Source: Radio New Zealand

Environmental lawyers say they remain concerned about the risks posed by glyphosate-based products, the most commonly used herbicide in Aotearoa, despite a rejection in the High Court.

Last week, the High Court dismissed the Environmental Law Initiative’s (ELI) challenge of the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) decision not to reassess glyphosate, the main ingredient in weedkillers like Roundup.

The court found the EPA was lawful in its decision, following ELI’s request for a reassessment of the chemical in September 2023.

The herbicidal ingredient was first introduced into Aotearoa in the 1970s, and has been commonly used by councils and others for weed management ever since, featuring in dozens of products sold in stores.

The ELI cited reports in its call for reassessment that showed negative effects of the chemical’s use on human health, including “probable” carcinogenic qualities, and to the environment.

It would be reviewing the judgement that was made on 17 October.

Director of legal and research Dr Matt Hall said it was not seeking a ban, but a full risk reassessment to ensure the proper precautions could be taken to protect people and the environment.

He said the group was still concerned that it had never undergone a comprehensive risk assessment.

“While we didn’t receive the key outcome we sought, we remain concerned that glyphosate and glyphosate-containing herbicides have never undergone a comprehensive risk assessment in Aotearoa New Zealand,” he said.

“Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the country, and we are amongst the most permissive regulators of it globally.”

However, the EPA’s manager of hazardous substances re-assessments, Dr Shaun Presow said glyphosate was probably one of the world’s most studied chemicals, but not all pieces of research were up to international standards of reliability and trust.

“Glyphosate is a very old chemical, so it’s not been reassessed under the current legislation, the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms or HSNO [Act],” he said.

“There hasn’t been any need to do a reassessment because we haven’t seen that new compelling information come through that would require us to have a look at those controls and to change them.”

Read more:

No fines or recalls for food with illegal levels of potentially harmful agrichemicals in last five years

Environmental group at odds with regulator over herbicide Roundup

Japan warns it will block NZ honey shipments if glyphosate limits breached

‘Safe to use’

He said the EPA considered glyphosate-based products safe to use, as long as people followed instructions to their use.

“We consider it safe to use as long as people read the label, follow the instructions, that’s the most important thing.

“And if anything new does come down the pipeline, then we’ll act as necessary.”

Since 1990, ACC accepted 395 claims for injuries involving Roundup, paying out $875,000, and a further 20 claims for glyphosate, paying a further $6241, RNZ reported in January.

It was banned in countries like Vietnam or heavily restricted in others, such as the European Union where it was prohibited on crops pre-harvest and banned for consumer use in Germany and France.

A reassessment was carried out in the European Union between 2019-2023, which found there was no scientific or legal justification for a ban.

However, the European Commission wanted more detailed data from authors of a report that suggested carcinogenicity of the chemical in its 2023 decision.

Presow said the EPA did not believe a consumer ban was warranted with the information available on it at this time.

“The finding of the court, the decision that was made stands, and so there’s no plan to look at glyphosate in the near future.”

Presow said users must read the label, wear personal protective gear like gloves and goggles and use it only during calm, dry weather.

EPA guidelines also urged users to keep the chemical away from streams, lakes, ponds, and far away from children and pets when it was being sprayed.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

This story has been updated to clarify the blueberries will not be genetically modified

The world’s largest variety of blueberry will soon be grown and sold in New Zealand.

Described as “up to the size of a ping-pong ball”, the blueberries are being planted in the Kerikeri and Waikato regions.

The Fresh Berry Company, which grows and markets berries, said it had partnered with international berry producer Driscoll’s.

General manager Simon Tallon said one of the monster Eterna variety berries, that was grown in Australia, is offically the largest blueberry in the world.

Tallon described the Eterna berry that made it into the Guiness Book of World Records as a good large blueberry that weighed 20.4 grams.

He said the imported blueberry stock was tested for pests and diseases by the Ministry for Primary Industries before being released to growers.

“Those then get taken through to tissue culture and our commercial nurseries where we grow them into commercial plants for our farms and external growers. The big push is always how do you get better berries, firmer berries, better shelf life and ultimately they have to be good tasting fruit.”

Simon Tallon expected a limited number of the monster-sized blueberies to be on some supermarket shelves later next year .

Meanwhile, he said The Fresh Berry Company was also starting its first berry farm in the South Island next year, in Nelson.

“All of our production is covered – in plastic tunnel houses apart from some of the blueberries that are exported.”

Tallon said there was likely to be a bumper crop of strawberries leading up to Christmas from its growers and farms in Hawke’s Bay, Waikato and Northland.

“We are expecting to have a pretty good volume this year so consumers can enjoy strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.”

He said $120 million of berries were sold in the country last year.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

There have been calls for a review of the warnings issued ahead of last week’s weather event which brought down hundreds of slips, closed dozens of central North Island roads, inundated farms and flooded homes.

An orange warning was issued, but the mayor of the Waitomo District and the Minister for Rural Communities are questioning whether that should have been upgraded.

Marokopa sheep and beef farmer Chris Lovell was docking lambs with his family and trying to get on with life when RNZ visited after near record rains swamped his property, leaving its best paddocks caked with suffocating silt.

“The river just came over the banks and just kept coming up and we were in the house which is on a hill and had to watch in dismay as it started to go over everything, over fences, over gateways.

“We’d moved the stock to safety the night before because we’re sort of used to heavy rain on the west coast but this was exceptional. It’s muddy water, it’s not nice, there’s lot’s of debris and as the water recedes it just gets worse and worse as you see the damage.”

He was afraid to leave the house to check on his stock at the height of the storm.

“I thought I should be doing something but I couldn’t get out. I wanted to check, you know like, the sheep. I wanted to check there was nothing stuck on islands, but I couldn’t get out myself.

“Several times I started to wade out to see in the driveway and I decided it would be silly to even try.”

Minister concerned

Minister for Rural Communities Mark Patterson was visiting the Waitomo District with mayor John Roberston and Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger.

He wanted to gauge the scale of the damage caused by a weather event he believed had flown under the radar.

“What’s happened is there’s widespread isolated pockets where it’s really badly impacted and I think where we are here you can see some fairly widespread damage, $50,000 to $60,000 worth according to the farmers, and if you replicate that around the rest of the province it mounts up.”

Patterson said he would be reporting to his colleagues in Wellington about whether a Mayoral Relief Fund was necessary and he was expecting NZ Transport Agency to step up in terms of repairing the ruined roads.

A farmer himself, the minister was not convinced farmers had enough warning about how severe the weather was likely to be.

“There will be some questions asked of MetService. How they missed this 50mm to 70mm forecast over 200mm delivered in some places, so we’re going to have a pretty thorough review about why they missed this.

“You know, is it a systematic problem, do we need better rain radars like we have invested in Tasman subsequently, so those questions need to be asked.”

It should have been red – mayor

Waitomo mayor John Robertson was on the same page as the Minister.

“Yes, so it was an orange warning and it should’ve been a red warning. Clearly they were severe storms. When we get 150mm in 24 hours of rain, for this district that is huge, that is a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours.”

Chris Lovell was a bit more forgiving.

“The warning system was on yellow, which is just a warning, and it wasn’t raised to orange until the morning when we already had water going over our fences by then, but the radar and the forecast, the three-day forecast, didn’t look good and living here we like to sleep at night, so we take our stock off the flats if there’s a chance.”

He said as long as the three-day forecast map was available and the rain radar was working farmers could see if they were going to be in the red zone.

MetService chief meteorologist Chris Noble said it was was standard practice for all severe weather warnings it issued to be recorded and reviewed through an internal post-event verification process.

“This process includes an assessment of the model forecasts that were available prior to the event (that informed the pre-event warnings), reviews the Watches and Warnings that were issued, and assesses the rainfall that occurred against what was forecast (timings, amounts etc.).

“Where relevant it also includes working with affected councils and/or Civil Defence groups.”

Noble said the review would take time to complete, “but any lessons learned would contribute to, and improve where relevant, MetService’s processes and the severe weather warning system and its outputs”.

Meanwhile, the rural community was rallying around helping farmers get back on their feet.

Adrian Marsh was with a group of shearers clearing fences on the Marokopa to Awakino road.

“Well, we’ve got the fence line for the farms, for their paddocks and it’s covered in, you know, logs, sticks, grass, you name it, and we’ve just come out to clean up and tidy it up a bit.”

He said it was a quiet time for shearers so he and his mates were happy to help out the farmers with the unexpected and unwanted extra work.

Beyond the fence line the paddock was caked in mud and silt.

‘Pretty scary’

Barbara Kuriger, also a farmer, knew that was bad news for Lovell and his neighbours.

