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Despite uncertainty around Covid and regulatory compliance issues, Ruralco has shown it is more resilient than ever, recording positive financial results for its 2021 financial year and by hitting a significant shareholder base milestone.

Born out of a need to find a solution to their daughter’s dairy intolerance, Kirwee farmers Matt and Tracey Jones have embarked on a new venture milking sheep, producing skincare products, farm-made cheeses, yoghurt and bottled milk. They’re also behind a push to prove sheep milking is a profitable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional dairying.

Could applying fertiliser together with irrigation water help farmers meet the nitrogen cap rule?

Northland’s humid sub-tropical climate means avocados have always thrived in the top part of the North Island. But the gradual drift to plant them has become a flood in recent years as dairy farms are converted and irrigation projects open up more land for orchard plantings.

Words by Richard Rennie. Electricity users throughout New Zealand, including irrigation users have been grappling with ever rising electricity costs for the past five years, a fact confirmed by the recent Electricity Authority market monitoring review of the wholesale electricity market. In late October the Electricity Authority released papers outlining the main conclusions it had drawn from its review of the wholesale electricity market. The review was prompted by the surge in prices since the...

Side dressings, particularly of nitrogen (N), at key growth stages will optimise cereal crops such as wheat and barley, lifting yield and protein content.

Forage brassicas are a great source of home-grown feed at times when pasture is not enough.

Forage brassicas are particularly susceptible to weed competition during establishment. This is especially the case when sowing into scenarios with moderate to high weed seed loadings in the soil, such as previously cropped ground or run-out pastures. Cultivation can also bring dormant weed seeds to the soil surface enabling germination within the crop.

For the next three months we are looking at final sprays for finishing off cereal and grass seed crops, getting silos cleaned before harvest, continuing post emergence sprays on fodder beet, pre and post emergence sprays on forage brassicas and weed control in new pasture.

Extensively evaluated for weed control efficacy and crop safety in local product development trials, Milestone is a selective, post-emergence broadleaf herbicide.