Hort Talk with Mike Chapman HorticultureNZ CEO Waitrose supermarkets in the United Kingdom have announced that they will only sell UK farmed lamb as it is important to ‘invest in British agriculture’.  Waitrose...... Read More

Finance with Don Fraser Fraser Farm Finance I was inspired to write about loneliness after reading in the NZ Herald recently that living alone was less than ideal for most. Being socially connected and around people improved...... Read More

Beneath the surface with David Law Forward Farming The media tells us that a regenerative farming movement is sweeping the country. However, in early-December, two articles were published about regenerative farming that had...... Read More

Vet's vision with Phil Rennie Tauranga Vets   Heading: The threat of facial eczema outbreaks Clinical cases of facial eczema are now on the horizon here in the Bay of Plenty. With the onset of summer, and sporadic...... Read More

Fert Options with Robin Boom Agronomic Advisory Services I have often been asked over the years by farmers to help resolve and interpret soil test data taken by different fertiliser company representatives. Sometimes the laboratory...... Read More

Soil matters with Peter Burton Functional Fertiliser Ltd I recently read a report on the experience of a large dairy operation, where there was a 20 per cent reduction in pasture production Year 1 when changing from a conventional...... Read More

Outlook with Bill Webb Bill Webb Feed Solutions As I write this column in early-December things are starting to dry out. We only had about 30ml of rain in Tauranga for the month of November and 60ml at Paengaroa. It seems to...... Read More

Better soils with Brett Petersen Kiwi Fertiliser & Golden Bay Dolomite To get free nitrogen from the air where there are 74,000 tonnes above every hectare, the soil must have correct calcium and magnesium; available phosphate...... Read More

Better soils with Brett Petersen Kiwi Fertiliser & Golden Bay Dolomite About eight years ago MAF, Fonterra and the fertiliser co-ops started wasting $10m on nitrogen research. I don’t know how far they got, but if it needs...... Read More

Vet's vision with Phil Rennie Tauranga Vets Two quite different fly species produce most of the blowfly strike in New Zealand. Originally, it was the European Green Blowfly – more recently the Australian Green Blowfly...... Read More

Soil matters with Peter Burton Functional Fertiliser Ltd Change is inevitable, and we are entering an era of unprecedented change with currently-accepted farming practices under review with widespread reform already underway. Unfortunately,...... Read More

Beneath the surface with David Law Forward Farming It began 17 years ago with a passion, and a belief that more grass can be grown with less synthetic nitrogen. As a dairy farmer, I was using 150 units of synthetic nitrogen...... Read More

Hort Talk with Mike Chapman HorticultureNZ CEO We are facing a healthy food crisis in New Zealand – we don’t eat enough healthy food. A Ministry of Health study has found only 40 per cent of us are eating enough...... Read More

Todd Talks with Todd Muller National MP New Zealand is a country built on farming. Yes we are blessed with a benign climate, but the real reason we are the best food producer in the world is our people, and a tradition...... Read More

Finance with Don Fraser Fraser Farm Finance We were fortunate to study at agricultural college under a veterinarian, who’d describe trace element deficiencies in farm animals and then talk about the likely effects on humans. ...... Read More

Outlook with Bill Webb Bill Webb Feed Solutions The countdown till Christmas is on. Lamb prices are looking good, averaging $9 per kg, which is an all-time high; and bulls are just tipping over $6 per kg so the sheep and beef...... Read More

Fert Options with Robin Boom Agronomic Advisory Services Food production worldwide has grown by and large on a par with the increase in human population due to implementation of modern agricultural practices, some of which have...... Read More

Tony’s Take on avos with Tony Bradley Aongatete Avocados Ltd It’s important to get a ‘flush’, or you might call it the ‘spring growth’. This is because it carries next year’s flowers...... Read More

Soil matters with Peter Burton Functional Fertiliser Ltd The saying in the investment world: “You’re either a contrarian or a victim” could equally apply to the farming community. No-one I’ve spoken to...... Read More