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3 days ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 3 minutesAfter 40 years in the game, sheep dog triallist Leo Jecentho has nailed a cracker of a finishing the season with a record achievement. Competing with Jake, Jecentho – from the Karioi Sheep Dog Trial Club in Waikato – took out both the 2025 South Island short head and yard championship and the 2025 New Zealand short head and yard championship at the national championships hosted at Lochiel Station in North Canterbury.
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4 days ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhile market conditions remain challenging, New Zealand velvet continues to be trusted, respected and in demand, Deer Industry NZ chief executive Rhys Griffiths says.
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5 days ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe proposed export licensing of deer velvet aims to reward good industry practice while stamping out unfair trading conditions. The concept of export licensing for deer velvet was introduced at the annual deer industry conference in Queenstown last month. Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) trade strategy manager Damon Paling presented the vision aimed at addressing rising farmer concerns around price instability, levy non-compliance and unfair trading conditions.
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5 days ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesArable industry leader and Foundation for Arable Research chief executive Dr Alison Stewart has been appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King’s Birthday Honours. The damehood recognises Stewart’s pre-eminent contribution, commitment and dedication over her 40-year career in research and plant science and the arable sector.
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1 week ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 3 minutesTimes are tough and the headwinds are strong but the opportunities to raise the profile of New Zealand grain and seeds remain many, Eat NZ chief executive Angela Clifford says. Addressing the industry’s Women in Seed forum in Christchurch, Clifford urged the group of more than 120 women to avoid the “grain drain”. “You are a marvellous bunch of seedy women; your seediness is your strength.
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1 week ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesAre genetically modified plants friends or foes of the seed industry? That’s the big question addressed by professor of plant biology Paula Jameson at the Women in Seed forum in Christchurch. The biggest problem in the debate, she said, is terminology. “Genetic modification/genetic engineering (GM) allows us to take a gene from one species and insert it in another with which it would never naturally breed: transgenic modification.
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1 week ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesMulti-generational farming families were recognised at the 19th annual New Zealand Century Farm and Station Awards again hosted by the small rural Otago town of Lawrence. Farming families gathered from across NZ to commemorate those who had gone before them, share stories, and celebrate each other’s dedication, perseverance and success over 100-plus years of farming.
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1 week ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesGrowing Future Farmers is on the lookout for students and trainers as it hosts awareness open days across the country. Supported by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (BLNZ), Growing Future Farmers (GFF) is part of the industry body’s commitment to developing people and capability in the sector.
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1 week ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesDetection of the highly invasive pest plant black grass has the cropping industry on high alert. Seed and Grain Readiness and Response (SGRR), the biosecurity entity for the arable sector, is working with cropping industry stakeholders and Biosecurity New Zealand on a response following the detection of Alopecurus myosuroides (black grass) from a farm in the Canterbury region. The response group is still working to determine how black grass got into the affected crop.
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2 weeks ago | 
farmersweekly.co.nz | Annette Scott
Reading Time: 2 minutesA new one-stop shop fall armyworm information website has been launched to help farmers better manage the pest. The website, fallarmyworm.nz, developed by the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) in conjunction with HortPlus, follows a similar format to FAR’s Aphid Chat, which provides information for the management of aphids in cereals. Maize and sweetcorn growers now only need to visit one site for the latest information and tips on how to manage fall armyworm (FAW).
