Thieves after fuel targeted a vegetable stall and a mechanic’s workshop around the rural Southland township of Winton within a 12-hour period last week.

New Zealand Police are investigating if the two fuel theft reports on Great North Road on Wednesday evening and another, fewer than 10 minutes drive south on State Highway 6 on Thursday morning, were connected.

It came amid soaring fuel prices as a result of the US-Israel war in the Persian Gulf, with brent crude oil up to $109 USD a barrel on Friday.

Wilson’s Vege Stall co-owner David Wilson said an offender used a power drill to bore a hole in the vegetable truck’s fuel tank to collect its diesel.

“I got to work in the morning, and could smell the smell of diesel. They’d taken the diesel cap off,” he said.

“I had a look under, and all the diesel had poured out of the tank. They’d bored a hole in the bottom of the tank.”

Wilson said the shop’s security cameras picked up the offender arriving in their vehicle around 6.45am.

“This road is really busy with people going past at that time in the morning,” he said.

“We’re just hoping somebody’s seen them. Like, there are lights in front of the shop, so the lights would be shining on their vehicle as well, so they’ve been pretty brazen to have a go at it.”

Wilson said most of the diesel was spilled onto the ground in the car park.

He said the truck’s damaged fuel tank would have to be replaced, and he would likely have to seek insurance.

“That’s a real pain in the bum because now I’ve got to get the tank fixed.

“It’s the inconvenience.”

For the farm side of the business, Wilson said one of the ways they were working to conserve fuel was by doing shorter trips.

“But hey, it’s sort of disappointing when someone dumps your fuel on the ground.”

Wilson said a local mechanic experienced a similar theft recently too, where the vehicle’s fuel tank was drilled into.

Police confirmed it received another report of a fuel theft from a vehicle at a premises on Great North Road in Winton at 9.30pm on Wednesday evening.

“Enquiries are underway to determine if these incidents are connected,” acting sergeant Daniel Munro of Otautau said.

He said anyone with information could contact police on 105 quoting file number 260514/1519.

“If people have information or footage that may assist with our enquiries, we would appreciate hearing from them.”

Police said it was taking a hard line against fuel thefts and associated offences.

“Overall we are not noticing a particular change in rural fuel theft but this is a timely reminder for everyone, especially those in rural communities, to look at their security, especially around fuel.”

Wilson and his wife Kathy Wilson had ran the vegetable stall and farm shop for more than 35 years.

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

Making salmon babies is like mixing a potion.

You take some eggs, add milt, and stir them around in a bucket – at least, that’s how the Akaroa King Salmon hatchery team do it.

As simple as it sounds, getting spawning day right is crucial for the business, chief executive Stewart Hawthorn said.

“From this hatchery, we support 75 jobs, a turnover of more than $35 million; $20 million of that is export earnings for New Zealand.

“It’s critically important for us.”

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The Waiau hatchery was first set up in 1987, diverting water from the Rotherham Stream to support raising small fish.

“Originally the idea was that they’d grow, sort of, plate-sized salmon for people to buy and eat,” Hawthorn said.

It was purchased by Akaroa King Salmon in 2023, which now uses it to hatch eggs and raise fish to a smolt stage.

After that, the fish are transported to Akaroa Harbour and ocean-reared for 16 months

“They spawn in freshwater, so you have to start them in freshwater, and then you finish growing in the sea,” Hawthorn said, “So that’s what we replicate when we do it here.”

New technology at the hatchery ensures there are always fish in the tanks, like a water chilling system for egg storage.

“We can cool down the egg temperature. That means some of the eggs from this [spawn] will take a lot longer to develop… so we can spread out our harvests, effectively.”

Other additions help improve water quality and aeration, which help keep the fish calm.

This year, the hatchery is rolling out a special breeding programme, focused on increasing genetic diversity.

“Those are ‘families’ we are creating,” Hatchery Manager Hagen Kocksh said.

“We know the pedigree of those fish, and we have genotyped them, so we know [their] specific characteristics.

“Later on, we will focus on traits, genetic traits, like growth, resilience, temperature tolerance.”

Headed by the Cawthron Institute, the programme aims to build tastier fish and ensure there are King Salmon around to be eaten in the future.

Advanced technology helps in some ways – but when it comes to actually harvesting and fertilising eggs, human hands make light work.

Female fish are checked by hatchery staff for ‘ripeness’, or whether the eggs are loose and ready for release, by a feel of the belly.

