers can feel conÿ dent using plantain as an environmentally friendly forage and it doesn’t come at a cost in yield and quality. They can feel conÿ dent when using it alone or in a mix with other things like rye and clover.

It is possible for plantain to be used as a stand-alone crop as a special purpose feed for animals.

For example, it can be used in summer when plantain can grow better than ryegrass in dry soils. It can also be sown with a grass, most commonly perennial ryegrass, and a clover, most commonly white clover.

Mark has been using a plantain seed mix, following on from turnip crops, as well as on other paddocks around the farm.

Samples from these and other paddocks using traditional rye grass mixes have been collected and analysed.

Mark has been pleased with the

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“Farmers can use it in various percentages in a sward or just use plantain instead of other crops like turnips. results that have come back, with no loss in yield and quality of overall pasture yield.

He also notes that “last year the farm did 107,000 kilos milk solids - a really good rate”.

Using plantain, he has been able to make a nitrogen loss reduction of 2kg per hectare.

Mark points out that if you are going to ask farmers to change

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their farming methods, you have to have the scientiÿ c data to back up your claims, something that the project has provided.

Janine Swansson, DairyNZ Extension Co-ordinator for the Tararua Plantain Project, says Tararua farmers are already among the most e˛ cient and low intensity dairy farmers in New Zealand.

“Some farmers love it and have it on the majority of their farm while others remain unconvinced. Farmers are always looking at ways to improve their farming process but they want to know that plantain will provide an equivalent yield and quality.

“We feel conÿ dent to encourage its use because we have the science to back it up.”

In the past plantain was referred to as a weed, Janine says.

“Now they know it is great for the environment and has a place in their system. It is a big tick not just for the environment, but the community.”

Research will continue at the Tararua Plantain Project in areas such as ÿ nding better sowing methods.

Meanwhile, the Plantain Potency and Practice programme will focus on proving plantain’s e° ectiveness at reducing nitrogen leaching, investigating regional e° ects, and protecting the supply chain. Funded by programme partners DairyNZ, PGG Wrightson Seeds, MPI and Fonterra, it will use PGG Wrightson Seeds’ Ecotain environmental plantain because this already has proven e° ectiveness.

An evaluation system will be developed to assess the environmental beneÿ ts of all plantain types.

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plantain in their pastures.

Part of the research is to develop improved management techniques to help with its persistency.

The environmental beneÿ t of plantain has been proven on a small scale in animal trials and using lysimeters, but is yet to be quantiÿ ed at paddock scale.

Nitrate leaching will be measured from pastures with di° erent levels of plantain in farmlet trials in two regions.

Ultimately, the programme will deliver many positive outcomes for farmers.

Modelling by DairyNZ forecasts a potential reduction of 15,000 tonnes per year of nitratenitrogen leached on 4200 New Zealand dairy farms in nitrogen-sensitive catchments per year by 2035. This is a 37 per cent reduction from current levels.

Plantain use is also predicted to lead to ˝ ow-on beneÿ ts to national and regional economies.

The programme aims to give farmers conÿ dence to invest in growing plantain as an animal feed on their farms throughout New Zealand.

This is due to farmers spending less on other nitrate leaching solutions, therefore having more money to spend on goods and services.

The growth and nutrition of plantain can be as good or better than perennial ryegrass.

However, farmers have had varying success keeping

Eventually, plantain use is expected to save farmers more than $1 billion per decade.

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Thursday, September 23, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 31

www.age.co.nz Thursday, September 23, 2021

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From Wellington’s south coast to Wairarapa’s east coast Island Bay is best known for its ÿ shermen. But it has managed to produce a Perendale stud manager who loves her job.

Sarah Wakelin never remotely considered farming as a career when she was growing up in the suburbs on Wellington’s south coast.

“I loved the lifestyle of being bought up in Island Bay, with school friends playing on the streets with skateboards and BMX bikes, playing the boom box, and going to the local ÿ sh & chip shop.”

