Farming News & Interesting Facts

If Central Canterbury arable farmer Damon Summerfield is acting like an expectant farmer it's no surprise. This "baby" has been 10 years in the making.
He's even talking about a christening which is apt when the "baby" is irrigation water as part of the Central Plains Water community scheme.
Water is due to start flowing onto his Sheffield farm during Canterbury show week and he's itching to start this new chapter in his farming career. In expectation of its arrival, Damon and his wife Judith's farm has been turned into a blank canvas. All internal fences have been removed, underground pipes laid and three centre pivot irrigators installed.
"I've wanted this for 10 years," says Summerfield, a CPW director and shareholder. "I thought that to be an irrigated farmer I would have to move away and I didn't want to. It's a great spot to live." While inland from Darfield, it is still reasonably close to Christchurch, where the three Summerfield children attend high school.
Overnight, the 225 hectare mixed cropping property will go from dryland to having 185ha irrigated. "We had no irrigation before. Just one well for the house. That's it. I don't know what it's going to mean. I've got a lot to learn."
About 30 farms are part of the $40 million Sheffield scheme, which covers 4300ha. The scheme is starting with only 5 per cent, or 200 shares – equivalent to 200ha – unsold. As the Sheffield district is higher up the plains than the main CPW Stage 1 and 2 developments it was decided to build it separately, with its own intake and storage dam. It uses about 37km of pipeline and contains seven pump stations supplied from a new two million cubic metre storage reservoir next to SH73 at Sheffield.
Some existing irrigators have joined the scheme, previously supplied from the river or groundwater. "They will now have pressurised water at the gate. Ten years ago there was no irrigation in this area."
Until now, Summerfield says he had not attempted to develop irrigation because of the big depths farmers had to drill to source groundwater in the district. "Certainly people have drilled 150 metres for water, at a cost of around $100,000. We decided CPW was a better investment."
While many years in the planning, construction was surprisingly quick, with the entire scheme, including the Waimakariri River intake, storage reservoir, pump stations and piping, all completed this year.
During the wettest winter in years, more than 5km of piping was laid in trenches across the Summerfield farm, 3km by CPW and 2.5km of their own mainline. "Every single fence has gone, even some boundary fences for a while. None of the fencelines will be the same, they will all be moved to accommodate pivots." The merging of multiple paddocks meant a lot of paperwork to assimilate cropping histories into the new farm layout.
While Summerfield plans to continue arable farming, he expects to double his production through better yields, double-cropping and the ability to grow a bigger range of high-value crops. For about the last 10 years the farm has been 100 per cent cropped in summer, with stock bought in over winter, mainly lambs for finishing. Until now he has grown perennial ryegrass, peas, ryecorn, barley and some wheat. Without irrigation, cereal yields have varied from 3 tonne/ha to 7 tonne/ha, depending on the season. "Last year I doubled my yield and I hope to double it again this year," he says.
"The wet spring has set up crops well, but the farm always looks good this time of the year. It's what happens in November and December that dictates my yield. It can dry out very quickly. We are only two weeks away from a drought.
"I have great hopes that this district could have a niche product. We have a higher altitude, a cold winter and a large harvesting window with the hot, dry northwest winds."
Despite living within sight of Fonterra's Darfield dairy factory, Summerfield believes the district will remain predominantly arable. He knows of one dairy conversion last year and two sheep farms converting to dairy with the arrival of water. "But I can't think of any cropping farmers converting because of the scheme."
The district has good soils which improve further up the plains. "It is ideally suited for cropping with water."
This year the couple are growing the same crops as usual, but from now on they will have a more diverse cropping rotation. This includes specialist hybrid vegetable seed crops, with the Summerfields growing 4ha of mustard for seed multiplication for the first time this season.
Previously, all cereals were autumn-sown, but this will also change. "I could never grow a spring-sown cereal. It's too risky as a dryland farmer." He will now be able to grow more crops in spring, allowing him to double-crop in the same season.
The fully-lined storage reservoir, covering 30ha and 10m high, can hold two weeks of storage for the scheme. "If we chose, we can use half the water for twice the time. As an arable farmer I can save water to finish a high-value crop."
As well as pumping from the Waimakariri River intake, gravity-fed water is being supplied to the storage reservoir via the existing Selwyn District Council stockwater network from the Kowai River.
"Shareholders like to be part of a scheme that they own." They also want to enhance the environment and have no wish to waste water or nutrients, despite what some environmentalists may think, he says. Farmers need to supply a nutrient budget and farm environment plan before receiving water and on an ongoing basis.
"A lot of shareholders have done it for the legacy it provides the district and for the long-term benefits to the community," Summerfield says.
CPW managing director Derek Crombie says the Sheffield water scheme contract was signed in December last year and the main contractor, Fulton Hogan, started work on January 9. "It's been an intense project to get that amount of work done in 10 months."
The storage reservoir began filling in early November and will be progressively filled over summer as water is available. With the storage reservoir, the scheme will have a high reliability of 95 to 98 per cent.
Sheffield shareholders paid $3000 a share of equity, with the remainder of the construction funded by bank debt. Farmers then pay an annual charge of about $700 a share, with one share averaging a hectare.
In comparison the capital charge for CPW stage one shareholders was $1750 a share in 2014, with annual charges of almost $900 a share a year. "So it was lower capital, but higher debt," Crombie says. "The Sheffield farmers were able to put more equity up front."

A Hawke's Bay farm which was in the same family since 1859 has been sold.
Olrig Station was sold at auction for $10.170 million by the descendants of HWP Smith, ending 158 years of continuous ownership. The long run ended with the final rap of the auctioneer's hammer on Friday .
Interest in the 848 hectare property was strong and of the six potential buyers, four were Hawke's Bay-based.
The station was sold by Richard Paterson, who took over its management in 2001, and his sister Susan Kirkby, who are the fifth generation owners.
Paterson, who lives on the station with his partner Trudy Burgess, said the sale was a good result for the family. He said they were happy to see the station sold to a family who would live on it.
Olrig Station was bought by a family who originally come from Hawke's Bay, but who have been living in Auckland for the past 30 years. The family has sold their Auckland property and will move onto the station in February, planning to make it their home for many years.
The new owners are understood to be Richard and Rebecca Riddell. He retired as executive principal and director at New Zealand Assets Management this year.
PGG Wrightson Real Estate agent Paul Harper said Olrig Station was a special property.
"We understand what an emotional decision it was to sell after 159 years in the family. The scale and location of the station was such that there was strong genuine interest in the sale. I was very pleased that Richard and Susan got the value that the property deserved, and the buyers are delighted to be able to call Olrig Station their new home. So it is a great result for all involved."

The bobby calf trade has never sat well with Hedgehope dairy farmer Warren Macpherson.
He realised early on in his 20-year long dairying career that sending bobby calves off as a by-product of the dairy industry was a waste of beef. Macpherson, and his wife Denise, who are previous sheep and beef farmers, run dairy and beef cattle on a property between Hedgehope and Springhills.
But it wasn't until Macpherson bought his own herd about 10 years ago that he began to breed beef animals from his dairy herd. He began using hereford bulls, then dabbled with wagyu before deciding limousin bulls would fit his needs the best.
Macpherson puts his dairy cows through artificial insemination (AI) using dairy bull bloodlines, before letting the limousin bulls out with the jersey and friesian herd.
Many people ask him about birthing problems within his herd. However, he has never really encountered any problems, as the calves are quite small when they are born, but have the ability to grow fast.
Previously, he followed AI with jersey bulls, which meant all the bull calves were processed as bobbies.
"All of those animals are kept right through until they're over two-years-old, then they're sold to the freezing works."
The beef breeding policy also gives Macpherson a flexibility he didn't have from straight dairy farming, because if he is overstocked or needs more of the property for dairy he is able to sell off some of his beef stock.
He says the beef stock gives him a "buffer zone" which keeps the farm from being fully stocked with dairy cows.
"It takes the stress away from full-time dairy farming. I think a beef supplementation gives you that flexibility."
If they only had replacement stock and became overstocked, they would have to sell the extras, but they were not as tradeable as beef stock.
Macpherson buys in 12 two-year-old calves from limousin breeder Colin Philips a year and keeps them for two years. He also puts across six to eight yearling bulls with the heifers.
Next season he will be using AI on his heifers as well.
The AI period for cows on the farm is also becoming less and less and is now down to slightly more than a month.
Macpherson is trying to breed cows which are high in fertility. Late calvers are automatically having limousin calves.
"I've got a soft spot for cows that are good producers, I don't care what breed they are."
If the cows are not in calf after both AI and the bull, they are culled. Macpherson says this has helped to improve fertility in his herd.
He practices a biological farming system and uses no urea on his pastures and doesn't buy palm kernel extract for supplementary feeding.
Instead, they grow all their own winter feed and grain.
While he still has bobby calves each season, he takes no pleasure in putting them on the trailer to be processed. Last year he had about 157 bobby calves, while there were 146 this year.
Last year Macpherson averaged $21.39 for his calves, which to him was a waste.
In comparison, he sent 62 limousin-cross heifers and 70 steers for processing and averaged $1409 for 275 kilograms dead weight and $1571 for 289.8kg.
"We're turning a waste product - the bobby calf- into a very valuable commodity."
Last year 700 calves, including replacements, were reared on the farm. The calf rearers employed to look after the calves are Shirley Cathcart, of the Philippines, and Vendula Jesslova, from the Czech Republic.
Friesian bulls are also reared, and usually sold as yearlings.
"I have a regime of nature's way is best," Macpherson says.
After the calves are finished with colostrum, he gives them homemade yoghurt in their milk. He says it helps to make sure they have the right probiotic bugs in their stomach to fight off infection.
He makes up batches of the yoghurt in 200 litre quantities in the garage, and it makes up about three per cent what is fed to the cows.
The calves are also given muesli and hay.
"I don't use any electrolytes, if you give them yoghurt right from the word go you give them a natural immunity."
While he doesn't confess to having no scours in his calves, he has no problems with scours in the herd.
Macpherson also credits his beef cattle with helping to make sure the farm got through the dairy downturn easier.
However, rearing the beef calves can have downsides too.
"The downturn of the system is that now that milk has gone up in price, I'm still using a lot of milk to rear calves."
Last year he used 300,000 litres of milk and 3000l of yoghurt rearing the calves, which works out to about 17,000 kilograms of milk solids.
But from Macpherson's point-of-view there is no better way of rearing calves than using fresh milk.
"You cannot skimp on the milk."
he next step in the industry he would like to see is sexed semen, a management tool for dairy farms that offers sex selection of the calves, therefore lowering the number of bobby calves produced.
Macpherson has had some detractors about his farming practices, especially with buy-in from the red meat industry, with people believing he would never produce good beef from dairy-crossed his cattle.
There was a perception that because his cows had dairy genes, they would produce yellow fat. However, he has never had an animal downgraded for yellow fat.
"It's the perception of people. They believe that perception and it's very hard to convince them otherwise."
While the breeding of beef cattle from dairy cows isn't a new concept, Macpherson believes people are quick to disregard it because it means using milk and resources on calves which would otherwise not be on the farm.
For him, the outcome is worth it when the kill sheet comes back with more than 50 times the price of a bobby calf.

