Few things are more deeply linked to history, land and tradition than whisky, and Nigg farmer Peter Mackenzie shares a link with the amber dew that is stronger than most.

His family have been growing grain for whisky in the Tain district for over 100 years, including their highest-grade barley for Glenmorangie’s nearby distillery. Wheat is also grown, for other assorted whisky labels, while other crops include oil seed rape, potatoes and oats.

The 175 hectares of land that surrounds the Glenmorangie House estate was once bought from the family by the Glenmorangie company, only to be sold back to the Mackenzies 40 years ago. It is part of the Mackenzie family’s 800ha total holding, covering a range of soils and contours in the idyllic landscape around the Cromarty Firth, in Scotland’s Tain district. 

Perhaps surprisingly, the district is one of the driest in Scotland, receiving less than 700mm of rainfall a year on account of being protected from the rain-bearing westerlies that sweep the loch country to the west. 

Despite the challenges of the past year, this usually makes it good early-harvesting country.

The Mackenzies supply about 600 tonnes of their best barley a year for Glenmorangie’s Cadboll limited edition whisky. 

It’s a whisky renowned for the touches of honey, hazelnuts, mandarin oranges and toffee in its aroma. Its tasting notes refer to  “a gently spicy mouthfeel with a burst of sweet and spicy flavours, including heather honey and gingerbread”.

Despite floods last year that swamped paddocks through winter, and a particularly damp harvest this year, Mackenzie said this year’s barley crop is one of the best he’s seen.

Meantime in early September his harvester has been irritatingly idle, as heavy fog and light rain dampen the tail end of the harvest. Moisture levels in the grain are reading 28%, well ahead of the 14-15% he needs to start harvesting again.

“It’s surprising, despite the weather, really. We would normally have been all harvested by the end of August, and yet here we are now well into September with crop to still get in. 

“But the nitrogen levels in the crop are low, which is good, the grain size is good, as is the yield.”

This year’s barley crop has averaged 3t per acre, up on the district average of 2.8t, and will be worth around £190 ($404) a tonne.

“But we have experienced the same cost increases that you will have seen in New Zealand, in terms of fertilisers and fuel, with urea now about £350 a tonne. The margins are very tight, even for quality grain.”

The Mackenzie family have displayed plenty of entrepreneurial spirit over the course of their 100-plus years on the land. 

Peter’s brother Robert owns and operates award-winning Cuillesse Highland Rapeseed Oil, purchasing the farm’s rapeseed crop and cold pressing it into high-quality premium oils for home cooking.  

Over on the farm’s flat land a giant 500kWh wind turbine slowly churns away. The £1 million unit was built on Peter’s initiative several years ago to capitalise on a favourable energy contract offered at the time. 

Receiving a payment of 22p/kWh adjusted for inflation, it represents a valuable earner throughout the year.

“In some respects, it’s a better earner than farming but it would be hard to get as good a contract today. The payoff on it was four years.”

That link to wind farming grew stronger when the family’s recent purchase of land near the Cromarty Firth was progressed by a Japanese industrial company’s offer to purchase part of it for a steel cable fabrication operation. 

This is linked to the large offshore wind farm projects underway off the United Kingdom’s east coast that are receiving millions of pounds of both the government and corporate investment. 

The district’s deep harbour facility and infrastructure that remains from North Sea oil projects make it an ideal land base for the huge turbines to be assembled and shipped to their offshore anchor points.

The Mackenzie family enjoy strong links with New Zealand, with Peter’s uncle Gregor and his wife Liz emigrating to the South Island over 20 years ago, taking on a grazing and cropping farm in the Culverden district.

Peter has taken up the Scottish government’s incentives around nature conservation, which includes being paid to plant wildflowers including lupins. The subsidy is £500 a hectare, along with seed and drilling costs, to plant and leave for a year.

“After that we top them and plough them in and we have found they significantly improve the quality of the soil, and the crop that we get that year. It opens the ground up and lifts the organic matter. The difference is like night and day.”

Payments are also available to farmers to increase wetland areas and retire land areas for birdlife sanctuaries.

Like many farmers in smaller countries, Peter appreciates the imposing scale of food giants like Brazil, the United States and Canada. 

