With so much change these days information is dating real fast. This has always happened but the speed seems to be picking up – and rural subdivision is getting harder. Don’t be under any illusion that the government reforms to the Resource...... Read More

New Zealand produces an abundance of food and exports 60 per cent of our fresh fruit and vegetables to other countries around the world. Horticulture is in a growth phase with export values growing 40 per cent for the two years from June 2014. There...... Read More

It looks like all of those warnings we’ve been hearing for at least 20 years about the impacts on weather of climate change have come true – and with vengeance. I said in the April column the weather had been weird, and it just got weirder....... Read More

We’ve had a month of mixed weather providing good results on days we could venture out. Starting off strongly we had a good hapuka trip out to Mayor Island with a group of lads from the Taranaki.  As we ventured out from the marina I...... Read More

With many growers recently completing avocado crop forecasts, the reality of the next avocado production volume is starting to hit in many orchards. We are seeing the end of a great season for volume and pricing returns. Congratulations to the exporters...... Read More

Utter despair – the the feeling when in the blink of an eye your whole life, plans and progress are turned upside down! I live in Hamilton now but the news of the flooding in my hometown of Edgecumbe struck an emotional cord. We have been there. Our...... Read More

It seems that the Government is happy to have very open borders, bringing in 70,000 people annually because it keeps growth in the economy. That is probably true, but there are some serious distortions appearing. I also appreciate that these figures...... Read More

Recently a farmer had contacted me boasting he had just applied a fine prilled lime product at 250kg/ha which he was told by the company selling it was the equivalent of applying 2.5 tonne/ha of standard agricultural lime and how this had saved him a...... Read More

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...... Read More

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...... Read More

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. Seventy-one per cent of those surveyed said they did. Interestingly, more...... Read More

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...... Read More

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? Everywhere in New Zealand there seems to be this Kiwi...... Read More

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...... Read More

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...... Read More

First we had traceability, then sustainability, threatening our ability to sell overseas. Now we’ve also got protectionism, whatever that turns out to mean. One thing it is bound to mean is our export products will have to stand up to whatever...... Read More

Soil carbon – you can build it or burn it – but it’s the very thing we rely on for our survival. Without it there is no plant growth as we know it, and as its being diminished less nutrient and moisture is available for plant uptake. Any...... Read More

Remember when we milked a house cow out in the paddock sitting on an old wooden stool using a stainless steel bucket jammed between our knees? And when walk-through cowsheds had that special smell and we cleaned up the yard by scooping the muck up with...... Read More

The link between the November Kaikoura earthquake and feed prices for North Island farmers might not be immediately obvious – but there is one, and it could prove costly. The ongoing harsh dry conditions throughout the country, not to mention the...... Read More