Pastoral conference topics for everyone

11 April, 2008

PASTROAL : MEDIA RELEASES 2008

Do you want to dig the “good dirt”, or hear the story of the ANZAK assault on kikuyu, or get a “win-win” from farm succession?

Then you need to be at the Copthorne Hotel & Resort Bay of Islands, Waitangi on Friday, May 9.

These and many other topics will be covered during the Farming for the Future conference, organised by the Northland Pastoral Farming Development Group.

Number four in an annual series of well-attended conferences, Farming for the Future has been set up with an enticing list of speakers and topics.

There will be a mix of addresses and workshop sessions, reasonable charges for attendance and refreshments and lunch provided, thanks to the generosity of sponsors.

Keynote speakers are Dr Andy West of AgResearch and Professor Willie Smith of University of Auckland. Andy is chief executive of AgResearch, our largest Crown Research Institute with over 1000 staff members in four campuses and annual expenditure over $100 million.

He is a persuasive advocate for more research and development in agriculture and for training and securing the best researchers so as to deliver continued productivity improvements for farmers in the future.

Professor Willie Smith is director of the school of geography and environmental science and the University of Auckland (Tamaki campus).

His research interests are in science policy, including the role of science in decision-making, and agriculture and rural change.

Willie is working on a book on the social impact of restructuring on NZ agriculture and is looking at science-farmer links and the move to more sustainable land-use practices. This includes regional case-studies of farm households ranging from Maori organic producers on the East Cape to wheat farmers in South Canterbury.

Two farming families will present their management of resources, objectives and achievements to inspire other farmers.

Ron and Chrissy McCloy rear 700 dairy-beef calves on fresh milk for their intensive beef systems at Waiotemarma, north of the Waipoua Forest.

Glen and Julie Williams milk 1250 cows on two farms in the Puhipuhi district north of Whangarei. They will be speaking on the sustainability of dairy farming given the price of farmland and environmental constraints.

The conference then breaks into three 45-minute workshop sessions both side of lunch when five intriguing subjects will be introduced and discussed.

•  The ANZAK story – the Australian and NZ assault on kikuyu, Cameron Clarke DairyNZ and Gareth Baynham, AgFirst

•  The Good Dirt – Making the most of your Soil, Geff Cookson, farmer, and Alec McKay, AgResearch

•  Super Staff or Labour Liability – Get the best from your Team, Bruce Paton, farmer, and Brett Hunter, Ruraltec tutor

•  Win-win Farm Succession – Fact or Fiction, Peter Flood, farmer, and Tony Hammerton, Rabobank

•  Innovation Revelation – Technology for working smarter, not harder, Robyn Dynes, AgResearch and Bruce Thorrold, DairyNZ

These sessions will repeat three times so that conference goers can hear three of the five subjects.