mahurangi matters, fieldays feature, 20 may 2015

27 May 20, 2015 Mahurangi Matters fieldaysfeature

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farmlife FEATURE

Thousands expected at National Fieldays farming-festThe biggest day on the rural calendar is here again – National Fieldays will be held at Mystery Creek in Hamilton from June 10 to 13.The event has become something of a mid-winter Christmas for New Zealand’s farming sector, attracting more than 1000 exhibitors and 120,000 visitors, including 25,000 from Auckland and Northland.It is the biggest agri-business event in the Southern Hemisphere, where farmers can eyeball the products of the country’s major agricultural companies and get an insight into the future of farming at the Fieldays Innovations Centre.Fieldays 2014 Economic Impact Report states Fieldays created $421 million in revenue for the country. Nearly a third of businesses attending the event purchased equipment and three-quarters of patrons rated Fieldays the most important annual event in the country.Poland Motors owner Doug Poland has been to Fieldays every year for 22 years.“It’s got a huge selection of products so customers can make direct comparisons between all of the competition. You don’t get that anywhere else,” Doug says.“They also have great guest speakers and a lot of fun events. It’s everything in one package.”Entries to the No.8 Wire National Art Award will be on display throughout the week, with an $8000 cash prize for the winner. Competitors have to create a sculpture made of at least 75 per cent No.8 wire. Fieldays head of events Lee Picken says the award promotes ingenuity and takes everyday, practical

agricultural products into the art gallery.Entrants in the Art Wear wearable art show will showcase their designs in twice-daily shows, at 11am and 2pm, in the Fieldays Theatre. Competitors have to create pieces from materials found on the farm. Te Radar will MC the prizegiving and awards show

on Friday June 12.The Rural Bachelor of the Year competition is also back again, with $20,000 worth of prizes for the winner. Contestants will face a range of challenges over the Fieldays week, competing in farm work and fitness and demonstrating flare in the kitchen.

Entrants in the Art Wear wearable art show have to create designs from items found on the farm.

Growing Our Capabilities in Agribusiness is the theme of Fieldays this year.

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28 Mahurangi Matters May 20, 2015 fieldaysfeature

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When former Warkworth resident Beverley Forrester’s husband died, she was faced with a choice – run their North Canterbury farm on her own or throw in the towel.She took on the challenge and has since become world renowned for her un-dyed woollen yarn and garments produced from colour-bred sheep, reared on her farm in the Hurunui District.She has written about her journey in the book The Farm at Black Hills: Farming alone in the hills of Northern Canterbury.She says the book traces her journey between two rural townships.“It’s about the history of Warkworth and Canterbury, intertwined with the history of the different sheep breeds which I use to make my yarn,” she says.“It’s also about living in a rural area and what happens when you have to take over a farm. There’s a lot to learn, but you’ve got to have a bit of get-up-and-go and a glass-half-full attitude.”Beverley grew up on the family farm on Woodcocks Road, owned by her parents Ona and Mansel Price, which she still runs with her sister Noelene Quedley. She attended Warkworth Primary and Mahurangi College, but left the area to become an occupational therapist.The job took her south where she met her husband Jim, who had a sheep

Book spinning yarns from Warkworth to Canterbury

Beverely Forrester has bred brown, black and white sheep to produce clothing without using dye.

farm in North Canterbury.When Jim died 18 years ago, Beverley took over the farm and later started producing her own fashion label, Beverley Riverina, named after her grandmother Riverina.“Some things in life are irreversible. You’ve just got to get on and do and adapt to your environment,” Beverley says.“I come from generations of farmers and I’ve kept a close connection with people in Mahurangi, so always had friends and my parents who I could ring for advice.”Beverly runs about 400 naturally coloured sheep – a mixture of corriedale, romney, polwarth and merino.The sheep are reared as naturally as possible, drenched with a solution of garlic, vinegar and tea tree oil, rather than chemicals.“I always believed that if you have a garment that is natural and chemical-free then it’s better for you.”She has six people knitting the wool into custom garments, including her sister Noelene and herself. She has another clothing line, Black Hills, providing wool with the patterns for people to knit their own garments.The garments have featured on the catwalk at New Zealand Fashion Week and have been presented to Princess Anne, while Black Hills is sold in the UK, US and Canada.She is still a member of the Rural Women NZ Kourawhero group and hosted a talk about the book at Kourawhero Hall last month. All of the proceeds from the book go to the Kourawhero group.“I’m up and down about every six weeks, to keep an eye on the farm and keep in touch with friends and family.”


