Country-Wide Summer 2024-25

A sustainable rotation of crops and livestock helps an award-winning arable farmer to maintain his soils and profitability. Words Heather Chalmers, Photos Peter Hewson.

Recruiting and keeping great employees is always relevant in the success of farm businesses, and is the focus of the special report in Country-Wide Summer. In this episode find out more about fair remuneration and what employees are looking for when it comes to work contracts from Federated Farmers Employment Spokesperson Richard McIntyre, and how you can attract good employees through your recruitment process from Rural Directions Manager Gretchen Parkes.

The winners in the 2024 Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Awards were announced at a gala dinner at Claudelands Event Centre in Hamilton on 10 October.
During the evening, which celebrated the depth of the talent within this country’s red meat industry, the winners of the eight Award categories and B+LNZ Regional Leadership Award were announced.

Words Rebecca Greaves

Listeria can present in a number of different ways and one common source of listeria infection in sheep is from feeding silage that hasn’t been well preserved. Vet Sara Sutherland outlines the different symptoms and treatments for listeria, and the importance of involving your vet early.

New Zealand farmers face significant challenges reconciling environmental regulations with economic realities. Kerry Worsnop’s 2023 Nuffield report The mountain we need to climb – designing agricultural policy for a future in farming addresses those in leadership, agricultural policy makers and others with an interest in how we deliver better outcomes for those on the land and for the land itself.

Words Chris Coughlan, Partner, Rural Coach.

Creating a good health and safety culture, where team members feel safe and valued, starts with good role-modelling from the top down. A positive environment can also have spinoffs for staff engagement and retention. Rebecca Greaves reports.

Keeping young people engaged in the farming industry is vital to the long term success of our sector. Nurturing and growing the next generation of farmers is something we should all care about. In this episode we look at the programmes that exist to upskill our future farmers, and give them the tools to have a long and rewarding career, such as Growing Future Farmers and the Trades Academy. We also dive into the current property markets around farmland prices, and whether it’s a sellers market yet.