Responding with some creative approaches and maintaining strong relationships with the likes of Glenmorangie does much to keep the business thriving and rewarding.

“We know we can never compete on that scale, so really you just have to think about what your options are, and make the most of them.”

This winter may have been closer to a “normal” winter in the Awatere Valley, but Bruce Hamilton knows soon enough the perennial headache of flystrike will raise its ugly head as warmer weather arrives.

Bruce has been managing Glenlee Station on the northern side of the Awatere River for the past four years but has spent far longer in the district and has tracked a few shifts in the district’s weather patterns over time.

“We are seeing much more intense rainfall events with summer humidity, other than this year, being higher, bringing on the problems you would expect with flystrike over a lengthy warm weather period.”

Despite that trend, the past late summer period had a relatively low humidity level, with an exceptionally dry autumn meaning weaning was pushed out some weeks past its usual date.

He runs 5000 stock units comprising largely Merinos and some Angus cattle on the 10,000 hectare station, and tight economic conditions means managing the big block as economically as possible is more critical than ever this year.

In assessing his flystrike treatment choices, Bruce has opted for Zoetis’s StrikeForce®-S spray on as a ready to use treatment. Having flexibility on when to spray, is a critical requirement for him, as well as aligning treatment with yarding for weaning and other treatments. He will typically apply StrikeForce-S at tailing time.

“Then if you can get through to the trigger point in autumn where you can make the call to apply a second treatment, StrikeForce-S’s lengthy prevention period means for the past couple of years we have enjoyed the flexibility of making that call. 

“This year we weaned later on account of the lower feed levels, and the high-risk period wasn’t the same as other seasons, thus we could get away with not treating them a second time.” 

He also treats the ewes, at tailing.  

“Hoggets are also done off-shear, and we have found that StrikeForce-S holds really well.  And in the last season, we had no flystrike from tailing through to weaning.”

Rams also come in for some spot treatment, run up the race for a quick spray on their head where they may have been banging horns together.

The treatment has been fully integrated into his animal health plan and plays a key role in preventing flystrike over the summer months.

A cost evaluation with comparative treatments has StrikeForce-S come out on top. He finds its easy to apply formulation is enhanced by its highly visible colour, ensuring accurate application in the pen.

“Normally we can get away with one treatment for the lambs at tailing, which provides great value for money, but if we do have to give another treatment, we have confidence the lambs are protected through to the end of the fly season”. 

The perennial threat of flystrike is not going away any time soon at Glenlee station, and Bruce can recount some dire encounters with it in the past before integrating StrikeForce-S into his animal health routine.

“Historically, flystrike’s been a real headache. I can remember always keeping a tin of Maggo handy, a pretty tough treatment to have to use on the sheep. We would also often get the sheep in every six weeks to spray with historical treatment methods, which was time consuming. And if you had a rain event afterwards it meant it had been a waste of time.”

That contrasts with StrikeForce-S which he finds remains relatively unaffected by rainfall events post-treatment.

“The main thing is to just be aware of when the treatment period is coming towards its end, and making a timely decision about re-application if required. Eighteen weeks is a good length of protection to have.”

For Bruce the freedom from having to set up and run jetters for treatment is invaluable, and underscores StrikeForce-S’s flexibility for rapid application.

“And it is also just having that peace of mind, knowing you have taken the right steps applying it when you have.”

More: This article was made possible by Zoetis New Zealand Limited. Tel: 0800 963 847, www.zoetis.co.nz. StrikeForce-S is a registered trade mark of Zoetis. ACVM No. A11349. All other trade marks reference are trade marks of their respective owners.

In Focus Podcast | Rewiring rural New Zealand’s approach to power

Rocketing power prices and uncertainty about generating more are keeping many people up at night, but Mike Casey reckons farmers have everything they need to power up right now. The chief executive of Rewiring Aotearoa has transformed his cherry orchard into a solar powered operation and he reckons every farmer should do the same. 

To Mike, it’s just a sound business decision as his power bills have plummeted, the capital outlay will be repaid in five years and he’s sorted if a storm knocks out the regional power supply.

Carbon sector industry players are hoping the latest government announcements on the Emissions Trading Scheme will deliver higher values, prompting greater stability and investment in the sector.

