CountryWide CONNECT

Spring Outlook: El Niño, Firm Prices and Volatile Input Costs

Parliament breakfast celebrates women's critical role in New Zealand farming

Toxic ragwort discovered in Wairarapa


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Spring Outlook: El Niño, Firm Prices and Volatile Input Costs
New Zealand's primary sector is heading into spring with firm commodity prices across beef, lamb and dairy powders — but El Niño weather risks and volatile input costs are the key watchpoints for the season ahead.
Beef schedules remain strong with North Island bull prices running around nine-ninety-five cents per kilogram, though easing US trim values and redirected Australian and Brazilian product are worth watching. Lamb export values hit a record seventeen-nineteen per kilogram in July, with tight North Island supply supporting competitive procurement.
Dairy powder markets are stabilising after recent volatility, with slowing global milk supply growth and improving Asian demand providing support. Butterfat and cheese markets remain soft.
On inputs, urea prices softened in August following a large Indian tender but remain volatile. Fertiliser import values rose forty-six percent year-on-year to June, and further price swings are expected.
Water availability, not temperature, is flagged as the critical El Niño variable for farmers this spring.

Parliament breakfast celebrates women's critical role in New Zealand farming
A Parliament breakfast has shone a spotlight on the critical role women play in food systems, as New Zealand marks the United Nations International Year of the Woman Farmer.
The event, organised by the Young Organic Growers Alliance and hosted by Deputy Speaker Barbara Kuriger, heard from Minister for Women Nicola Grigg, the High Commissioner of India and young growers who attended an international women farmers conference in India's Meghalaya region in June.
Grigg says women are increasingly involved in daily farm practices and integral to New Zealand agriculture — but barriers including access to land, capital and finance remain. She says women face more questions than men when seeking business loans and that's not good enough.
Whangārei market gardener Nadia Pavlovich told the gathering women are custodians of the land and deserve to be celebrated every single day.

Toxic ragwort discovered in Wairarapa
Madagascar ragwort has been discovered near Ngawi in the Wairarapa, raising concerns the highly toxic pasture weed could establish in the lower North Island.
The invasive plant can cause serious illness and death in cattle and horses, while its seeds can spread easily by wind. Greater Wellington Regional Council says the plant may have been growing undetected at the site for up to five years.
The council is urging farmers, contractors and rural workers to learn how to identify the weed and report suspected sightings. It has previously been thought to be confined to Northland, where it has been present for more than two decades.
Council pest plants team leader Mark McAlpine says finding it early gives the region the best chance of limiting its spread and protecting productive pasture.
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Federated Farmers welcomes guaranteed rural voice in emergency management bill

Pāmu backs Meet the Need with recipe cards for donated mince

Ballance Farm Environment Awards come to the West Coast for first time


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Federated Farmers welcomes guaranteed rural voice in emergency management bill
Federated Farmers is welcoming new emergency management laws guaranteeing rural communities a voice when disasters strike.
The Emergency Management Bill, which passed its third reading in late August, requires each of the country's sixteen regional Emergency Management Co-ordinating Executive Groups to include at least one member with rural knowledge and experience.
Federated Farmers adverse events spokesperson Sandra Faulkner says the group pushed hard for the guaranteed seat, after some regions handled rural input well while others left isolated farms to fend for themselves during emergencies. She says farmers bring critical local knowledge, from who lives down long country roads to what equipment is available for response and recovery.
The Bill also strengthens animal welfare powers during emergencies, allowing authorised responders to enter properties where animals need help, and requires rural communities be consulted on the national emergency management strategy.

Pāmu backs Meet the Need with recipe cards for donated mince
Farming enterprise Pāmu, formerly Landcorp Farming, has again backed food charity Meet the Need this year, donating twenty five thousand dollars — the equivalent of a beast from each of its livestock farms. That's delivering more than twenty one thousand three hundred mince meals to New Zealand families.
This year Pāmu has gone a step further, developing recipe cards to help food parcel recipients turn that mince into a family meal. The recipes came from Pāmu staff themselves, entered into an internal competition, with dishes including chilli crisp noodles, great nana's kiwi gold pie, and smuggled beans spag bol.
The cards go out alongside the donated mince through Meet the Need's network of food banks. The charity says quality protein makes a real difference to families under pressure — and knowing what to do with it matters just as much. Meet the Need backed one hundred and forty eight food banks nationwide over the past year, helping deliver more than one point two seven million mince and milk meals.

Ballance Farm Environment Awards come to the West Coast for first time
The Ballance Farm Environment Awards are coming to the West Coast for the first time, giving farmers and growers across the region a chance to be recognised alongside some of New Zealand's leading operations.
Run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust, the awards celebrate farmers and growers making thoughtful decisions about their land, environment, people and businesses, while showing the innovation it takes to run a successful primary production operation.
West Coast Regional Council Chair Colin Smith says the region's farming stories deserve a place in the national spotlight, with the Council committed to supporting the awards in the years ahead.
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This episode features Sarah Harris, General Manager, NZ Farm Environment Trust discussing the Ballance Farm Environment Awards expansion to the South Island.

WANT TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW LIVE (11am-1pm NZST) ON THE GO? Download CountryWide Connect mobile app to stream the show via Apple Car Play or Android Auto. Or try the voice command ‘Play CountryWide Connect’ on Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

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This episode features Kristi Wright, New Executive Director, Fairlight Foundation discussing a new chapter of leadership for women in agriculture.

WANT TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW LIVE (11am-1pm NZST) ON THE GO? Download CountryWide Connect mobile app to stream the show via Apple Car Play or Android Auto. Or try the voice command ‘Play CountryWide Connect’ on Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

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This episode features Tangi Utikere, Spokesperson for Transport, Labour Party discussing Labour’s election pledge to freeze fuel excise taxes for the next three years.

WANT TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW LIVE (11am-1pm NZST) ON THE GO? Download CountryWide Connect mobile app to stream the show via Apple Car Play or Android Auto. Or try the voice command ‘Play CountryWide Connect’ on Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

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