Then one school holidays Sarah took a trip to Hawke’s Bay and stayed with a friend on her family’s sheep & beef farm.

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“I knew nothing about farming and had never had the idea of working in it. But then I fell in love with farming.”

When she was 18, Sarah

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left home and went back to Hawke’s Bay where she worked in docking crews and orchards, and found the lifestyle was to her liking.

The view from Te Awaiti. ABOVE RIGHT: Sarah with Cash (left) and Elton. competitive with well-known studs and to market our animals.

While there, Sarah met her future husband Gary Wakelin and they moved to the central North Island where he had secured a job on a government farm.

Gary came from the Wairarapa born on Pirinoa Station - and in 2004 the couple returned here, where Gary got a job as a farm manager and Sarah did casual farm work such as shepherding.

It was while working on the property of Thomas Cranswick that Sarah was recommended by his father Rod Cranswick to Te Awaiti Station owner Dan Riddiford to ÿ ll the vacant position of stud manager at Te Awaiti Perendale Stud, Rod having earlier sold his Parakowhai Stud to Te Awaiti.

The past three years since then have been a steep learning curve for Sarah whose only

“Last year we dropped the ˛ ock down to 230 breeding ewes to lift the stud’s maternal worth.

“Now we don’t retain anything under 1600 maternal worth which is above the national average.”

Sarah Wakelin, Pregnancy scanning at Te Awaiti Perendale previous experience with a sheep stud was a season at Mana Romney.

“It was a huge step up as I had only limited experience in stud work but I had a lot of good friends to bounce ideas o° .”

Historically, the stud had focused primarily on producing hardy animals for challenging environments, and this is still a strong trait, Sarah says.

But the Te Awaiti Perendales of today are also noted for their high fertility and high percentage lamb growth.

Sarah has lifted the stud’s pregnancy test results by 35 per cent over the past three years through a strict culling process, and the purchase and retention of better sires.

Lifting the maternal worth value with SIL was important, Sarah says, “to be more

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Last year Te Awaiti Perendale Stud had one ram in the SIL top 35 for the North lsland and two sires in the SIL top 20 per cent for the North lsland.

Sarah has beneÿ ted from the experience and knowledge of Dayanne Almeida, Genetics North Island Area Manager and Technical Lead for Zoetis.

“We have been investing in DNA technology to accelerate the rate of genetic gain on the ˛ ock.”

“We use Zoetis Genetics

Shepherd® Complete package which enables us to run our stud ˛ ock just as our commercial clients run theirs.

“Ewes are multi-sire mated and lambs are DNA sampled at docking to accurately identify parents. Genomically enhanced breeding values are used to select potential candidate sires for the next season.

“The accuracy added by genomics and DNA parentage provides more conÿ dence that ÿ gures and performance are matching to ensure maximum return for our clients.”

Sarah enjoys using the technology that is now available to stud breeders which allows her to follow each individual animal and to have data at her ÿ ngertips.

She uses an array of TruTest technology to assist in

decision-making about feed, health treatments and ˛ ock size management, and Electronic ldentiÿ cation (ElD) so individual animals can be tracked through their entire life cycle via an electronic ear tag. “l have been fortunate to have right tools and equipment to enable me to make the best use of modern technology to improve the stud. This, coupled with the close involvement of Dayanne and Zoetis has resulted in the rapid progress of our stud to new levels which is quite exciting!”

Sarah has no plans to own her own stud, being quite content with her role at Te Awaiti Perendale.

“I’m always learning new things and ÿ nd the job very satisfying.

I think you always enjoy a job when it is something you are passionate about.”

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32 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

Thursday, September 23, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 33

www.age.co.nz Thursday, September 23, 2021

RURAL OUTLOOK

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WAIRARAPA RURAL OUTLOOK

Reduced methane emissions and tasty meat a part of Research & Development role Finding a job that is relevant to your PhD in sheep genetics is not always easy.

But Emma Pettigrew has found such a role, with a nice balance of research and hands-on work, at Wairere Rams.