As this year’s carbon forestry conference kicked off in Rotorua, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced a shift in ETS settings that will have the number of carbon units available between 2025 and 2029 reduced by over half from 45 million to 21 million NZ Units. 

The minister pointed to a carbon credit oversupply that has gutted carbon prices, from a high of $88 in late 2022 to plummet to $45 by July 2023. 

Meantime successive carbon auctions have failed to clear the credits on offer, with the most recent auction, in June, failing to draw any bids. This left 4 million units unsold including 550,000 from the previous auction in March.

Latest carbon prices are at $54, already registering a small lift after the minister’s announcement. 

Earlier this year the Climate Change Commission recommended the number of units be halved, citing the scheme as being in disarray. The numbers minister Watts intends to reduce the credits by lies roughly in line with the commission’s recommendations.

Scott Pollard, head of business development for New Zealand’s largest carbon forestry company, NZ Carbon Farming Group, told delegates the sector’s challenge has been to have a stable environment for long-term decision-making about forestry plantings.

“The short-term uncertainty has undermined confidence in this sector and for industries seeking nature-based solutions with evidence-based outcomes.”
His company has paid $134 million in leases to farmers and landowners seeking its expertise and management to plant transition forests on all or part of their land, with 75,000 hectares of managed estate and 35,000ha in the ETS.

“Two years ago we expected carbon prices would be over $100 a unit by now,” Pollard said.

The resulting low prices have been painful and required some diversification including establishing an Australian division and working with companies seeking high-quality carbon forests outside of the ETS.

The sawtooth pattern of NZ’s ETS values over the past two years reflected assorted interventions by the government, usually coinciding with the downturns.

“We now seem to be in an environment where the government is committed to the ETS being the workhorse for carbon.”

He pointed to a limited appetite for spending billions of taxpayer dollars to purchase offshore carbon credits when investment in NZ through carbon forestry is a viable solution to meet climate goals. 

There are also strong international drivers that mean opportunities remain, including pressure from commercial partners and international demand for high-integrity, nature-based solutions.

With greater downward pressure on sheep and beef returns, the company is also seeing renewed interest from farmers in how they can convert some of their farm to carbon plantings on poorer land.

In the past five years the company has planted 30,000ha of greenfields land into forestry at a scale that will play a part in its transition forestry process, ultimately becoming native-dominated permanent forestry.

Initial high-density exotic plantings help generate carbon income early on in the forest project’s life, an invaluable cashflow source to help fund the future work of thinning and transitioning to natives, including pest control.

Intensive pest control of goats, deer and possums has meant thousands of head culled in recent years, and the company bought a 50% share in NZ AutoTraps.

As exotics are thinned, the size of remaining trees increases and the company can point to data over 100 years that proves exotics do not fall over once they are older than 30-plus years.

Company chief forestry advisor Bryan McKinlay said they have had more farmers from northern Hawke’s Bay approaching them, wanting another use for land ravaged by Cyclone Gabrielle and no longer farmable.

“We need confidence and stability in the ETS. More confidence means we then have the ability to accelerate transition forestry, we know it is possible and that it can be done at scale.”

An AgResearch environmental scientist says New Zealand and the world need a second Green Revolution to address the twin challenges of meeting growing food demand while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Jiafa Luo of AgResearch’s environmental research team was one of several scientists contributing to a recent study released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their work highlighted how the world’s agricultural systems have started to level off in terms of their ability to produce more protein per kilogram of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Taking data from 180 countries and 170 food-livestock feed types, they analysed the changes to find that emissions intensity (kilogram of GHG per kilogram of protein production) decreased by nearly two-thirds from 1961 to 2019. 

This was largely due to the major gains made through the Green Revolution that saw the use of synthetic fertilisers and treatments boost productivity in all crop and animal production globally.

But taking a closer look at the most recent decade, from 2010 to 2020, they found a stagnation in the rate of gain, and even an increase in emissions intensity in some areas where land use change occurred.

“What is most worrying about this is the need we are going to see for even more food production, with estimates the world needs to increase food production by 50% within the next 25 years,” Luo said.

This calls for a second Green Revolution, one that meets the demand placed on agriculture to produce more but using new tools that also bring lower GHG emissions to that increased production.

