NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

From extreme heat to extreme cold, the cows which have been in Berwick Settle’s care live in some challenging situations.

Over the past two decades, the former Southland sharemilker has helped set up dairy farms in Cambodia, China, Vietnam and Russia.

His first introduction to fully housed dairy operations, where cows are fed rations in huge barns, was in Indonesia.

Milking 1200 cows in very warm temperatures “on the side of a volcano” was different from the New Zealand pastoral system where cows mostly forage paddocks for their feed and only come to the shed at milking time.

He went on to help set up one of the first of China’s very large dairy farms – 10,000 cows with a tourism operation alongside – in China’s dairy farming central, Houhot, in Inner Mongolia.

In some of the Asian countries he’s worked temperatures can get up to 39C with very high humidity, so managing heat stress is critical, he told Country Life.

“If you don’t get it right, production can crash. Reproduction can drop down to about 10 percent conception and [there are] a lot of abortions, and animal health issues also increase massively.”

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Settle said there is a lot of science and developing technology involved in keeping the cows cool, including sprinkler systems and huge fans.

“When the cow comes to the feeding line, a sprinkler goes on them, they sprinkle them for about 30 seconds, and then the fan blows on for about four-and-a-half minutes.

“So, it’s exactly the same situation where you hop out of a swimming pool on a windy day, you cool down very quickly”.

The Houhot operation allowed tourists to watch the cows milking in the multi-parlour arrangement.

“A 50-a-side parallel herringbone, a 60-bale rotary, a two-by-eight herringbone and a robotic milker all in the one facility.”

They would watch from a visitor’s gallery “so they could sit, walk around and see all the different parlours milking and the cows coming in and out”.

Settle also spent three years managing operations at Hua Xia Farms near the Chinese capital Beijing. It grew to five farms with 35,000 cows.

Cleanliness and management of manure are also challenges with such a high density of animals indoors, he said. There are several steps to make sure udders are clean before milking in such an environment.

“Trying to get some sort of, you know, sustainability practice into the farming operations is very difficult.

“The number of animals per hectare … is incredibly high, so all of the manure needs to be dealt with and carted off site. So you must have good systems around how you deal with your manure.”

At present, Settle is based in Russia working with the Vietnamese company TH Milk resurrecting a dairy farming hub at Efimsevo, southwest of Moscow and not far from Kozelsk. Here there is the challenge of extreme cold – it can reach -25C.

Barns are well insulated but not heated, and water troughs must be fitted with elements to keep the water from freezing.

But his latest assignment has more than just climate challenges to deal with, as Kozelsk is a base for several Russian missile regiments. The farm site is next to a strategic missile base, and drone attacks are constant reminders of the war with Ukraine.

Settle said they were “part of everyday life 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

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

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

A man died at the scene.

Police, Broadwood Fire Brigade and St John Ambulance responded.

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

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

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

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

The majority of those occurred on farms.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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 lily bulb processing plant, production forests and land for a gold mine buffer zone are some of the latest purchases by international investors through the Overseas Investment Office (OIO).

Land Information New Zealand/Toitū Te Whenua recently published its latest decisions to approve overseas investment for September.

Global bulbs firm ends after 164 years

After nearly three decades running a flower bulbs processing business in mid-Canterbury, Dutch-owned firm Royal Van Zanten Flowerbulbs sold its New Zealand business.

The Hillegom-headquartered company bred and grew lily and tulip bulbs for more than 160 years, and first opened in Aotearoa in the late 1990s, supplying bulbs in the off season for Northern Hemisphere growers.

It moved from South Otago to Rakaia in 2000.

By 2018, the company was sold out of the Veldhuyzen van Zanten family ownership by investment firm Nimbus, and the breeding and processing firm was later split up for sale.

It sold its 8.6 hectare Rakaia nursery and packing facility to Dutch-owned Onings Holland Flowerbulbs in Poeldijk, according to the OIO decision in September.

Bulbs went to customers in Asia, Europe and also India, Australia and Mexico.

The OIO decision said the new owner planned to invest in facilities on the farm.