Emma grew up on her parents’ sheep & beef stud farm, Te Ohu, in Manawatu.

The stud had Romneys, Texels and a small ˜ ock of Finnish Landrace. While purebred Finns are not common in New Zealand, their genes are, as the extremely fecund species has been used to lift the fertility of other sheep breeds, Emma points out.

Emma went to Feilding High School and then spent a gap year in Norway. At ÿ rst she studied Medical Laboratory Science at Massey University.

“But I decided I was more interested in animal science and switched my BSc to that.”

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For her PhD - “Selecting Replacements Born To Ewe Hoggets” - Emma was part of a research project at Massey University.

Lambs born from hoggets are usually smaller and younger at weaning time, so tend not to be heavy enough to be selected as replacements. Instead, they usually head straight to the meatworks.

This is potentially a waste of good genes. Being able to select hogget o˛ spring with good traits not only allows a greater selection pressure, but also decreases the generation interval, speeding up the rate of genetic gain, Emma says.

Emma heard about the role at Wairere through friends.

“I really enjoy this sort of job.

I’m also out on the farm quite a bit which is really interesting.

“My PhD was quite hands on in terms of working with animals, unlike a lot of PhDs which are laboratory or statistics based.”

Wairere needs little introduction to those in the sheep industry.

Located in medium to steep hill country northeast of Masterton, Wairere has been breeding rams for 54 years.

It has often been referred to as the “University of Wairere”, acting as a training ground for

hundreds of young people over that time.

The Daniell family have been innovators in sheep breeding, and that tradition continues to this day with two new research initiatives about to start on the farm which Emma will be playing a major part in.

One is the search for rams to sire o˛ spring that produce less methane. This has obvious relevance to the issue of human-induced global warming and New Zealand’s contribution to that through the methane produced by our livestock.

The second project is aimed at breeding sheep that produce meat with higher levels of IMF that improves eating quality.

Research and development is aided on the farm by Wairere’s scale and recording history, with ram breeding ˜ ocks totalling some 7000 SIL recorded Romney ewes and a further 3000 Romney ewes in multiplier ˜ ocks.

As Wairere’s Research & Development Manager, Emma will also be leading the onfarm research into the two new initiatives.

“Intermuscular” scanning measures the fat around muscles while “intramuscular” scanning measures the fat (IMF) within muscles.

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A technician will be coming to Wairere soon to measure the ÿ rst sheep in the trial.

“They are breeding rams to sell to commercial farmers, so are thinking about the sorts of traits the market will be wanting in ÿ ve to 15 years. You have got to be ahead of the market.”

At the present time Emma is busy in the o˝ ce as the ram sales season draws near“taking orders, putting together spread sheets, managing records for ram sales, keeping ram inventories, and liaising with clients”.

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“New technology has become available to detect the intramuscular fat, laid down within the muscle, which is what we are looking into.

Intramuscular fat is strongly associated with eating quality, giving more ˜ avour and juiciness. Wagyu cattle meat is a great example of it!”

Derek Daniell and Business Manager Simon Buckley are always pursuing new lines of inquiry based on what is happening out in the marketplace and wider world, Emma says.

The composite, terminal, facial eczema and smart wool ˜ ocks comprise a further 5000 ewes.

The environmental impact of methane and the taste superiority of meat with high intramuscular fat are two trends Derek and Simon have noted, and both are highly heritable traits.

• • • • • •

measurement as part of their eye muscle area scanning.

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The same format is going to be used to measure sheep for methane emissions. This trial is due to start this week.

Both types of measurement are done via ultrasound on the live animal. Until recently IMF was not able to be accurately detected.

“Intermuscular” measuring has been around for 20 years, measuring the amount of fat around the muscle as part of eye muscle area scanning.

Wairere has scanned 5000 animals per year for this trait.

Currently most people doing the measurement in sheep are doing the intermuscular

Breeding sheep with lower methane emissions is now possible, thanks to a 10year multi-million dollar collaboration among Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGGRC), New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) and AgResearch.