“There is this need there to produce more protein. As people improve their standard of living that is what they demand more of. If we can get those production gains, without the emissions, that would be ideal.”
He acknowledges the need for the likes of emissions mitigators in livestock, but new tools for outright production gains are also sorely needed.

“Even if you look at nitrogen efficiency on farms, that is still quite low. If you took a kilogram of nitrogen, the conversion is around 20-40%. Even if we can just get a 5% lift in that, that is significant.”

New Zealand has not been immune to that slide in intensity efficiency, particularly in the red meat sector as ongoing gains in sheep productivity have been more difficult to achieve.
Like many scientists he welcomes the NZ government’s decision to review gene technology regulations and believes a responsible pathway of research would yield definitive gains to NZ’s ability to more efficiently grow more protein.

In a world where the free trade ethos is being threatened, the report highlights the valuable role it can play in helping better balance emission intensities. 

The trade of final produced protein between countries has reduced potential global greenhouse gas outputs, especially for countries that are net importers of protein with high GHG intensities, such as Africa and south Asian countries. 

Overall, a continuous decline of emission intensity in the future relies upon countries with higher emission intensity to increase their productivity and minimise land use changes.

But the research has also found the accelerating expansion of cropland is concerning as it reduces the amount of natural land, often a major carbon dioxide sink. 

They point to concern over growing demand for meat and increasing amounts of crop material being turned into fuel sources, rather than used as food.

A native of China, Luo said he can starkly recall the impact of the Green Revolution on his country’s rice production capability, one shared with the likes of India. He agrees that the ensuing ongoing gains in productivity have been something the world has almost taken for granted.

His concern is that a continuing stagnation in GHG intensity relative to protein production without any step changes in methods will result in a dangerous feedback loop forming. 

This is one where the proportionately higher gases emitted add to more carbon dioxide, exacerbating climate change even further, in turn delivering climate outcomes that further compromise agriculture’s productivity. 

A dairy processing head is warning that milk prices this season are under real threat of being pushed downwards thanks to surging energy prices swamping the country.

Open Country Dairy CEO Mark de Lautour told Farmers Weekly dairy processors are unable to continue to absorb the increases coming at them from all key energy suppliers.

While his company is relatively insulated for now from electricity price contracts, these will eventually end.

“We are fully aware of what is coming. We are in a tunnel with a big light coming down it.” 

The squeeze of energy costs on the primary sector’s processors is already being felt. 

Ruapehu District mayor Weston Kirton has signalled the closure of two timber mills in the Central North Island as they grapple with a 600% increase in electricity costs since 2021. 

The mills’ closure will put 300 people out of work. Kirton said it is vital that the government top up such significant employers in the regions until a solid energy plan is formulated.

“We are not experts on the electricity market and how you can resolve the issue. But we are on the receiving end of its outcomes, which are bringing grief to our communities,” he said.

Electricity spot price increases have continued unabated this week, up 33% on average, a further leap on the 50% increase on the spot market a week earlier.  Most industry users are reporting power prices that are double what they were 18  months ago.

The major energy cost surges are coming as the dairy industry gears up for peak spring milk flow, and farmers start to rebalance budgets after two years of double-digit on farm inflation.

De Lautour said the fact the price surge extends across electricity and gas supplies indicates the problems causing it go beyond any seasonal volatility in hydro lake levels. They reflect, he said, a major flaw in New Zealand’s ability to adequately plan for its energy needs.

“There is a bigger issue at play here. We have moved from coal to gas and electricity. We have increased demand for gas and electricity, and we have not got alternative sources in place. We have taken a big slug of stored energy out of the system by stopping coal use.”

Fonterra chief operating officer, Anna Palairet, said concerns about NZ’s lack of energy resilience have been raised by the co-op for some time. Fonterra runs a mix of energy types in its boilers. 

“We are concerned that the high wholesale electricity prices and uncertainty in the gas market are impacting New Zealand’s export competitiveness.”

In the meat processing sector ANZCO Foods and Silver Fern Farms (SFF) have experienced a doubling of their electricity costs in the past 12 months, while also working to reduce reliance upon coal as an energy source.