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Book spinning yarns from Warkworth to Canterbury Invasive weeds are costing New

Zealand $1.2 billion in lost agricultural production every year, but the fight to manage weeds is greatly underfunded, says Auckland Council principal biosecurity advisor Nick Waipara.Mr Waipara spoke at the Warkworth Area Liaison Group meeting this month, outlining the damage invasive weeds are causing in the Auckland region.“In all aspects, the pest problem is rising and becoming more challenging. It is completely overwhelming.”There are 331 declared pests in the region, including 292 plant species.It is estimated invasive weeds cost New Zealand $1.8 billion a year, with pastoral weeds accounting for $1.2 billion – about half in crop losses and half in control costs. While in forests, weeds smother native plants, destroying native habitats.Many weeds, like gorse, are now found in nearly every part of the country and it is not economically feasible to eradicate them.“There are simply not enough resources available to get on top of the problem.”But new research may hold the key to managing the spread of new weeds and controlling existing pests.One success was the introduction of the ragwort flea beetle, which rapidly reduced the number of the ragwort plants. Landcare Research estimates the programme saves New Zealand

dairy farms between $9 and $12 million every year.The majority of pest weeds established in New Zealand have hopped the fence from people’s gardens, but new plant varieties are being bred which don’t seed.“Investment in new technology like this could hold the key to weed eradication in the future,” Mr Waipara said.But controlling weeds also relies on getting your hands dirty.“Weeding is a soul destroying job, but it is important.”Warkworth War on Weeds group has been meeting once a month to remove invasive weeds from forests and parks in Mahurangi.Coordinator Patte Williams says the amnesty days have been well supported, but numbers at the working bees have been disappointing. Nine people attended a weeding day in Sandspit this month, but only two people turned up to a weeding day in Warkworth.“I’d love it if more people got involved.”The group is holding an amnesty day at Warkworth Showgrounds, May 24, 9.30am to 2.30pm. Anyone who brings in an invasive plant species gets a native seedling to take home and plant. The next weed-busting event is at Kowhai Park, June 7, 10am to 1pm.Info: [email protected]

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Furry future for trappersAn agreement signed by the Department of Conservation and NZ Fur Council last month is promising greater conservation and economic benefits.DOC already works with individuals who wish to hunt and trap on conservation land, but the new Memorandum of Understanding with the collective voice of the possum fur industry will make it easier for fur council accredited hunters and trappers to gain access to public conservation land for fur recovery operations.Fur council chairman Neil Mackie says more possum fur is needed to increase the market size for NZ’s unique blended brushtail possum yarns and garments.“Many of the possums in our country are on public conservation land so the agreement will allow trappers to access more fur, increase the market and better target ecologically important areas,” he says.The Director General of Conservation Lou Sanson says the agreement is a pragmatic way to broaden the battle against a pest that preys on native wildlife and eats an estimated 21,000 tonnes of bush a night. “We have to prioritise our possum control operations on the areas where the forests or wildlife are most vulnerable but there are millions of hectares of bush that we simply can’t get to. By encouraging fur trappers into these areas we can deliver results

for the taxpayer, the fur industry and conservation. Our research shows that having trappers knocking down possum numbers in the buffer zones around our own targeted pest control projects can delay possum re-invasion by two to three years.”DOC spends more than $10 million a year on possum control.Mr Mackie says there is unfulfilled international market demand for blended brushtail products.“Working alongside the Department of Conservation will be an important part of telling overseas consumers how possum fur products are environmentally and ethically sound.”he says that as well having been seen on the fashion catwalks of Paris, in the increasingly trendy hand-knitting scene, blended brushtail possum yarns are recognised as a special product.The NZ possum fur industry currently generates retail sales of possum-related garments of $100 million to $150 million a year, with international tourists accounting for 85 per cent of total retail sales. The industry employs about 1500 workers.