Gold mine neighbours’ land bought to buffer

The largest gold producer in New Zealand, majority North American-owned Oceana Gold purchased more than 5 hectares of land at Hauraki District small town Waihi to create buffer zones for its mines.

The company owned by Vancouver-headquartered OceanaGold Corporation discovered, extracted and processed gold ore at Waihi and Macraes in New Zealand.

It acquired the Waihi mine in 2015 and said on its website, 8 Moz (million ounces) of gold was produced here to date.

A Waihi mine expansion was sought through the government’s fast track legislation.

It spent more than $5.7 million across the three land purchases around Willows Road and Trig Road North that were used for residential and lifestyle purposes.

The land will be leased back for residential use while mining is ongoing.

“The main benefits to New Zealand are likely to include economic benefits associated with greater efficiency and improved viability of mining projects currently underway in Waihi,” read the OIO decision.

Meat processor’s new alliance

Late last month, farmer-shareholders in red meat co-operative Alliance Group voted in favour of Irish-owned Dawn Meats Group buying a 65 percent share of the firm that runs six processing plants across Aotearoa.

The $250 million purchase featured in the OIO decisions in September ahead of the vote, that was later sweetened by an extra $20m.

The decision showed Delmec Unlimited owned by Dawn Meat Groups will give the firm indirect freehold interest in more than 1,200 hectares of land and a further 387 hectares.

The OIO decision said the main benefit to New Zealand was likely to be the improved viability of Alliance plants and retention of employment.

Production forests

More overseas investors have bought millions of dollars of productive forestry land, including another for the parent company of furniture giant Ikea.

Ingka Investments purchased 219 hectares of land on Burma Road in rural Bay of Plenty southeast of Whakatāne from local firm Rawhiti Forest Farm.

Eighty-three hectares of it were productive pinus radiata and exotic forests, and production forestry will continue here with harvest starting next year.

Property data online shows it sold for $2.3m in early October.

Meanwhile, a large production forest in the South Island’s Clutha District was sold for nearly $10m by the European Union’s second largest asset manager.

Majority French-owned Future Forests NZ – owned by BNP Paribas Future Forest Fund SLP – purchased 634 hectares at Table Hill from local company Divers Farms, of which, 465 hectares was productive forest.

It will continue to be used for forestry.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dairy prices have fallen again in the fortnightly global auction overnight.

The average price at the Global Dairy Trade auction fell 2.4 percent to US$3768 a tonne, the sixth consecutive fall.

It follows the 1.4 percent drop in the previous auction.

The GDT Price Index was at its lowest level since September 2024.

The price of wholemilk powder, which strongly influences payouts for local farmers, fell 2.7 percent to $3503 (NZ$6669) a tonne.

Butter prices fell more than 4 percent, while cheddar prices fell 6.6 percent, and skim milk powder was flat.

NZX head of dairy insights Cristina Alvarado said the auction result was broadly in line with expectations.

“The result reflects a market weighed down by abundant milk supplies from New Zealand, Europe, the United States and Argentina, while demand has softened following heavy buying earlier in the season,” Alvarado said.

“With product deliveries now well aligned to the Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year and Ramadan periods, buyers appear content with existing coverage, leading to reduced participation and lower clearing prices.”

Wholemilk powder fell for the fifth consecutive auction, with buyers purchasing on a “hand-to-mouth basis” rather than building up their inventories.

Alvarado said North Asia (China) demand was dominant in the auction.

She added that the global butter market was “oversupplied” with Europe and the US reporting strong production and exporting aggressively.

She said US butter exports were up 208 percent year-on-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

The government is doubling down on supporting the development of new tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on farm with a new co-investment, following its decision not to price agricultural emissions.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti were on-farm in North Canterbury’s Waikuku on Tuesday to announce the latest government co-investment in a new early-stage reduction tool.

Start-up Āmua was developing a smart device worn by cattle that sought to transform the naturally-abundant resource of nitrogen from the cow’s urine into an eco-friendly fertiliser.

It aimed to address freshwater nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions at their source.