Individual sheep vary in their levels of methane emissions and these di˛ erences are passed on to the next generation.

Though progress is slow around 1 per cent per year, with single trait selection - it is cumulative and no detrimental e˛ ects on production or health

traits have been found to date.

Like other Breeding Values, a new Methane BV will be delivered via B+LNZ Genetics’ New Zealand Genetic Evaluation.

Unseasonably warm weather predicted

AgResearch has developed a trailer with small portable accumulation chambers (PAC) that estimate daily methane emission for individual sheep.

The trend of warmer-thanaverage temperatures is very likely to continue during spring, according to NIWA’s seasonal climate outlook until November.

In this way, breeders like Wairere can have their sheep measured on their own farm.

The AgResearch trailer came out to Wairere for the ÿ rst time today (Thursday, 23 September).

Emma is uncertain as to what the outcome of the ÿ rst test will be, “but we will use the information from it to select those sires that are more e˝ cient in terms of the amount of methane emitted.”

She believes Wairere might be able to make signiÿ cant genetic gain in both intramuscular fat and methane emissions traits within the next ÿ ve to 10 years.

Wairere will always ultimately select animals using a combination of traits that are the most proÿ table, Emma says.

“Methane emissions won’t be a main trait for selection but if we have a choice between two animals that are similar, but one is more methane e˝ cient, then we would go with that one.”

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“Unseasonably warm conditions will occur at times, particularly in the east of both islands.

Despite this, cold spells and frosts can still occur occasionally, especially early in the season.”

NIWA also predicts that spring rainfall is most likely to be below normal in the east of the North Island.

“Air pressure is expected to be higher than normal over and to the east of New Zealand. Frequent high pressure systems may contribute to lengthy dry spells for the time of year.”

New Zealand’s coastal sea surface temperatures ranged from 0.6°C to 1.1°C above average during August and are predicted to become more unusually warm by November, NIWA says.

NIWA was unable to give any clear guideline as to soil moisture levels on the east coast of the North Island, but predicts river ˜ ows are likely to be below normal.

Its predictions for Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa are:  Temperatures are very likely to be above average (60% chance)  Rainfall totals are most likely to be below normal (45% chance)  Extended dry spells, unusual for the time of year, are likely  Periods of unseasonable warmth are possible due to more northwesterly winds  River ˜ ows are most likely to be below normal (45% chance).

No clear guidance was available for soil moisture levels.

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34 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

Thursday, September 23, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 35

www.age.co.nz Thursday, September 23, 2021

OUTLOOK RURAL OUTLOOK

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WAIRARAPA RURAL OUTLOOK

New Zealand on track for world first in eliminating Mycoplasma bovis The latest report from the independent Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for the Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) response shows New Zealand is on track to eradicate the disease.

There have been ÿ ve conÿ rmed properties infected with M. bovis in the South Wairarapa and Tararua districts since the outbreak occurred.

The most recent was in February last year, and the last property cleared in April last year.

This includes: • routine testing of the dairy sector’s bulk tank milk • testing of mastitis samples sent for analysis • beef sector surveillance “This surveillance is key to giving us both assurance that the disease is not widespread in the dairy or beef sectors across New Zealand,” says M. bovis Programme Director Stuart Anderson.

“And helping to identify possibly infected farms that we have yet to connect to known conÿ rmed properties, due to unrecorded animal movements in NAIT and incomplete farm records.

“We engage with farmers and industry sectors, promoting the importance of on-farm biosecurity in keeping stock and farms safe from pests and disease, recently initiating workshops, covering on-farm biosecurity, which will be rolled out to the Wairarapa/Tararua

How farmers can reduce the risk of Mycoplasma bovis Everything that goes in or out is a potential biosecurity risk. Here are some practices that are critical for farmers, including lifestylers, to protect their own and other farmers’ herds:

“Alongside our programme partners Dairy NZ and Beef + Lamb NZ, we have improved the compensation process, continuing to fund and support DBCAT (DairyNZ & Beef & Lamb NZ compensation assistance team) providing free claim assistance for all a° ected farmers and having claims paid as quickly as possible.

