The 
development of electrical stimulation of meat, how New Zealand pharmaceuticals were founded on gall, protein quality, animal genomics and the people behind each are just some of the inspiring stories of New Zealand agri-food innovation contained in a book from the Riddet Institute.
Floreat Scientia, published for the Riddet Institute by Wairau Press, 2011. ISBN:978 1 927158 081.
More than 650 tonnes of plastic farm waste has been recycled nationwide during the past year thanks to a government-funded scheme, according to the Environment Minister amy Adams.
Under the product stewardship scheme, Plasback supplies more than 1,000 recycling bins to New Zealand farms and collects agricultural plastics such as bale wrap, silage wrap and covers, agrichemical containers and crop bags. The waste is then recyled into plastic resin pellets and then reused in new plastic products.
“Many farmers have been frustrated by the lack of options for dealing with plastic farm waste and know that burning or burying waste is not a sustainable option,” Adams says.
“This voluntary scheme is about getting alongside farmers and providing an environmentally-friendly alternative.”
The programme received $130,000 from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund which supports projects that increase resource efficiency and decrease the amount of waste going to landfill.
Product Stewardship Schemes, which meet the criteria for reducing waste and environmental harm are accredited by the Minister for the Environment.
“I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something about that, then I realised I am somebody.”
Doug Avery, speaker at Red Meat Sector Conference 2012
One farmer who has made transformational change to his farm business is Marlborough farmer Doug Avery.
In an inspirational and entertaining presentation at the Red Meat Sector Conference, he talked of working “smarter and harder” and the need to “lift yourself up above and see what’s going on around you.”
The tipping point that made him see that he needed to change was sustained drought in the region, over a period of eight years, which meant that Bonavaree Farm and the Avery family were facing a very uncertain future. In 1998, Doug Avery attended a seminar where Lincoln University pasture Professor Derrick Moot proposed using lucerne as a primary grazing pasture plant. Using that idea started change.
In 2004, with the area still gripped with drought, the NZ Land Care Trust answered a call for help from Avery and a few other farmers. A six-pronged attack on failed systems was engaged with science and the help of funding from the Sustainable Farming Fund and others. This saw the transformational change of the operation from one of failure to one of success.
Having run the emotional gamut of the ‘Three Ugly Sisters’ – envy, anger and blame – Avery realised, when he started looking, that there were some things he could control and others he was concerned about – climate change, weather and the value of the dollar – that he had no control over at all.
Avery realised three things: that the farm business could run 44 percent less sheep but only produce five percent less product; also, that a one percent increase in soil carbon can increase water holding capacity by 144,000 litres per hectare; and, finally, “how much time do we spend telling our story?”
Change of mindset
A change of mindset was also needed, he decided. He would work in what he calls the influence circle, become proactive not reactive, move to solution and enquiry (away from blame and excuse), he would influence thinking and adapt his business systems to the changing climate.
Better practice influenced the systems in place at Bonavaree, says Avery. The year was broken down into three periods: the risk period from mid-December to mid-February where they farm as little as possible; the recovery period from mid-February to late winter, when crops are grown on summer-fallowed land and ewes and hoggets are mated on lucerne and the system charges back into life; and the revenue period, from late summer till mid-December.
“We grow our stock at fast rates to finishing weights before the summer dry,” he said, adding that ewes wean fat and the ewe weights are heavy.
Precious water was conserved by using summer fallow, which intercepted the weed cycle, storing water and creating a water reservoir. Organic matter was built into the soil by stopping tillage. Plants were used that could tap water from deeper layers and also create rapid animal growth and performance. Finally, animals were made for performance, using designer genetics.
Results
The results today speak for themselves. “Lots of wonderful lambs that grow like mushrooms”, and “hogget scanning gone from 40 percent to 165 percent”.
Today, Bonavaree has 1,500 hectares owned and 280 ha leased which will be wintering 13,000 stock units this year (5,000 sheep, 1,650 cattle), growing 90 ha of lucerne for seed and the family is retiring an increasing number of natural areas production. The property has six full-time staff and lots of busy contractors.
Better practice
Better practice for Avery is about using quality contractors, rather than trying to purchase expensive machinery and do it himself, using smart systems like Farmax, inspiring the young who learn by what they see, working with good value chains and smart brands, growing top crops and lambing onto top quality feed, he said.
