Latest Farm Stories

By CRONSHAW, Tim Whether the hot run of dairying conversions on Southland sheep farms will get the speed wobbles could depend on the extent of red meat profits this season. Higher sheepmeat returns are expected to have a greater bearing on the conversion rate than the lowering of Fonterra's starting payout for 2008-09 to $6.60 a kilogram of milk solids, down from an earlier forecast of $7/kg. The credit crunch will also have would- be investors looking closely at their numbers. Last...

I t's quality that's important, according to Devon beef farmer Jeffrey Dunn. "A good animal that is well looked after will reach maturity more quickly and yield better returns in the long run. It's crucial not to cut corners," he insists. You might expect a farmer with such a strong line on quality to be selling produce to local farm shops, or perhaps to the likes of M&S and Waitrose, but Mr Dunn is one of 16,500 British and Irish farmers supplying McDonald's. In fact, the fast food chain...

By GALLOWAY, Jill The Dairy Trust company says it has the milk flow it needs and is about to start building a milk powder plant on its site in Wanganui. Dairy Trust is a wholly-owned subsidiary of meat company Affco. It is a new nationwide dairy industry player planning to take milk from farmers for processing as export milk powder. Chief executive Mark Fankhauser said there were surveyors at work on the Wanganui site and he expected earthworks to begin in the next few days. He said...

Tokyo, Oct. 7 (Jiji Press)--Major Japanese beverage firm Kirin Holdings Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to sell its Australian Dairy Farmers' yogurt license to New Zealand's leading dairy firm Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd. For an undisclosed sum, Fonterra will acquire the rights to manufacture and sell the Australian firm's core yogurt brand SKI. Kirin plans to buy Dairy Farmers in November at the earliest through its National Foods Ltd. unit, Australia's biggest dairy company.END (c)...

Product: St Ronan's Pastoral Ltd Offerer: MyFarm How it works: New Zealand's economy relies a lot on farming, but there are not many investment opportunities in the sector. MyFarm offers some, in the form of equity partnerships in farms, but they are not for everybody. In fact they are for the unusually wealthy (assets of more than $2 million or $200,000 per year income for the past two years) or for those with farming knowledge, as there are no investment statements or prospectuses for...

By David Barboza At a dairy farming village on the outskirts of this northern city, a group of residents surrounded a village official last week, and started berating him. "We've lost everything, but look at the nice car you have," one dairy farmer said, pointing at a government official they called Mr. Wang, who stood uncomfortably by a shiny Volkswagen in Nantongyi Village. "You know everything but you won't talk. You have no conscience!" another man shouted. China's dairy farmers stand...

By Karen Dent THERE is fresh controversy over the fate of money supposed to support farmers amid claims it is being diverted to rural concerns that have nothing to do with farming. As The Journal reported earlier this week, the Hexham-based National Beef Association (NBA) raised concerns that the Government and Government agencies may see the funding as the only pot of money available to them in these difficult economic times. NBA director Kim Haywood said she was worried single payment...

By JANES, Andrew FONTERRA is expected to lift its payout forecast for this season by at least 30 cents a kilogram of milk solids after a board meeting on Thursday. The dairy industry expects the co-op to reveal the payout boost in an announcement on Friday in which it will also re-set the price of its fair value shares and make its initial estimate of the payout for the 2008-09 season. According to industry sources, Fonterra has been telling farmers at recent meetings to expect a pleasant...

By HARDING, Evan ENVIRONMENT SOUTHLAND is supporting a judge who has warned southern dairy farmers to clean up their act or face closure. Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith said during sentencing in the Invercargill District Court last week that if prosecutions of dairy farmers for discharging dairy shed effluent into natural waterways continued it was likely the court would increase fines above $15,000. He also warned that if compliance did not improve significantly the court may...

E ven in difficult times quality property sells and Kemps Farm, Winsford, on Exmoor, is no exception to the rule. Kemps Farm extends in total to 347 acres and is a well-managed and looked-after Exmoor hill farm. Including a six-bedroom farmhouse rebuilt in the 1980s and three-bedroom cottage, the farm also has two excellent stock buildings and the holding has been run by the Winzer family for 50 years with improvements carried out year on year. The ground is all down to pasture, with...