There are now just three active conÿ rmed infected farms, compared with 34 farms two years ago.”

TAG is carrying out a national surveillance programme around the country including Wairarapa and Tararua districts to make sure M. bovis stays out.

SEPTEMBER EDITION

been very focused on farmer welfare, including getting farmers through the process faster with more support and shorter turnaround times for farms under movement restrictions.

Caption: Feeding raw milk or colostrum to calves is a M. bovis risk, use milk replacement or treat milk. Picture source: MPI area in coming months, after calving and lambing and alert levels permitting.

“Our weekly M. bovis update regularly has topical advice and information to help the farming community better protect their farms from disease, not just from M. bovis. Our M. bovis info hub also has useful information to help farmers reduce the risk of spread.”

There have been improvements in the recording of animal movements by farmers, with more fastidious in recording movements, Stuart says.

“Overall NAIT compliance nationwide has improved from what we experienced early in the programme. This greatly increases our ability to trace and lockdown movements of infected cattle.

“Most importantly, this stops other herds and farms from being infected. But we do still ÿ nd room for improvements to be made.”

All owners of cattle, regardless of how large or small in numbers, need to ensure they are recording all movements of cattle on and o° their property, and this includes between other properties they own, Stuart says.

Farmers can take a lot of credit for the progress of the eradication programme including those in Wairarapa and Tararua districts who been supportive and helpful in the eradication process, he says.

“We know the hard work that farmers a° ected by M. bovis have put in, including those in the Wairarapa/Tararua areas.

“Being under movement restrictions isn’t easy and is a signiÿ cant disruption to farmers, let alone ÿ nding you have M. bovis infected animals and having to work through eradication. The local support provided from rural communities and neighbours also make the experience notably easier.

“Now, continuing with good practices is crucial and respects those sacriÿ ces that many have made. So NAIT, biosecurity and farm management practices remain as important as ever.”

Property owners should record all cattle movements, ensure good biosecurity practice is in place on their farm and prevent any mixing of stock, Stuart says.

“Whether you farm commercially or as lifestyler, reducing the risk of disease, for all diseases not just M. bovis,

should be something that’s top of mind.

“Farmers should think of their farm gate and surrounding boundary like a border.”

Overall, it seems like New Zealand is on track to eradicate the disease.

Eradication of M. bovis has never been attempted before and has been one of the most signiÿ cant biosecurity challenges we have faced in New Zealand, Stuart says.

“Of the 269 properties that have been conÿ rmed with M. bovis, as at 17 September 2021, we have three Active Conÿ rmed (currently infected) properties.

“With numbers trending downwards, we are looking much harder and ÿ nding fewer and fewer infected properties.

“But there’s still work to do. It is critical we don’t take our foot o° the pedal and keep up the e° orts that have got us to this point in the eradication e° ort.

“As we move into spring, this is historically a time when we can expect to ÿ nd more infected properties with animals under stress from calving and young heifers (2019-born) entering the milking platform and being included in our bulk tank milk surveillance for the ÿ rst time.”

There are lessons learned from this process that will beneÿ t the industry and New Zealand in the future, Stuart says.

“We listen to farmer feedback and our programme sta° have

SEPTEMBER EDITION

• All animal movements recorded in NAIT (this is how we can track risk animals quickly and lock them down). Record all on and o° farm cattle movements – even between your own properties

“A review currently being carried out, looks to capture lessons that can be learned from what is New Zealand’s largest biosecurity response to date. The most recently published TAG report, details the changes the programme had made at that stage to improve things for a° ected farmers.

• Retags linked in NAIT to the previous tag, so history is carried through • Don’t mix cattle, keep animals from di° erent herds separate, especially at grazing • No sharing untreated milk or colostrum

“While eradicating M. bovis from New Zealand has been a massive challenge, we are tracking well to success and we are conÿ dent that working in partnership with industry and farmers on the ground, will see New Zealand farmers able to farm free from this disease in the future.”

