Prices and Productivity The low prices continue for dairy, beef is okay and lamb and wool are not that flash. Rather than a little blip, […]
Viewpoint
A Fair Go for Farmers For years now we have been talking about added value products and capturing the margins up the chain to the […]
July 2016
According to a recent news article staff morale at Invermay has hit rock bottom since the announcement that jobs there would be slashed as people were moved to Lincoln.
June 2016
viewpoint May 2016 with John Barnes – Managing Director May 2016 Where is the Dialogue? As I travel around the country and as our Reps bring in their […]
May 2016
Amazing to see a full front page article on the concerns regarding the effects of cadmium in popular fishing magazine Fishing and Outdoors.
April 2016
The growing population of our planet all need to be fed. It is increasingly apparent to me that as the world’s population grows there will also
March 2016
viewpoint February 2016 with John Barnes – Managing Director February 2016 February Feast Rain has arrived on a “just in time” basis so far this […]
February 2016
viewpoint January 2016 with John Barnes – Managing Director January 2016 Welcome to TWENTY sixteen The weather pattern seems to have changed, which is good […]
January 2016
viewpoint December 2015 with John Barnes – Managing Director December 2015 What stands out for you in 2015? My VEIWPOINT in December 2014 was about […]
December 2015
viewpoint November 2015 with John Barnes – Managing Director November 2015 Preparing for Summer We enjoy summer weather. Our weather is renowned worldwide as being […]
November 2015
viewpoint October 2015 with John Barnes – Managing Director October 2015 Although TPP may seem a long way from the farm gate, the realities are that […]
October 2015
To make any sense of where we are now or how we move into the future we must understand the past, and ask how did we get to this point and what can we learn from what has happened.
September 2015
Profitability is important in any business and for dairy farmers it has gone from being of little concern last year to being of urgent concern this year. One cannot face a 60% drop in prices with any equanimity at all.
August 2015
There is no doubt that we need to increase food production, the down side to this is we are polluting our world. This is evident in our own country where we have the Ministry for the Environment at odds with the Primary Industry as to how to make progress. The vast majority of business say that is the price of production. They then say we can remediate, now that is a great word. So, remediation is going to slow down pollution and will also make many very clever business operators a whole lot of money.
June 2015
Farming in the next twelve months will be a challenge for many, particularly for dairy farmers. It is times like this that concentrate the mind on things that must be achieved rather than those that we would like to happen at some point. There is a quote from Sir Ernest Rutherford from many years ago and it is on precisely this point...
"Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It's time to start thinking"
May 2015
We at Fertilizer New Zealand believe that our farmers need to be better served and provided with real options that are sensible alternatives to that which is proven to be causing the harm to our waterways and lakes.
April 2015
There has been quite of lot of discussion regarding science and making sure we have a science based fertiliser programme. I am in favour of this as we should all be very careful about what we apply to our soils.
March 2015
While we wait for the irrigation schemes, we need to change some of our farming practices to take account of the drier seasons. In my travels visiting farms across both islands, I have witnessed some very good results from those farmers who have bowed to the inevitable and planted some alternatives to the normal grass species.
February 2015
We in the agricultural sector begin 2015 with a fresh set of challenges ahead of us; almost universally lower prices, but none more so than dairying. Our costings are going up with increased demands from the market and our government.
January 2015
In this article the Federated Farmers share-milkers section Chairman Neil Filer is reported to have said, "Survive the pay-out drought by going back to farming basics – and if you don't know how to farm the old fashioned low cost way, ask someone". He concludes by saying that "Grass is the cheapest feed".