K17 Reports

The development of any new variety of plant, especially a fruiting one where the fruit has commercial potential, is often a long and costly exercise, and one not undertaken lightly. The opportunity to gain some form of protection to allow a plant breeder to recoup his costs and make a profit from his breeding investment … Read more

This assignment is written from the perspective of a sheep breeder and traces the history and the present day activities of the NZ Sheep Industry through a practical point of view. Maximising the profitability of the NZ Sheep Industry starts down on the farm and flows through the efficient processing and marketing channels to supply … Read more

The protection of New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity of New Zealand is a significant national issue. Central Hawke’s Bay (CHB) has not escaped comments about the continuing loss and degradation of native bush, and apparently slow rate of protection. At the same time there is an increasing awareness within farming circles of the value of these … Read more

For sports clubs in the Matamata-Piako District to survive it is important that they consider if the methods of the past are in fact the ways of the future. Clubs often have to bear the burden of spiralling maintenance costs for often under-utilised facilities and societal changes such as more punitive drink-driving laws have reduced … Read more

Severe drought in the recent summer of 2000/01 highlighted the significant impact that water plays in the productive land based industries of the Tasman district. Rationing of irrigation water reached an unprecedented level. This, coupled with the Tasman District Councils proposed resource management plan for water, questioned the efficient and equitable allocation of water for … Read more

The problem of Stray Voltage in Farm Dairies is not new. In the past extensive research was done on voltage and animal behaviour. This resulted in the formulation of construction guidelines for farm dairies. The dairy industry now hosts a new generation of dairy farmers that may not have the same level of knowledge and … Read more

At the time of writing this introduction, the New Zealand Government and media are talking about the knowledge wave economy – if we were able to reduce any limitations that school Boards of Trustees (BOT’s) experience and encourage them to use their creativity, positively affecting every child in our education system, and the whole of … Read more

The Kiwifruit industry faces some significant challenges in the near future. This report sets out to look laterally at a variety of market trends and current growth areas. It reviews these areas and trends with the objective of identifying commercial opportunity. It suggests paths to follow in order to realise these opportunities. Finally and most … Read more

When trying to think of a subject for my project during the Kellogg Leadership Program, I became aware of the lack of knowledge of Federated Farmers by some of the attendees on the program with me. Although there was wide awareness of the organisation’s existence and some of the work undertaken by Federated Farmers by … Read more

The purpose of this study was to determine what farmers perceive as limiting factors to improving sheep production on their properties based in the Upper North Island (Taupo – Kaitaia). The researcher had recently changed jobs to become a Sheep Production Officer for WoolPro based in this area, which involves liaising with the Northern North … Read more

Rural Communities around us are dying. This study identifies that the best way to revive a rural community is by focusing on the community’s assets, capacities and abilities. In New Zealand the Department of Labour’s Community Employment Group (CEG) provides a good support network to encourage revitalisation. The change, however, must come from within the … Read more

Many New Zealand sheep and beef farmers are operating marginally viable farms. These people often justify remaining. In farming by quoting that farming is not so much for the money but the lifestyle. When the financial situation of theses farms is explored it concludes that after taking reasonable returns in real terms the farm is … Read more

“This report examines the problem of conflicting water use. There is a finite resource of water and an increasing number of bodies wanting to abstract it from the water bodies and use it for various uses; irrigation, power generation, urban supply to name a few. At the same time recreation water users and conservationists are … Read more

The New Zealand Dairy Industry is a resourced based highly fragmented industry with the distinctive competency of low cost production of milk-to-milk product. Fonterra co-operative has been created from a merger of three key players in the industry along with 14000 shareholders farmers, this company processes the primary resource of milk, manufacturing that resource into … Read more

Irrigation is almost unheard of in South Otago with only a small number of farmers ever using it. Despite being an area that is not traditionally know as being prone to drought, South Otago does occasionally suffer from extended dry periods that can cause production fluctuations, with some parts of the district being more susceptible … Read more

Dairy industry needs 5000 workers by 2005. Despite high unemployment, attracting staff is challenging. Targeting school leavers may help meet future demands.