“The grass just rots, so you can see that’s setting and it’s going to go completely hard and it’s going to need to be reploughed up and planted again because that’s never going to grow again. It won’t come through the silt, weeds might, but the grass is going to need resowing.

“There were lots of slips along the road but out here you can see it’s taken the brunt of it. When you look at what’s been pulled off the fences here you can just imagine how high that water was. It would’ve been pretty scary the other day.”

She would be working with Robertson and Patterson to see what help they could get the farmers.

Robertson said, while here had been a lot of focus on the five state highways closed during the weather event and its aftermath, 30 local Waitomo roads had been closed at one stage and were severely damaged.

He was hoping for a helping had from NZTA to repair those including the Marokopa to Awakino road which had been reduced to rubble in places.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A rural land agent has allayed fears a significant Hawke’s Bay farm will be planted in pine trees.

The Riverbank Station owned by former All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock and his wife Hannah is on the market.

The flat, rolling and steep 833 hectare sheep and beef farm at Rissington is northwest of Napier, near the rural village of Puketapu.

The sale has attracted plenty of attention with many on social media raising concerns it may be targeted as a forestry conversion for carbon credits.

Bayleys agent Tony Rasmussen said it was likely rising red meat returns will keep the property in productive farmland.

“Largely, the numbers should stack up better for sheep and beef farming with the current returns we’re getting,” Rasmussen said.

The government has introduced legislation to restrict farms going to forestry.

The recent Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) amendment bill restricts large-scale conversions of high and medium rated productive farmland (Land Use Capability classes 1-6) to exotic forestry.

“The carbon price has been the main driver of farm conversions,” Rasmussen said.

“Now effectively the party can only get 25 percent of the land area registered in the ETS and that changes the equation significantly.”

Rasmussen isn’t expecting an international buyer to take the Whitelocks’ farm out of New Zealand hands either.

“It’s received a good level of interest, not necessarily from the overseas space.

“It’s highly likely it will be a New Zealand purchaser.”

Enquiries have been been strong from local buyers and from outside the region.

“It’s 27km from the Napier Airport with a lovely easy contour and the nice climate we have here in Hawke’s Bay,” Rasmussen said.

“This is truly a trophy farm that has seen significant capital investment.”

Tenders close on 12 November. The farm on five titles was purchased for $8.5 million eight years ago. It has an RV of $15.3m.

The property includes three dwellings and shearers’ quarters with over 40km of new fencing, steel cattle yards and new sheep yards.

It’s bound by the Mangaone River which is known for its excellent trout fishing.

Whitelock who was capped in more than 150 test matches is returning to his farming roots in Manawatū.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tens of millions of dollars worth of irrigation equipment is thought to have been damaged by strong winds in North Canterbury.

Thursday’s gales tossed and twisted hundreds of massive pivot irrigators, leaving Amuri Basin farmers with weeks or months-long waits for replacement parts from overseas.

Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Bex Green said she understood more than 700 pivot spans had been damaged in the region.

“At $30,000 a span, that’s quite a lot of money, as you can imagine – over $20 million – getting parts could take a lengthy amount of time. I’ve heard November at the earliest, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re waiting until next year,” she said.

“Our big pivot is 13 spans, our first seven are fine then we have three down after that. The final three are fine but we can’t use those, so we’ve essentially lost half of our pivot and could be waiting ages to water that part of the farm.”

Some of the costly equipment would be uninsured, Green said.

“Some people actually can’t get insurance, they’ve had their pivots turn over too many times and companies won’t insure them anymore.”

Green said there were no alternatives for watering in most cases, and the situation was particularly grave heading into the dry season.

“For us, that’s 80 to 100 hectares that won’t get watered and won’t grow any grass. We’ll have no option but to bring in bought feed.

“It’s a huge concern coming into the summer period when it gets really dry up here and obviously with the winds that we get, it dries out really fast.”

She said some farmers had lost 10 span pivots, affecting huge areas, and farmers were facing difficult choices that were complicated by uncertainties about repair timeframes.

“Do you reduce your cows, send them off to another farm that can feed them and compromise your production? Or do you try and put other feed in so they can do somewhat better, and put them on once-a-day [milking]?” she said.

“We’re all trying to figure it out, but don’t have a timespan for when those pivots are going to get here. We’re all just waiting for information.”

Green had heard from a lot of stressed, exhausted farmers and expected there would be a significant impact on production, with some already going to once a day milking, which would normally start in the new year.

“Farmers are going to be quite stressed worrying about feed input then not being able to water those parts of the farm. It’s going to be a long summer,” she said.

Other priorities were ensuring farms were stockproofed, getting stock water, clearing trees from fences and getting reliable power back on.

Insurance claims from last week’s wild weather had already topped $10 million and were expected to climb even further.

FMG, the country’s largest rural insurer, had received more than 900 weather-related claims by the weekend, half of which were from Southland and Otago.

Spokesperson Jacqui McIntosh said farmers had made claims for damaged roofs, farm buildings, fencing and irrigators.

“We’re still in the early days of this and expect those numbers to rise once the state of emergencies lift and utilities are restored,” she said.

McIntosh said the company was working closely with irrigation repair companies and expected a fairly lengthy repair and recovery process.

“Obviously it’s been a large event from an irrigator perspective, so there will be a tail on the time it will take to get those up and running again,” she said.

Federated Farmers was working with the Rural Support Trust, Irrigation NZ, Dairy NZ, Fonterra, and the Ministry for Primary Industries as part of the Canterbury Rural Advisory Group, which was sharing information from the ground and providing updates Green could take back to farmers.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A first responder and local farmer believes it’s a miracle no one was hurt in the devastating storm that hit Clutha, but he’s warning there will be injuries in the clean up.

At its peak, communications, power and water were off across Southland and Clutha creating a nightmare situation for farmers.

One of those living in the nightmare is Clutha Valley Volunteer Fire Brigade chief Richard Hunter.

While driving round the property he points out the powerlines that lead to nowhere, just laying like a dead snake in the grass.

It’s snapped off from the transformer that is now crushed beneath the 100 year old trees.

Hunter has hundreds of trees like this around his property.

When he looks at the mountain of work those downed trees mean for him… “Overwhelmed. Daunting, yeah, wondering where to start.”

He’s just one of the local farmers staring down the barrel of months of work. The scale of destruction in this area means you can’t drive 100 metres without seeing a giant tree down.

The first step for most of them is stock proofing – or reinstalling the fences – for Hunter, kilometres needing replacing.

“Yeah, so there’s big holes in all the tree blocks. Really, it’s the tree devastation that’s the main thing for me now, and the fencing,”

“It’s amazing what a digger can do in a day, though… move the trees, you know. Tidy up the old fence and so you got somewhere to work with.”

But as he drives around the hilly property covered in carnage, the thing he kept saying was it was a miracle that no one got hurt on Thursday.

Although he said the recovery might be a different story.

“That’s the other thing. It’s, you know, there’s all those, we call them widowmakers, hanging up in the trees.”

Many of the trees have snapped halfway up, and are now caught in the tall branches waiting to come down.

Richard Hunter was also concerned for the ‘chainsaw cowboys’ who try and do it themselves and will end up hurt.

The other worry, he said, is mental health.

“It’s going to be quite a major it’s going to be ongoing, like we were shaping up to have be having quite a good season…prices are quite good, weather conditions were quite good, yeah, but this is a bit of a game changer, but we’ll get over it. Yeah, it’s not, it’s not going to be the end of the world.”

But the community through Clutha Valley is a tight network, in the immediate aftermath held together largely by the local sparky company.

Jared Cowley and his team worked for more than 20 hours straight getting generators between the dairy farms to ensure they could all get their milking done.

“I actually counted the phone calls just on the Thursday, and it was over 300 so yeah.”

His team would bring the generator into the farm, wire it into the switchboard, wait for the milking to be done, before unwiring it and moving to the next desperate farmer.

“The boys have been going from stupid o’clock, four o’clock in the morning, till after midnight.”

“Obviously people would like to keep the generator there for more, because when we take it away, it means there’s no stock water. But they’ve known that their neighbors was in the same or worse boat.

“Everyone’s been great.”

One of those very grateful dairy farmers was Greg Foster.

He’s got 600 hectares in Rongohere … or as he calls it “out in the boonies in the back of Clydevale”.

He also went on a mission to get generators.

“Basically one of the cobbers down the road. He needed a generator… We basically got together, met down the road…he took a tractor so we could push all the trees off the way… we took three chainsaws.

“The guys up in Cromwell met us halfway with them… we swapped the generators over halfway and headed back.

“So I think we’re up and running on the first cow shed by midnight.

“It’s bloody good.”

He said it was a desperate time for farmers, but comparing horror stories over a pint and a good old stew helped ease the pain.