SFF has managed to negotiate cheaper rates for the coming season that will still be materially higher than 2022 rates, and both it and ANZCO have doubled down on energy saving steps where possible.

Energy expert Jonathan Pooch of consultants DETA has warned NZ will have to adapt to what is going to be a “new normal” of high energy costs, with little in the pipeline of new supply to suggest they will be coming down any time soon. 

He said the country is paying the price for failing to have a broad energy strategy, and any reactive response is going to cost significantly more than having planned ahead when also decarbonising the energy supply.

“This is really just indicative of the lack of infrastructure investment in general.”
He said whatever approach the government takes to rectify the problem, large amounts of money will need to be spent.

Open Country Dairy CEO Mark de Lautour describes surging energy costs as the light of a big train in a dark tunnel heading for the dairy processing industry, and New Zealand as a nation.

While Open Country Dairy (OCD) is insulated from the rapid rises at present thanks to contracts already in place, he said he and his executive team are fully aware of what is coming once those contracts end. 

And, rather than simply being the result of volatile hydro lake levels, he said, there are much bigger issues at play impacting the energy market and costs.

“As coal and fossil fuels became unacceptable, NZ moved away to electricity and gas, or switched from coal to electricity as we have done.

“But the increased demand for gas and increased demand for electricity is what has caused this, not just what’s in the hydro lakes. Demand has increased and NZ has not got alternative sources in place.”

Removing coal from high energy uses like dairy factory boilers and replacing it with electricity meant a big slug of stored energy has been removed from the system. 

He agreed with OCD’s chair Laurie Margrain, who has described NZ as having “sleepwalked” into this crisis.

OCD has commissioned a new electric boiler in its Southland Awarua plant, with two more being installed.

“But we are retaining our coal boilers as required to do so by the electricity companies as back-up.”  

Despite having the new assets, the company will be operating coal in the high-cost electricity environment, and wearing the Emissions Trading Scheme charges that go with that.

While it is easy to start getting political about the issue, de Lautour said, the country badly needs a long-term energy strategy that takes politics out of it.

“We may have electricity prices locked in for now, but we certainly do not feel insulated in any way shape or form.” 

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In the immediate future gas prices are of even greater concern to him, with the company’s Horotiu and Whanganui sites having gas supply that cannot, unlike coal boilers, be converted to the likes of biofuel.

“In some ways we do have one advantage, we own biofuel company Nature’s Flame that supplies wood fuel pellets for our Waharoa plant. But we are having our hand forced, to spend capital that should be instead spent on the likes of a new cheese plant, which actually adds value.”

De Lautour said it was inevitable the high energy costs will remain for some time, and they will put downward pressure on market prices for milk solids this season.

Fonterra’s chief operating officer, Anna Palairet, said Fonterra has been raising concerns about the lack of energy resilience and cost effectiveness in the energy sector for some time. 

It has been concerned the high wholesale electricity prices and uncertainty in the gas market are impacting NZ’s export competitiveness.

“We are confident that energy remains available to process milk over the coming seasonal peak, but the current situation is adding significant cost to both the co-op and our shareholders as we cannot simply pause operations,” she told Farmers Weekly.

Linda Mulvihill, Fonterra’s GM for energy and climate, confirmed the co-op runs sites on a mix of gas, coal, electricity and wood biomass. 

She said when moving out of coal, the cost implications both of the build, ongoing running costs and surety of fuel supply are key considerations.

Antony Heywood, general manager of Vegetables NZ, said South Island hot house growers do not have gas as a fuel option, with coal or waste oil often the main choices. 

Biofuel replacements are being used or considered by some, but these are proving problematic due to a lack of scale, and there is a need for more wood waste to be pelletised to be suitable as an economic fuel source.

In Focus Podcast | Power prices hit rural pockets

Skyrocketing power prices are hitting farmers and processors hard. Senior reporter Richard Rennie says it looks like a challenge that will be here for some time as there’s no obvious fix on the horizon.

Meat and dairy processors, orchardists and irrigators are all grappling with the problem and many are looking for efficiencies and ways to trim costs in other areas.

The mayor of Ruapehu District Council is pushing government ministers to step in with a support package to keep processing businesses in his region afloat as they grapple with soaring electricity costs.

