Comments for Agriblog

Comment on SFF upbeat despite half year loss by cjm

cjm — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:53:50 +0000

So SFF have kept up their market share? Really?

Comment on Govt considers issuing grazing rights by chris

chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:20:21 +0000

The big problem for myself and most of the public is having a reliable means of access for recreation. A classic example is cross country skiing particularly the back country, I am not talking about the racing and trail skiing that Wairau caters to. Otago has wonderful topography for this but during the 70’s and 80’s it was difficult to do back country skiing because virtually all of the usable lands (think the Old Man Old Woman Pisa’s etc) were locked up as private land and it was virtually impossible to get access particularly at short notice. It is not practical to finally have a good day and then try and get permission. Contrast that to the situation now when the public has reasonable access to the high country through series of range top reserves in central Otago and I might add they have a high rate of use. This ease of access is precisely why we prefer DOC ownership. Now I do admit that there is no reason I can see why recreational use and grazing can’t co-exist but that doesn’t seem to be on the agenda high country accord or federated farmers and until it is, I suspect you will be in for some tough sledding. Wouldn’t it be better to discuss and work with other users who have an interest in the high country rather than ignoring or dismissing everyone who happens to disagree with you.

Comment on Meat works cut hours as lamb numbers drop by green branz

green branz — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:20:03 +0000

Fed Farmer’s Conor English’s ambition to work more closely with Tourism is good to see. http://www.greenbranz.org

Comment on Sale of emaciated cows defended by jim

jim — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:40:22 +0000

Good information here. I enjoyed reading this and can’t wait for more. Keep up the good work.

Comment on Maori Trust buys 28 farms in the south by Richard

Richard — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:55:56 +0000

Would be very cautious about this. Rural News also has a report.
http://www.ruralnews.co.nz/Default.asp?task=article&subtask=show&item=18721&pageno=1

“Hapu representatives Wynn Murray and Australian ‘Maori’ activist Shane Wenzel initiated what it hopes will be the first wave of land acquisition. Wenzel no longer fronts the operation.”

Wenzel has an interesting recent past in property.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/david-fisher/news/article.cfm?a_id=191&objectid=10438057&pnum=1

And here.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/david-fisher/news/article.cfm?a_id=191&objectid=10438057&pnum=1

Enough said. Five minute search of Google reveals much.

Comment on Wise up to wool’s worth by Angela Morris

Angela Morris — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:43:58 +0000

As the designer of woolcool® insulated packaging and founder of The Wool Packaging Company, I was really interested to read this article and believe the tide may be turning in the UK. Recognising the natural cooling and insulation properties of wool, I designed woolcool® as a biodegradable and recyclable alternative to polystyrene and polyethylene insulated packaging for the perishable food sectors. In our first year, we sold around 50,000 woolcool® packaging boxes made from approximately 13,000 sheep’s fleeces but this is already on track to grow fivefold next year. We have orders in the pipeline for around 250,000 boxes which will need around 65,000 sheep fleeces, with one leading organic food retailer alone requiring around 10,000 woolcool® boxes per month. As a packaging designer, I’m passionate that wool is not only the way forward for insulated packaging in fresh and frozen food sectors, but also for new markets that I’m already working on, including pharmaceuticals and healthcare. More information at http://www.woolcool.co.uk.

Comment on National Bank Rural report for September by marcf

marcf — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 01:13:00 +0000

why doesnt anyone mention that the weather has changed considerably in the last 4 years.Colder winters and dryer the rest ,why do you think all this palm kernal is arriving.Look outside today ,early spring and it feels like late october

Comment on Top dressing pilot advocates chemical free by Hayden

Hayden — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:46:27 +0000

While I agree and practice alot of this article I have to point out that being a sheep farmer I constantly am acessing the stock on local organic farms. All I can say is that the lambs in my veiw rarely look healthy and I would find it hard to go totaly organic as I like to own healthy animals.I have already seen one complete organic disater which should have been a MAF case. The article states Cider vinegar costs $2 versus “$40″ for chemical drench, My lambs recieve an average 3 chemical drenchs per season which costs me no more than “$2″ dollars. Get your facts right!!

Comment on Dairy farmers win praise for clean up by Paul Gray

Paul Gray — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:24:12 +0000

It is very important for the food chain to allow animal excrement to be recycled.
Is it more than a coincidence that last year was an absolute disaster for Golden Bay scallops?

I built and ran a catch and release, fresh water fishery in the UK It was a huge success and the water was amazingly prolific – The secret? cow manure ! spread on the banks in the winter – (not in the water) so the rains washed the nutrients into the lakes to feed the zoo plankton ( small aquatic micro organisms) These are the base of the food chain and the secret to sustainability and a healthy abundant ecosystem.

Comment on US dairy subsidies to stay?? by robo28

robo28 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:58:02 +0000

time we let dairying go and moved back to sheep . Plus climate cooling so dairy uneconomic in places outside waikato and taranaki