“[We talked about] just the carnage, basically, who’s worse off and who needed a hand still and stuff like that… and just probably the first hot meal for about four days.”

Most of Clutha Valley were still without power on Tuesday but aside from some stock losses and sleepless nights they had committed to continue as they started – riding out the long tail of this storm together.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rural nurses are on a mission to try and lift measle vaccination rates in hard to reach areas, as health experts expect the outbreak to grow.

There are currently 11 known measles cases throughout the country, and the number of close contacts is about 2000.

Central Hawke’s Bay registered nurse Michelle Reinhardt works for Te Ara Waiora in Waipukurau, a free nurse-led kaupapa Māori hauora clinic.

She told RNZ the current outbreak was concerning, and they were trying hard to lift vaccine rates.

“There is hesitancy still, but it’s just about getting the word out there to people and it slowly starts to grow.

“Just make sure you’re vaccinated – it’s really important,” she said.

Only 72 percent of Māori under five years old are vaccinated, compared with 82 percent across the general population.

Reinhardt and her nursing colleagues drive all over the rural district providing mobile vaccination clinics and even house visits for people who can’t travel or don’t have a car.

“It’s something we are trying really hard to educate people on, to let people make educated decisions on being vaccinated.

“It’s important to talk to your health professionals… and make that decision for yourself so that information is all correct and not based on hearsay, or what we see on social media,” she said.

Reinhardt was working as a paediatric nurse during the previous measles outbreak in 2019.

“That last wave of measles was scary and I did see parents saying they wish they’d known earlier.. that they were susceptible.. and they wish they’d done something about it earlier,” she said.

Vaccine mistrust

Māori GP Doctor Nina Bevin said she was worried about the low vaccination rates

Dr Bevin said despite years of hard mahi from the health sector, there was still some mistrust in pockets of communities.

“I’m really concerned about the current measles outbreak because it’s coming at a time when we’ve got our lowest coverage of immunisation for our tamariki.

“It means we are very vulnerable to a large outbreak,” she said.

Dr Bevin is encouraging people to not only get immunised, but also consider a ‘top up’ measles vaccine, because public health records “haven’t always been perfect”.

“The measles vaccine is highly safe and it’s highly effective. If you’re not sure of your vaccination status check the Te Whatu Ora website, call your GP and check in.

“Sometimes the best thing is to go and get the top up because it’s really safe to have 3 or 4 doses of MMR, it won’t cause any harmful effects,” she said.

Thousands of vunerable children

Measles is so infectious, it requires an immunity rate of at least 95 percent in the community to prevent spread. This is driving concerns about its spread, because of New Zealand’s lower vaccination rate.

Professor Michael Baker said he was worried because measles transmission was occurring and some cases weren’t linked to overseas visits, and this situation was combined with low immunisation rates.

“Those two situations in combination means we are looking at the beginning of a measles epidemic unless we act very rapidly.”

He said there were tens of thousands of children vulnerable to the highly infectious virus.

It comes as parents and caregivers of Wellington high school students are worried by the current outbreak, with thousands of close contacts identified and students in isolation.

One case is linked to overseas travel, and seven are linked to a Bluebridge ferry crossing on 3 October.

There are four cases in Wellington, one in Northland, two in Auckland, one in Taranaki, two in Manawatū and one in Nelson.

Wellington’s locations of interest include Metlink bus 736 journeys on the mornings of 13 and 15 October, VTNZ Thorndon on those same afternoons, and a Thai restaurant in Karori on the evening of 15 Wednesday.

Incoming mayor urges ‘ basic precautions’

Wellington’s incoming mayor Andrew Little is urging residents to take “basic precautions” against measles, with hundreds of people already exposed to the virus.

Little, a former Health minister, said mask-wearing could help stop transmission of the virus, which is spread by droplets from coughing and sneezing, and can linger in the air for up to two hours.

“People have to be really careful,” he said. “People in big public spaces or on buses, wear masks. This is contagious.”

New Zealand’s low immunisation rates had been “an issue” for the health system and successive governments for some time, he said.

“And that effort is going to be needed for some time to get a new generation vaccinated.

“But meanwhile, the contagion is out there and people just need to take those basic precautions.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

They used to be a regular sight on New Zealand’s roads and paddocks – the plodding, but magnificent Clydesdales.

The horses with the hobbit hooves helped tame the land in earlier times, ploughing wheatfields, carting lumber and carving out New Zealand’s infrastructure, but these dignified animals are now becoming a rare breed.

While they may have passed their ‘use-by’ date for some, their charm, ability and legacy have inspired others to save the breed from extinction – people like Susie Izard and daughter Cate Smith of Silverstream Clydesdales in Kimbell, South Canterbury.

It all started when Cate worked at historic Erewhon Station, where she discovered these gentle giants and fell for them.

The station has a large Clydesdale stud and they often still use ‘Clydies’ instead of machines to do the cultivating work and to tow wagons.

Suzie and Cate decided they would learn how to breed, with the one proviso – the horses had to pay for themselves, including vet bills and feed.

“I was the horsey one, not mum or dad, and I had normal horses, which now are the not normal ones,” Cate told Country Life.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Clydesdale Horse Society of New Zealand notes there are 750 registered Clydesdales in New Zealand and they are regarded as an “at risk” breed.

Cate said Clydesdales were the labradors of the horse world, because of their love of food, but she said their personalities made them most endearing.

According to their farrier, you have to keep an eye on Clydesdales, as they’re not sleeping – “they’re plotting”.

To illustrate, Susie told the story of Billy, who spent three years planning a raid on the food barrel.

“He had to wait until there was an open gate,” she said. “Race up the driveway round a corner, through the other side of the shed, through a man door, and tipped one of the food bins over and started eating.”

He had thought about it, made a plan and executed that plan over three years, and no doubt savoured every mouthful, she said.

Twenty-one year old Billy was quite the character and Cate described him as her mother’s one true love.

“Sorry, dad! He’s incredibly cheeky, loves whiskey, loves going into high country huts. He’s had about five shepherds lined up along his back and he’s hilarious.

“He’s not really a horse, he’s a person. He’s brilliant.”

One job that was a constant with six horses was picking up their poo.

“That’s a full-time job in itself,” Cate said. “Mum grew 150 pumpkins on it, just put them in the poo pile and away we went.”

They were also great to ride, something most people didn’t realise.

“It’s a bit like a lazy boy recliner chair, comfort wise, and they are beautiful pacers, because they’re very expressive,” Susie said.

“They have beautiful drops and canters, and they can cover the ground too, if you don’t let them be lazy, they can – they can really go. “

Basil was the first horse they bred and, at 18 hands, he was huge and had just turned four.

“He is like having a puppy around, such a darling, but very large,” Cate said.

She said she almost needed scaffolding to climb on him.

“I had to bail off him the other day on a ride and I couldn’t get back on, so I had to walk all the way home, get on, on the big mounting block and then carry on the ride.”

Susie appreciated the way Clydesdales were responsible for “breaking in” land by towing the sledges and wagons that picked up all the stones on the Canterbury Plains, and logging.

Clydesdales would carry children to school and pull the milk carts.

Their demise began between the world wars. Numbers dropped, because of mechanisation and the loss of so many in World War I, towing guns into warzones.

“They mean so much to us,” Susie said. “We really enjoy working for them, with them, even when it’s difficult.

“You still look at them and the things that we do and the adventures we have and the people we meet. I think it’s a lot about the people and the Clydesdale community.

“We love watching what goes on in the paddock. The dynamics are brilliant, the game playing the dysfunctional marriages, the whole thing.”

Susie said. at night, they had “parties”.

“We can hear them crashing around in the paddock, galloping and fighting, and carrying on. You know, you can see the slashes of footprints down the end of the paddock.

“At the end of the day, I love them to pieces. They are so special and I am very proud to have them.”

Learn more:

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The New Zealand economy is set to benefit from an estimated $4.5 billion increase in spending, should the sale of Fonterra’s consumer businesses go ahead.

ASB economists said the proposed sale of Fonterra’s Anchor and Mainland brands to France’s Lactalis was expected to deliver a tax-free capital return of about $3.2b to 8000 shareholding farms throughout New Zealand.

“The average return (to shareholders) would be around $392,000 if the sale goes ahead, and we estimate around 60 percent of shareholding farms could receive at least $200,000,” ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said.

“Some of that money will flow out into broader communities. It will help support on farm investment and all the contractors who are involved in that.”

However, there would also be a trickle-down effect of an estimated $4.5b of direct and indirect spending, once farmers set aside money to pay down debt and for long-term savings.

“This capital return would be a welcome tailwind for farmers, offering a timely boost to confidence and investment.