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New Zealand scientists have identified animal-safe compounds that can reduce methane emissions from sheep and cattle by up to 90 per cent.Results from animal trials were presented at the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Conference in Palmerston North last month.The research is funded by the industry/government backed Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium and the Government-funded New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.Consortium chairman and centre member Rick Pridmore says short-term trials have shown dramatic results.“It must be stressed that these are early days. Further trials are needed to confirm these compounds can reduce emissions in the long-term, have no adverse effects on productivity and leave no residues in meat or milk.”The technology could be commercially available in five years, he says.Research is also continuing into breeding, developing a vaccine and specific feeds to reduce methane emissions, exploiting natural plant properties to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, and increasing the amount of carbon stored in pastoral soils.Selective breeding could result in a six per cent reduction in emissions from stock. “Sheep farmers should have access to breeding information in about two years that allows them to select for animals with lower methane emissions than the average sheep.”Agriculture makes up 48 per cent of New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions, compared with about 12 per cent for other developed countries and research will be crucial to reducing the country’s emissions.The government has opened consultation to set a target for greenhouse emission reductions beyond 2020, ahead of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in December.All countries have been asked to put forward a target to reduce emissions. The European Union has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030, and the United States has a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025.Currently, the government has a target to reduce emissions to five per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, however latest figures show total emissions are 21 per cent higher than 1990 levels.The Ministry for the Environment

Research sparks hope for lowering farming emissions

released a consultation document last month to assist people making submissions, detailing the options and costs for reducing NZ’s emissions.

The report and submission forms are on the Ministry for the Environment website mfe.govt.nz. Submissions close June 3.

onlinereportRead the document containing NZ climate change figures at localmatters.co.nz

Agriculture is responsible for 48 per cent of NZ’s greenhouse emissions, but new research may help dramatically reduce that figure.


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A study on farmland at Te Muri Regional Park has found removing stock from productive streamland catchments could have low environmental benefits and be economically unviable.Auckland Council commissioned AgResearch to complete the study, which used computer models to investigate the impact of removing stock from a 26-hectare block on the 404-hectare sheep and beef farm at Te Muri.The research was released in a report in March. The Council-owned farm allowed unprecedented access to records for fertilisation rates, soil types and economic performance, the report said.The scientific models used the data to identify the potential risk of nutrient run-off, leaching and greenhouse emissions and also looked at how changes would affect the economics of the farm.According to the models, the environmental benefit of removing stock from the block was low, but the costs were high. Retiring the catchment resulted in the loss of 10 per cent of the productive farm area and an 11 per cent reduction in stock numbers, which caused a 12 per cent reduction in gross margin. That reduced the farm’s overall profitability by 25 per cent, due to fixed costs associated with running the farm.However, this only had a small impact on nutrient loss from the farm, reducing phosphorus loss by 0.7 kg per hectare a year but no affect on

Farming practises studied

onlinereportThe Te Muri study is linked to this story at localmatters.co.nz

nitrogen runoff.The report said if regulations were implemented forcing farmers to retire productive stream catchments, it would mean more farms would be unprofitable.“If retirement of productive stream catchments was enforced through, for example, legislation, farmers could realistically expect a significant reduction in farm business performance. Lowering farm profitability on small farm holdings will mean more farms are no longer profitable enough to be operated as a stand-alone economic unit. Economic management of such small areas of productive farming land may then be limited to leasing to other local landholders as grazing land.”Council principal ranger for northern parks Matt Vujcich said it was too early to determine whether the stream catchment would be fenced off from stock to run the experiment in practice.Council would wait until the results from other research projects at Te Muri have been completed, he said. Over the past 18 months, they have been looking at the impact of stock on sedimentation rates and wildlife in the stream catchment.“Once those studies are complete we will look at the combined results of what the best course of action is at Te Muri and other Regional Parks.”

mahurangi matters, fieldays feature, 20 may 2015

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