Earlier this month mayor Weston Kirton drew attention to a rapidly emerging national crisis, highlighting two timber processing factories in his district that are facing closure due to exorbitant increases in their energy costs.

 The Tangiwai and Karioi mills on State Highway 48 between Ohakune and Tangiwai are critical employment sources for the region with almost 300 staff between them. Many of these people either live in Ohakune or travel from as far afield as Taumarunui.

Winstone CEO Mike Ryan had told Stuff the plants are no longer viable, having suffered a 600% increase in their electricity prices since 2021.

“We simply need to put the call out to [Associate Energy Minister] Shane Jones and the government. We are not experts on the electricity market and how you can resolve the issue, but we are on the receiving end of its outcomes which are bringing grief to our communities that will need to be propped up as a result of this,” said Kirton.

He said regardless of which government is responsible for the position the energy market is now in, it was up to the current government to deal with it.

“We need a Band-Aid to deal with this, and we need it now.

“We now have some of the highest electricity prices in the western world, we are not in a good place and options are limited.  I understand government is talking about importing liquid natural gas, but that would be at least six months away.”
Jones told Radio NZ the Electricity Authority is a “chocolate teapot” when it comes to enforcing generator-retailer pricing behaviour.
Kirton and his council are supposed to be meeting this week with their local MP Barbara Kuriger, who was in discussion with Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

“We are hoping to get some sense of where they are heading, but as we see it there is only one way and that is to prop it up until a longer-term solution is found. The ‘do nothing’ option is far worse.”

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Meantime in the background the energy sector is in discussion on how to avoid blackouts in coming months, including how to free up more water from the hydro lakes for generation. 

These are themselves compromised, running at only 50% of their long-term average for this time of year, while gas supplies remain constrained. 

The lakes now sit at the bottom 5% of their historic recorded levels.

This winter has also been particularly calm, reducing wind generation’s contribution.

“There is some irony here in a country with so much water, while wind is not doing it. Sustainables are not enough. From what I understand NZ needs to double its electricity supply to meet future needs. Things are biting us now,” said Kirton.

The Ruapehu district has been hit hard in recent years with the financial issues that struck the operator of the Whakapapa ski field. A $7 million grant was made  in March to Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, also by Jones and cited by him as the last the field would get.

An additional $3.05m has been pledged in equity and loan funding to enable the sale of Turoa ski field.

In Focus Podcast | Power prices hit rural pockets

Skyrocketing power prices are hitting farmers and processors hard. Senior reporter Richard Rennie says it looks like a challenge that will be here for some time as there’s no obvious fix on the horizon. Meat and dairy processors, orchardists and irrigators are all grappling with the problem and many are looking for efficiencies and ways to trim costs in other areas.

An energy expert has warned that there is unlikely to be any significant relief in New Zealand’s electricity prices any time soon as processors roll off old contracts onto new ones that are more than double what they were paying three years ago.

Jonathan Pooch, the managing director of energy consulting firm DETA in Christchurch, warned that the current environment is likely to be the new normal, and New Zealand is paying the price for not having a clear national strategy on energy generation and use.

His caution came as the latest spot energy prices leapt over 50% in a week while South Island hydro lake storage continues to shrink to less than 50% of the five-year average. 

The surge in prices comes as primary sector processors are poised to enter their peak energy demand period for milk and meat processing.

“There is nothing fundamentally in the market that will see prices fall in the next 18 months,” Pooch said. 

He emphasised the power cost surge goes deeper than simply a dry winter depressing hydro lake levels and is more like “the holes in the Swiss cheese lining up”.
Those “holes” comprise the move to not go ahead with the giant Onslow hydro battery project, a lack of gas supply, lower lakes, and the Tiwai aluminium smelter continuing operations.

If anything, gas shortages are underpinning the strong price rises that are unlikely to abate.

“The gas shortage is setting the price as it is the incremental energy source. We have always expected, and had, hydro lake volatility, but this is not that.” 

He said the last Labour government’s decision to ban gas and oil exploration had had some effect on that shortage, but even without that exploration NZ’s existing reserves had proven to be over-estimated.

Data provided by the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment show there was a 20% reduction in NZ’s proven and probable reserves in the past year; 30% of that was due to reserves being downgraded, and others removed altogether as companies better understood that they held less than expected.

To rectify that there have been discussions about NZ importing containerised liquid natural gas, which would cap the price of natural gas.

“It would still be more expensive but could be one response. Another longer term one is to build an LNG terminal, but that of course takes time.”
Biogas generated through crop, food and landfill waste is also a viable option, but dependent on location.

Bioenergy Association director Brian Cox said estimates are that biogas could supply about 10% of NZ’s renewable energy and could be easily piped into the national gas grid. He said estimates are ultimately that, by 2050, 40% of NZ’s fossil fuels could be replaced by biogas.

Biofuel has been a go-to option for some large processors as they move out of coal, but even this has lacked a clear direction, and consolidation among suppliers to help bring down the cost of the fuel sources.

“So it becomes a bit of a chicken and egg situation,” said Pooch.

He said biogas and biofuels have suffered from the country’s lack of clear strategy. 

There are, however, processors who took a riskier position when securing their electricity contracts and who were now getting profile for the impact it is having on them.

Politically the high electricity prices will start to have an impression if processors have to lay off staff. Pooch noted that responses to crises can often be better than planning ahead, but NZ’s reactive response to this one will always cost more than being proactive years earlier.

“This is really just indicative of the lack of infrastructure investment in general.”

Large amounts of money are going to have to be spent to get NZ in a better position.

“Whether that is third party finance, private public partnerships, overseas investment, there are good options, but none can be done without good vision and foresight.”

Greater generation capacity, more storage to enhance the limited hydro storage, and a more interactive market where pricing reflects users higher or lower daily load demands are all components of a revised system, he said.

In Focus Podcast | Power prices hit rural pockets

Skyrocketing power prices are hitting farmers and processors hard. Senior reporter Richard Rennie says it looks like a challenge that will be here for some time as there’s no obvious fix on the horizon.

Meat and dairy processors, orchardists and irrigators are all grappling with the problem and many are looking for efficiencies and ways to trim costs in other areas.

Adjustments to the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, including removing the 10% wage premium paid to workers, have been welcomed by the horticultural sector.

The latest changes also include a lift in worker numbers for the coming season, with an additional 1250 staff taking the total to 20,750. 

Other key changes to the scheme include the lifting of the requirement to pay Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers a 10% wage premium above the minimum wage. This will now only apply to experienced workers.

Employers will be able to average out workers’ minimum 30 hours a week over four weeks, while the pause on accommodation cost increases has been lifted and allows a capped increase to be applied.

The accommodation and remuneration changes were particularly welcomed by Horticulture NZ CEO Nadine Tunley.

“These were only bought in by the previous government as temporary measures during covid when RSE workers were able to come to NZ under managed isolation and quarantine. The reset will be appreciated by growers.”

Meantime, averaging out RSE workers’ minimum 30 hours a week over four weeks provides more certainty for them, and better reflects the weather-dependent nature of the seasonal jobs they undertake.

The 10% premium had reflected the shortage of staff and difficulties recruiting New Zealanders, particularly post covid. 

Tunley said a pay disparity had developed between NZ works and RSE workers, even when the job’s skills were not at the “median skill” level.

Growers will also welcome the improved flexibility for RSE workers to return home in the event of family emergencies, and the ability to move among regions and employers more easily.

Tunley said the sector supports hiring New Zealanders first, but to reach its potential attracting and retaining motivated staff from here and overseas is critical.

“The RSE scheme will continue to play a critical role in this.”
The cap on accommodation costs had meant growers endured five years of inflation without being able to recoup any of those increases, and the removal of the accommodation cap will go a long way in to helping to address this, she said.

NZ Apples and Pears CEO Karen Morrish welcomed the changes coming before the new season kicks off. She said the changes strike a balance between local industry and Pacific Island communities’ needs.

“It will have considerable impact upon the continued viability of the scheme.”

Allowable numbers on the RSE scheme have been steadily rising since its inaugural season in 2007-2008 when just over 4000 workers came to NZ from largely Pacific Island nations.  

This number climbed steadily through to over 12,000 prior to covid, before plummeting to 2000 workers who remained over the pandemic during the 2020-21 season.