Reminiscing to the start of his transformational journey, Avery said: “I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something about that, then I realised I am somebody.”
His message for farmers looking to create resilient businesses is to create relationships, manage the soil and water “more crop from every drop”, look at the plant selection for sites and purpose, manage feed supply and demand, work with the natural forces of the local climate, collaborate with science, agency and industry, engage in processes which create financial reward and to create a culture of excitement and fun in the work place.
Bonavaree is now looking to build on its successes through improved management structures, more measuring and collaboration through FarmIQ, better feed conversion in the rumen, improved plant mixes and genetics (plant and animal) and enhanced native plantings and over lay business, says Avery.
Doug Avery has received a number of award for his work at Bonavaree including the 2008 Green Ribbon from the Ministry for the Environment, 2010 Lincoln Foundation South Island Farmer of the Year, 2011 Marlborough District Council Farm Environment Award and the 2012 New Zealand Land Care Trust Ambassador title.
Federated Farmers has found that farmer confidence has plummetted in its latest Farm Confidence Survey.
In January, the mid-way point for the 2011/2012 season, farmer confidence in their profitability was strong. The 2011/2012 season was probably one of the best in recent times for meat, wool and dairy and would be difficult to top, says Federated Farmers‘ president Bruce Wills. However, this has gone fully into reverse gear with most farmers now expecting farm profitability will worsen over the coming year, he says.
“The past few months have seen large falls in commodity prices, with the June 2012 ANZ World Commodity Price Index down 12.3 percent from January. The exchange rate has not fallen to the same extent so has eaten into farmgate returns.”
The $64,000 question for all farmers at the start of the 2012/2013 season is whether prices will fall further. “We are all keeping a wary eye on the global economy and, frankly, we don’t like what we are seeing,” says Wills. “That New Zealand is ‘less bad’ when compared to Europe and North America, provides cold comfort when our dollar is kept artificially high because of it.”
The survey showed farmers continue to believe that prudent fiscal policy should be the Government’s highest priority – which is reducing government spending, balancing the books and reducing government debt.
Some headline results from the survey are:
There was plenty going on at the Red Meat Sector Conference in Queenstown this week, but there were also a few other things appearing in the press.
China eyes up top-end lamb cuts, writes Tim Cronshaw, in an article about Alliance Group sensing growing interest from its Chinese customers in some of the higher value cuts, rather than the lamb flaps traditionally used for hot pot dishes.
B+LNZ Ltd held it’s ‘Farming on the Edge of Science’ Day at Massey University on 11 July. Dominion Post farming editor, Jon Morgan, was in attendance, alongside the farming participants. His report (Science day teaches farmers new tricks, 19 July) makes good reading and shows how farmers were shown the latest in pastures and forages, management and new technology and animal production in a series of three workshops (this is not available online as yet).
Venison and lamb was on the menu in Auckland recently for a New Zealand Guild of Foodwriters debate – ‘Are foodies pretentious tossers?‘ See which side won on Lauraine Jacob’s blog …
We’re starting a new weekly round-up of the week’s top meaty news items. Changes to shipping arrangements have been front page news here in New Zealand and will probably be on the minds of delegates for next Monday’s Red Meat Sector Conference in Queenstown. But there’s also been a ‘world first’ for venison scanning, among other items.
Starting from next month, ports in Wellington and Nelson will be added to Maersk’s Southern Star run, which links New Zealand directly to the Malaysian hub port Tanjung Pelepas, according to the Dominion Post. The more reliable service with the dedicated hub will attract chilled meat exporters, Centreport’s operations general manager Steve Harris is quoted as saying, ” … because the time that the product is on the shelf in Europe … is critical.”
This followed the news, earlier in the week when shippers Maersk and Hamburg-Sud announced that they are withdrawing container pickups from the Port of Timaru, slicing $6 million off that Port’s annual revenue and resulting in the loss of about 50 port jobs. The service will be streamlined and will now operate from Napier to Otago. The new arrangements will come into place in mid-September, just prior to the start of the new meat export season.
Also in Timaru, in what’s said to be a “world first for venison scanning”, meat scanning technology already used for lamb and cattle is to be introduced for deer at Alliance Group’s new venison processing chain at Timaru’s Smithfield site later in the season.
Meanwhile, deer farmers are eyeing Europe, as exporters organise their chilled venison contracts for the European game season, according to a Fairfax news report. Venison prices are said to have “so far maintained a level of stability reflected in the meat schedule prices deer producers were being paid.”
