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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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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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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The National Bank studies Fonterra’s proposed changes in capital structure, and looks at how new generation co-operatives( two UK and two NZ NGC’s)  have performed in the market.

They say it seems clear that the financial performance of a new generation co-operative needs to be very strong to support the price of a restricted share close to asset backing. The report shows that share price premiums/discounts over asset backing are quite variable between companies and for the same company over time.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FOA) wants a global livestock tax to reduce the contribution their flatulence makes to greenhouse gas emissions reports Rural News.

The FAO says urgent investments, major agricultural research efforts and robust governance are required to ensure the world’s livestock sector responds to a growing demand for animal products and at the same time contributes to poverty reduction, food security, environmental sustainability and human health. “The sector is consuming a large share of the world’s resources and is contributing a significant portion of global greenhouse gases emissions,” the FAO’s State of Food and Agriculture report says.

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Landcorp Farming, the country’s biggest farmer, has produced a narrowed half-year loss helped by higher milk prices and cost control reports Stuff. The SOE today revealed a net operating loss of $6.3 million for the six months to December. That compares to a loss of $10.3m in the same period of the previous year.

Landcorp said higher milk prices boosted dairy income by 16 percent to $39.1m. This helped offset a 19 percent fall, largely thanks to the strong New Zealand dollar, to $33.9m in returns to meat producers. Landcorp said it had managed expenditure “rigorously” with total expenses falling 14 percent to $72.2m, although some purchasing had been delayed until the second-half given price trends for the likes of  fertiliser and fuel.

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David Chapman, currently Professor of Pasture Science at the University of Melbourne, will join DairyNZ as a principal scientist midyear.  He will join DairyNZ as a principal scientist and lead the team responsible for developing more and better feed, and improving farm systems. David will be responsible for work nationwide and will be based on the Lincoln University campus, reflecting DairyNZ’s commitment to South Island dairy farming.

David, born in Geraldine, is a Lincoln graduate who started work with DSIR (now AgResearch), completing a PhD in the UK before moving to Australia in 1996. DairyNZ Chief Scientist Eric Hillerton said David’s return home brings key skills in pasture and grazing management, dairy forage production and development of pasture-based livestock systems to benefit all of New Zealand’s dairy farmers.

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A “stable” result from Fonterra’s online global auction was a good result, reports Paul Grave “globalDairyTrade“  manager. Most interest was on how the first sale of Skim milk powder would feature at auction, in a period where prices have appeared flat. But the result of an average price of US $2927 per tonne was in line with recent sales and reflected a stable price indication in the market.

 Buyers seem to focus on the short to medium term with their purchases. Whole milk powder bucked the recent weak trend in prices with a 0.8% ($25/t) rise in value to US$3218 but Anhydrous milk fat fell by 5.4% to US$3959 per tonne. The next auction will be held on April the 6th.

Researchers planning on launching a genetically-engineered “super-grass” by 2013 claim cows grazing on it will produce up to 20 percent more milk. The GE ryegrass – being developed in Australia for NZ seed company PGG Wrightson – has potential to make a huge difference to agriculture, according to the chief executive of the Australia’s Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre (MPBCRC), Glenn Tong.

Existing dairy farming pasture-grasses are mainly perennial ryegrass and tall fescue, but the perennial ryegrass grows best in temperate areas that are becoming warmer with climate change reports Stuff. Mr Tong told the ABC that the technology works to increase the carbohydrates or energy molecules in the grass, and the fodder will also be more digestible than existing ryegrass so the sheep and cows can access those energy molecules more easily.

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