While it may not single-handedly drive a broader economic recovery, it strengthens the foundation for growth in key sectors.”

Rural communities as well as manufacturing, retail, accommodation, and real estate sectors were likely to directly benefit.

“While many farmers are likely to save or pay down debt to some extent, their investment in cost-saving upgrades and equipment is expected to indirectly lift demand in these sectors,” Tuffley said.

However, the sale was not a done deal, and had been strongly criticised by New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters.

The sale was still subject to shareholder farmer approval in a vote to be held later this month, as well as regulatory approval.

Tuffley said the sale offered opportunities and risks, including greater vulnerability to global trade shifts and changing consumer preferences, particularly in developed markets.

However, he said the timing of the sale coincided with a strong dairy sector with robust incomes.

Strong global demand and resilient commodity prices were expected to keep dairy farm profitability high in the year ahead, with rural areas generally outperforming urban centres.

The proposed sale also aligned with Fonterra’s strategy to shift back to a commodity focus.

“One key thing for everybody to bear in mind is we rely quite heavily on our export incomes,” Tuffley said adding the $4.22b sale price reflected the value of the consumer business built up over time.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Storm-hit farmers are tired, cold and cut off from communications
• More support hubs are being set up
• Rural Support Trust says focus is moving to human welfare

More than 200 dairy farms across Southland are still relying on generators to keep their cows milked, sometimes borrowing them from neighbours or moving them between sheds.

Rural Support Trust spokesperson Katrina Thomas said the immediate focus after the storm was on animal welfare: ensuring there were enough generators to get cows milked.

“But now we’ve actually moved to concentrating more on the humans. That’s due to the fatigue of the ongoing situation because there’s a minimum of 200 cowsheds out there that don’t have direct power.

“So you’ve got farmers fatigued because it’s been going on for a few days, they may not have had showers, proper meals or be looking themselves properly.”

Rural Support was working with the Emergency Management Southland welfare team to set up more support hubs.

“So they can at least go and have a shower, have some kai, connect with others and just do the laundry.”

Uncertainty causing stress

Trust deputy chair Georgette Wouda, who was also at the Emergency Management command centre today, said on top of the four or five welfare hubs already set up, they had identified about a dozen more locations across Southland, which needed help.

“Some houses have got fireplaces, so that’s fine. But a lot of the newer places have only got heatpumps, so they’re sitting in the dark, they’re cold, they need to charge up things,” she said.

“Within a 20km radius, you can have communities that are okay, they’ve got power back, and you can have another 5km down the road that haven’t got anything yet.

“They’re dotted all over the place, often on little side roads, right across the district.”

In addition to struggling with exhaustion, many farmers were also anxious about the health of their animals and about not knowing when they would have power again, Wouda said.

“It’s the uncertainty that’s so stressful.”

Communication ‘dead spots’

Thomas said the lines company PowerNet continued to do “an amazing job” in reconnecting properties, but some people faced an uncertain wait, complicated by communication problems.

“It’s not like a flood because at least people can drive around – in the urban areas, things are up and running – but we’ve still got these communication dead spots.”

Generators dropped off by Hercules had got many cellphone towers powered up, but lots were still down.

“So you can’t just pick up the phone and have a yarn. That’s why we’re encouraging people to check on their cousins, their neighbours.”

Those with generators had been able to plug in Starlinks and use apps like WhatsApp to communicate, she said.

“We were doing a lot of that on farm and with neighbours in the beginning.

“I was wondering if we could send a Facebook message or something to Elon Musk and ask him to move them over the bottom of New Zealand, please!”

According to a briefing this morning from Fonterra, about 30 percent of suppliers in Otago and Southland were still without mains power.

Thomas said some milk was still being dumped, but very little compared with straight after the storm.

“Three days ago, the tanker turned up to 42 sheds with milk; it was 32 yesterday and five this morning.

“Those that skipped a pick-up [because the milk did not meet the grade or for some other reason] was 150 three days ago, 86 yesterday and 39 today.”

Generators deployed across Southland

Emergency Management Southland is moving 31 generators around to support critical infrastructure, dairy sheds and community hubs.

Controller Vibhuti Chopra said power restoration was “progressing well”, with many rural properties reconnected and dairy operations returning to normal.

“Farmers across Southland have rallied together – sharing generators, opening their dairy sheds to neighbours, and ensuring animals are milked and watered through challenging conditions,” she said.

Most of the 31 generators being deployed by Emergency Management Southland in key locations had come from outside the region, but some had been shared locally, including one from Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

“In addition, there are many generators that were already here and are now in use by Southland District Council at their wastewater and drinking water plants and the milking companies to support their dairy farmers.”

Chopra said the authorities were grateful to those “communities who are supporting each other to get through”.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Conservationist Ben Banks spends a lot of his spare time trying to protect the Okorero -Thornton Lagoon wildlife reserve but it seems joyriders are just as much of a threat as the pests he’s trapping.

The lagoon and its surrounding sand dunes lie by the mouth of the Rangitāiki River in eastern Bay of Plenty and are home to some threatened species and rare vegetation.

The seven hectare reserve provides a protected breeding and feeding area for native birds, fish and invertebrates and is the only remaining wetland on the lower Rangitāiki River providing habitat for culturally and ecologically important whitebait species, according to Jesse Burt, the Department of Conservation’s Operations Advisor in the Whakatāne District.

DOC administers the reserve alongside Fish and Game.

Standing on a ridge above the lagoon, Banks explained how he had been setting traps in the area for more than a year and had caught 200 or so rats and mustelids.

“The apex numbers are kind of dropping off.

“We’re seeing little skinks appear, and their size has gone from being quite small and getting bigger really quickly, because there’s no mustelids predating them.”

But the unfettered access for vehicles was proving to be a huge challenge, he told Country Life.

On cue, a vehicle appeared revving as it gathered speed to climb the nearby dune, its occupants cheering on the driver.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

“I think this is conservation East Coast style at its best. Sometimes we find a few cars ending up here that get burnt out at the end of the weekend.”

He pointed to tracks crisscrossing the reserve. There were also evidence of people doing ‘doughnuts’ in the sand.

Banks would like to see a designated track for off-roaders.

“The coastal areas are so fragile, it’s pretty much like running a bulldozer through some of these areas.

“They’re just not getting a chance to recover at all so without any intervention or management, it’s likely to get worse over time.”

DOC said vehicle access within the reserve causing damage to dunes or flora and fauna is prohibited and enforceable by DOC.

In the past, it has tried to reduce off-roading damage by erecting fencing to block certain sections of the dunes from public access. However, it has been torn down by members of the public.

While the visitors have fun on the tracks, Banks points out the vegetation. He said a rare variety of kānuka is found here.

Volunteers have put in more native grasses and plants to help restore the area and protect the dunes.

“They’re just trying to get a hold in amongst all the tracks.”

He said recovery is difficult for the low dunes with young vegetation if they are being driven on.

The dunes are also a nesting spot for birds.

“[Driving is] currently being done all over the frontal dunes, and people are just going wherever they want.”

As the population increased along the coast, he was noticing more and more vehicles using it as a playground.

There was plenty of room for everyone to come and have fun and enjoy what the coastal reserve had to offer, but access needed to be managed, Banks said.

“It’s just a high ecological area, so it’s almost like everyone’s competing for the same space, which makes sense. It’s a beautiful spot.

“I don’t think it’s anything tricky or hard.”

DOC said anyone observing vehicles damaging dunes or disturbing wildlife in Okorero should call 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468) to report the incident in confidence.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

For many rural children, spring means calf club time – a much loved tradition where children raise a young farm animal and show them off for ribbons and prizes.

In the Waikato community of Pāterangi, Janet Macky’s calf club has been going for almost four decades.

The 67-year-old still remembers every child who had joined her club, and many stayed in touch.

She spoke to a photo taken almost 30 years ago.

“This young fella is [now working] on a big, big farm, absolutely awesome with stock, bloody hopeless with machinery. This lady, she is an architect over Tauranga way. She’s a nurse, married and got one child. And it’s really nice when the kids keep in touch, even if they call in out of the blue.”

Macky also remembers her first calf, when she was just five-years-old.

“I had this black woolly calf (crossbred). I called it woolly aphis. I won fifth for leading, which was a white velvet cloth ribbon. Calf chewed the end on it. And I can remember that clear as.”

It’s a common experience for country kids to raise their own calf, but Macky’s club means “townie” children from places like Te Awamutu can also join in.

Staci Wilson was one of them, and she still helps at the farm today. She said before joining the calf club, she had barely stepped foot on a farm.

“When I was a child and had a calf out here, every kid came lived in town, Janet opened it up for the kids at Pātarangi School to be able to have a calf. I moved back to the area as a mum, and we send our kids here because Janet gets them in line and they listen to her.”