Ripe fish are euthanised and the eggs released into a bucket, aided by some pressure from an air pump.

The male fish are essentially ‘milked’- given a light squeeze – to release their milt into individual containers.

And then, like a potion, the two are mixed together.

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Last year’s win of a prized trophy for Māori farmers is still sinking in for Northland farm trustee Wess Wetere.

“Having a million-dollar herd and having made a profit was something we looked forward to in five years, not three – none of us were really farmers.”

The farm, owned by the Whangaroa Ngaiotonga Trust, was awarded the Ahuwhenua Trophy in 2025 for its beef operation near the settlement of Whangaruru on a finger of land jutting out from Northland’s east coast.

“We knew what a cow was and a bull was, but we didn’t know whether we’re going to milk cows, whether we were going to do what the previous tenant did,” Wetere told Country Life during a tour of the farm.

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In 2020, with the help of a $900,000 Provincial Growth Fund grant, the trust turned a calving operation on a degraded block of land into a beef fattening farm running 950 young bulls on 350 hectares.

The 1100-hectare block also includes native and exotic forest and wetlands.

They were able to bring the land back from the brink, tidy it up by removing 60 hectares of gorse, setting up a 40-kilometre network of pipes to supply troughs and put in 57 kilometres of fencing.

It was the culmination of decades of alienation from the land for some 1300 Ngātiwai shareholders.

“We basically had no fertiliser for many years, there was only one or two troughs, the fencing was in poor state, gorse took up over a third of the farm,” Wetere said,

“It’s taken a lot to get the pasture quality up and control our gorse as well, but we’re getting there,” farm manager Matthew Payne said.

But just as the farm was rehabilitated, it was hit by a devastating deluge in January, a huge setback, but one Payne and his team have taken in their stride.

“It ripped out a lot of infrastructure, laneways, fences, water pumps, and we just got a lot of mud pulled out of swamps and blocked access ways to the farm.

“We had to do a lot of walking and a little bit of kayaking to shift cattle.”

Shifting cattle was a 40-minute job instead of five minutes “when we kind of didn’t have a lot of time”.

The farm was still recovering during Country Life’s visit in the autumn. Larger culverts had been installed and roads were being rebuilt with material from the on-farm quarry.

Payne said the new drains had helped the farm come through more heavy rain events over the past few months.

The team is aware climate challenges will not be going away but still sees “heaps of potential” for the whenua, Wetere said.

Aside from beef, horticulture and agritourism – such as mountain biking on the forest tracks – were some of the ideas being floated.

Analysis pointed to a more tropical environment, with even crops like mangoes a possibility, he said.

Learn more:

• Find out about the Ahuwhenua Trophy here

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A broken collarbone couldn’t stop Kiwi equestrian Tim Price from delivering one of his best-ever results, as he surged to silver at the Badminton Horse Trials.

In a remarkable finish on Monday (NZ time), Price climbed from 10th after the dressage on the opening day, to sixth in the cross country phase, before jumping clear to secure silver.

The experienced multiple Olympian credits his upbringing with his parents and two brothers on a Canterbury farm for sparking his interest in the global equestrian stage.

“We had a small horse stud, 50 acres odd in Oxford, and there were horses coming out our ears,” the 46-year-old, Price said.

“I was working with horses young and old, and it was very normal to be dealing with horses every day.”

At the family-run block, stallions were bred to mares, before the pony club, show jumping and eventing competitions shaped the direction of Price’s life.

The three-time Olympian calls England home where he’s found a special rural corner of countryside with his wife Jonelle, who also competes at the highest level in three-day eventing for New Zealand.

“Down here in Dorset we’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s a beautiful farm with an excellent equestrian facility, owned by a great man who puts a lot into this estate,” Price said.

Of the husband and wife duo, Jonelle was the first to wear the silver fern at the 2012 Olympics Games in London.

The eventing power couple have represented New Zealand together now at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

Price said his silver medal at Badminton is only just starting to sink in after a couple of days.

Before the event, he tried his best to keep his broken collarbone from a biking injury under wraps.

“It wasn’t something I really wanted to make public in the last few big events, so I just said I had a busted shoulder,” he said.

“Badminton has eluded me. It’s a very difficult event to win. It’s tricky to get the best out of your horse so early in the northern hemishpere season.”

“I was really happy with the result with Falco, he was just class all the way through.”

The 17-year-old gelding is a superb jumper, however only time will if he can compete at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“He’s now been second at one of the biggest five star events at Badminton, he was sixth at the Paris Olympics, he’s been a great horse, not just for me, but for New Zealand in teams.”

“He’s getting a little on the older side, in two years time is the Los Angeles Olympics – that might just be a little late in his career for him.”

Nonetheless, Price has his sights firmly set on the World Championships with Falco later this year in Aachen in Germany.

“Possibly Burghley in the autumn – just to show everyone how cool he is.”

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Remnant wetlands are hard to come by in Canterbury.

Since the mid-1800s, nearly 90 percent of the area’s original natural environment has been lost, according to [file:///C:/Users/asatya/Downloads/Ausseiletal2008WONIwetlands_All_Final.pdf a 2008 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare research paper.]

Environment Canterbury’s principal biodiversity advisor for wetlands, Jason Butt, said Canterbury experienced some of the highest levels of historic wetland loss, largely due to drainage and land use change.

So when Baden and Judith Sommerville found naturally seeded snow tussock and mānuka on their Springburn farm, they knew it was worth protecting.

“It used to be summer grazing when the family first took over this farm in 2013,” son Campbell Sommerville said, looking out over the now six-hectare wetland.

“Come springtime… you do get woken up by the birds before you get woken up by an alarm around here.”

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The wetland discovery began the first of many long-term restoration projects on Somerview Farm, continued by Campbell Sommerville and his fiancée Sonja Vreugdenhil today.

Planting streams, carrying out monthly water quality checks, and culling pests are routine for the pair.

Hares are a major issue, making light work of native shrubs which have been planted in the wetlands and around streams, Sommerville said.

“If one farm does a good hunt, and gets rid of a lot, they just come in from neighbouring farms.

“That’s why the catchment’s working so hard on pests.

“If everyone’s doing it around [us] we’re more likely to get on top of them, and [protect] the investment we’re putting into the natives and the wetlands.”

Will Wright added: “The possum doesn’t know that your farm ends there and starts there.”

He is the facilitator for the Ashburton Forks catchment group, a collective of farmers working to manage and improve the health of their waterways, like the Sommervilles and Vreugdenhil.

Formed in 2023, the 28 group members manage 11,000 hectares of land within the Forks area, Staveley and Alford Forest.

Among the jobs Wright does is trap-setting on properties and facilitating water quality tests, such as nitrate tests or eDNA (environmental DNA) tests, which discern which creatures are present in certain waterways.

He also helps connect farmers who are newer to restoration work with those who’ve been doing it for decades – like Mark and Jenny McDonald.

The pair own Red Cow Farm, a unique milking shorthorn and friesian operation on the north branch of the Ashburton River.

They’ve been planting out their property’s streams and wetlands with native flora since 2008.

“All this was gorse and broom; the whole stream was sort of clogged up with weeds,” Mark said.

“I’ve always been interested in native trees, and I love a project.”

With native seedlings not often found at the garden shop in 2008, Mark found himself wandering the foothills to source his own. Almost 20 years later, the stream bed takes care of itself.

“It’s just a really nice feeling when you come down here now, with things established.”

The McDonalds’ efforts have brought back some native wildlife: eels and Canterbury galaxiids have been spotted in the wetland, and fantails often flit around the planting.

“We haven’t got natives back here, apart from the fantails and warblers. I look forward to the day when we get tui and bellbirds and maybe wood pigeons.

“That’ll take time, but I’m sure it will happen.”

That will come with more planting and continued pest control – assisted by automatic traps he secured through the catchment.

“We’ve got a couple of grandkids now, and every time they come out to stay, we have to come down and check the traps to see if there’re any, what do they call them? Dirty rotten scoundrels.”

Over its three years, the catchment has culled around 6500 pests.

Massive progress, but for Mark McDonald, this restoration work is only the beginning of a long environmental journey – one that will outlast him, and be passed on to future generations.

“Right back at the start, I planted a matai down in amongst the willows there,” he said. “A matai has a juvenile stage of about 60 years.

“I’m not planting for our own satisfaction, it’s for the future.”

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

The government still intends to pass legislation to liberalise gene technology laws, but cross-party disagreement is slowing the controversial reform.

The Gene Technology Bill sought to end an effective 30-year ban on the use of genetic technologies outside the laboratory, currently regulated by the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO).

Transgenics and new breeding techniques like gene editing were currently legal in Aotearoa, but heavily regulated and kept within confined laboratory conditions.

The Bill, first proposed in late 2024, featured in the National party’s coalition agreements with both ACT and New Zealand First.

Last year, 15,000 people made public submissions on the bill, with most opposing it.

Following that, the Health Select Committee released its report in October, recommending that the bill proceeded, and it now rested with Cabinet ministers negotiating possible amendments.

It was originally intended that the legislation would be passed by the end of 2025.

But a date for its second reading was still unconfirmed, as the Bill stalled in the lead-up to the general election in November.

Such delays could be down to a lack of majority support to take the Bill to second reading, or the Parliamentary Counsel Office that drafted legislation might need extra time to develop complex changes being put forward.

Meanwhile, the new Leader of the House – National’s Louise Upston – said the government intended to progress all legislation on the Order Paper.

ACT supportive, but wants Māori committee scrapped

A spokesperson for the ACT Party said it saw real opportunity in liberalising gene technology.

“Modernising these laws would give our agricultural sector and scientists the tools they need to stay globally competitive,” they said.

But the party did not support the establishment of a Māori Technical Advisory Committee, as the bill proposed, around which discussions were ongoing.

“Our issue with the Bill as it stands is that it risks tying up that scientific and economic potential in co-governed bureaucracy.

“The Bill has not yet advanced to its second reading and it remains with Cabinet, where decisions on its progress or timeline will be made.”

Improvements to human, environmental protections needed – New Zealand First

As part of its coalition agreement with National, New Zealand First agreed to liberalise genetic engineering laws, while ensuring strong protections for human health and the environment.

The party said previously it would withhold support for the bill, unless major changes towards improving these protections were made.

Its office told RNZ the stance had not changed and it was still undertaking party consultation on it.

In November, party leader Winston Peters addressed hundreds of people on Parliament steps who gathered to oppose the Bill.

“What we’ve said is this Bill’s going nowhere unless we’re satisfied and we’re confident that it doesn’t represent any danger,” he told the crowd last year.

“Let me tell you, if the Bill can’t be fixed up, it won’t be going ahead.”

Bill proposes ‘rushed’ approach to risky outdoor uses – Labour

RNZ understands National had been in talks with Labour to try to come to some agreement.

Labour’s Reuben Davidson said while there was broad agreement that gene technology regulations were outdated, reform must carefully balance innovation with protection.

“This reform was an opportunity to modernise our framework in a way that strengthened New Zealand’s science system, honoured Māori perspectives, safeguarded our primary industries, and protected our international reputation.

“The Bill, in its current form, does not achieve that balance.”

Davidson said the Bill proposed a rushed approach, bundling together widely supported applications of gene science, like in medical research or industrial fermentation, with far riskier outdoor uses.

“If the government was functional, the Bill would have been passed already, but the coalition can’t agree on outcomes,” he said.

“Once again National have allowed internal bickering to get in the way of what they promised.”

The Green Party did not support what Steve Abel labelled as ‘radical de-regulation’ that risked the country’s GMO-free status marketed globally.

National says negotiations ongoing

Since the Bill was first introduced by then-Minister for Science Innovation and Technology, Judith Collins, the National-held portfolio had changed hands among ministers.

Minister Shane Reti took over the role, but with both he and Collins announcing their retirement from politics throughout 2026, incumbent minister Penny Simmonds now held the portfolio alongside Tertiary Education (and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment).

When asked a parliamentary question by the Greens last month, if amendments or changes were intended for the Bill, Simmonds said it was still under active consideration.

Simmonds told RNZ in a statement that negotiations were ongoing.

“Negotiations and subsequent policy changes as a result of the public select committee process, are ongoing,” she said.

“We’ll have more to say soon.”

GMO environmental release concerns organic farmers

Biotechnological benefits from reformed gene technology laws could include for plant and seed production, emissions mitigations and improved productivity, as touted by Collins.

But the reform would also bid farewell to New Zealand’s GMO-free status

Allowing field releases of GMOs into the environment caused concern among organic producers, a sector worth $1.2 billion – half of which are exports.

Hawkes Bay farmer Scott Lawson of Lawson’s True Earth Organics told a webinar held by industry group Organics Aotearoa New Zealand last month that New Zealanders were largely unaware of how vulnerable to sector was to the reform.

“People are aware of the organic industry, but they’re not aware of just how big we are, how important we are… and how vulnerable we are to the impact of something like this Gene Tech Bill. Because once released there is no containment, no co-existence.”

As it stood, an independent regulator would be set up within the Environmental Protection Authority to assess applications for using these technologies in the environment.