Despite fears of what the new coalition Government might mean for the rural sector, farmers are finding it hard to be grumpy with initial policies.
The injection of $1 billion annually into the regions, the dropping of the water tax, boosting biosecurity, an increase of spending on research and development and the honouring of Crown investment in irrigation have all been given the thumbs up.
But the decision to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2020 has not been welcomed, and nor has the policy to bring agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne said the Government's determination to invest in areas like regional economies and biosecurity were "promising signs of intent".
"Obviously we await to see the detail and what provinces will benefit directly. But I'm sure I speak for most farmers and say this is a welcome, progressive step."
IrrigationNZ chief executive Andrew Curtis has his eye on the $1 billion regional investment fund as a potential source of money for irrigation.
"It's really encouraging to see that the new Government is taking into account the importance of the primary sector."
The federation was "delighted" to see biosecurity was going to be boosted in the face of recent incursions.
Since 2008 there have been over 150 biosecurity incursions, including major ones such as Mycoplasma bovis, pea weevil, and velvet leaf.
An incremental rise in research and development spending - of 2 per cent over 10 years - was a good start, Milne said.
"The science community has a significant role to play in helping make farmers more environmentally sound, while keeping us at the forefront as a competitive food exporter. Ideally we would like to see more investment and perhaps in a shorter time frame."
While welcoming the decision to honour funding that had been committed to Crown Irrigation Investments, which provides seeding money to kickstart irrigation schemes, Milne hoped the Government would not close the door on new irrigation schemes and improvements to existing ones.
National committed to provide up to $400 million over the life of the scheme, of which $131m has so far been spent.
Greenpeace warned that IrrigationNZ had already put its hand out for some of the $1b regional investment to be spent on irrigation.
"If the regional development fund is used for irrigation this would break the new Government's commitment of winding down irrigation funding," Greenpeace campaigner Gen Toop said.
IrrigationNZ chief executive Andrew Curtis said irrigation contributed $5.5b to the economy.
"Given how important water infrastructure is to many regional economies, we would encourage the Government to talk to the regions about the value irrigation adds to their economies and look at supporting irrigation infrastructure through its new $1bn regional development fund," he said.

Irish farmers have warned Guinness may be made solely from imported malt in the future unless stronger prices are delivered to support the struggling tillage sector.
Over 100 cereal and malting barley growers gathered outside the gates of malting company Boortmalt headquarters in Athy, Co Kildare to highlight the poor returns received for a key ingredient in a pint of the black stuff.
Farmers whose families have been growing malting barley for up to six generations warned it was no longer viable for them to continue producing it at current prices.
Bobby Miller from the Irish Grain Growers’ (IGG) group called for a minimum of €200/t for malting barley for brewing and €220-230/t for distilling grade malting barley as it is produced to higher specifications.
Farmers gathered at the protest stated the average harvest base price they received was around €155/t as they stated they could not sign up for the higher future price as they could not guarantee delivery with the tight specifications.
“We are all proud to be tillage farmers and we want to stay tillage farmers,” said Mr Miller. However, he warned many farmers were now being forced to turn their backs on malting barley.
“The malt industry should be a good news story and it is for many but it is not reaching farmers pockets,” he said, with the average income of a tillage farmer just over €30,000.
“We are being squeezed out of business. We can’t compete with other sectors. On my way in here today I passed by two substantial farms that were dedicated tillage farms but have now gone into dairy.”

China cannot produce enough milk for its domestic market and will rely on imports in the short term, especially from New Zealand and Australia, Rabobank says.
Owners of small to medium-sized farms have exited the industry because it is not profitable, as prices have fallen by about 6 per cent, and production in the main dairy provinces of Mongolia, Hebei and Henan has dropped 0.4 per cent.
New Zealand-based dairy analyst Emma Higgins said China was expected to absorb New Zealand and Australia's peak spring production.
Over the last year China has imported 13 per cent more dairy products than the year before. However it is uncertain whether it will continue to buy at the same rate into next year.
"Chinese milk supply has failed to keep up with demand, meaning that Chinese buyers have been increasingly active in recent months, and this is a trend that is expected to continue into 2018 – albeit, at a lower rate," Higgins said.
In its latest dairy quarterly report, Rabobank forecasts a farmgate milk price of $6.50 per kilogram of milksolids for New Zealand farmers, at variance with the present Fonterra forecast of $6.75, and recently affirmed when it released its annual results.
Rabobank said dairy producing regions such as Europe, the United States, South America and Oceania had all seen increased growth as prices to farmers have risen.
New Zealand exported 5 per cent more dairy for the three months to July 2017 than for the corresponding period last year, a result of milk flows being 3 per cent higher over the same period and boosted by demand from buyers in key export markets.

Five out of the six main centres have already surpassed their annual rainfall averages and there may be more rain on the way with the potential arrival of a La Nina weather system.
With two and a half months of the year to go, only Dunedin is not ahead of its average.
The North Island and upper South Island have experienced a soaking this winter and spring, while parts of the south have been basking in balmy weather.
Fiordland, the rainfall capital of New Zealand, had its warmest temperature since 1933 on the weekend - 25.2 degrees.
In Christchurch there have been 78 wet days so far this year, the highest number of wet days at this point in the year since 1974. Wellington rainfall to date sits at 1254mm, whereas normally by now it would be 982mm
While dairy and cropping farmers are struggling, it's a different story for traditional dry stock farmers on the east coast.
Federated Farmers Wairarapa provincial president Jamie Falloon said "the land is looking so green it hurts the eyes".
The prospect of a La Nina promising more easterly rain "sounds good. You farm for a dry summer so rain is a bonus."
Niwa climatologist Ben Noll said he had been keeping a close eye on the tropics which impact on New Zealand's climate.
"Since last autumn we've had tropical systems bringing in moisture, and we're now tracking what is happening in the equatorial Pacific.
"There's an increasing chance of a La Nina system developing by the end of 2017, right now we're in ENSO neutral - neither El Nino or La Nina," Noll said.
A La Nina would bring more easterly or north easterly winds than usual in spring, while in summertime there might be more of an easterly wind direction. This would bring more rain to the north and east.
On the other hand, the further south, the drier it might become.
Southland Feds provincial president Allan Baird said the weather gods had provided a generous amount of rain in spring, but areas were slightly drying off.
Further inland in the Queenstown Lakes district, Otago Feds provincial president Phill Hunt said some irrigators were being "cranked up" already, but in the middle of lambing farmers did not want a late cold snap.
"Maybe in a month if there's no rain people will be looking at their options."
Meanwhile dairy farmers are having to contend with sodden pastures, and resorting to supplements such as palm kernel to see them through.
In Manawatū/Rangitīkei the lack of sun is curbing the mating instincts of dairy cows and farmers expect fertility levels will be lower than normal.
While mating hasn't started, fewer cows than usual are cycling because of cool and cloudy weather.
A Zespri spokeswoman said flower buds were forming on the vines and growers were making decisions about thinning strategies and how much crop they would carry into the season. The first orchards will start flowering in the next few weeks, marking the start of pollination.
The ground was "pretty saturated" in some places but she said on most orchards this was not an issue. As flowering and fruit set began, growers were looking to avoid hail and frosts.
Noll sounded a note of caution over people being too pessimistic. Signs were that it would not be a strong La Nina, and quite possibly during summer there would be chunks of between two and four weeks of fine weather.

Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Jackie Blue has given Fonterra a serve for having so few women on its board.
But Federated Farmers vice-president Andrew Hoggard said he couldn't care if board members were transgender or of any race or colour, as long as they advanced the interests of Fonterra and farmer/shareholders.
Fairlie dairy farmer and current board member Leonie Guiney has been not selected to stand as a candidate for a second term, reducing the numbers of women on the 11-person board to two - Professor Nicola Shadbolt and Donna Smit.
Blue said it was "particularly disappointing" that New Zealand's largest employer had such a low number of women in governance roles.
"Women in New Zealand play a vital role in the dairy industry and have done so for many years. However, the low number of women on the board of directors for Fonterra would suggest otherwise," she said.
Businesses were becoming increasingly aware that having a diverse board contributed to better business outcomes and more diverse thoughts, practices, and policies.
"I would hope that Fonterra are working to develop a strategy that encourages greater diversity (including age, sex, ethnicity and ability) to ensure our largest employer reflects the communities of the country it operates in."
In an unusual move, Guiney went public after an independent panel decided not to select her as a candidate in the forthcoming elections.
"I think I was a necessary antidote to 'group think' on that board; I was a constant reminder of who the co-operative owners are and the supply strength that could come from trusting them more. I believe some on the board found this uncomfortable," she said in a statement.

Lamb numbers are expected to be between 5-10 per cent higher this season than last, Silver Fern Farms says.
This equates to about 20 million lambs, the meat processor said, and could be good news for farmers because demand from China and the United States is strong.
Cattle numbers are tipped to be similar or slightly up, with some of the retentions out of the dairy herd last year expected to boost bull and even heifer numbers.
"We expect lamb numbers to be up this coming season. All the feedback we are receiving is that the North Island in particular has seen good lambing," chief executive Dean Hamilton said in a market forecast.