“Because imagine trying to do this at home with your kid by themself, after a couple of weeks they get sick of it. But here it’s social, but it’s also they get to work really hard and it’s a bit more of a competition because they sort of look at their mate’s calf and go, Oh s**t, is mine a bit dirtier than theirs?”

The club is free to join, Macky said it’s a “social but serious” activity and it requires children to commit everyday after school and some weekends, for a few months.

The commitment is one that many children are happy to make.

Twelve-year-old Hamish Sexton has been coming to the club for six years.

He said his mother is allergic to animal fur so they cannot have pets, and he’s grateful for the opportunity Macky’s club provided him.

“It gives me responsibility and something else to love and an opportunity to have a pet.”

He’s starting the club by brushing his calf, Phoneix.

“So, I’m just brushing really hard to get all the hair out to come off because when the judges come down here (behind the forearms) and like push up, all the loose hair will come out.”

Staci Wilson’s son Loki Hanley is raising his fourth calf at Janet’s club and he still gets to see some of the bovines he helped raise.

“I’ve always just liked the Herefords and the different types of beef breeds. Last year, I had a calf called Danger Zone. She was a Jersey calf and she got a very bad infected ear. So I had to get a boy Hereford, Janet’s leftover calf. I ended up getting some pretty good ribbons. It’s name was Lasagna.”

At the club, the children learn about every aspect of their animal’s life.

Twelve-year-old Jade Guise told me everything about her calf, Toblerone.

“She was born on the 13th of July, and she is a Friesian Jersey crossbreed. And she drinks 4.5 litres of milk a day with water, grass, and hay. She’s had 5-in-1 vaccine, pour on for worms, and vex for Lepto. She can’t eat the whole avocado tree, rhododendron, and tutu trees.”

After about 40 years running her calf club, Macky is planning to retire and she hopes someone will take up the baton.

She’s loved seeing kids and calves growing up together.

“If a child’s got a little bit of a learning disability, especially those children, to see them grow with their calf it’s amazing. It changes them. The parents and the teachers have noticed the change in them.

“By doing something that they wouldn’t usually have the chance to do, they pick the calf, they name it, they teach it to lead, they groom it, we wash it before the group days. So they get really involved, and at the end when we let them go, there’s tears.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The first stage of the 67km Waimate Trail – Te Ara Waimatemate is nearing completion. It will pass through native forest, limestone rock formations, tussock tops, river flats and valleys.

It’s hoped the shared-use trail will be a world-class visitor experience that celebrates heritage and South Canterbury’s varied and spectacular scenery.

The aim is to open the full trail early next year and sponsors are being sought for an accompanying art project.

Cosmo Kentish-Barnes spoke to the trail’s project manager Jo Sutherland.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more:

• Find out more about the trail.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ever wondered about the origins of the ride-on mower or the humble pair of longjohns? Then Te Radar and Ruth Spencer have the book for you.

The couple have partnered with Harper Collins to publish their new book Kiwi Country: Rural New Zealand in 100 Objects.

It tells the stories of the often-overlooked items that make up the rural experience.

Spencer told Country Life she’d gained a new appreciation for such objects after learning more about their stories.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

The book’s 10 chapters explore 10 objects from different aspects of a traditional farm or homestead, including the paddock, orchard, livestock, shed, cowshed, creek, backblocks, smoko and the road.

The homestead covers things used inside the rural home like meat safes, mangles, dunnies and Aunt Daisy’s Book of Handy Hints.

The research was a lot of fun, Spencer said.

“It takes time but it’s wonderful discovering things. It’s kind of like gold mining. You turn up a nugget here or there and it takes you on a journey somewhere else.”

She said the objects chosen – by no means an exhaustive list – reflect changes to rural life and society more generally over time.

“There are some massive changes of course. We brought a lot of amazing innovation in.”

It also highlighted the resilience and adaptability of rural New Zealanders, she said.

The book is also quite personal, with the couple both weaving in memories and funny anecdotes of their own rural experiences.

Spencer drew heavily on the Blue Mountain sheep station’s shearers’ quarters den in Marlborough where she spent holidays as a child with her family.

“It was just kind of paradise for kids. There’s lots of that place in the book.”

She struggled to choose just one example to exemplify rural experience, emphasising it was not only a book about farms or just for farms.

“This is a book about the rural experience across the board – I mean people who go fishing on a wharf, who have been to a wild hot pool, these are people who have a ride-on mower, have a lifestyle block or just drive in the country and see an honesty box.

“It’s not just for people who have experience on farms. It’s for people who have experience in New Zealand – you’re never very far away from rural life in New Zealand.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The head of Fonterra says it has been difficult for its brands to compete in global markets after shareholders voted in support of the the sale of its major brands, including Mainland and Anchor, to French dairy giant Lactalis.

More than 88 percent of the votes cast at a special meeting backed the $4.2 billion sale to French dairy giant Lactalis.

The deal includes multi year contracts for Fonterra to supply Lactalis raw ingredients.

It is estimated farmer shareholders will get an average tax free payout of about $392,000.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters’ has strongly criticised the decision and threatened more regulation for Fonterra.

The sale to Lactalis is the final step in Fonterra’s transition to a slimmed-down New Zealand-based supplier of raw ingredients and high-value products to other manufacturers.

Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell told Morning Report they were up against multinationals in large countries that have greater populations and can get products out to markets quicker.

“We are sub-scale down here in the south Pacific and as a result [of] our small population, you’re always going to be hand-strung by what you can grow at.”

Hurrell said the consumer business is about seven percent of Fonterra’s total milk. He said the sale gives Fonterra the ability to put more of its milk into high-value ingredients.

“When you deal with multinationals that have very deep pockets and a global reach far beyond ours, and at the same time as they’re growing in certain markets, you grow with them,” he said.

“Yes, you’re not talking directly to the consumer on the supermarket shelf, but you are talking to multinationals that have a range of products in a range of categories, far beyond what we ever would have. It gives you better insight, I’d argue, in growing with companies that are growing faster then what we would ever grow at.

“For us, it’s about getting closer to those multinationals.”

Addressing concerns that Lactalis could cut Fonterra out of the deal in 10 years time for cheaper milk, Hurrell said it’s “simply not going to happen”.

“They’re not spending $4 billion on these brands to try and dumb them down, remove the good quality milk that we make in New Zealand and put some inferior pricing. You wouldn’t spend this kind of cash on these brands to do that to it.”

It is estimated the sale proceeds would be worth about $4.5b to the economy, with farmer shareholders receiving an average tax-free payout of about $392,000 if the sale went ahead.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

At 106 metres long and 30 metres wide and with room for up to 120 cows, the Livestock Improvement Corporation’s new methane research barn is the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

The multi-million dollar build is the latest in several programmes the farmer co-operative is leading to help reduce methane emissions.

Lactating dairy cows emissions could be cut by up to 5% of the government’s reset 2050 biogenic methane target of 14 – 24 percent below 2017 levels as a result of the research, according to estimates.

What is methane and why is it such a challenge for agriculture?

Country Life spoke to LIC’s senior scientist Dr Lorna McNaughton to learn more.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

Methane is produced by bugs in the rumen digesting plant matter. The rumen is the largest of the four-chambered stomach in ruminant animals like cows and sheep.

“Contrary to popular belief most of the methane is in the cows’ breath,” Dr McNaughton explained.

Though it has a shorter life than carbon dioxide, methane is “more potent”.

The greenhouse gas accounts for more than 70 percent of New Zealand’s agriculture emissions and 43 percent of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Since 2020, Dr McNaughton has been working to see if there is genetic variation in how much methane an animal produces, and if so, how that can be exploited to create “more climate-friendly cattle”.

The work to date has largely focused on methane traits in bulls – all of LIC’s Jersey, Holstein-Friesian and Holstein-Friesian-Jersey-cross bulls get measured.

“There’s usually as much variation within a breed as between breeds.”

The “early stage research” focused on measuring how much methane they emit.

“We have a nifty little machine called the green feed. It’s like a giant fan on wheels and it’s also got a big treat box on top of it.”

Animals put their head in and their EID (Electronic Identification) tag is read – if they haven’t eaten in a while, it will drop feed for them to eat and measure the amount of methane in their breath over a three to five minute period.

Animals are allowed to visit five times a day and the data is then collated and averaged.

“It’s really important we measure the feed intake alongside methane because a lot of the variation in methane is just how much they eat. We want to make sure that by selecting for lower methane we’re not selecting for animals that just don’t eat very much and therefore could have negative impacts on productivity.”

They’ve developed a “daughter population” of 400 heifers from these bulls, and have seen a difference in those from high- versus low-emitting bulls.