• Secure farm and paddock boundaries, lower the risk of animals breaking in or out • Clean and disinfect any shared equipment, yards and troughs

• When buying - ask seller for the history of the animal. Was it born on their farm? Or is the seller a trading property.

If they are – where do they buy their stock from?

• Make sure animals being purchased have lifetime traceability on NAIT • New animals should be quarantined when they arrive on farm Removing risky farming practices is a smart investment in stock health and productivity. Further information is available on reducing the risk of disease spread and on-farm biosecurity at: https://www.mbovis.govt.nz https://www.mpi.govt.nz https://www.dairynz.co.nz/ business/biosecurity https://bee˛ ambnz.com/ compliance/biosecurity https://www.nzva.org.nz/ public/farm/

“Allowing the disease to spread would have caused an estimated $1.3 billion in lost productivity in our vital cattle sectors in the ÿ rst 10 years alone. It would have left farmers trying to manage the disease at signiÿ cant cost and with major changes to the way we farm cattle in New Zealand required to manage the risk.

“This is why Government and the farming industry are investing $870 million over 10 years to achieve what would be a world ÿ rst elimination.

“Some three years on from the joint decision by government and the farming industry to attempt to eradicate M. bovis from New Zealand, we are well on track.

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36 FEATURE SUPPLEMENT

Thursday, September 23, 2021 Wairarapa Times-Age

FEATURE SUPPLEMENT 37

www.age.co.nz Thursday, September 23, 2021

RURAL OUTLOOK

WAIRARAPA

WAIRARAPA RURAL OUTLOOK

M˜ nuka prices up, other types of honey down

Issues a° ecting the health of the industry were also discussed with sessions on the changing global honey market, beekeeping through ÿ nancial tough times and using science to ÿ nd the next big New Zealand honey.

Wairarapa Rural Outlook asked Karin Kos, chief executive of Apiculture NZ, how is the future looking for the honey industry in New Zealand at the moment, and what challenges it is currently facing.

SEPTEMBER EDITION

Bumper crop of agricultural exports predicted for NZ Export revenue for New Zealand’s food and ÿ bre exports is forecast to hit a record high of $491 billion in the year to June 2022, driven mostly by strong demand for our dairy, forestry, and horticulture products, according to June 2021 Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report.

Hundreds of beekeepers, and others from the apiculture industry, gathered in Rotorua in June, for the ÿ rst time in two years, to discuss pressing issues facing their industry with the theme ‘Healthy Bees, Healthy Industry, Healthy Future’.

The conference featured presentations on some of the big issues in bee health including how climate change is impacting plant and pollinator interactions, advancements in varroa management and the use of science innovations in dealing with threats to bees.

Apiculture New Zealand believes the New Zealand honey industry is in a strong position to capitalise on recent growth in export sales but there’s still a lot of work to be done to achieve our industry’s full potential.

SEPTEMBER EDITION

The Ministry of Primary Industries produces the report twice a year in June and December. Sustained growth is forecast year on year, hitting a further record of $53.1 billion for the year to June 2025.

Overall export revenue for the 2020-21 year continues to be strong, with only a slight dip of 1.1 per cent forecast.

This has been helped by strong farmgate milk prices, bumper avocado and kiwifruit crops, and increased Chinese demand for our logs.

Honey exports for the year to March 2021 reached more than half-a-billion dollars for the ÿ rst time driven by a signiÿ cant lift in consumer demand for health and well-being products in response to covid-19.

While this international demand has levelled out this year, the global retail honey market is forecast to grow 30 per cent in the next ÿ ve years and our challenge is how we grow our share of that international trade.

However, while m˛nuk a honey continues to attract strong consumer interest, our other honey types have not achieved the same proÿ le.

For producers of these other honey types, prices over the past few years have fallen by up to 25 per cent to 50 per cent

and we are seeing growing stockpiles of honey here in New Zealand.