The Mid -Canterbury Branch of the Black and Coloured Sheep Breeders Association of NZ is hosting its Annual Open Day on Sunday 15th October. See spinning, felting, weaving and knitting demonstrations. Fleeces, dyed and spun wool/yarn, knitwear, books and merchandise for sale. Learn about these handcrafts, view coloured sheep, and learn the management of a flock of coloured sheep.
Venue - Green Acres Fibre Processing. 155 Burnham School Road, Burnham.
Date - Sunday 15th October, 10am to 4pm.
Gold coin entry and refreshments available. Contact Georgie for more information. Ph 03 3251288 or visit our website.
www.colouredsheep.org.nnz

Livestock and equestrian judges from across the globe will descend on Christchurch in mid-November as New Zealand’s largest A&P Show turns 155 years old.
Over 500 people volunteer at the Canterbury A&P Show every year and around 120 of those volunteers are judges, with some coming from as far as the USA in 2017.
Canterbury A&P Association President, Peter Gilbert, said the caliber of judges is one of the reasons the Canterbury A&P Show is seen as New Zealand’s most prestigious A&P event.
“Bringing these judges in from overseas is a huge draw card for our competitors. Not only do they bring extensive international experience, it’s also extra confirmation for our competitors that their stock is the best of the best as they’re being judged by someone completely new.”
This year the Canterbury A&P Show will host a Royal A&P Dairy Cattle Event, which has prompted the appointment of Mark Rueth from Wisconsin, USA. Mark owns Rosedale Genetics, has sold embryos in ten countries and has judged at top level shows and expos in the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, France, Switzerland and Mexico. He also currently serves on the World Dairy Cattle Show Committee.
It’s not just the overseas judges that bring a wealth of knowledge to the event says Mr Gilbert:
“We also have judges coming from across New Zealand, many of whom have decades of experience both here and overseas. A lot of these people have worked in the industry for a long time, forging their careers in genetics, owning their own studs or just being incredibly passionate about stock judging. Some have volunteered for many years at our Show too. We can’t thank them enough for lending their time and expertise.”
With entries closing in a couple of weeks, Mr Gilbert urged exhibitors to get their entries in.
“Not only is it a great opportunity to win prizes and awards, it’s also a chance to swap knowledge and ideas with other exhibitors and learn from judges too. Plus, you can’t beat the chance to catch up with old friends and meet other likeminded people. It’s a very special event and my family and I cherish the friendships that have come from the Show over the years.”
The 2017 Canterbury A&P Show will take place from 15 to 17 November at Canterbury Agricultural Park. $100,000 of prizes are up for grabs across 3000 classes and 6500 entries are expected to be received for the 155th Show. Horse and pony entries close 15 September, livestock entries close 22 September, showjumping and dressage entries close 18 October. Schedule of Classes and entry forms are available from: www.theshow.co.nz/show-entries/schedules-entry-forms.

The Irish lamb trade is experiencing what can only be described as a hangover following the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha.
n the weeks leading up to the festival, throughputs at Department of Agriculture approved sheepmeat export plants swelled and prices, for the most part, held relatively stable.
Last week, in the final days leading up to Eid-al-Adha, factories moved to lower spring lambs by 10-20c/kg and most plants were offering base quotes of 470-490c/kg.
This week, with the demand created by the Muslim festival still fresh in mind, factories have moved to knock another 10-20c/kg of base prices; most plants are now offering 460-470c/kg to secure supplies.
What are factories offering?
Like last week, Kildare Chilling continues to lead the way with an all-in-price of 480c/kg (470c/kg base + 10c/kg QA).
However, this price is back by 20c/kg compared to the corresponding period last week. Closely following in second place with an all-in-price of 475c/kg (470c/kg + 5c/kg QA) is Kepak Athleague.
The same processor was starting negotiations with farmers at 485c/kg + 5c/kg QA last week. Meanwhile, the two Irish Country Meats’ plants have opted to lower their all-in quote to 470c/kg (460c/kg +10c/kg QA) – 10c/kg lower than what was offered during the same time last week.
Despite the decline in spring lamb prices, ewe quotes remain largely unchanged from last week and most plants are offering 250-260c/kg for suitably-fleshed ewes.

Main markets
According to Bord Bia, the British sheep trade eased somewhat last week on the back of a rise in weekly throughputs. Throughput climbed by 18% in British plants last week when compared to the week earlier.
The SQQ live price for lamb in England and Wales made the equivalent of around 471c/kg (deadweight) last week.
Moving to France, Bord Bia says the trade seen some rise on the back of stronger demand due to Eid-al-Adha.
However, there are ample supplies on the market to meet the higher demand. It is hoped that the reopening of schools and restaurants after the holiday season will help the trade.



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Butter is back, and consumers should prepare themselves to pay more for the product as international prices surge.
But manufactured goods produced on a large scale such as biscuits and cakes will not become more expensive, because butter is generally not used to make them.
Croissant lovers will have to fork out more because the genuine article is baked using butter. A croissant baker, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he had absorbed the last three price rises, but a 10 per cent hike was imminent.
​Despite the fact butter is more expensive, New Zealanders have a growing taste for it. The Countdown supermarket chain said that between 2011 and 2016 Kiwi consumers had bought 2.5 million more blocks.
Since May last year, the global butter price has gone from US$2800 (NZ$3853) to US$5954 a tonne - a 120 per cent increase.
Both leading supermarket chains Foodstuffs and Countdown say that while retail prices have risen, they are yet to totally reflect the hefty global hike.
Foodstuffs spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said the international global price had lifted by 75 per cent since last August, but a 500 gram block of Pams butter had gone up only 29 per cent in the same period, with the average price $4.48.
"This is because the business works hard with its suppliers to keep this vital household staple affordable. If dairy prices remain at high global levels then it is inevitable this will eventually start to affect local prices," she warned.
Once the auction prices were advised, it took approximately three months for the changes to flow through the supply chain to retailers.
ASB rural economist Nathan Penny predicted after this week's global dairy trade auction that butter was set for another surge after prices dipped by 6 per cent in August.
"Where to next for butter? Are prices going to consolidate around this new level or is there something left in butter's tank?
"In our view, butter's fall during August is akin to a motor racing pit stop. Pull over, refuel, change tyres and then go again. In other words, we think that butter and milk fat prices can go higher yet," Penny said.
The rebound for butter was sparked by a scientific paper in the United States in 2014 that reported eating less saturated fat did not actually lower a person's risk for heart disease.
Laird said butter was gaining in popularity as people looked for natural unprocessed foods, which affected demand and pricing. Countdown noted the health food sector was a growing market, with butter considered to be the healthier alternative.

The cow disease Mycoplasma bovis has now spread to a lifestyle block in Rangiora, north of Christchurch, bringing the number of infected farms to six.
This is the first report of the disease travelling out of the South Canterbury/North Otago region. Last week Ministry for Primary Industry (MPI) officials said the properties they were investigating were within a 200 kilometre radius.
They reported last week that a third property near Oamaru had been affected, following the first detections on two Van Leeuwen farms in July. A number of animals from the third farm had moved to 14 others.
MPI said all three of the new properties had links to existing infected farms, and "this is an entirely expected pattern at this stage of the response".
Two of the newly identified properties are Van Leeuwen Dairy Group farms and were already under Restricted Place notices under the Biosecurity Act.
The third property was a lifestyle block near Rangiora that had received a small number of calves from the third infected farm confirmed last week.
MPI is continuing with its policy of not naming the farms, saying it was prevented doing so by the Privacy Act - unless the owners wanted to go public.
But Maheno, Oamaru beef farmer Julian Price has criticised MPI for not communicating with neighbouring farms.
"When they identify an affected property they are not telling neighbours. This third farm is next door but one, so my neighbour's cattle have to be tested because they are potentially infected.
"My neighbour and I need to co-ordinate our grazing so we're not risking any further transmission, but MPI aren't talking to us. They're not casting the net wide enough.
"If you're looking to cause friction in a community that's the way to do it - give people half the information," Price said.
Response co-ordinator David Yard said MPI was continuing to contact individual farms where there was higher risk of the disease being present – because they were adjacent to infected properties or connected through animal movements.
"If farmers have not been contacted by us, then it means they are not in these groups and are at considerably less risk of the disease spreading to them. It's a case of 'no news is good news' If you don't hear from us, it means it's not of immediate concern for you," Yard said.
The detections were evidence of the programme working, not of unexpected disease spread.
"All detections to date have links to the original infected properties via animal movements and have been caused by close animal contact. What is encouraging is that, despite intensive testing, no adjacent properties have as yet been identified as infected.
"We have no evidence of any means of disease spread other than close animal contact, at this stage. This includes the disease having jumped fences – which our scientists and vets tell us is highly unlikely to occur," Yard said.
The disease was first reported on July 20, on a farm at Morven in South Canterbury, one of 16 owned by Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen.
M. bovis is highly contagious within herds but does not travel from farm to farm through airborne means. It is found in all of the world's dairy countries, does not infect humans and presents no food safety risk. There is no concern about consuming milk and milk products.
The disease causes untreatable mastitis in dairy and beef cows, pneumonia in up to 30 per cent of infected calves, ear infections in calves, abortions and swollen joints and lameness.

The plan for a new Motueka Rudolf Steiner farm-based school at Lower Moutere has received planning permission.
School development manager Peter Garlick said obtaining resource consent for the project was a big hurdle to get over for the school community.
"The consents allow us to put a school on Rural 1 land," Garlick said. "There was no provision in the Tasman Resource Management Plan for that."
It had taken about two years and $60,000 to get that necessary nod but the celebration was muted.
"We've got stuff happening [on the farm site]," Garlick said. "While people are celebrating, they've also got a shovel in their hand."
The independent school had reached capacity with 65 pupils at the High St former maternity hospital site it leased in Motueka. It would be able to cater for 100 pupils up to high school age on its 13.6ha farm in Lower Moutere.
"Given the inquiries we're receiving, I think we'll get to 100 very quickly," Garlick said.
Waldorf education was on the rise and most new enrolments at the Rudolf Steiner School came from outside the town.
"We're attracting young families to Motueka."
Funds permitting, the school community hoped to spend 2018 and 2019 in construction and move to the new site in February 2020. Meanwhile, work on the farm would continue including fencing and planting.
Eventually, a new kindergarten would also be built on the farm but for now its site in Wallace St was secure, Garlick said.
Fundraising was a key focus and the plan was to use prefabricated buildings that would be "quite low cost" as well as a lot of community labour. Offers of help had come from "around the world" via the Waldorf school network.
"Not this summer but hopefully, the following summer we'll have a large team of volunteers," Garlick said. "We think we can get on site for about $1.7 million."
The school was keen to hear from any businesses willing to support the project with goods and services. It also planned to hold its popular spring fair on the farm, scheduled for Sunday, September 10.