Dr McNaughton said they hope to know by late 2026 if they can release a methane breeding value.

“It’s looking very promising at this stage,” she said.

The research is now shifting to see if a low emitting animal is also a highly productive animal and if it impacts fertility.

The new barn will help by allowing the team to measure methane emissions from milking cows.

“Genetics is a big numbers game so we need to start investigating how we can get cow measurements.”

Earlier this month the government announced new, lower methane reduction targets of between 14 to 24 percent below the 2017 levels by 2050 – and dropped plans for a farmer emissions tax.

Dr McNaughton pointed to other tools being developed to help address methane emissions, including different feed types and commercial methane inhibitors.

“If genetics is an option it’s nice for the farmers in that they’re not having to make on-farm management changes. They’re probably going to be enough of them coming down the pipeline for other challenges.”

LIC has also been involved in work around breeding more heat-tolerant cows, after the “slick” mutation was discovered in a Caribbean-based beef breed named Senepol.

It gives cattle a short, sleek hair coat which significantly improves their heat tolerance.

“We know they’re more heat tolerant. On hot days they’re about half a degree to a degree cooler in terms of rumen temperature.”

Dr McNaughton said the challenge was trying to bring in the Senepol’s slick genes without bringing in the beef characteristics.

They hope to have slick genetics available for farmers in 2029.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Alastair Reeves’ father taught him that farmers can use genetics to solve problems.

The Waimai Valley farmer is carrying on the line of Romney sheep his father started breeding in the 1950s.

“They’re still here probably because they are fit for purpose. They suit our environment, they’re hardy, they produce meat, they produce wool and that’s essentially what’s paid the bills over the last six years so that’s a testament to the breeders that have gone before us,” he told Country Life.

But Reeves has also turned his eye to new sheep traits sought after by the modern farmer.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

He and his wife Ann run the 800-hectare farm, finishing bull beef and running a sheep genetics business. Their children are the fourth generation on this bit of whenua, north of Raglan.

“Dad had a huge focus on ezcema tolerance. He was one of the first breeders to start doing that.

“That was just an issue within Waikato and the Upper North Island, that’s just spreading down the country now.

“What we learned with the whole eczema trait is that genetics can actually solve problems.”

Another trait he’s begun breeding for is low methane – a greenhouse gas produced in the rumen, part of the four-chambered stomach of ruminant animals like sheep and cattle.

Reeves said methane emissions are a complex issue facing the sector.

“All I know as a geneticist is I’m here to produce the best genetics for my clients. I want those genetics to make them as profitable as they can receive.”

While methane reduction boluses and vaccines are in development, Reeves sees these as another ongoing expense for farmers.

Genetics is a “green way” of mitigating the impacts of methane, but one that he says takes time.

“If we can reduce the methane and at the same time improve the productivity of our livestock, that would be a really positive thing and so that’s what we’re trying to do.”

In 2020, Waimai Romney became one of the first flocks in New Zealand to methane test its rams, running 192 rams through AgResearch’s Portable Accumulation Chamber (PAC) trailer.

Since then, they’ve cut methane emissions by 3.2 percent while improving productivity.

Over the past 10 years, they’ve also been developing their own breed – the Waimai Charablack. It’s a mix of the French Charolais – which has good marbling and makes “lovely” eating – and the Hampshire, an “old traditional breed”.

They’ve focused on good growth as well as a good “marbled lamb product” equivalent to the “wagyu of lamb”. Alastair said this meant farmers could get premium prices, adding value to the same quantity of lambs.

Reeves said there had been a lot of changes on farm since his father and grandfather’s day.

It had been a tough couple of years for the sector, with farmland being converted to forestry putting pressure on rural communities, especially hill country and sheep farmers.

But there were positive signs too, with wool prices improving and strong global demand for protein, and in spite of the challenges, Reeves still loves what he does.

“It’s a phenomenal product. It’s grass-fed and the world wants it.”

Learn more:

• You can learn more about the farm here.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The big work table in Eketāhuna’s former 1800s-era school is laden with curiosities from the past – an old pair of lace-up boots, opera glasses, a threadbare red coat, a wooden coffee grinder.

Around it sit volunteers – brushing, waxing, sorting and puzzling as they delve into the town’s history and prepare displays for the town museum’s spring reopening.

Large new display cabinets and new blood have helped revitalise the establishment, which grew out of a private collection set up by the daughters of two of Eketāhuna’s original Scandinavian pioneers.

The northern European settlers’ story is told through items like the “very good” collection of saws and tools, according to volunteer Ian Day.

“Eketāhuna’s first business was timber, long before it was farming, and so you’ve got the broad axes and pieces like that that nowadays people just don’t know how to use.

“In those days, the men went out to cut timber, the women tried to run the farm as the land was cleared,” he told Country Life.

Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.

Eketāhuna – or Mellemskov, as it was called in the late 1800s – was part of a heavily forested area known as 70 Mile Bush which stretched from northern Wairarapa to Hawke’s Bay.

In the early 1870s, Scandinavians sailed from their homes with the promise of land in New Zealand if they helped to clear the bush and open the area for pastoral farming.

Many of them were skilled woodsmen, seen as hardy types, and suited for the daunting task.

Chris Petersen is descended from one of the original families, the Syversens. He and partner Bruce Laurence are now in the museum’s driving seat after retiring to the area following long careers in hospitality.

“From Covid, the museum hadn’t really reopened … partly due to lack of funding, but also lack of volunteers,” Laurence said.

They were invited to a meeting four years ago and left in charge of the whole collection.

“And what a job that’s been,” Petersen said.

“But anyway, we’ve enjoyed it, and it’s been a voyage of discoveries.”

One such discovery, a crudely made cot, looked like “a heap of old sticks”, he said, but is very likely an example of “Depression craft” – rough hand-made items for the home crafted out of necessity due to hard times in the 1930s.

“Most of rural New Zealand was just hanging on,” Day said.

“You just had to turn your hand to whatever you could do. And with that cot, they might have made it and tried to sell it, or they might have made it for for their family. They might have needed it.”

Before he retired, Day worked in small museums around New Zealand and in Australia. With his toolkit and knowledge, he is a valuable addition to the team.

“One of the reasons why I choose to work in small museums is because the treasures that you come across can be breathtaking.”

In a bigger place, with thousands and thousands of items, you wouldn’t get to see as much, he said.

“Here you can actually trace [them] back down through to the families, to the individual family members, and it often gives you a really good insight into the human dynamics of these small communities in the early days.

“You see it in very simple things like invoices from the local businesses, and you can actually trace the business through the years.”

But the challenges are numerous, not only lack of volunteers and skills, he said.

“Funding is always a major issue that’s combined with visitor numbers. A lot of these small museums, they struggle to get visitors. They think they’re doing well if they get, say, 30 people in a week.

“They’re just doing the best that they can.”

With costs like $100 per box to keep antique clothes in an acid-free environment, running a museum is not cheap.

“It’s one box per costume. We could do with at least 50 more,” Laurence said.

He said they had recently found a new volunteer who has the know-how to access the funding available.

There’s also the cost of refurbishing the building so that items stored within it stay fit for another century, Petersen added.

Preserving the town’s history may not be quite as daunting as the tasks facing the Scandinavian pioneers, though, with new volunteers like Bridget Ferguson who was drawn to the building when she came to live in Eketāhuna last year.

“It’s just constant learning and it’s a treasure hunt. We all say that, and that is a lot of what this museum is about, being the keeper of the community’s stories.

“This is a place where I find connection and community.”

Learn more:

• Find out more about the Eketāhuna/Mellemskov Museum here.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Increased farmer confidence and spending has seen the country’s largest rural supply store, Farmlands, back in black.

In its annual results released last week, Farmlands reported a profit after tax of $2.8 million for 2025.

It comes after the co-operative reported a loss of $9.3m last year, with revenue down $68m.

Farmlands chief executive Tanya Houghton said it was an exciting development, driven by a number of factors.

“I’m very cognisant of the fact we are coming into a period of stronger commodity prices which means that in general the rural sector has more confidence than it had in 2023 and 2024 so that obviously plays an element.

“I think more importantly it is a reflection of the result we’re seeing from a really focused effort on delivering our strategy.”

She said it was a sign that strategic changes made were paying off.

“Getting back to profit is a major milestone for us. Our stronger balance sheet means we can continue making smart investments in the areas that are most important to farmers and growers; while continuing to drive down their input costs and building the resilience we need to handle whatever volatility may come our way.”

Houghton said having its own manufacturing sites and an integrated supply chain would enable farmers and growers to better manage running costs.

She said strategic investment had helped deliver this year’s strong financial result.