The start-up received $1.2 million from AgriZero, the government-industry partnership featuring the likes of Fonterra, Synlait and ANZCO, making it the 16th project to be funded by the joint venture.

Start-up looking to turn nitrogen-rich urine into fertiliser

Āmua’s prototype device was developed with support from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Māori Agribusiness Innovation Fund, and was trialled on Ngāi Tahu Farming’s Te Whenua Hou dairy farms.

Highly concentrated nitrogen patches from cow’s urine in paddocks leached into groundwater and entered the atmosphere as nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas that accounted for nearly 16 percent of the country’s agricultural emissions, according to the government’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report.

Modelling by AgResearch in the Bioeconomy Science Institute indicated that by spreading the concentrated urine patches across the paddock, the patented device could reduce nitrous oxide emissions by up to 95 percent and nitrate leaching by up to 93 percent, while maintaining similar pasture growth to the application of synthetic nitrogen.

Founder and chief executive Roger Johnson said it spent the past few years developing the new tool and testing it.

Johnson was tight-lipped on details about the device, but said it aimed to utilise the “massive resource” of nitrogen generated naturally by cows on farms, as it was only causing problems at present.

“The nitrogen in these [nitrogen] patches has always been seen as such a problem, right? It’s causing so much damage to freshwater,” he said.

“And then it causes nitrous oxide which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide; so gnarly problems out of this insane resource. So we’re just swapping that around and giving it to the grass instead to grow.”

He said it would reduce farmers’ reliance on importing and using synthetic fertiliser.

“We want to create resilience for farmers to be able to supply their own nitrogen off their own farm.”

AgriZero chief executive Wayne McNee said it would be the joint venture’s first equity investment in nitrous oxide mitigation, which would play an important role in lowering overall emissions.

“Āmua is a brilliant example of Kiwi ingenuity to tackle a common challenge on-farm and potentially deliver a range of environmental and economic benefits,” McNee said.

“High-impact, scalable innovations like Āmua will be vital to meet global demand for emissions reduction and

safeguard the export economy we all rely on.”

The new investment was part of a seed funding round for Āmua to support the next stage of development of pilot trials in 2026.

Government ministers champion reduction tools

Ministers Nicola Willis and Dr Shane Reti joined investors at the Waikuku farm to showcase the Āmua project and a methane-cutting EcoPond effluent pond there too.

Willis said Āmua’s tool was “Kiwi innovation at its best”.

“There [are] these big, intense urine patches that are polluting our waterways and creating bad emissions. Yet that’s gold, and we could be using it to grow this grass, making farming cheaper and more sustainable.”

More than $190m was committed by AgriZero over its first four years, split by government and industry co-investment, to accelerate the development of reduction tools for farmers.

Willis said co-investment with the private sector saw the government dollar go further and ensured commercial buy-in in on-farm science.

“What felt like an impossible challenge, how do we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in a way that doesn’t sacrifice farming as we know it, is actually an achievable change,” she said.

“Because already AgriZero is invested in multiple new innovations not just because they’re clever science and they’re exciting, but because they can see they can have practical application on farm.”

Dr Reti said innovation, technology and science were central to the government’s growth agenda.

“Research and development drive productivity and high-value jobs. Our goal is a system that empowers world-class scientists, universities, and research organisations to turn ideas into market-ready solutions,” he said.

Incentivising not taxing agricultural emissions

Before the last general election, the National Party said it would consider implementing a pricing system for on-farm emissions.

“Keep agriculture out of the [Emissions Trading Scheme] but implement a fair and sustainable pricing system for on-farm agricultural emissions by 2030 at the latest,” the press release read.

“An independent board – with a power of veto retained by the Ministers of Climate Change and Agriculture – will be established to implement the pricing system.”

But Agriculture Minister Todd McClay’s office confirmed that Cabinet decided on 22 September that agricultural emissions would not be priced, a decision it said was supported by all Cabinet ministers.

While an independent methane science panel was established, the independent board to implement a pricing system was never established, his office said.