The Macarthur wind farm in Victoria– at 420MW – is Australia’s biggest. But in the last 12 months it has been the worst performing of any wind farm in the state, and among the worst in the country.
When it was first announced way back in 2010, it was tipped to deliver a capacity factor of around 35 per cent. It opened in early 2013, but in 2016/17, it delivered a capacity factor of just 23 per cent.
“The performance of the Macarthur wind farm in FY2017 was primarily affected by planned outages and poor wind conditions,” an AGL spokesperson said in an emailed response to enquiries by RenewEconomy.
True enough, there were shutdowns of around 3 weeks that may have explained some of the lost output, and wind farms across Victoria and South Australia were all affected by weaker than normal wind conditions in the last quarter.
But that doesn’t appear to resolve the difference between Macarthur and other wind farms in the state. Nor does it explain its poor showing the previous year (26 per cent) when there were no apparent interruptions.
The performance of Macarthur has been the subject of much speculation in the wind industry, with no one too sure what is the reason for the lower than expected performance.
Indeed, according to this data from the Climate and Energy College, it has never produced anywhere near its hoped-for capacity, and never reached above 28.6 per cent.
By contrast to Macarthur’s output, Stockyard Hill, which at 530MW will dislodge Macarthur as the biggest wind farm in the country, is expected to have a capacity factor of around 45 per cent. Little wonder, then, that it is able to deliver electricity to its client Origin Energy at less than $55/MWh (free of subsidies).
Hornsdale in South Australia, the next biggest at 309MW, is expected to also have a capacity factor in the 40s when its third stage is finished in the next few months. Snowtown has performed as high, reaching 44 per cent in 2014/15.
The 207MW Collgar wind farm in Merredin in Western Australia, is also a strong performer with capacity factors in the mid to high 40s.
Of AGL’s new wind farms, the 200MW Silverton wind farm near Broken Hill is expected to have a capacity factor of around 44.5 per cent, while the 460MW Cooper’s Gap in Queensland is expected to have a capacity factor of around 35 per cent.
To put Macarthur’s recent performance in context, here is a list of the capacity factors of all the wind farms in South Australia over the last five years, from last year’s AEMO analysis of renewable energy in that state.

A study showing lambs with thicker skins have a better chance of survival could be worth millions of dollars for the New Zealand sheep industry.
The Massey University study done in conjunction with Manawatu romney breeder Ross Humphrey has also shown the skin thickness is hereditary.
"I just wanted to know if I could breed sheep with thicker skins so they would have a better chance of surviving when they were born," Humphrey said.
In 2009 he took the idea to Professor Hugh Blair at Massey University, who had been working alongside the Trigg Romneys group Humphrey is part of.
A literature review showed the subject had not been tackled elsewhere in the world and for the past eight years Humphrey has been working with an animal breeding and genetics team at the university – recording, measuring, testing and finally proving.
"This is worth millions of dollars to New Zealand in increased lamb survivability and it is important for our reputation for animal welfare."
Blair agreed.
"It is early days but lamb deaths is an industry issue… social licence to operate is so important. It's not just sheep either – we're going through the bobby calf thing, de-budding, docking – they're all things we need to have on our watch list now and researchers have to be looking at them all. But if we can help in this direction it will be fantastic. The urban sector is becoming more removed from farming animals and it's nice to get a positive story out there."
The Massey team included Iranian PhD student Masoud Soltanighombavani, his supervisor Rao Dukkipati and Professor Blair.
The first step was to figure out how to measure the skins. They finally validating a medical scanner used by Chris Spark from scanning firm Ward and Rosa. The skins of 7000 eight-month-old lambs were measured over eight years, which showed a range of 1mm-3mm.
"I remember Hugh saying "wow" when we found that massive variation. No-one really had any idea. If the range had been one to 1.5mm then it would have been hard to make genetic gain but there was a big difference."
The next test was whether or not the extra thickness could make a difference with survival. The animals were split into two groups with thin skins (average of 2.1mm) and thick skins (3.2mm) and put in a chamber that simulated wind and rain on a farm. Skin surface temperature was measured with an infrared camera temperature and kept within a normal range while heat production was measured with a calorie counter.
"Those lambs with the thinner skin lost more heat and had to product more heat to compensate," Soltanighombavani said.

Australian dairy farmers supplying Fonterra have a reason to smile after the co-operative lifted its milk price by 20 cents, pushing the average amount paid to A$5.50/kg of milk solids (MS).
The increase will apply from July 1 and will be paid on August 15.
It comes one day after the co-operative increased its payout to its New Zealand farmers by 25 cents to $6.75/kg MS.
In May, Fonterra Australia announced it would pay farmers an extra 40 cents per kilogram of milk solids and this along with the latest increase lifted the total cash paid to its farmers to $5.90, and the forecast closing range to between $5.90-$6.20/kg MS.

Some of the country's richest farmers are "devastated" after the first cases in New Zealand of the incurable disease Mycoplasma bovis were found in their cows.
South Canterbury dairy farmer Aad van Leeuwen, who with his wife Wilma owns what has been described as the world's largest robotic dairy barn, said he was resigned to having the animals put down.
The identity of the property where the disease was found this week has been the subject of intense speculation after 150 cattle were infected.
The van Leeuwen's massive dairy shed, the largest robotic barn in the world, can house up to 1500 cows.
Pressure has been mounting within the farming community for the cows to be put down so the disease does not spread.
The highly contagious cattle disease is commonly found throughout the world, but this is the first recorded case in New Zealand. Federated Farmers vice-president Andrew Hoggard said there was "no recovery, no cure".
It can now be revealed that the van Leeuwens own the farm where the disease was first found.
The van Leeuwen's farm, inland from the Makikihi township about 35 kilometres south of Timaru, is about the size of two rugby fields. They outlayed $22 million, which included the price of the farm the barn is built on. The construction of the barn, purchase and installation of the robotic milking machines, cost about $9m.
They also have a number of satellite farms in the region. It was on one of these where there are 150 cattle, that the disease was found. At today's values, the cows would be worth about $300,000, but insurance will not cover the loss, including the lost production.
The Van Leeuwens made their debut on the NBR rich list in 2015 with an estimated $65 million, and their wealth has remained stable at $60m for the last two years, according to the list.
"It's devastating, especially for the people working on the farm. It just hits you and you don't know what to think, you don't know where it comes from," he said.
Van Leeuwen said he had wanted to kill the animals as soon as they were diagnosed, but had been advised not to. It was in the interests of the industry to contain the disease.
"We said from day one that we wanted to do something about it but we've been stopped by MPI and the meat industry who want to sort out first whether it's safe to kill them. The embargo's been lifted so they'll go off soon."
He said it would be difficult to trace how the disease arrived. He believes it has been in New Zealand for some time but has only now been identified.
He would not be drawn on the pathway it arrived - "we simply don't know" .
Mycoplasma bovis did not infect humans and presented no food safety risk, the Ministry for Primary Industry said. There was no concern about consuming milk and milk products.
The disease could infect both calves and cows, but not other animals. It caused pneumonia, udder infection (mastitis), abortion, arthritis, tendinitis, middle-ear infection and endometriosis, and was potentially fatal to the animal.
MPI was advised of sick cattle at the property last Monday, and the disease was confirmed by the ministry's Animal Health Laboratory late on Saturday.
Prime Minister Bill English on Thursday indicated a likely way it came into the country was through imported semen and embryos.
Australian University professor John House said it would have either come in through semen and embryo imports, or bringing in contaminated equipment. The disease survives freezing.
The van Leeuwens did not themselves import semen or embryos but went through the "normal channels like anyone else". Livestock genetics companies import semen and embryos to improve dairy herds.
Van Leeuwen said he never sold any animals off the farm, except bobby calves, although he had bought some in this year.
Cows from the farm where the disease had been detected had never been moved to any of the other farms.
"This farm has never exported any animals into the main group itself so that's a positive."
Van Leeuwen said the disease was mainly associated with big barn farm systems, simply because most of the world's dairy cows were housed indoors.

The world's largest livestock carrier arrived in the Port of Timaru on Tuesday afternoon, but the company responsible for the shipment of cows to China could not say when the thousands of cows would be loaded onto the ship.
However, by 6.45pm there several stock trucks were pulled up close to the Ocean Drover, with a ramp in place for the loading of stock.
It was not clear whether or not stock were actually being loaded yet.
According to the PrimePort Timaru shipping schedule, the Ocean Drover docked at 3.30pm after spending several days sitting off the coast of Timaru. The vessel was due to depart from Timaru for Napier at 10am on Wednesday.
The ship will carry 6600 dairy cows to Fonterra farms in China.
When contacted on Tuesday afternoon, a Fonterra spokeswoman said she could not provide any details about the shipment or its loading process.
PrimePort chief executive Phil Melhopt said the ship would have waited off the coast until there was a berth available for it.
He was not aware of any further bookings from the ship in the near future, but said it was "quite possible" it would return.
Peter Walsh, of Peter Walsh and Associates stock agents, said his company also had "a handful of heifers bound for China".
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) director of animal and animal products Paul Dansted said the shipment of Holstein Friesian heifers would be shipped "subject to the exporter obtaining an Animal Welfare Export Certificate (AWEC) from MPI, which certifies that the animals are fit and healthy for transport".
The health and welfare of the animals was the number one priority for MPI, Dansted said.
"Once all of the animals are loaded, an MPI veterinarian inspects them to ensure they are fit for travel. If all animal welfare requirements are met, an AWEC certificate will be issued, " he said.
Half of the animals would be loaded in Timaru and the other half in Napier, he said.
This was to ensure the animals "have the shortest possible road transport journeys from farm to vessel".
During the voyage, the exporter must meet requirements around water, food, space, facilities and have suitably experienced stockmen and/or veterinarians on hand.
"They must also have medicine and equipment for treating any animals that become unwell during the journey. If unusual levels of mortality or sickness occur during the voyage, the ship's Master is to report this immediately to MPI."
The Ocean Drover has visited Timaru once before, in August 2016.