Last year, Farmlands purchased animal feed company SealesWinslow from Ballance Agri-Nutrients. Since then, production volumes have increased 20 percent.

“Farmlands now has direct ownership of a national manufacturing footprint in its animal nutrition business. This gives the co-operative greater control over product specifications and quality, and ensures a steady, reliable supply for our members, many of whom are also selling their products to us to be used in our nutrition lines,” Houghton said.

Energy was another area it had invested in through joint ventures Fern Energy and Farmland Flex – the largest purchaser of solar and batteries for commercial and industrial use in New Zealand.

“Our energy strategy gives farmers and growers new solutions for one of rural New Zealand’s highest costs – energy. They are an exciting development, and the numbers stack up. It’s all about putting the control back into the hands of our farmers and growers and putting more money back into their pockets too.”

Houghton said the focus was now on building on this year’s momentum and delivering a “consistent performance year after year”.

Farmlands will not be paying a distribution to shareholders this year.

Key numbers:

• $2.55b in turnover
• $847.3m in revenue
• $33.5m in operating EBITDA
• $2.8m net profit after tax
• $26.1m in operating cashflow

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Department of Conservation (DOC) is on the lookout for one of the world’s most endangered wetland birds, and asking local farmers and landowners to help.

The native kakī or black stilt birds mostly call Mackenzie Basin’s braided rivers and wetlands home, but conservation staff expected they could be on the move following the recent storms that affected South Island riverbeds.

Spring marked mating season for the endemic bird considered “nationally critical”, a DOC classification for birds considered the most severely threatened and facing an immediate high risk of extinction. It was a taonga species for Māori.

Kakī were vulnerable to habitat loss, changing or unseasonal weather and predators.

DOC asked farmers and the public to report any sightings of the black bird with notable red legs, that may be on the hunt for a new riverside home.

Recovery programme lead, Claudia Mischler said they were mostly found around the Mackenzie Basin, but had been spotted in South Canterbury’s Waimate and as far north as Marlborough.

“There’s a lot of time and energy that goes into trying to save this species,” she said.

“We’re only at about 150 adults in the wild at the moment, so there’s actually fewer kakī out there than there is kākāpō and Kiwi, so they are incredibly rare.”

Conservation staff would seek out kakī nests as part of the recovery programme, then take the eggs into captivity where they were incubated, hatched and later released from captive breeding aviaries, in efforts to protect the young against common predators, stoats, ferrets and hedgehogs.

Mischler said historically the birds had been forced onto farmland when rivers had flooded, as they always sought still water where they could find insects to eat.

“Anywhere there’s water that might last for a while is fair game, that includes just muddy, freshly ploughed paddocks or just paddocks with short grass.

“Basically you’re just looking for a very beautiful, totally black bird with a long bill and red pinky, long legs loitering around the edge of the water.”

She said finding them was not always easy.

“Sometimes it just feels like looking for a needle in a haystack when we’re out there trying to find these pairs in these nest, so the more eyes on the ground we have out there the more useful it is for us… they’re pretty special.”

Mackenzie locals were encouraged to keep an eye out for any leg tags on the birds, but any sightings would be welcome at twizel@doc.govt.nz.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Technology company Halter has replaced around 30 tall transmission towers vital to its virtual farm fencing systems, after they were knocked down by last week’s storms.

By Labour weekend, there were 70 South Island farms affected by disruptions to the virtual, fence-less systems for livestock, mostly in Canterbury, Southland and Otago.

The system works by cows wearing collars that took information like the animal’s location, temperature and weight, and sent it to nearby transmission towers – that were up to nearly 10 metres tall – so farmers could view and control the “breaks” or boundaries in the paddock from their cell phones.

Director of communications, Colin Espiner said it was working with the three remaining farms still experiencing connectivity issues, after repair crews got to work over the long weekend.

“We had around about 70 farms impacted in total, mostly in the South Island, and of those we probably lost around about 30 towers, just being smashed by the sheer force of the gusts of wind.

“We jumped in a couple of trucks in Auckland and drove all the way down to Southland with replacement gear for the farmers that have been impacted over the long weekend, and helped get them set back up again.”

The storm threw areas Canterbury, then Southland and Clutha into a state of emergency, as thousands lost power, slips cut off roads and highways, and many faced widespread damage from falling trees and buildings.

Was your farm affected? Let us know monique.steele@rnz.co.nz

Espiner confirmed outages did not result in virtual fences dropping out, and said there were multiple “fail safes” for when power and cell networks went down.

“When those things happen, the farms have the option of either just holding in place, so the cows remain within their virtual breaks – or if the farmer wants to move them, he or she can simply switch to manual mode and then he or she can move the cows the old fashioned way.”

He said it had been a “pretty wild spring”, so when there had been recent outages, the systems would switch to battery back-up mode so farming could continue as normal.

“So when the power goes out, the entire Halter system switches to battery mode, and we have battery backup for at least two to three days. So in most cases that can bring the farm through.”

Espiner said the data that was essential to farmers was in most cases automatically backed up for a certain amount of time after the system went down.

“We can hold their data for I think anything less than about 20 hours worth of outage, it doesn’t actually have a major impact.

“I’m pretty happy that we actually managed to get almost all of those farms back up within those 20 hours.”

Espiner said for those who had lost data, it may only be one heat lost, but its algorithms could help catch them up.

“So in most cases, farmers won’t have lost any crucial data from our mating systems.”

He said twelve farms in affected regions were mid-mating on the day of the storm, and 23 were scheduled to start in the next couple of weeks.

“In some parts of the country, it is mating season, and Halter obviously helps farmers know when the cows are going to be in the heat as well, so it’s really important for us to get the data back online for them really quickly because they need that data in order to spot when their accounts are going to be in heat and cycling.

“We really prioritised them because that data is just essential for them in order to make informed decisions about mating.”

More than 1,000 farms nationwide had Halter’s virtual fencing and pasture management systems in place.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

One week since a wind storm tore through the country’s south, some Clutha district farmers say the financial hit could be harsher than they originally feared.

Suzie Roy said after a week without power – trying to hold her stock in with kilometres of boundary fencing flattened by falling trees – she had learnt her insurance would only cover building damage.

“How we how we move forward, with 200 kilometres of fencing that needs doing, and 75 percent of our trees on 1600 acres down?” she said.

“It’s quite daunting looking at it at the moment when the damage is just fresh and it’s going to take months, well, years, to get everything done.”

Others were facing a similar hit.

Michaela and Phil Swanson said their farm, which had been “smashed”, would also need extensive – and unfunded – fence repairs.

“Unless you’ve got specific fencing insurance, they [the insurers] are not going to help. I mean, how many farmers know that you’ve got to do that?” Michaela Swanson said.

At community meetings, authorities stressed there was assistance available, including hardship grants from MSD and the Rural Women New Zealand adverse events fund.

Insurers urged farmers to take photos of the damage and lodge their claims as soon as possible.

Phil Swanson said the government needed to stump up more.

“We spend millions of dollars on catastrophes overseas. And there’s what, $150,000 in a mayoral relief fund. Which goes into what? Bureaucrats’ pockets? Cups of tea and biscuits? Where’s the help for our people, our nation?” he said.

This week, logging crews had been out in force across the Clutha district and were asking residents not to attempt to clear trees themselves.

Graham Hunter said he was concerned there were not enough people to get through the enormous workload, and believed the government should consider sending in extra crews.

At the current rate, he said, he was worried the trees he had grown for 30 years would rot where they lay before contractors could reach them.

He estimated they would take a month to clear.

“And that’s just on our place. How many people here [at this meeting]? Probably 200… so that’s the depth of it. Just so much work. It’s hard to see how it’s going to happen.”

Hunter said one week on from the storm, the adrenaline had worn off and he was beginning to face the fallout.

“It happened on Thursday, and Friday was horrible. Saturday was just a bit numb, totally numb. Every day that passes you make a wee bit of progress. Reality has sunk in now.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Retailers in rural New Zealand could be set for a boost if farmers vote on Thursday to go ahead with the sale of Fonterra’s consumer businesses to France’s Lactalis.

ASB economists earlier said the deal was expected to deliver a tax-free capital return of about $3.2 billion to 8000 shareholding farms throughout New Zealand.

“The average return (to shareholders) would be around $392,000 if the sale goes ahead, and we estimate around 60 percent of shareholding farms could receive at least $200,000,” ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said.

But what will they do with it?

Mike Jones, chief economist at BNZ, said the extra cash flow for farmers would give them options.

“I think we will see a mix of retiring debt, addressing deferred maintenance, probably having a good look at expansion, whether it’s extra land or herd size… and probably a bit of a smattering of discretionary spending in there as well. But overall I think it’s probably going to depend on the age and stage of the participants receiving the money.”

