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​​​​​​​Following over nine years’ service to Ruralco as Board Director and ATS Group Chairman, Alister Body has led the development and continued success of the 3,000 member strong co-operative through good times, structural change and challenges. Although it’s the right time to hang up his Chairman’s hat, Alister is far from taking his agricultural boots off.

For Ruralco member, keen lifelong hunter, and father of 10-year-old twins Hugo and Ralph, Tim Silva, gun safety has been a crucial part of his sons’ wider education.

Covid-19 pulled the plug on the global economy with one swift yank earlier this year, and only now governments and industry can begin to assess what remains, and what new opportunities exist in the strange new world the virus has left us with.

Learning to manage and match their farm’s nitrogen demand to its inputs has gone a long way to explaining how Ruralco director Tony Coltman and his wife Dana Carver claimed the supreme award in this year’s Canterbury Farm Environment Awards.

Hekeao Hemp Co. came to life on a sunny day in September last year when two friends loaded hay into a float and talked about the exciting opportunity to provide an alternative in equine nutrition – something they are both passionate about.

Over 95 percent of New Zealand’s pork production is PigCare™ certified and Made in NZ labelled. However, with consultation having closed on a new consumer information standard, pork lovers may be confused as to where their meat really comes from.   

There is a small group here in Mid Canterbury organising a feed run to the Hawkes Bay drought affected farmers. Seeing the HUGE success of the Rapafeedrun...we felt we were also in a position to help out.

In a social media ‘news’ environment where fiction can quickly be taken up as fact, consumers wanting to understand where their food comes from and how safe it is, can struggle to know if what they are hearing is real, or indeed true.

Pork farming is a relatively small industry in New Zealand – but with consumption growing dramatically in the country, it’s a significant one.

At DairyNZ, the 2020 year is off to a busy start, as we continue to work on a range of activities and projects to support farmers.