John Parks' farm is almost entirely underwater.
The Taieri Plains farmer has endured numerous floods since he bought the property south of Dunedin in 1961. This one was different, he said.
"There was a real crisis at the Mill Creek pump. The water was leaking through the floodbank and there was a real danger that the whole bank would collapse."
His home sits "right in the line of fire" of the flood-prone Taieri River.
"I wouldn't have liked to be in front of it if it had burst. It would have just been a wall of water."
Parks received a knock at the door about midday on Saturday telling his family to leave the property. His wife and daughter left, but Parks stayed behind to move his stock. The animals made it to safety, but his farm was not so lucky.
As he walks along what little grass remains visible with his dog beside him, he estimates about 90 per cent of his 200-hectare property is submerged.
"I don't know how you would describe it. In the early days there were no floodbanks so we'd have this often, but this I think is the second-biggest flood on record.
"All this water is just sitting here and it's not going to go until the Taieri River drops."
The Otago Regional Council confirmed the storm had generated the second-biggest flood on record for the Taieri River.
"It's going to take days in some places for this water to drain away," it said in a statement.

A shortage of pine tree seedlings after a poor growing season for tree nurseries has hit some forest owners and farm foresters.
Patrick Murray ,who is owner of Murray's Nurseries at Woodville in Tararua, said he had turned down orders of 1.2 million pines.
"We grew around five million pinus radiata but could easily have sold more. It has been a wet summer and poor autumn and that affected badly the growth of the trees."
He said there was interest in new plantings by many people who had put off planting for a couple of years, as well as the big forest-owners replacing trees that had been harvested.
"The majority of our trees are grown under contract for big forests - about 60 per cent. The rest goes to forest consultants in the lower North Island and some to farm foresters."
Murray said root growth and young pine circumference was impacted by the poor summer and autumn weather.
Forest company Juken Nissho's forest manager, Sean McBride said they provided the seed to the Woodville nursery which grew it on for them.
"We have trees and will be able to re-establish the areas we had planned, but the trees will be a little smaller than usual, and they'll be spaced a little further apart than usual."
He said most of their forests were in the eastern hills of Wairarapa.
McBride said they also sent seedlings to their Gisborne forests and they would be hit with the same issues.
Murray said he had talked to other nursery owners and the poor growing season was reasonably widespread across the North Island.

Fonterra's financially troubled Chinese investment partner Beingmate has seen its share price tumble 10 per cent amid news it will make an imminent announcement about an asset sale.
Share trading has been suspended until details of the asset sale are revealed in the next few days.
In 2015 Fonterra signed off on a deal to invest $700 million for an 18.8 per cent stake in the company, which it said would give access to the lucrative Chinese market for its infant formula and other products.
Fonterra confirmed that Beingmate Infant & Child Ltd had indicated its intention to sell major assets to its controlling shareholder, Beingmate Group Co. Ltd.
"In keeping with listing regulations, while the details of the transaction are being [formed/finalised], Beingmate I&C Co. Ltd have applied to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for a suspension of share trading. This also safeguards existing investor interests, in the event of any related share price fluctuations," Fonterra said in a statement.
Beingmate Infant and Child would issue a progress update within the next five days.
Beingmate has been beset by financial problems, reporting a loss of $158m last year, compared to a profit of $20m in 2015.
Late last year its reputation was hit by a case of alleged milk powder tampering, causing it to forecast a loss of up to $48 million for the first quarter of this financial year.
An authorised Beingmate infant formula dealer had been linked to a ring that bought cheaper powder and repackaged it so it appeared to be a more expensive product.
Adding to its woes, a number of senior employees have departed the company in the last six months, including a director, vice-president and chief financial officer Shen Lijun.
First NZ Capital head of derivatives Mike McIntyre confirmed the possibility of an asset sale, with an announcement to be made soon.
He said he had sent a note to clients recently saying it was likely there would be continuing volatility in the infant formula market until there was clarity over new Chinese regulations which would come into effect on January 1.
However McIntyre said FNZC had never analysed Beingmate and was simply commenting on the volatility of the infant formula market.
Fonterra is not the only dairy company affected by Beingmate's listless finances. Ireland's Kerry Group Kerry launched its "Green Love" formula in China in late 2014 and entered an agreement with Beingmate to distribute the product.
On 2016 figures, Ireland's 17 per cent market share makes it the second biggest supplier of formula to China, behind only the Netherlands which has over 30 per cent of the market.
Fonterra said its partnership with Beingmate was a "long-term, strategic investment to grow in the China infant formula market. We remain confident in our overall integrated China strategy".
After development testing, it had begun commercial production of infant formula for Beingmate at Darnum earlier this year, which it was now shipping to the company in China. It said it was pleased with the progress.

Many farmers are not covering the costs of shearing sheep after what a wool broker has described as the worst season for 50 years.
In the last 12 months prices for crossbreed fleeces have tumbled from $4 per kilogram to $2, and a lot of wool is not being sold. Peter Tate of Fred Tate Wools in Napier said perhaps a third of the season's production - 200-300,000 bales - was unsold.
"That's a bit of a worry because it's going to hang over the market for the next year. Some people are saying 'blow it I'll keep it in the shed', others are saying 'get rid of it, move on'. It's been the worst for 50 years," Tate said.
The dismal state of the industry is being blamed on a lack of demand from China as well as a failure to promote wool in the face of competition from synthetics. The Chinese still have a lot of unsold yarn from last year so they are not buying.
Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairman Miles Anderson said any lambs being shorn this season were at the cost of farmers.
Tate said it cost about an average of $3.20-$3.50 to shear a sheep.
"If they're shearing full fleece they'll probably get 4kg of wool off it, that's $8 so they are going to cover their costs, but this time of the year it's second shear so there's likely to be only 2.5kg wool on a sheep. By the time they pay the shearer and all the other costs, they won't be covering their costs."
Tate backed up reports that many farmers were trying to reduce costs by cutting down on the number of shed staff involved in wool preparation.
"It's pretty hard to be enthusiastic and spend extra money. People are pretty disillusioned, they just want to get the wool off so it's a management/health thing. They've lost interest in it," Tate said.
Anderson said he was like other farmers, and had a lot of wool that has not sold.
"The hope was the price would improve but it's nosedived. It starts to discolour and then it has to get retested and could be downgraded.
"Wool hasn't been playing its part in the sheep story for the last 30 years. Back in the 1980s about 60 per cent of a crossbred animal's value was in its wool. Now you'd be lucky to get 10 per cent of farm income off wool," Anderson said.
There was no easy fix. Resentful that several hundred million dollars of reserves had disappeared from the former Wool Board, farmers had voted down a move three years ago to introduce a 3c per kg levy.
Earlier this year Federated Farmers surveyed its members to see what price was sustainable for them. The figure most arrived at was $6/kg for crossbred wool.
Anderson said the positive qualities of wool did not appear to resonate with consumers, and now a lot of the capability for processing the product had shifted offshore.

More dairy farmers are thinking about once-a-day milking (OAD) despite a small cut in milk production, because it gives them more time to work on the farm or spend with family.
About 70 farmers went to an OAD discussion group and seminar in Palmerston North on Monday to learn about feeding, cow types and milk yields, mastitis and calf growth.
DairyNZ regional manager James Muwunganirwa​ said the good turnout showed the interest in OAD. Among the visitors were two people from Argentina, who were seeking more information about OAD milking in New Zealand, as well as farmers attending from Taumaranui.
"The day is all about catching up and talking to others about how they are coping. At the same time, they can see how Massey University Number One dairy farm, which is milking OAD is going."
He said OAD milkers mixed together and they were no longer being seen as "alternative'" by the majority of farmers milking twice each day.
"It is not just about OAD, but making those systems profitable as well. And most of the discussion was around that."
Muwunganairwa said people needed to chose cows that coped with OAD and produced milk, rather than going for just one breed.
In the past most people thought jerseys were more able to cope, but friesian jersey cross bred cows could also be milked OAD too, he said.
He said the individual cow was more important than the breed.
"With OAD, mostly it around the added capacity. She needs strong [udder] ligaments."
Nicholas Lopez-Villalobos from Massey University's Institute of Vet, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, checked cow breeds as they went from twice-a-day milking to OAD at the Number One dairy farm.
He said the crossbred of friesian and jersey bloodlines were in milk longer, produced more milk solids than either the jersey or friesian breed, but the somatic cell count, while lower than the friesian, was slightly higher than the straight jersey.
Farmers at the OAD seminor met with muddy conditions underfoot when visiting the Massey farm to check out its cow and feed condition.
Muwunganirwa said the season had so far has been wet with cold weather, which farmers had not wanted or expected after the wet summer.
"We have had some fine days and that has helped, but pasture growth is slower than expected this winter. And because of the wet and mud, cows are not able to utilise all feed and they are treading it in to pasture."
He said cow condition was a concern.
"Because there isn't the feed, many people have lighter cows than they would like. Cows haven't been getting enough feed to meet their energy requirements."
Cows are in-calf and due to start calving on July 20 so farmers needed to look after them well, he said.
Muwunganirwa said the general mood among dairy farmers seemed to be positive.
After suffering several hard years, they are feeling better. It is on the back of the forecast milk payout price and customers are paying more..They are in as good space."
He said this is the time dairy farmers and staff were not milking and needed to re-group.
"They re-charge the batteries and if they can get some time off the farm we encourage it. Some people are off on holiday, which is pleasing to hear."