“The Coalition Government agreed to not progress a pricing system for on-farm emissions and instead is committed to a technology-led approach to reducing emissions,” said Minister McClay in a statement.

“We are investing $400m into solutions with three already available and an additional 11 expected to be available for farmers by 2030.”

Willis said government decisions reflected the will of all three coalition parties and it was doubling down giving farmers tools to “conquer these issues for themselves”.

“We don’t think a new tax is the solution to every problem,” she said.

“The question you have to always ask is, is it better to be taxing them and punishing them for emissions, or working alongside them to support them to make the investments that will reduce those emissions.

“And ultimately, as a government, the view we’ve taken at this point is let’s focus on the science, focus on the practical solutions, and give farmers a good way 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

A farmer-led initiative is heading up driveways to support rural Clutha families hit by last month’s damaging winds.

The initiative is backed by Rabobank, the Rural Support Trust, the Ministry of Primary Industries, Clutha District Council and other rural professionals.

About 50 people set off on Tuesday morning to check in on those in hard hit areas.

Less than 500 people remain without power.

But the Clutha District Council warned the electricity network was still fragile after a vegetation fire temporarily cut power across Balclutha on Monday, saying people should not light fires or take any risks with vulnerable infrastructure.

Permits are now needed to light any outdoor fires.

“Many reservoirs in the district remain low which means there may not be water available if a controlled fire gets out of hand, or fire crews may need to drain the already low resources,” the council said.

All wastewater sites were operational and all drinking water sites were running as usual, apart from the Tapanui reservoir which remained critically low at 47 percent.

Water tanks are being deployed at Blue Mountain College and Lawrence Area School.

Leaks are being detected across multiple water schemes, including the North Bruce Rural Water Scheme where dense and fallen trees need to be cleared before repairs can be made.

Only Balclutha, Milton (Waihola) and Kaitangata (Wangaloa) do not have a boil water notice in place, but the council said anyone receiving discoloured water should not drink it.

Any farming families who need support can contact their local Rural Support Trust online or call 0800 787 254.

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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 Southland communities are banding together in the aftermath of last month’s damaging winds.

The severe winds caused widespread damage and thousands of power outages, downing trees, power lines and tearing roofs off buildings.

PowerNet said outages have dropped below 2000 across Southland and South Otago after power was restored to more communities, dairy farms, cell towers and water sites over the weekend.

Rural Women NZ South Island national board member Sharron Davie-Martin said there was a long road to recovery.

One dairy farming family had lost two cow sheds, several hay barns and two staff houses, forcing them to take walk hundreds of cows long distances to be milked at other farms that had generators, she said.

But many were pitching in to help.

Rural women were taking smoko to those working to restore services as a thank you for their work, while others distributed generators, Davie-Martin said.

Rural families had the tendency to knuckle down and not ask for help as they thought others needed it more, but she hoped an incoming batch of fruit cakes from members further north might help people to open.

“That will be an excuse to go up a driveway and drop off a fruit cake and say ‘how are you doing?’, and it’s when you get asked that you might show the cracks,” she said.

“You might not go out looking for it so even though it doesn’t sound like much, taking a fruit cake up the driveway, it’s really important connection to help people.”

An AirBNB owner told her that some people down the road had no power for five days so she and other owners had opened their accommodation up for the community.

“They hadn’t been able to shower or charge their phones, just those simple little things that you don’t think about when you’re not in it,” Davie-Martin said.

It was a chance for them to charge their phones, have a shower, cook a meal and have a break from the disaster, she said.

Rural Women NZ has an Adverse Events Relief Fund that offers financial support to rural people, families and groups who have an urgent need due to personal hardship.

It is funded by donations and the fund is open to anyone who meets the criteria.

“If you’re struggling a bit as it is and this sort of thing happens, it really can tip you over financially,” Davie-Martin said.

The applications could be for something as simple as putting food in the pantry, counselling, replacing freezer food that had gone off after prolonged power outages, or a group wanting to organise a community BBQ, she said.

“There is help out there if they’d like it.”

A survey has been going out to farmers so they can self-assess and organisations know who may need support.

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