Two controversial Canterbury irrigation schemes have come out winners in a competition for projects judged to have the potential to make $1 billion each in sales within 20 years reports Business Day. The $150 million Central Plains Water Enhancement Scheme (CPW), now a cut-down irrigation project after widespread community opposition, and the Hurunui Water Project, were judged as having big potential.

Together, the two want to irrigate more than 100,000 hectares of farmland in central and north Canterbury. They involve land acquisition and the construction of canals and a dam. The competition, which drew 18 entries, was the brainchild of University of Canterbury vice- chancellor Dr Rod Carr.

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Booming South Island milk production will prop up Fonterra’s national collection this year as the North Island wilts from lack of rain in the season’s home straight reports Business Day. The giant global dairy exporter, which collects 92 per cent of the country’s milk and earns 25 per cent of NZ’s export returns, said with the end of the 2009-10 season approaching, South Island milk production was 9 per cent up on last season, while the North Island was 1 per cent behind.

Overall, Fonterra suppliers’ national milk production is currently around 2 per cent ahead of last year’s 1.3 billion litres, said Fonterra general manager, milk supply, Tim Deane. But for some North Island dairy farmers hoping to use Fonterra’s projected $6-plus/kg milksolids payout this season to recover from previous drought and last year’s recession-squeezed payout, that overall 1 per cent North Island dip skates over some ugly figures.

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At 22, Clarence and Elise Stolte are the youngest winners of a regional sharemilker of the year title for at least 10 years. But they have a maturity beyond their years reports The Dom Post. In just two years as 25 per cent sharemilkers on a family-owned farm near Masterton, they have built up savings and assets of $150,000. Now they intend to take on a $650,000 loan and step up to 50 per cent sharemilking.

Their plan is to build assets of $1.8 million within 15 years so they can buy their own farm. They are quietly confident. “We’ve done our planning and we know how to get there,” Elise says. “We know there will be risks but we can manage them.” Their youth is not a factor, they say. “What’s age got to do with it,” Clarence says. “We don’t want to be categorised as ‘young’ sharemilkers, we want to be ‘excellent’ sharemilkers.”

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The benefits of a good winter feeding schedule that leads to ewes having better body conditions scores (BCS) at the start of lambing was highlighted at a field day last week reports The Southland Times. More than 200 farmers attended the Meat & Wool New Zealand Southern South Island sheep and beef council field day at the Woodlands research farm on Wednesday.

Dr David Stevens, of AgResearch, said it was clear poor winter feeding affected several aspects of production before, during and after lambing, and it was essential for good lamb growth, particularly multiples, to have ewes in good condition. “You’re no longer expecting one lamb and 5 kilograms of wool.”

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The Councils of Lincoln University and Telford Rural Polytechnic are exploring a future relationship that includes a proposal to merge the two institutions next year. This relationship supports a direction signalled by the Lincoln University Council to develop a model of strong collaboration in education and research to support land-based industries.

Lincoln University, New Zealand’s specialist land-based university, is shaping this model in line with two governmental intentions; to drive productivity growth and investment in the export sector and to give young people wider choices in education. This model is one of vertical integration to encompass all aspects of the agricultural and land-based sector provision and supply chain, from secondary school, sub-degree teaching to post-doctoral research, commercialisation and extension activities with industry.

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Two women directors have been elected to the Meat and Wool New Zealand board, displacing men already involved in the industry’s power structures reports Business Day. Kirsten Bryant, of Fordell, has been elected to represent the Western North Island ward and Anne Munro of Fairlie, to represent the Central South Island.

Mrs Bryant was elected with 9620 votes, beating Manawatu farmer Tony Gray (5879) for a seat in which Ron Frew did not seek re-election. The voting return percentage was only 25.25 percent, even though Mr Gray is Federated Farmers’ Manawatu/Rangitikei meat and fibre chairman. During campaigning Mrs Bryant said she was motivated to stand when farmers in her area told Agriculture Minister David Carter that hill country farming was on its last legs.

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A return to the days of many farms being converted to dairying is not expected, a leading rural financier says in The ODT. Rabobank senior protein analyst Hayley Moynihan said a more conservative approach by farmers, tighter credit and lower farm values would not see a return “to the heady days of new dairy conversions”.

However, milk prices would see most farmers return to cash profitability this year and, if expenditure was controlled, potentialprofits would be comparable to 2007-08, she said. Mrs Moynihan expected milk production to grow 2% this year due to herd expansion, feed supplements and moderate climatic conditions over most of the country.

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New Zealand’s traditional pasture-based farming system faces a conundrum, a leading scientist has warned. Pastoral Genomics scientist Michael Dunbier said we were no longer the world’s lowest-cost food producer, our pastoral system was a major contributor of greenhouse gases, and customers demanded proof that slogans such as clean and green had some validity reports The ODT.

The reality was the our farming systems were contributing methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere and nitrate pollution of the soil and waterways. “They are not satisfied with slogans such as free-range or pasture-fed. We need to look carefully at our systems overall,” he said. In addition, resources such as phosphate were being depleted and questions were being asked about the efficiency and sustainability of fertiliser use in general.

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It is technically autumn, but most of the country is still basking in summer. We are all feeling pretty pleased about that, but sheep and beef farmers’ grins are the widest reports Jon Morgan from the Dom Post. After three years of drought on the North Island’s east coast, its farmers are revelling in the greenness of their hills. And it’s the same all over – except for Northland, which is experiencing a drought for the first time in more than 10 years.

And even in Northland all is not lost. Farmers from further down the island are turning up at stock sales in Wellsford and Kaikohe to buy weaner steers at prices that will help lift sagging spirits. For dairy farmers, the joys of a green summer come mainly from less stress on their cows, although the slightly increased milk they are giving will mean a timely lift in profits in a high payout year. Fonterra reports milk flow is almost 2 per cent up on last year, despite the Northland drought, though a big contributor is the new South Island conversions.

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Textiles New Zealand has entered discussions with the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Animal Health Board to boost the number of possums commercially harvested for use in clothing manufacturing. The fur industry has criticised the departments in the past for limiting access to harvesting areas and poisoning animals, leaving them to die in the bush reports The NZ Herald.

Textiles New Zealand chief executive Elizabeth Tennet said there was the potential to increase the annual harvest from 1.7 million animals to more than 3 million – a move that would double the industry’s annual revenue to $200 million. The fur market was growing, both domestically and overseas, where possum fur was becoming more popular, she said.

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