New Zealand needs to do its own research on the insecticides neonicotinoids to see if they are harmful to bees, Victoria University insect ecologist Professor Phil Lester says.
But organic growers respond they are managing well without the use of the chemicals.
The comments come in the wake of two international reports which paint mixed messages about the insecticides, popularly known as "neonics", and which have divided scientists.
In one study in Hungary, Germany and the United Kingdom, neonics were harmful to bees in some countries but not in others, while a Canadian report showed exposure to neonics can substantially reduce honey bees' health.
Neonics are usually coated on to seeds before planting, rather than sprayed, but continue to protect the plant from insects as it grows.
Lester said New Zealand should carry out its own research. He suggested beekeepers, scientists and chemical manufacturers could work together to find ways to fund studies, as happened with the two overseas reports whose $4m cost was paid for by Bayer and Syngenta.
"There's been very limited research in New Zealand, we really need to get a handle on this. In Australia they are ahead of us and their conclusion from a recent report was to say there is no evidence at the moment to say these are harmful to our honey bees.
"If we take them [neonics] away from our growers, what will be the effect, will they go to worse chemicals such as pyrethroids. Whatever chemical you use is not ideal, all beekeepers and growers would prefer not to have to use them but the situation is we have to use them, so what's the 'best worst'," Lester said.
New Zealand needs to increase its research into the problem, says Lester.
While some growers were using organic methods, a lot of growing systems relied on some form of pesticide.
Villa Maria viticulturist Jonathan Hamlet said organic growers could not use neonics but they did not have to. One pest that attacks vines is the mealy bug, which conventional growers cope with by using neonics.
"In our experience we have very low levels of mealy bug in our organic vineyards."
Being organic means a shift in mindset and focusing on starting with your most valuable asset which is the soil to grow resilient plants. It's not more work, it's different and teaches you to be a better farmer," Hamlet said.
Dr Jacqueline Rowarth chief scientist with the Environmental Protection Authority, said it came down to a question of risk.
"We're looking for the net benefit to New Zealand and asking are the risks acceptable," Rowarth said.
Growing systems were much different in both Canada and Europe where there were huge swathes of crops such as maize or canola, and chemicals cannot be applied in New Zealand at flowering time.
"New Zealand does not have the large tracts of land under cropping that are common in the northern hemisphere, and does have very strict regulations around timing of chemical application, delivery method, and seed treatment dust reduction," Rowarth said.
But in the Canadian study, traces of neonics were found in wildflowers in fields next to crops which had been treated with the chemicals. Scientists say this indicates the water soluble neonics spill over into the surrounding environment.
Muriel Watts from the Pesticide Action Network said neonics persisted in the environment. She quoted a study by scientists at the Auckland University of Technology showing that in areas in New Zealand where maize has been grown from neonic-sprayed seed, there were now residues in the soil which threatened aquifers.
Lester said the focus should also go on the known problems for New Zealand bees.
"Honey bees in New Zealand have a plethora of known and scientifically demonstrated threats. Our honey bees have invasive, blood sucking mites. They have the deformed wing virus which has been described as a key contributor to colony collapse around the globe."
"Our bees have bacterial pathogens like American foulbrood that result in beekeepers burning their bees and hives. Fungal diseases are widespread. We also have management issues with the higher-than-ever numbers of managed hives, which are often managed poorly and over-stocked," Lester said.

Irish Windfarms louder than birdsong will be forced to shut down under new regulations due to take effect early next year.
Irish Energy Minister Denis Naughten has defended new wind energy guidelines, saying that the noise produced by turbines will dictate whether they can be located close to communities.
The draft regulations, which are subject to public consultation, include a minimum setback distance of 500m between homes and turbines, or one-of-four times the height of the turbine and the nearest residential property.
But Mr Naughten said the regulations included a "zero-tolerance" approach to shadow flicker and nuisance sound.
The maximum noise level which can be produced on a consistent basis will be 43 decibels and a bird call is about 44 decibels.
"The primary test now is not setback, it's sound," Mr Naughten told the Irish Independent.
"This is a significant change in the approach that's going to be taken from here on. The difficulty with setback is that it's from the nearest turbine, and only takes into account the nearest turbine, but sound takes into account the ­windfarm and multiple windfarms.
"The reality is, from talking to people, the one big issue which has come up is the sound issue. The standards ­(today) are unenforceable, and these regulations bring in the most ­robust ­system ­probably in the world in ­relation to sound."
Monitoring of noise from ­turbines will be put in place, and the Environmental Protection Agency will be charged with enforcement.
A person living up to 3km from a windfarm could experience a problem with low-frequency sound, he said, and that this would have to be taken into account when deciding planning permission for new windfarms.
He also said that a condition of receiving payments from the State for producing clean energy would also require noise limits to be kept below the threshold.
If a problem arose, and the sound levels could not be reduced, the turbine would be forced to power down. While the industry was "not happy" with the regulations, he believed they provided the appropriate protections for communities.
The Government is also proposing a community dividend in areas where turbines are approved.
The regulations are due to take effect in the first quarter of next year.

Labour has vowed to charge a royalty on the use of water for farming.
At last week's Federated Farmers annual conference, party leader Andrew Little appeared to change stance on its election policy held since 2011, which was to charge a resource rental on farmers who use water for irrigation and discharge too many nutrients.
After Little had delivered his speech to the conference, Feds environment spokesman Chris Allen praised him for saying farmers and politicians were "all in this together."
"I'd like to congratulate you on your environmental policy where you've abandoned the idea of resource rentals. It's not mentioned but I imagine you have actually abandoned it," Allen said.
In response Little replied: "If you're talking about the old water policy, yeah that's not our policy. And we're not standing on that and you shouldn't expect to see that."
On Sunday Labour clarified its position. Little said in a statement that cleaning up rivers so that they were clean enough to swim in was the most important freshwater issue for the election, but it was also fair that a royalty should be charged where public water was used in large quantities for private gain.
"It was reported following my speech to Federated Farmers last week that Labour has abandoned its policy of charging a royalty on farming uses of water. We haven't."
"At the conclusion of my speech I was asked about resource rentals which I thought was a reference to our NZ Power policy of 2014. I replied that we were not continuing with that policy. I confirmed we would impose a levy on bottled water. This was in addition to our focus on water quality, which I had already spoken about.
"The message of my speech was that we will work with farmers on regulatory change and that there is urgency to act on environmental quality and climate change. We remain committed to setting a resource rental for large water take for irrigation at a fair and affordable price," Little said.

West Coast dairy farmer Katie Milne is the first woman in Federated Farmers' 118-year history to hold the national presidency.
She described the elevation as "pretty stunning, showing the Feds is a good progressive organisation that is willing to move with the times and take people with the right skills to go forward".
Milne succeeds Dr William Rolleston who steps aside after his three-year tenure.
A previous federation board member and West Coast provincial president, Milne was Dairy Woman of the Year in 2015.
She runs a dairy farm in the high rainfall-zone of Rotomanu. It receives an average of 3.5 metres of rain a year, and even more in an El Nino year.
Milne said she was never totally confident she would succeed in the vote against vice-president Anders Crofoot, but felt she had a chance.
"My strengths are the way I can connect with people, I'm able to articulate in a clear way to people who don't necessarily know anything about farming in a way they can actually 'get it'.
"That's a valuable asset at the moment as we come up to election, we've got plenty of pot shots going at farmers and to help counteract that with some real farmer talk will be useful."
Manawatu dairy farmer Andrew Hoggard was elected national vice president while South Canterbury farmer Miles Anderson takes over as national Meat and Fibre chairman with Rick Powdrell stepping aside.
Waikato farmer Chris Lewis takes over as the federation's national chairman for the dairy sector, succeeding Hoggard.
North Canterbury farmer Lynda Murchison has been elected as one of two board members alongside Chris Allen who was reappointed.
Arable chairman Guy Wigley remains on the board pending next week's arable sector annual meeting.

As the rural community's heartbeat pulsed at Fieldays 2017, calls to cull cow numbers fell on deaf ears.
The nation's herd has doubled in the past two decades and Statistics New Zealand counted 6.49 million cows in 2015.
A recent report has propped up those who want our animal stock shrunk for environmental concerns, though a method of doing so is unclear.
However, both sides of the fence largely agree we don't need another million cows.
Green Party co-leader James Shaw said his preference was to reduce cow numbers through economic incentives, the details to be released in an upcoming policy.
Greens co-leader James Shaw, who attended Fieldays on Wednesday, backed a March report by UK-based Vivid Economics which recommended a 20- to 35-per cent reduction in pastoral animals to meet New Zealand's carbon neutral 2050 promise.
"I'm not talking about going out and massacring every second animal or anything like that. I also wouldn't be happy if our entire agricultural sector collapsed," Shaw said.
"There's got to be a transition."
His preference is through economic incentives for farmers that foster a value-over-volume industry.
"It's not an impossible question to solve."
Government has a role to play here, he said, but how the Green Party intends to reduce cow numbers is yet to be determined.
"There is some stuff that's cooking for the campaign," Shaw said.
At the Forest and Bird New Zealand stall, central North Island co-ordinator Rebecca Stirnemann said the country was beyond peak cow.
"Given the current status of the waterways, especially in areas such as the Waikato, we have to think of new methods that reduce these impacts."​
Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett firmly contrasted this in her speech to the Fieldays crowd on Wednesday, saying National will not consider a "lazy and totally ignorant cow quota".
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the debate about reducing cow numbers had been misconstrued.
"People don't seem to get the fact that cows calve in the spring and the overall number doubles over about two months.
"It will be difficult to, however, have many more cows in New Zealand because of some of the environmental limits."
The responsibility for changing land use falls on regional councillors, who analyse how many cows individual catchments can handle. National directives are not on the agenda.
"We don't want the heavy hand of Wellington deciding whether there should be cows or sheep milking or goats or bull beef or alpacas or onions or potatoes. That's something that the regional councils should administer and, by and large, they do a good job."
Guy did acknowledge some catchments were stretched.
"When you have a look at some of the catchments in the South Island, there are very stringent limits down there, I think there's about 18 restrictions on different catchments that regional catchments have imposed.
"That's where science needs to provide that information through the regional councils, and then they determine what those individual nitrogen loads should be in those individual catchments."
Dairy New Zealand spokeswoman Vanessa Winning agreed it was a catchment-by-catchment issue.
"No one wants to see cow numbers double. The solution we're trying to solve is the nutrient load across the land."
She said some catchments were stretched by current cow numbers and said the Waikato is one area where "mitigation" is needed.
But managing this is for the Waikato Regional councillors and their healthy rivers push.
"They know their land better than a national policy."
Waikato Regional Council chief executive Vaughan Payne said a holistic approach needs to be taken when it came to cow numbers.
In the past decade, an area six times the size of Hamilton city had been converted from forestry to pasture and that has created a significant contribution to contaminants in the waterways.
But any fixed cow number risks being "a blunt instrument" that doesn't recognise the range of contributors to water quality.
"One could equally ask, have we reached peak human? Or have we reached peak vegetable?"
The council's Healthy Rivers Wai Ora Plan Change, currently in the consultation process, may impact cow numbers for farmers discharging contaminants above any new threshold.
The national cow herd:

Statistics New Zealand counted 6.49 million cows in 2015, a 69 per cent increase from the 3.84m cows grazing the country's pasture in 1994
Waikato farms the most cows: 1.76m. Canterbury is second on 1.25m
The cow population fluctuates between seasons, and Dairy NZ says the number is currently less than that of 2015

Farmers will soon bring the border patrolling of pests and diseases to their own farms, says Minister of Primary Industries Nathan Guy.
He said velvet leaf outbreaks and farmer attempts to prevent its spread had brought home the realisation that farmers would eventually carry out more stringent inspections of vehicles and goods entering their properties.
Guy said farmers would in the future likely ask "probing questions" of contractors coming on their farms and be more aware of stock movements.
A velvet leaf sniffing dog was brought in to help root out the pest plant.
"I think contractors are up for those discussions as well," said Guy at Fieldays at Waikato's Mystery Creek. "While it may be frustrating for them to clean up their gear I think everyone is bit more mindful of the importance of biosecurity. We will be in constant [risk] of a potential disease or pests coming to New Zealand and we will do what we can to strengthen the border - that's why it is my number one priority."
He said the appearance of myrtle rust had raised awareness of biosecurity with 700,000 people seeking information on the MPI website.
"Ultimately it comes down to New Zealanders and farmers to do more inside the farmgate so we have to raise awareness, ask those probing questions of contractors, make sure the gear is clean and ... check out that last bale on the feed out wagon or baler that's coming on the farm to see where it has come from."
By Thursday there were 46 known properties infected with myrtle rust - four in Northland, two in Waikato, 39 in Taranaki and a new find this week in Bay of Plenty.
Guy said a good budget had been set this year for biosecurity at $18 million and this bumped funding up to about $250m.
"That's more people on the frontline, more dogs, more X-rays and actually reviewing the import health standards, trying to keep more bugs and diseases offshore. There is also a part of that about educating New Zealanders. Ultimately we want to have a biosecurity team of 4.7 million New Zealanders "
Guy said the mood of farmers at Fieldays had been "upbeat" after a dairy downturn for a couple of years, but they probably had one hand in their pocket and were mindful they had to pay down some debt and catch up on farm maintenance.
Horticulture was having a big presence at Fieldays and the rural economy was in a strong position with beef, lamb and forestry in positive shape, albeit wool was a bit low, he said.

Kiwifruit exports have overtaken wine for the first time, helping lift export returns to $5.1 billion for the year to the end of June 2016.
Produce from the New Zealand horticulture industry is worth $8.7b a year, a new record high.
Kiwifruit's share of export value is $1.67b, compared to wine at $1.55b. Next largest was apples at $690 million, followed by onions ($112m) and avocados ($82m).
Other stand out exports included peas ($84m), potatoes ($83m), cherries ($68m), berryfruit ($46m) and beans ($43m). Flowers, plants, and seeds together were worth $155m in exports.
Honey production during the year reached 19,885 tonnes for an export value of $314m, with Australia and China the largest markets.
Plant and Food Research said exports had experienced a 19 per cent increase on the year before, making up about 10 per cent of the country's merchandise export income.
Kiwifruit exports boomed on the back of a stellar 2015-16 harvest, rocketing up by 42 per cent in one year.
Asian countries took the lion's share - just over $1b - with Japan ($390m), China ($373m), and Taiwan ($154m) the main consuming countries. Kiwifruit to the value of $435m went to European countries, of which $108m was shipped to Spain.

Avian flu has been confirmed in chickens and geese at a farm in south Norfolk.
The UK's deputy chief veterinary officer said the H5N8 strain had infected around 35 birds at a farm near Diss.
A number of the birds have died and the remaining are to be culled.
A full investigation is under way to find the source of the infection. The risk to the public is said to be low.
The exact location of the outbreak has not been revealed.
But a 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone have been put in place around the infected premises.
In February this year, around 23,000 chickens were destroyed at Bridge Farm in Redgrave on the Suffolk and Norfolk border after an outbreak of H5N8 avian influenza virus.

MERINOS consistently return profits of up to $60 per dry sheep equivalent and $40/DSE for lambs at Sam Lyne’s Riccarton property at Campbell Town, Tasmania.
Mr Lyne farms with his father Crosby and brother Angus, running 7300 ewes on the 2600-hectare property, with 3500 of the ewes run as a self-replacing Merino flock and the remainder mated to terminal and composite sires.
He said running a self-replacing Merino flock had helped to spread risk with dual income streams from meat and wool.
“Meat breeds are just relying on a strong lamb market,” he said.
“We sell Merino lambs to a nearby abattoir that opened up a market five years ago, with the Middle East and they like 12-18kg Merino lambs. It allows us to sell our Merino wether lambs earlier and still make decent money.
“If we were to go down the meat breed road it would be hard to get back into Merinos, whereas Merinos offer that flexibility. If you have the bigger meat breeds, you have less sheep and you have the associated feed requirements which isn’t ideal for us in our unreliable climate.”
The Lynes run Merinos at 12.5 DSE for winter grazed land, which includes dryland and some irrigated land, producing a profit of about $500/ha.
In comparison irrigated barley at a seven-tonne yield, at $250/t has a profit of about $850/ha, while dryland barley at a 5t yield, has a profit of about $450/ha
“We have a pretty diverse system, sheep and crops work well together on our property and in a year like we have just had, the high prices for wool and meat make up for the poor cereal prices,” Mr Lyne said.
“Making $500/ha from sheep is good especially if you consider the low risk involved. Sheep also have an economic benefit in weed control and removing crop residues.”
Mr Lyne said their Merinos had a more medium-frame, meaning handling was easier.
“Merinos aren’t as big so they are easier to handle, which is better for the shearers,” he said.
“There’s more long-term sustainability for everyone. The country we have is ideal Merino country, in a dry year we would have to keep the feed up to another breed whereas Merinos don’t have the feed requirements other breeds need.
“Then, you also have the wool which is going really well at the moment and lambs are very comparable (in price) at the moment.”

AUSTRALIAN farmers have expressed disappointment at the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.
US President Donald Trump revealed the decision overnight which was a commitment he made in last year’s presidential election.
In response, the National Farmers’ Federation President Fiona Simson said the Trump administrations’ decision was disappointing.
Ms Simson said climate change posed a significant challenge for Australian farmers and the NFF supported the Australian government’s commitment to reducing emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 in accordance with the Paris agreement.
“We were pleased to hear in Parliament this week Prime Minister Turnbull reaffirm Australia’s support for the agreement and for reaching the targets set,” Ms Simson said.
Ms Simson said nations still party to the agreement represented the majority of the global economy.
“The Accord remained a powerful mechanism in the effort to address climate change.”
Shortly after becoming NFF President last year, Ms Simson revealed the peak farm lobby group had also changed its climate change policy which she said represented a “significant modernisation” of its thinking on the topic – moving from questioning the legitimacy of climate change and its scientific basis to one of acknowledgement and acceptance.
"This is now putting climate change on the map, saying that we understand climate change is a real challenge and that we need to work proactively around dealing with it and farmers can play a huge role in that,” she said at the time.
Farmers for Climate Action – an NFF member – described Mr Trump’s action as “reckless”, with CEO Verity Morgan-Schmidt saying the decision to withdraw the US from the international Paris climate change agreement was a “slap in the face” to farmers the world over, who are already coping with more extreme weather.
“Australian farmers want action on climate change because it is in our national interests,” she said.
“We are one of the most exposed countries to the impacts of climate change – such as worsening drought, bushfires, flooding and heatwaves – and agriculture is our most exposed industry.
“This decision puts Trump at odds not only with Australia, and 195 other countries, but also isolates him from the majority of businesses – including those within agriculture.”
In a statement in the White House Rose Garden, Mr Trump said the US would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, but begin negotiations to re-enter, either the Paris Accord, or an entirely new transaction, on terms that are fair to the US, its businesses, workers, people and taxpayers
“So we’re getting out but we’ll start to negotiate and we’ll see if we can make a deal that’s fair and if we can’t that’s great and if we can’t that’s fine,” he said.
“As President I can put no other consideration before the well-being of American citizens.
“The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the US to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers, who I love, and taxpayers, to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuddered factories and vastly diminished economic production.
“Thus as of today, the US will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris Accord and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country.”

The Wilding family has won big again two years after collecting the champion of champions bull title in the National Beef Expo.
While not quite achieving the heights of that achievement, Te Mania Litigation 14389, owned by the family from Conway Flats, was the grand champion angus bull at the Beef Expo held at Feilding.
Tim Wilding said Litigation was selected as a yearling at Te Mania Angus stud and sent to the angus bull evaluation unit near Fielding late last year, along with 30 other young angus sires from around the country.
"During the six months on the unit, he achieved the top daily weight gain. He was sold during the expo for the second top price of $24,000 to Northland angus breeder Daphne Graham.
"We picked him out on both his phenotype and his genotype. We have been trying to chase superior marbling qualities and eye muscle area for quite a few years. He had in his pedigree two or three generations of marbling, and I think that's what appealed to the judge because to get the premiums you have to have marbling.
Te Mania Jonah was the champion of champions bull at the 2015 Beef Expo.
Sarah Ivey
Te Mania Jonah was the champion of champions bull at the 2015 Beef Expo.
"It's pleasing to see that people are starting to take note of EBVs [estimated breeding values] and carcass data," Wilding said.
Judge John Jackson said he looked for a bull with both good phenotype and good genotype. He described Litigation as a young sire that had a great presence about him, a good balance of growth EBVs and exceptional carcass data with the highest individual marbling EBV of +2.6 in the sale lineup.
Te Mania Angus is holding its 50th on-farm sale at Conway Flat on July 21 and will be offering 120 bulls for sale. Wilding expects between 400 and 500 people to attend.