He said farmers were likely to be prudent. “It’s not going to all go on gold-plated utes and tractors.”

But he said, in combination with strong conditions in the primary export sector generally, it was likely to be a boost.

“We’re just starting to see some evidence of a little bit of extra spending and investment. If you look at things like farm sales, tractors, fertiliser imports, rural building consents, all of those areas are starting to show a little bit of growth just in the last two or three months, that wasn’t there before. You wouldn’t say things are roaring away by any means, but there’s definitely some growth that’s coming through. And I think kind of that in collaboration with lower interest rates doing their work as they do throughout the economy is certainly going to help us.”

He said a lot of the money was likely to stay in the regions.

Economist Cameron Bagrie said he expected more spending than debt repayment.

“If you look at the $3.2 billion, it’s going to get ploughed into the economy in some shape or form. That’s about 0.7 percent of GDP. So, if you’re talking about a sizable injection that’s going to hit rural New Zealand, then that will proliferate through to the city centres as well.”

He said tractor sales were already up 13 percent on a year earlier, and that sort of import activity helped boost port cities.

There were many factors working for farmers, he said, such as the lower New Zealand dollar, higher commodity prices and higher payout.

“It looks like the icing on the cake will be subject to approval, this $3.2 billion, which is going to get redeployed into farmers.”

He said there was more optimism in rural New Zealand than in other parts of the country. “Auckland in particular is really struggling.”

But Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said farmers were notoriously conservative about spending so it was likely many would prioritise debt repayment.

“It’s a capital payment effectively rather than an income payment, I’d expect them to probably be cognisant of that and any spending they do undertake is probably going to be more in that sort of capital area rather than rushing off down to the shops to buy a new lounge suite.”

But he said it would help lift activity. “Give it 12 months, 18 months, I think it does help add a bit of momentum to those provincial economies because some of that capex will flow through into more economic activity. But you’re pretty muted in the first instance and I think it will be selective spending.”

Kiernan said the provincial economy should help to improve New Zealand’s overall economic outlook into next year.

“We have been watching the trends in dairy prices and to a lesser extent, horticulture prices over the last probably four months now or so, and they just have been softening a bit. They’re still at good levels but there’s a little bit of caution around that.

“But the fact they’re still high does suggest to us that there will still be money flowing through the provinces.”

Corelogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said it was hard to say whether it would mean a boost for activity in the property market, such as in demand for holiday homes in areas adjacent to farming regions.

“I think some farmers are likely to buy property, but others will no doubt pay down some debt, or buy plant and equipment.

“I know anecdotally that farmers in Southland for example have currently got much bigger fish to fry in terms of ensuring consistent milk production without power, and any extra cash they might have may well go to storm clean-up.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Fonterra shareholders asked to approve $4.22b sale of consumer brands business Mainland Group
• France’s Lactalis to take ownership of well-known brands Mainland, Anchor
• Farmer shareholders in line for tax-free bonus, pump billions into economy
• Fonterra has multi-year contracts to supply Lactalis
• NZ First leader Winston Peters strongly critical of sale
• Meeting 10.30 AM, 30 October, result expected early afternoon

Fonterra’s farmer shareholders look set to approve the sale of the co-operative’s Mainland Group’s consumer brands business, giving themselves and ultimately the economy a multi-billion dollar payday.

The $4.22 billion sale to the world’s biggest dairy group, French-based Lactalis, was the final step in Fonterra’s transition from would-be global dairy giant in multiple markets, to a slimmed-down New Zealand-based supplier of raw ingredients and high-value products to other manufacturers.

The company pondered a share float of Mainland, but opted instead for what was likely to be a more lucrative trade sale to Lactalis.

Fonterra chair Peter Mcbride had no doubts about the sale.

“The Fonterra board is confident a sale to Lactalis is the highest value option for the Co-op, including over the long-term … [this] gives the board the confidence to unanimously recommend this divestment to shareholders for approval.”

Yes vote for a big pay day

ASB Bank estimated the sale proceeds would ultimately be worth about $4.5b to the economy, with farmer shareholders receiving an average tax-free payout of about $392,000 if the sale went ahead.

Forsyth Barr senior analyst Matt Montgomerie said there was strong support for the deal from shareholders, despite initial apprehension.

“I’ve been around the regions recently doing various presentations, and I think the feel we get is that the vote should pass, and should pass somewhat comfortably,” he said.

The chair of supplier organisation Fonterra’s Dairy Farmers Co-op, John Stevenson, said there had been many robust and emotional discussions about the future direction of Fonterra.

Stevenson said just one of 27 dairy farmers on the co-op’s council voted against selling off Mainland Group.

Among the concerns was a lack of detail about the long-term supply agreements with Lactalis, as well as an emotional appeal about the loss of famous New Zealand brands, including Mainland, Anchor, Kāpiti, and Fernleaf.

“Some of those (consumer) products are good brands because of the New Zealand grass-fed branding around the product,” Montgomerie said.

Because Fonterra produced a significant volume of milk, he said it would be hard for Lactalis to get supply elsewhere, while the broad agreement was along the lines of other large supply agreements.

Increases exposure to global demand

Those opposed to the sale were also concerned Fonterra would be more exposed to the ups and downs of global demand for ingredients.

“It does mean that they don’t have any significant levers to pull in the event of unforeseen circumstances, which in turn, I think means the board will take a more conservative approach to managing capital going forward,” Montgomerie said.

However, he said the potential growth in Fonterra’s Food Services and Ingredients business, particularly in Asia, could offset missed opportunities associated with the forecast future growth in the consumer business.

Fonterra had been allocating more milk away from the commoditised products offered on the global dairy trade, to earn higher returns on products, such as protein concentrates.

The backstory

Fonterra’s plan to sell Mainland followed a strategic review, led by chief executive Miles Hurrell, who was hired to turn the business around following a number of loss-making years.

Saddled with debt, underperforming overseas businesses, and volatile commodity markets, Hurrell oversaw the sale of foreign assets to bring down debt.

The result was the end of costly adventures in Brazil, Chile, China and elsewhere, as well cost-cutting and the sale of non-core assets, such as ice cream maker Tip Top.

Fonterra decided a simplified, stripped-down business was the best option for New Zealand’s dairy products.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the country’s most storied high-country stations is on the market.

Offers of $50 million or more are being sought for Mt Algidus Station, a 22,120-hectare property in the Southern Alps.

Author Mona Anderson lived on the property for 33 years, and detailed her time there in the book A River Rules My Life.

The station – secluded at the confluence of the Wilberforce, Rakaia and Mathias rivers near Canterbury’s Lake Coleridge – was also home to politician William Rolleston in the 1860s.

Sotheby’s International Realty sales associate Matt Finnigan said the vendors, who had lived there for two decades, had added a four-bedroom residence with living areas, a library, drawing room, office and pool cabana, as well as a two-bedroom flat.

The property also included a three-bedroom farmhouse for guest accommodation – with an additional out-house bedroom and standalone bedsit, along with a woolshed and sheep yards, the old shearers’ quarters and other dwellings.

“You very seldom find high country farms that have had this level of capital investment in terms of infrastructure and staff housing and industry farming improvements,” Finnigan said.

Sotheby’s was marketing the property domestically and internationally with an advertising campaign in The New York Times.

New Zealand buyers were still the primary audience, Finnigan said.

“If you look at the last seven years or so, [Overseas Investment Office] applications have been almost non-existent for such properties. What we have realised is actually there’s a large expat database there. You just need to look at our sales for that period – they’ve all been Kiwi or resident buyers.

“So advertising offshore, as we do with all our good real estate, captures that audience.”

The station was a working high-country farm with high stock units and a small permanent staff, Finnigan said. But he expected prospective buyers would be attracted by its history and lifestyle opportunities.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

WorkSafe is urging farmers to install crush protection or a rollover guard on quad bikes following another death in the Far North.

Emergency services were called to a rural property east of Broadwood, in North Hokianga, about 4pm on Thursday following a quad bike accident.

A man died at the scene.

Police, Broadwood Fire Brigade and St John Ambulance responded.

St John sent an ambulance and a rescue helicopter to the remote property.

A WorkSafe spokesman said an investigation was underway, and the agency “strongly recommended” farmers install a crush or rollover protection device on their quad bikes.

He said farm vehicle incidents were one of the top two causes of workplace deaths in New Zealand, which was why agriculture was a priority sector for WorkSafe.

WorkSafe data shows 79 people died in work-related quad bike accidents between 2006 and 2023, with eight of those fatalities in Northland. Waikato had the highest number of deaths, 17, of any region.

The majority of those occurred on farms.

Between 2010 and 2023 just under 700 people were seriously injured using quad bikes at work.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand