Category: Country

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”.

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– 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.

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“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.

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– 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.

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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.”

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– 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.”

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– 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.

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Learn more:

• Find out more about the trail.

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– 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.

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– 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.

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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.

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– 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.

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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.

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– 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.

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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.

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– 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

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