Zespri's bountiful 2016-17 kiwifruit season will go down as a cracker with the largest ever crop achieving record sales worth $2.26 billion.
Growers with the kiwifruit co-operative enjoyed a season of increased yields as Zespri produced an after-tax profit doubling to $73.3 million.
A record 137.7 million trays helped lift sales and grower returns increased for an average $68,868 per orchard hectare.
Zespri chief executive Lain Jager has few complaints about a dream 2016-17 season.
Zespri chairman Peter McBride said Zespri sold more fruit faster than ever before during the 2016-17 season, with global fruit sales revenue rising by 19 per cent to $2.26b ($1.9b in 2015-16).
"We can be satisfied overall with performance in the season, with a good result delivered despite the challenges of a sharp increase in supply and a relatively late harvest," McBride said.
He said the extra sales and strong investment by Zespri into marketing and market development had paid off by growers receiving more revenue.
During the season Zespri announced 1800 hectares of SunGold licences would be allocated for Europe over the next three years. This would double the co-op's offshore production of the variety to meet growing demand for year-long supply.
Sales of kiwifruit from Zespri's Northern Hemisphere licensed growers grew by 14 per cent to 16.6 million trays, driven mainly by SunGold vines coming into production in Italy.
Zespri's improved after tax profit, more than doubling from $35.8m to $73.7m, was mainly from revenue from a tender for SunGold licenses last year.
"There was strong industry participation in the release of 400 hectares of SunGold licence in New Zealand last year, reflecting the continued grower confidence in global demand for gold kiwifruit," McBride said.
A further 400-hectare tranche was released through a tender to New Zealand growers this year and the Zespri board is considering a potential three additional tranches of 400 hectares each year up to 2020.
The board approved a final fully-imputed dividend of 17 cents per share to be paid to growers in August for a total dividend of 25 cents a share.
Zespri expects a profit range for the 2017-18 financial year of $101m to $106m.
Despite a record season Zespri was challenged in several areas, said McBride.
"A sharp increase in green [kiwifruit] volume and a late start to the season due to delayed maturity put pressure on pricing but record average yields of 12,281 trays per hectare meant the industry could achieve per-hectare returns of $53,555. This is the third season in a row that Zespri has delivered average green returns of over $50,000 a hectare." The green kiwifruit return per tray was $4.36, down from $5.13 per tray in 2015-16.
SunGold sales helped offset the lower green kiwifruit tray price.
Zespri achieved an average per-tray return for its "Gold pool" of $8.64 – up from $8.21 in 2015 – despite supply increasing to 48.5 million trays from 32.6 million trays in 2015-16. Average per-hectare returns increased by 39 per cent to $98,838.
McBride said the consumer response to SunGold remained positive and supported Zespri's confidence in continued market demand.
The average per-hectare return of $54,427 (2015/16: $52,917) for Organic Green kiwifruit was a record result for the category, supported by strong yields, although the return on a per tray basis fell to $6.86 per tray (2015-16: $7.18).
Chief executive Lain Jager said the volume outlook for 2017-18 was slightly down on last season but would still be the second-largest crop in the company's history.
"Supplied SunGold volumes will increase to around 55 million trays but seasonal factors will see green volumes fall back to around 69 million trays supplied, versus 83 million trays sold last year."
He said the sales and marketing team was launching programmes in 59 countries to increase value to growers and shareholders.

Both the economy and the environment are being promoted as the big winners from a government injection of $90 million in irrigation schemes.
Grants of $26.7 million over the next three years will match community funding of regional scale irrigation schemes, helping them progress to the construction stage. Another $63m of new capital funding will support investment in the building of irrigation infrastructure.
Minister of Primary Industries Nathan Guy said the investment would deliver economic and environmental benefits through better use of water. "A reliable water supply for growers and farmers has major potential to boost economic growth, creating jobs and exports in the regions," said Guy. "At the same time these schemes can deliver real environmental benefits by maintaining river flows and recharging groundwater aquifers."
Nathan Guys says extra $90m will deliver economic and environmental benefits through better use of water.
Guy said the importance of water storage had been reinforced over the last few years with severe droughts in the east coast of the South Island and Northland. Extra funding would help develop new private sector schemes which would reduce the impacts of droughts on rural communities.
More Government money has been set aside for irrigation development.
Guy says new irrigation schemes must meet stringent environmental tests. "It's important to note that any new developments or conversions must farm within environmental limits set by regional and local councils."
The funding will be administered by Crown Irrigations Investment Limited (CIIL).
"Capital investments made by CIIL are usually in the form of secured loans, as in the case of the Central Plains Water Scheme where CIIL invested $6.5 million in the first stage – since repaid – and is now investing $65 million in stage two," said Guy.
He said CIIL's role was to be an "early-in, early-out" investor to kick-start projects that otherwise would not get off the ground.
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research has found that irrigation contributes $2.2 billion to the national economy and has potential to increase this further.
Identified projects likely to need investment include the Waimea community dam near Nelson, Flaxbourne community Water Project, Hunter Downs Water and the Hurunui water project. Irrigation would support land uses including horticulture, sheep, beef and arable as well as urban water supply.
Guy said the Government was committed to improving waterway quality while maintaining the livelihood of regional communities.
Federated Farmers environment spokesman Chris Allen said further Government investment for irrigation projects was a powerful stimulant for re-energising provincial New Zealand.
"This is great news for rural communities and will provide access to significant social and economic benefits."
He said scheme investment would take pressure off water resources when they were scarce especially during droughts and dry spells.
Combining smart technology with more sophisticated water scheduling would ensure nutrients did not leave the root zone of plants and reduce their loss to the environment, he said.
"Precise agriculture is increasingly being adopted by irrigators, which allows for the exact measurement of crop and pasture needs, where water and nutrient can be accurately applied to meet plant requirements."
Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman said extra irrigation funding was an important step on the road towards lasting food security and protecting water.
IrrigationNZ chief executive Andrew Curtis said sustainable irrigated agriculture was New Zealand's future and underpinned many provincial economies on the east coast.
He said another $2 to $3 of wealth was created in the community of irrigators for every $1 they earned with irrigation contributing more than $5.4 billion to the national economy each year.

Taranaki's riparian planting scheme is approaching a major milestone with five million plants expected to be in the ground by the middle of next year.
Every year the Taranaki Regional Council supplies hundreds of thousands of native plants to farmers at cost and expects the latest batch to take the total so far to 4.7 million.
The plants will add to the thousands of kilometres of stream bank and wetlands already fenced and planted by farmers to protect and enhance Taranaki's waterways.
The council contracts nurseries to grow the plants a year in advance and this year's supply will be available for pick-up from May 22-26.
The council's regional plant depots at Stratford, Lepperton, Hawera, Opunake and Pungarehu would be a hive of activity over the pick-up period, TRC land services manager Don Shearman said.
"Taranaki farmers value the environment and remain committed to the Riparian Management Programme," he said.
"They recognise it's essential to include the cost of fencing and planting in their annual budget, and to implement their riparian plan in manageable stages each season to complete it by 2020.
"It's the reason we're leading the country with riparian fencing and planting."
The council has set a target to have all Taranaki stream banks protected by riparian fencing and planting on the ring plain and coastal terraces by 2020.
As of last year, more than 4.3 million native plants had been supplied to landowners since the RPS began in 1996 and 99.5 per cent of Taranaki's 1800 dairy farms had riparian plans.
Across the whole region, there were nearly 2500 plans covering 14,500km of stream banks. Plan holders had fenced 85 per cent of their streams and protected 70 per cent with planting.
Given the scheme's popularity, farmers were encouraged to get in early and order their plants a year or two in advance to keep tendering costs down and ensure there are enough plants to go around.
Those who ordered now for the 2018 and 2019 seasons would get a 20 per cent discount on their 2019 plants, providing they were among the first 80,000 ordered, Shearman said.
The latest results from the regional council's ecological health monitoring programme during the 2015-16 year and showed improvement at 87 per cent of the sites where changes could be determined, the highest percentage to date.
Most of the improvements were being recorded in middle to lower catchments of the Taranaki ring plain where intensive farming occurs.
Over the period, the council issued dairy farms with 109 abatement notices and 13 infringement notices, down from 157 and 42 respectively the previous year.
TRC director of environment quality Gary Bedford said many factors had contributed to the improvements, including a high uptake of the riparian planting scheme.
"Implementation of the Riparian Protection Scheme is in full swing, with thousands of kilometres of stream banks already fenced and protected with vegetation.
"Clearly, our waterways are already benefiting from this voluntary effort and they'll benefit even more as the scheme moves to completion at the end of the decade."
This year farmers collecting their riparian plants from the Stratford depot will also be able to drop chemical drums for recycling. Triple-rinsed and capped 200-litre drums from Ecolab and brands supported by the Agrecovery scheme will be collected by members of Taranaki's Young Farmers clubs for a gold coin donation.

Fonterra should introduce a quarterly-based milk price system, which would reduce price volatility and lessen the risk of farmers going out of business, says ASB rural economist Nathan Penny.
If farmers were given forecasts which covered just the quarter ahead and were paid at the end of the quarter, they would know more accurately how much milk to produce.
In a paper titled "Lessons from the dairy downturn", Penny said under the present system, Fonterra usually provided a conservative forecast early in the season, partly because it did not want to overpay farmers and later claw back payments.
"They build in uncertainty so they are conservative, and then they layer on the technicality of possibly overpaying."
Penny said the advance payment system compounded the issue. The payments started off low, which did not reflect the market price, causing farmers to under produce.
At present advance payments were about 65 per cent of the market price. Penny argued that by using a quarterly payment system, Fonterra could be more precise, which would most likely lead to a higher advance rate.
He estimated under a quarterly system, payments would be about 80 per cent of the market price.
Later in the season, the situation was reversed so payments were higher and as a consequence farmers overproduced.
From July to October retrospective payments kicked in, which were also higher, and again because they did not mirror market prices, they led farmers to overproduce.