This winter has proven to be a variable mixed bag for sheep farmers in the run up to lambing. 

Some regions, including King Country and Manawatū, are reporting good feed levels, while areas like inland Canterbury and Marlborough have had little growth and are coming off the back of a tough autumn.

Zoetis consulting veterinarian Dr Clive Bingham has seen first-hand the impact this variability is having in the run up to lambing. 

It has some farmers grappling with near record low feed levels and the real prospect of compromised ewe and lamb health as a result. 

He also has some valuable insights on the best tactical moves for farmers scrambling in the face of a tough winter, and references the “four pillars” of a successful lambing – good nutrition, good body condition, disease prevention and parasite management.

“Ultimately setting your targets for feed levels and ewe condition goes right back to autumn. Winter is generally the most consistent season in terms of its pasture growth rates so predicting what your feed covers are likely to be at lambing based on your autumn covers is generally quite accurate. If you are not close to where you want to be in autumn then it can be tough, if not impossible to make it up through winter, as we have seen in some areas.”

For many South Island farmers who winter ewes on crop, transitioning ewes back onto pasture prior to lambing can be difficult when pasture levels are too low. 

“Typically, you want to allow about 25 days ex crop for the rumen bacteria to modify for pasture digestion, ideally moving to good levels of high quality pasture. When ewes transition onto pasture that is too short or if it is done too close to lambing there is a higher risk of metabolic disease resulting in higher ewe and lamb loss.”

Ideally target pasture covers at set stocking should be 1400kgDM per hectare for twin ewes, allowing for ewes to eat this down no lower than 1200kgDm/ha. 

Body condition score at lambing wants to be between 2.5-3.5. When ewes get too light, not only is performance compromised but there is a higher ewe and lamb mortality rate, particularly in the twins.

Where feed levels and body condition are compromised the flock is more vulnerable to single extreme weather events, which quickly reveals that level of vulnerability through high stock losses.

The third pillar, disease prevention, will help avoid losses from infectious diseases. Vaccination for campylobacter, the primary cause of flock abortions in late pregnancy, and Toxoplasmosis (a parasitic disease transmitted by cats) can reduce the wastage from scanning to docking.

“Vaccinating ewes against clostridial disease such as tetanus, pulpy kidney, black disease, blackleg and malignant oedema in the last few weeks of pregnancy will not only protect the ewe but will make sure they have good colostrum antibody levels to pass onto their lambs once they start suckling. It’s really a no brainer and even in these tougher times, not something you want to compromise on.”

Typically, ewe boosters would be administered as a single shot two to four weeks prior to lambing, and lambs will receive their first vaccination dose at docking followed by the booster 4-6 weeks later or at the next time you have them in.

Alongside disease prevention comes the increasingly critical and complex task of parasite management. In an environment where triple drench resistance is much more common, Bingham emphasises farmers are no longer able to just drench their way out of parasite problems. They need to consider all aspects of parasite management such as reducing or avoiding pasture contamination with L3 larvae and adjusting their drench practices to allow for refugia.

“There is little prospect of any new actives on the horizon, and the supply of novel actives is pretty tight right now.”

Pre-spring, he recommends faecal egg counts (FEC)s be conducted on ewe flocks approaching lambing to give an early warning indication of potential parasite issues before it’s too late to do anything.

“This year particularly, store lamb prices have been lower so farmers have held onto lambs longer, with a risk those lambs are contaminating pastures the ewes are now on. It could well be a pre-lamb drench will be necessary, but you can also be smart about how you go about that.”

He also recommends identifying the most vulnerable ewes, including thinner ones that may be carrying multiple lambs.

“Pre-lamb drenching really is the last lever you have to pull before lambing to help ewes out if their nutrition has been compromised through winter or if they are lambing on contaminated paddocks.”

Bingham is heartened to see more farmers taking notice of these recommendations around resistance avoidance, and the realisation there is not a chemical solution on the way any time soon.

Mixing up stock classes, avoiding intensive, prolonged grazing patterns with young stock, monitoring FECs and being selective in drench programmes are all strategies on hand.

“It’s about trying not to be too complicated. We have the tools, we just need to use them.”

This article was made possible by Zoetis.