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

Dozens of deer heads adorned with antlers – some fresher than others and safely wrapped in plastic – line one side of the old mechanical depot in the central hub of the Pureora Forest Park, between Lake Taupō and Te Kuiti.

In keeping with the rules of the Pureora Hunting Competition, which has been running for nearly 40 years, all will have been shot as wild deer in the 77,000-hectare park, over a six-week period between mid-March and Anzac weekend.

It’s not necessarily about having the best or even ugliest head. Instead, it is the event itself – run by the Department of Conservation (DOC) – which is much more valuable.

“To my mind it’s been a popular and successful event – not necessarily huge numbers. It’s never been about reaching the most people … or the best head or biggest deer,” DOC principal ranger for Waitomo, Ray Scrimgeour told Country Life.

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Florist shops are buzzing in the lead-up to Mother’s Day this weekend, during a significant sales period in the floristry calendar.

The blooming sector, stretching from cut flower growers to transporters and florists, was preparing for the peak in demand ahead of Sunday.

So far, pink or autumnal bouquets with roses and chrysanthemums were most popular for the Botanical Nest florist in South Canterbury’s Timaru.

Co-owner Renee Ackroyd said Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day were always busy days in floristry, depending on the location, and there was good demand already.

“We’re finding this year a lot of people are still into those blush, pink tones. Autumn tones are really popular,” she said.

“Generally speaking, most people are in that traditional round, especially the clientele that I’ve noticed in the South Canterbury region. So that’s your roses, your chrysanthemums, your lillies, all your sweet wee flowers, like your tweedias.”

Just last month, Renee and her husband Nate Ackroyd took over the district’s longstanding florist business Bloomers, as industry stalwarts Cherilyn and Murray Kuperus headed into retirement.

Ackroyd said thanks to the previous owners’ great contacts and relationships, the business was able to continue buying directly from growers, who set their own prices.

But she said having to bid for flowers on the more expensive market floor could make the “value conversation” with customers a little difficult.

“It’s really hard because at the moment, prices increase over Mother’s Day. So what you would normally buy on the market floor, for us, will double or triple.

“So that’s why we sort of look at blooms that might be a bit fuller or longer lasting.”

She said sourcing high-quality flowers from all over New Zealand was key to ensuring customers got the best value for money.

“What we are trying to do is give the best quality to our clients, so that we can manage how value looks within that longer lasting longevity of blooms,” she said, “rather than coming and getting a cheap bunch of flowers, but taking them home and them dying in a couple of days.”

Ackroyd said so much work went into just one bouquet, including labour, time, product costs and maintaining freshness.

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When Blair Coates’ parents took a skinny dip in the river running through the family farm one hot summer’s day, little did they think it would inspire a skincare production line in the former cowshed.

“I can’t actually remember a time it wasn’t called Nudi Point, and it’s just always been a very, very special place,” Coates told Country Life.

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Coates called his range of serums, balms and other skincare products after the swimming hole because “my number one criteria for the range was that it was 100 percent natural.”

The former city banker and music teacher was also inspired to strike out in skincare after dealing with bad skin as a teen.

• ” just couldn’t seem to work out why or how to get rid of it, and it was so bad that I was not confident to go to school on quite a few days, and I would wag school, or I would make up some excuse as to why I’m not feeling well enough to go because I was just getting teased and bullied.”

Blair in the production area for his skincare range, a converted cowshed on the family farm RNZ/Sally Round

Coates said he became “quite obsessed” about learning about skin care and all of the elements that help clear the skin.

He returned to the family land in the Takahue Valley south of Kaitaia 12 years ago and decided to launch Nudi Point using his earlier training as an aromatherapist.

His husband and mother are also involved in the business.

In a pristine lab, without a whiff of the cows who used to come through here, Coates showed Country Life how he mixes up a serum of several essential oils and decants it carefully into small blue bottles.

“We like to think that a little bit of Nudi Point magic goes in every little product that we send out.”

Blair blends essential oils and bottles them for his customers RNZ/Sally Round

That sense of place is an important selling point for Coates, especially as his is a small rurally-based business, now more reliant on online sales as retailers shutter in the cost-of-living crisis.

“I think it matters, you know, it’s more than just a bunch of products that someone made and put on a shelf.

“It just shows a little bit more attention and care to everything that’s created.”

Still part of a river reflecting the native bush on its banks, the swimming hole which inspired Nudi Point RNZ/Sally Round

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An Auckland man offering to sell illegally slaughtered pigs on his farm has been fined $6000 MPI says.

On Tuesday Robert Ngaru Kururangi (68) was sentenced on 3 charges under the Animal Products Act.

“This unregulated meat business was not registered as required under the Animal Products Act, meaning it was operating without vital checks and balances in our food safety system that are there to keep consumers safe,” said New Zealand Food Safety deputy director general, Vincent Arbuckle.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said compliance investigators began an investigation into alleged illegal pig sales at Kururuangi’s property after earlier advising him that it was an offence to sell unregulated meat.

As part of that investigation an undercover officer purchased pigs which were illegally slaughtered on the farm, and witnessed the farm manager, who was employed by Kururangi, slaughter a selected pig.

MPI said the pigs were priced between $250-$300.

“While someone buying one of these pigs may have considered it a great deal, their health was potentially put at risk because of the pair’s illegal behaviour,” said Arbuckle.

MPI said in November 2022, New Zealand Food Safety issued a Notice of Direction under the Animal Products Act for both Kururangi and the farm manager, prohibiting them from selling unregulated meat or providing facilities for any person to kill an animal.

However it said electronic records showed that they continued to offer the services illegally.

“When we find evidence of people deliberately flouting the law, we take action to protect consumers as in this case,” said Arbuckle.

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An industry leader in livestock transport has described price hikes for freight crossing the Cook Strait as coming at the worst possible time of year for farmers.

Late Autumn marked a busy seasonal period for the movement of livestock between the North and South islands, particularly for cattle, as dairy farmers approached the end of the season and autumn bulls were sold and moved.

Farmers already struggling with extra fuel and fertiliser costs due to war in the Persian Gulf, would face even higher livestock transport bills for crossing the crucial New Zealand strait.

KiwiRail increased its monthly fuel adjustment factor (FAF) for commercial operators using its Interislander ferry to 54 percent to cover increased fuel costs. Bluebridge’s FAF was currently at 37 percent, after peaking at 48 percent last month.

A number of South Island transport companies moving livestock, apples and wine that spoke to RNZ were wincing at the new fees they expected to have to absorb.

They expected fresh produce to be most impacted, as well as wine from Marlborough and livestock.

FAF increase ‘bad timing’ for dairy farmers

National Livestock Transport and Safety Council chairman, Derek Foley, said herds were shifting through late April and May, largely due to new farm or herd purchases and winter planning.

“There’s probably 50 or 60 percent more livestock transitioned over the ferry in this period of time through to early June than any other time through the year,” he said.

“So this is really bad timing to put a catch-up FAF on, disproportionately affecting the farmers.”

Part of the Foley Transport empire in Waipukurau, he said dairy farmers would be particularly impacted in these busy months, ahead of more localised Moving Day movements on 1 June.

“It’s a discussion that a lot of carriers are going to have over the next week or two as these movements start, and I suppose the washout of that’s going to be extremely more expensive cartage on the ferry for the dairy farming industry that’s transferring stock down South Island.”

Foley said transport companies and freight forwarders enforced their own weekly fuel adjustment factor early on in war in the Persian Gulf – which he described as “evenly-spread”, peaking at 41 percent but now down to 27 percent.

He said ferry operators increasing their surcharges only now, and at a comparatively high rate, would disproportionately affect rural cartage.

“Because the ferry companies are trying to recoup cost from earlier increases they hadn’t done by applying a weekly FAF to their services, it sort of disproportionately impacted rural transport, that’s the issue.”

He said the Interislander surcharge could cost farmers an extra $500 per sailing for a couple hundred cattle from north to south, for example.

In a statement on Tuesday, Rail Minister Winston Peters told RNZ the Interislander should not be expected to absorb fuel price increases.

Ferry availability already ‘concerning’

Several livestock firms speaking with RNZ said availability of the ferries was extremely challenging at present, with further disruption expected.

Foley said it was working with the ferry companies to manage the Kaiārahi being temporarily out of action for maintenance from next month.

“There’s a couple of issues with the strait, obviously there’s the lack of services and the concern with the maintenance programme that’s going to be put in place, so it’s even going to be less.

“So scheduling livestock to get over and manage the welfare around that is pretty concerning.”

Foley said a couple more ferries and better competition were needed.

“We can’t control that, but that’s our dream.”

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

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

State-owned farming enterprise Pāmu has selected its new equity partners for Mahiwi farm from a pool of about 80 applicants.