This means that many New Zealand beekeepers are struggling ÿ nancially as the cost of production in some cases outweighs the prices they receive for their honey, and the honey is slow to move.

For our industry, the challenge (and opportunity) is to raise the proÿ le of these other honey types, with consumers and we have started to do that through initiatives like the New Zealand Honey Story https:// www.nzstory.govt.nz/news/astorytelling-boost-for-ourbeekeepers-and-honey-sector/ - a joint initiative between ApiNZ and government to build on New Zealand’s strong honey reputation.

Another priority for ApiNZ, along with iwi and government, is protecting the term ‘manuka honey’ internationally so that it may only be lawfully used on honey produced in New Zealand.

In that regard, we actively support the work of the M˛nuk a Charitable Trust, an iwi trust established to protect the term via certiÿ cation trademarks so that only honey produced from New Zealand m˛nuk a trees can be called ‘manuka honey’, similarly to how the term champagne can only be used for wine from that region in France.

We see this work as key to protecting our industry, helping it to grow its potential, and to ensuring the safeguarding of a respected M˛or i taonga.”

This is a remarkable result in the context of the challenges presented by covid-19, and

with farmers and growers on practical solutions to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change.

“And initiatives like our Opportunity Grows Here campaign and website continue to attract New Zealanders to food and ÿ bre sector jobs.

a testament to the sector’s ongoing resilience, says Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor.

“To boost New Zealand’s exports, a key priority for the government is expanding New Zealand’s market opportunities and providing a level playing ÿ eld for our exporters by securing high-quality, comprehensive, and inclusive free trade agreements, says Mr O’Connor.

“In January 2021, we successfully signed our FTA upgrade with China, which included eliminating tari° s for 99 per cent of New Zealand’s nearly $3.3 billion wood and paper trade to China.

“We are also making solid progress in respective FTA negotiations with the European Union and the United Kingdom.

“To drive New Zealand’s recovery from covid-19, we launched the Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential roadmap last year to boost productivity, sustainability, and jobs.

“We brought forward almost $96 million to kickstart delivery of the roadmap, including $84 million to upscale Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures (SFF Futures) to further boost innovation e° orts, on top of the $40 million already available each year.

“Since SFF Futures launched in mid-2018, more than $111 million has been committed to approved new projects of a total investment of almost $250 million.

“Partnerships like He Waka Eke Noa, our Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership, are working

“Through Budget 2021, the Government committed almost $62 million to back initiatives to help reduce costs for farmers and growers, boost returns, and achieve lower on-farm emissions.

“These will all strengthen the environmental credentials of our food and ÿ bre products and drive further value growth.”

New Zealand export performance hinges on the recovery of its main trading partners, the report says China’s GDP growth outperformed the rest of the world during the covid-19 pandemic. China’s annual real GDP increased by nearly 2.3 per cent in 2020.

Australia and the US, our other main trading partners, are continuing their economic recoveries.

Over the December 2020 quarter, Australia’s GDP rose 3.1

per cent, which is higher than the 2.5 per cent projected.

Australia’s GDP is forecast to grow further, supported by the Government’s AUD 311 billion covid-19 stimulus package.

Economic activity in the US is expected to have the fastest recovery among G7 countries, with the IMF forecasting US GDP will exceed its precovid-19 level by the end of the year.

The UK and the European Union (EU) were hit by new waves of covid-19 earlier this year. The tightening of restrictions to slow the spread of the virus had an impact on Eurozone’s output, which fell for the second quarter in a row, plunging it into another recession.

However, economic growth and domestic demand are expected to pick up during the June and September quarters in 2021, with restrictions being gradually lifted, vaccination rollouts, extended ÿ scal stimulus, and a signiÿ cant amount of household savings build-up.

To read the full report go to https://www.mpi.govt.nz/ dmsdocument/45451-Situationand-Outlook-for-PrimaryIndustries-SOPI-June-2021

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