Kellogg Programme Reports

Over the past twelve months we have seen extreme fluctuations in factors affecting agricultural return such as exchange rates and dairy payout. This volatility is changing the risk status of agriculture in New Zealand. Farmers need to take greater control of the financial management of their businesses. There is a great opportunity to increase profitability … Read more

What is our dairy pasture really worth? Or, more importantly, what are we prepared to pay for the land that it grows on? Through this report, seven farm performance parameters have been compared with the value offarm sales in the Matamata-Piako district. The two physical parameters, pasture production, and milksolids production, have been compared with … Read more

Exercise is important for all women of all ages and it should be an integral part of your life. A number of women were surveyed or received a Fitness Challenge Programme for 2009 on their exercise regime. I wanted to find out what exercise women were involved in and what motivated them to exercise. This … Read more

Today’s farmers are under increasing pressure to adopt more efficient agricultural principles, making the best possible use of resources by minimising high energy inputs, such as pesticides, fertilisers, fossil fuels and water, without loss of food quality and yield. The challenges are to maintain and increase productivity and profitability, while reducing any potentially negative environmental … Read more

This analysis examines whether Nelson kiwifruit growers would benefit more from deregulation versus Zespri's Single Point of Entry monopoly, using case studies from New Zealand and South African fruit industries.

The purpose of this project is to explore what New Zealand Farmers think about GM and whether they would consider using, or accept others using, GM plants or animals if they were approved for release into the New Zealand environment. Releasing a GM organism is an application process which no one working with GM has contemplated undertaking at this time.

The purpose of this project is to explore what New Zealand Farmers think about GM and whether they would consider using, or accept others using, GM plants or animals if they were approved for release into the New Zealand environment. Releasing a GM organism is an application process which no one working with GM has contemplated undertaking at this time.

NZ pastoral livestock production is currently faced with a rapidly changing environment. Input and output prices and their relativities are increasingly dynamic. The policy and regulatory environment seems to change quickly and with little warning. The physical climate and natural resource base is changing as a result of internal and external forces. Meanwhile agriculture continues … Read more

The purpose of this report is to obtain further knowledge and analyse some of the issues commercial vegetable growers in Ohakune faced during the 2007/08 drought. The report explores some of the options for future irrigation opportunities and tools to assist growers make more informed decisions about irrigation. Rollinson Bruce

Synlait has an established pasture monitoring system across all the Synlait dairy farms. The objective is to provide accurate, consistent and comparable measurements that can be used for management decisions, including pasture allocation, surplus identification and regrassing options. The Synlait pasture monitoring service has provided a vast amount of data on pasture growth rate and … Read more

A growing division between urban and farming communities is having far reaching implications in this country. While 47% or $17.2 billion of this country’s export earnings comes from food production, only 7.7% of New Zealanders lives in what Statistics NZ describes as either rural areas with low urban influence or highly rural/remote areas. This country … Read more

Dairy farmers take feed and convert that to milk and other farm products which are converted, typically in New Zealand by member co-operatives into marketable products for sale. The net revenue is distributed back to members through various payment models with the aim of providing clear market signals as to the value of their milk. … Read more

The most telling measure of effectiveness as a tutor is the quality of a students learning. In recent years on average only 37% of Agriculture ITO trainees are actually completing their qualifications. There seems to be some potential barriers around a lack of emphasis being put on tutors capability or technique to deliver information. There … Read more

The deer industry struggles to shake off the perception of being a young industry with growing pains. Product price volatility contributes to banks, farm advisors and the media being wary of promoting this relatively small industry. The entrepreneurs who initially developed the industry are now retiring, exposing a lack of new and younger deer farmers. Encouragement of a new generation of low risk taking and successful farmers is needed to stabilize and grow the industries perception, as being an attractive and viable farming alternative.

The EU is New Zealand's most valuable sheep meat market, taking 52% by volume but returning 63% by value. Access is restricted and rationed through quota by the Meat Board.

‘ Getting on board’ is journey within a journey, a detour if you like, that may bring you back onto the route you have chosen, -by getting you elected, lead you away down a different track, -interest in one role leading to another, or lead to a dead end, – not getting elected. This reference … Read more

While the New Zealand sheep meat industry has been able to maintain relative profitability through continued production improvements and a reduction of costs, the increasing level of competition from cheaper sources of protein makes it difficult to see a sustainable future based on a production focussed model. As agricultural markets continue to become more competitive, … Read more

What is it that requires fish to be farmed? Is it the need for food? Is it the need to protect the wild fish stocks? Or is it because it makes economic sense? This report gives an insight into how where and why fish are farmed. Most of the earth is being farmed to potential … Read more

The rural service industry comprises of five distinct areas of service that are specifically focused on the primary sector. These areas include suppliers, professionals, brokers, contractors and some farm businesses. The level of competition ranges within and between these areas is generally determined by the demand for the service. As such, there tends to be … Read more

The project has three related parts: 1. A global perspective: an overview, based on current global literature, of the importance of cities and the land around them in preserving and enhancing biodiversity worldwide. 2. The New Zealand situation: an investigation of some of the current thinking, research and practice to enhance biodiversity in urban areas … Read more

During the early 1990’s the horticultural industry transitioned through to a new phase regarding its labour employment practices. As a result of increased governmental employment compliance issues and a decrease in the financial returns to orchards, employers who prior to this were predominantly growers or post harvest facilities, retracted from the employment of orchard workers. … Read more

With the growing global demand for organic produce boosting organic premiums and a low-input farm management history, plus our desire to reduce our negative impact on the environment, we have decided to convert our farm, Judge Creek, to organics. Over the course of the year I have been interviewing farmers, both conventional and organic, and … Read more

I believe the New Zealand dairy industry is being compromised by understaffing on farms, especially larger units of 600 cows or more. This has become a significantly greater problem in the last 10 years and specifically in the South Island with larger farm sizes and cow numbers rapidly increasing. As the dairy industry grows to … Read more

In recent years the van Polanen farm has intensified the grass based dairy operation which is the core activity of their farming business and it became necessary to use the limited water resource more efficiently. New technologies and practices in spray irrigation prompted an investigation into the economics of changing from border-dyke irrigation to spray … Read more