New Zealand beef was amongst a ‘greymarket’ consignment of smuggled goods on a container ship seized by Chinese authorities after attempts were made to smuggle it into China. The frozen meat cargo worth US$10 million also contained other beef, chicken wings and pork from the US, Brazil and Australia. One Australian industry commentator has estimated the smuggled meat trade from Hong Kong, Schenzen and Vietnam accounts for 500,000 tonnes each year. Lower tariff rates for New Zealand meat, as a result of the free trade deal with China will make this trade less profitable for smugglers. However, concerns are for food safety of the smuggled perishable products as the cold chain may not be managed efficiently.
Click on any of the links to read more about each item.
A number of animal welfare initiatives, including newly updated guidelines for animal transport within New Zealand, a review of the Animal Welfare Act 1999, development of a new national strategy, plus distribution of a revised toolkit for farmers are underway.
A newly updated Transport within New Zealand Code of Animal Welfare was issued by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) in 2011, alongside a review of the code for Meat Chickens and a new Goats code, according to the Committee’s newly released 2011 annual report.
The Transport Code covers all animals transported by land, sea or air within New Zealand. It provides clarity about who is responsible for the welfare of animals at all stages of transportation and gives direction about how this must be achieved.
Committee chairman John Hellstrom, says the Code has been rapidly adopted by industry since its launch in September. “It is gratifying to see this code, like the earlier dairy, sheep and beef and pig codes being widely adopted within industry guideline.”
Other activities for the year covered in the annual report included developing advice for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the Minister on aspects of the proposed revision of the Animal Welfare Act 1999. Among the issues considered were the future roles of the committee, the effectiveness of Codes of Welfare and alternatives, the welfare of wildlife and methods for increasing the transparency of NAWAC’s process and activities.
NAWAC is an independent advisory committee to the Minister for Primary Industries. It was established under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 to provide advice to Ministers on matters relating to the welfare of animals in New Zealand and to develop codes of welfare.
A copy of the new Code can be downloaded from MPI’s website, where a hard copy can also be ordered.
New national strategy
Alongside the review of the Act, MPI is also currently working on the development of a national strategy for animal welfare, which will set the future direction of animal welfare in New Zealand and outline the Government’s key priorities over the next few years, according to MPI’s newsletter Welfare Pulse. Input has been obtained from key stakeholders like vets, animal industries, animal advocacy groups and users of animals in research and teaching.
The final strategy and legislative proposals will be presented to the Minister for Primary Industries in late 2012 or early 2013. It is intended that an amendment Bill be introduced to the House during the first half of next year.
Revision of Animal Welfare Toolkit
This activity adds to the newly re-launched Animal Welfare Toolkit for farmers. This was released at the Federated Farmers conference recently and is now being distributed to farmers nationally. Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, Deer Industry New Zealand, Federated Farmers and the New Zealand Veterinary Association were among the organisations working on the revision with MPI. A copy can be downloaded here (search ‘Animal Welfare Toolkit’).
Congratulations to Craig Hickson, managing director of Progressive Meats who last week was named the 2012 Allflex/Federated Farmers Agribusiness Person of the Year.
Five “exceptional nominations” were received by Federated Farmers, according to president Bruce Willis. Hickson was picked out from the five by judges Andrew Newman, Cr Hon Christine Fletcher and Waikato University’s Professor Jacqueline Rowarth.
“Craig is a hands-on farmer but the name of his company pretty much sums up his philosophy,” said Willis at the Auckland gala event where the award was presented to Mike Petersen, chairman of Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd in Hickson’s stead. Hickson himself was away in Australia representing the industry at LambEx 2012 and talking about questions Australian lamb producers should be asking their processors.
“[Hickson] runs a mixed 1,200 hectare sheep,deer and beef farm in Hawke’s Bay and in addition to Progressive Meats, is a member of the Meat Board. Craig is also a director of Ovation New Zealand and a number of other meat companies.”
Hickson has been an Meat Industry Association council member since 2003 and is also a Board director for Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, Ovita Ltd, Lean Meats Ltd, Te Kuiti Meats Ltd, Progressive Leathers and Venison Packers.
An associated award, the Ravensdown/Federated Farmers Agribusiness Personality for 2012 went to agricultural scientist Dr Doug Edmeades, who was also a finalist for Agribusiness Person of the Year.
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