Category Archives: Meat Industry

China is the key market for New Zealand sheepmeats

Posted on September 14, 2018 by

[This post first appeared online at Stuff and some of their hardcopy newspapers on 4 September 2018, but alas with the first paragraph edited out and with the title “China demand for New Zealand sheepmeat booming”.  In the process,  key … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Meat Industry | 5 Comments

Methane narrative changes with less need for drastic reduction

Posted on September 10, 2018 by

[This article was published today (10 Sept 2018) at http://www.interest.co.nz and is forthcoming in Farmers Weekly] The recent note on methane emissions  put out by Parliamentary Commissioner Simon Upton in late August, and underpinned by a contracted research report written by … Continue reading →

Posted in Dairy, Meat Industry, Science ethics and communication | 4 Comments

Exchange rate reset will breathe new life to agriculture

Posted on August 23, 2018 by

[This post was published online at Stuff and also in most Fairfax Media New Zealand newspapers on 21 August 2018 as part of my fortnightly Stuff column] The recent decline in the value of the New Zealand dollar is about … Continue reading →

Posted in Agribusiness, Dairy, Meat Industry | 1 Comment

Sheep meats are in a sweet spot

Posted on August 14, 2018 by

[This post was published online on 7 August at http://www.stuff.co.nz and also in most of the FairfaxNZ newspapers] This year has been an exceptional year for many sheep farmers.  Lamb and mutton prices have been at record levels. The key … Continue reading →

Posted in Agribusiness, Meat Industry | 1 Comment

Mycoplasma bovis can transfer to sheep, goats, deer, pigs and poultry

Posted on June 24, 2018 by

Currently, there is a fervent ‘behind-the-scenes’ debate as to whether eradication of Mycoplasma bovis from New Zealand is feasible. It is well over a month, possibly close to two months, since the international Technical Advisory Group (TAG) voted six to … Continue reading →

Posted in Agribusiness, Dairy, Meat Industry, Mycoplasma bovis | 3 Comments

A smorgasbord of agricultural issues

Posted on June 7, 2018 by

[For the last three years I have been writing fortnightly columns for NZFarmer, which is delivered free to all New Zealand farmers. However the agricultural press in New Zealand is undergoing major change. One part of that change is that … Continue reading →

Posted in A1 and A2 milk, Agribusiness, China, Dairy, Meat Industry, Mycoplasma bovis | 1 Comment

The wheat and chaff of synthetic food

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

It has become fashionable for agri-food commentators to talk of disruptive change. In particular, in recent months there has been much talk about industry disruption that will supposedly occur from synthetic food, with much of that grown in a laboratory. … Continue reading →

Posted in Agribusiness, Dairy, Meat Industry | 11 Comments