It’s Pāmu’s first livestock equity partnership building on it introducing dairy sharemilking arrangements in 2024.

Wairoa sheep and beef farmers Cameron Hassall and Alice Wilson will help run the 1755-hectare farm – a new entity co-owned by Pāmu and Hassall will lease just over 700-hectares used for sheep and beef farming – with Pāmu retaining control of the remainder of sheep, beef and forestry property west of Wairoa.

The nine-year lease will run with a right of renewal every three years.

Hassall and Wilson – who both grew up locally – farm a nearby leaseblock, which Wilson will continue to manage alongside helping with the Mahiwi operations.

Hassall said it was “unique to have skin in the game at the place you work” in the sheep and beef sector as there weren’t the same pathways to building equity or farm ownership as there are in dairy.

“Every dollar that we can save by doing something ourselves or increasing production means another dollar dropping out the bottom which we get a share of at the end of the year,” he said.

“I enjoy getting stuck into a farming business and helping create a system that’s efficient and profitable. Improving grass quality, ewe performance, and lamb and calf weaning weights has been a focus in every role I’ve had.”

He said it was the “start of a journey” alongside Pāmu and hoped by the end of the lease it would provide the framework for a model that could be rolled out nationwide.

For Wilson, it was about building “something real”.

“We want to grow our stake in Mahiwi, improve the farm’s performance, and show that this model works, not just for us, but for other young farmers looking for a way into ownership.”

Looking ahead, the couple see the Mahiwi partnership as a pathway to scale, security, and opportunity for themselves and their growing family – they are expecting their first child later this year.

Pāmu chief operations officer Will Burrett said it was about backing ambitious, capable people into farm ownership through helping them build equity.

It was about providing a stepping stone to grow equity within a “structured, safe environment” which created liquidity for both younger generations looking to get their foot on the farm ownership ladder as well as older generations looking to exit the industry.

“Mahiwi is a strong example of how we can support operators to lift farm performance, grow equity, and strengthen business capability while retaining Crown ownership of the land.”‘

Burrett said Pāmu had seen “tangible progression” from within its own workforce through the dairy partnerships.

“[This] brings the total to seven dairy and one livestock operation now operating under contract or equity‑style arrangements. It shows the model is opening up genuine career and ownership pathways for our people and to the sector.”

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

Infant milk formula exporter a2 Milk has recalled three batches of Synlait-manufactured a2 Platinum infant milk formula in the United States due to the presence of cereulide.

Cereulide was a heat-stable toxin produced by some strains of the bacterium Bacillus cereus which could cause nausea and vomiting – symptoms typically developed within 30 minutes to six hours of ingestion.

a2 Milk told the NZX on Monday, the recall related to a “relatively small” quantity of about 63,078 tins in the US – over 16,000 of which had been sold to consumers.

No confirmed incidents of infant illness or harm had been reported to the company.

The impacted batches were distributed through a2MC’s website, Amazon and Meijer stores as part of Operation Fly Formula.

Chief executive David Bortolussi said the recall does not impact infant milk formula products sold in New Zealand, Australia, China and other markets .

He said the food safety and quality of its products was its “highest priority”.

“For this reason, we have voluntarily recalled three batches of our a2 Platinum USA label infant milk formula sold only in the US which had previously been discontinued with no products currently available for sale.”

The probable source of cereulide is an ingredient in the product and the recall was initiated after cereulide was detected through additional testing of the product following the release of New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) industry update and expectations for managing cereulide on April 15 with application retrospectively for New Zealand infant formula manufacturers.

a2 Milk said it was communicating with US Food and Drug Administration with respect to the recall and has released guidance to its United States consumers.

The recall is not expected to impact a2’s financial results, with total infant milk formula sales in the US accounting less than 0.1 percent of its total sales revenue.

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

Farmers need to be paid to start using methane-busting technology in their herds and on their land, agri-climate leaders say.

Their comments follow earlier warnings from industry and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment that, without penalties or incentives, there are few reasons for farmers to invest in some of the tools.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said the government would work with farmers to “maximise the emissions reduction innovation underway” but would not be drawn on whether the government was looking at subsidies or other incentives.

Last year, the government scrapped its previous plans to put a tax on agricultural methane by 2030 and weakened the country’s 2050 methane emissions reduction target.

Instead, it opted for a market- and industry-led approach, with Watts saying that widespread uptake of the new mitigation tools would be “critical”.

The government-industry partnership AgriZeroNZ had so far invested $78 million into developing methane-inhibiting technologies such as vaccines and genetics.

Some, such as low-methane sheep genetic selection and effluent pond treatments, were available now, while others are still in much earlier stages of development.

Overall, the government has committed $400m to accelerate development and commercialisation.

At the annual Agriculture and Climate Change conference in Wellington last week, AgriZeroNZ chief executive Wayne McNee said some of the technologies had a commercial benefit because they also improved animal productivity.

However, many – including a methane-inhibiting capsule or ‘bolus’ being developed by New Zealand company Ruminant Biotech – did not.

“In the absence of productivity improvement, which is often quite hard to prove, there will need to be an incentive,” he said.

Speaking to RNZ afterwards, he said there were already some industry incentives available for the lowest-emitting dairy farmers.

“But to get broader-scale adoption, there’ll need to be a reason for farmers to use them,” McNee said.

“If there’s a productivity improvement, great, that”ll be a key driver. If there’s not, there’ll need to be some sort of payment to the farmer to take the technology up.”

Other countries had used direct subsidies, or made use of voluntary carbon markets.

AgriZeroNZ was “looking at all options”.

“It’s part of our role to get the tools available, but also part of our role to work with farmers and others to get them used.”

Methane – which is a short-lived gas but has a huge warming effect while it exists in the atmosphere – makes up roughly half of New Zealand’s emissions.

Almost all of it comes from farms, especially the burps and breaths of ruminant animals like cows and sheep.

Only 40 percent would use methane vaccine – survey

A 2025 survey of farmers by the Bioeconomy Science Institute (formerly Manaaki Whenua Landcare) found only seven percent of dairy farmers who responded said reducing their emissions would be a major focus in the next two years.

Only 40 percent of respondents planned to use a methane vaccine, if it became available.

Ruminant Biotech market access director George Reeves told the conference that New Zealand risked losing its global competitiveness unless it developed a “robust, long-term, scalable incentive for methane abatement”.

He told RNZ that did not necessarily have to be taxpayer-funded.

Instead, New Zealand could use voluntary carbon markets, or set up a scheme similar to one being developed in Australia, where farmers could earn carbon units by reducing their emissions intensity.

Ruminant Biotech planned to launch its bolus for certain types of beef cattle later this year and expected that “early adoption is going to be okay”, Reeves said.

However, he wanted to see a broader incentive scheme in place by 2028.

AUT industry fellow and climate economist David Hall said a direct government subsidy scheme for deployment of some tools would make sense while they were still new and did not have general buy-in.

“In the economics of innovation, that’s recognised as a justified and reasonable cost.”

Once the tools had a market foothold, that direct support could be withdrawn, and a low-level price on emissions introduced to keep driving uptake, he said.

Incentive to use potential methane vaccine removed

In a speech to a DairyNZ forum in March, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton raised concerns about both the timeframe and uptake of some promised technologies.

He pointed out that the government’s baseline emissions projections relied on at least 37 percent of dairy cattle receiving a methane vaccine – which were still at ‘proof-of-concept’ stage – by 2030.

“I personally find this assumption heroic,” he said.

“Not only do we not yet have such a vaccine, but the government’s decision to abandon a price on methane removes the incentive to use one should it materialise.”

Significant taxpayer funding was being invested into vaccines and other technologies.

“Taxpayers are entitled to ask why this outlay should continue if the vaccines are not going to be adopted,” he said.

Subsidies could be a pragmatic approach, “but the quid pro quo has to be uptake”.

In a submission on the amended emissions reduction plan last year, industry group DairyNZ also called the assumptions about uptake “ambitious”.

“DairyNZ has consistently encouraged government to be cautious when making assumptions on technology availability, efficacy and uptake.”

Incentives were essential, but the tools also needed to be practical to implement, and must not affect food safety or threaten overseas trade, the organisation said.

In a written statement, Watts said the government had “increasing confidence in the technology pipeline” and expected to see the first tools that AgriZero had invested in available this year.

“While emission predictions inherently carry some uncertainty, the government is committed to working with the agriculture sector to boost productivity while lowering emissions,” he said.

There would be ” range of opinions” on any new technology, he said.

“However, I have heard from many in the sector who support the development of new methane inhibitors and other incentives that increase production while reducing emissions.”

He did not answer questions about whether any policy work had been commissioned on an incentive or offset scheme, or what would drive uptake in the absence of any productivity gains.

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