Category: Country

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ingka Investments, the parent company of furniture giant Ikea, has bought 10,000 hectares of production forestry in Northland from Greenheart Group.

It takes the company’s investment in the country’s forestland to nearly 30,000 hectares, worth about $616 million. This includes nine existing forestry blocks planted in mostly pinus radiata, and an additional 3000ha of indigenous forest, most of which will be dedicated to biodiversity conservation and other environmental purposes.

It comes as Ikea plans to open its first New Zealand store in Auckland in December.

Forestland acquisition manager Simon Honour said its main focus was production forestry as opposed to carbon farming, and had hopes of using the timber for Ikea products.

“Obviously wood is an essential part of the Ikea identity and our ultimate goal is to get that wood into the Ikea supply chain.”

He said it would focus on domestic processing and was working to develop relationships with local sawmills and traders, though he did not rule out looking to develop their own further down the track.

Honour said most of the forestland was not eligible for carbon units.

Where blocks are registered under the Emissions Trading Scheme, or ETS, he said this helped quantify how many units are being sequestered and the carbon units are not traded.

“We have no focus on carbon whatsoever, and we have a pure timber focus.”

Overseas Investment Office figures from last year show Ingka Investments had bought about 19,200ha of farmland to turn into rotational pine forests.

Some of the more prominent sales included Huiarua Station and Matanui Station in the Gisborne region, with a combined area of just over 6000ha.

Honour acknowledged much of the land purchased by Ingka Investments since 2021 was farmland converted to forestry.

“Even from the start, if we could buy forests we would have. Unfortunately they don’t come up for sale that often.

“We wanted to get established in New Zealand and at that time, back in 2021, acquiring farms was a way to do that.”

He said there were “pros and cons” to establishing new forestry blocks.

“Creating forests from the start where you can set your riparian zones, your set back from waterways right from the start does have some benefits.”

He would not rule out purchasing future farms for conversion, but said it was not Ingka’s focus for now.

“We would much rather procure existing forests because it just fits with our values better.”

He said the strategic acquisition underscored Ingka Investments’ long-term commitment to responsible forest management, sustainable land stewardship and regional economic development.

Addressing farmer concerns about the risk of fire and pests on forestland, Honour said management plans were in place for both.

Planned restoration projects focused on indigenous reforestation, and enhancement of existing native vegetation will be complemented by ongoing pest-control programs designed to safeguard biodiversity, improve forest health, and support the long-term success of restoration efforts.

While pinus radiata will remain the dominant commercial species due to its proven performance, future replanting cycles will selectively introduce alternative species where appropriate.

This diversification strategy will strengthen ecosystem resilience, support biodiversity, and improve overall forest health.

The Northland forests were certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and would remain so.

Honour said a commercial production forest contributed to regional employment and he hoped to grow the number of Northland jobs.

Local forestry company, Northland Forest Managers, would continue daily operations. Manager Neil Geerkens said he looked forward to the partnership.

“Together, we will maintain sustainable harvesting practices, enhance biodiversity conservation and ensure continued community access, delivering enduring environmental, social, and economic benefits for the region.”

The acquisition was subject to OIO approval, and shareholder and regulatory approvals by Greenheart Group.

Kelvin Meredith, Ingka Investments’ forestland country manager New Zealand, said it was committed to responsible forest management, including restoring natural landscapes, supporting biodiversity and collaborating with local communities to create meaningful, lasting impact.

“People value recreational access to these forests, and we’re committed to ensuring these opportunities continue.”

The Kauri Coast Mountain Bike Park, located at Baylys Forest and operated by the Kaipara Cycling Club, will continue to be free to access by the public, subject to seasonal safety restrictions.

Seasonal beehives located on parts of the estate, operated in consultation with the landowner, will also remain in place to support local apiarists and contribute to biodiversity across the forest landscape.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

MPs deliberating controversial changes to pig welfare rules will have less time to scrutinise new rules.

The Animal Welfare Amendment (Regulations of Management of Pigs) Bill proposed to keep farrow crates, but gave pig farmers 10 years to adapt to slightly tougher restrictions.

The bill passed its first reading in the house with the two-week submission process closing at 5pm Thursday.

Farrowing crates -which were used to prevent a sow crushing her piglets, but were so small a sow cannot turn around -were due to be banned from December 18 under changes brought in by the previous Labour government.

The Primary Production Select Committee had originally planned to report back on the bill in February, but had now brought this forward to November 20.

In a statement, the committee said it had decided “by majority” to shorten the process to prevent a “legislative gap” when current regulations expire on December 18.

After this date the pork industry would have been at risk of prosecution if it used farrowing crates.

The Labour Party and Green Party both voted against shortening the time frame.

Greens animal welfare spokesperson Steve Abel, a committee member, said it was likely the bill would have to be passed under urgency.

“This is totally avoidable. This is an example of a minister who has delayed and delayed and delayed, and now is doing the bidding of the pork industry.”

Labour Animal Welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack also had concerns about the truncated process.

“Labour consulted on changes to pig animal welfare rules in 2022 and had put in place a transition process to end the use of farrowing crates in December this year. Instead of supporting the transition process and improved animal welfare for pigs, the Minister has chosen to delay changes to standards for a further 10 years, and then, only make minor improvements to welfare standards.

“Given the significant change in approach to pig welfare from this government and the high public interest, Labour believes the Bill should go through a full select committee process to ensure proper scrutiny before final decisions are made.”

The SPCA, which had said it was left “blindsided” by the reforms after not being consulted, was also unhappy.

“There was only a two week consultation process which is incredibly short for a select committee, so we have grave concerns about this just being rushed through and purely being a tick box exercise,” SPCA chief scientific sdvisor Arnja Dale said.

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– 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.

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– 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.

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– 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.

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– 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.

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– 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.”

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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 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.

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– 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”.

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