GET SMARTER ABOUT RINGING THE CHANGES
Dairy Women's Network's next round of free workshops will focus on making farmers' smartphones useful business tools, but without the bells and whistles, says facilitator Marlene Williamson.
The Dairy Women's Network member, who is a self-employed computing facilitator, says farmers need to know the capabilities of their phones and the value that can be added to their businesses, but didn't need to get carried away with "the rest".
This is the nature of the Get Smart workshops that she and Agritec educator Dr Debbie Care will run in seven locations in the North and South Islands.
"My passion is for technology that is actually useful in people's lives," she says.
"Technology literally advances every day and there is so much that could be learned.
"But these sessions will focus solely on the practical because that is what will help farmers advance their businesses."
Williamson, who teaches computing to adults, says the smartphone dairy modules will explain exactly what the phones can do and how they can be used to improve farming business practices.
She says Dairy Women's Network regional conveners have identified a need for the education in some areas.
Williamson said she and Care will be covering iPhone, Android and Windows phones to ensure the modules apply to as many farmers as possible, and that they will be taking into account the "non-connectivity often experienced in the country".
The workshops are at :
* Te Puke, May 8
* Otorohanga, May 11
* Ashburton, May 20
* Hokitika, May 21
* Invercargill, May 26
The modules are open to both Dairy Women's Network members and non-members. For more information or to register, visit dwn.co.nz
MOTORCYCLING BOOST
FOR RECYCLING
The Agrecovery Recycling programme is celebrating a milestone of collecting a million kilos of plastic by putting a motorcycle on the line for those supporting the campaign over the next two months.
The container recovery programme started in 2007 and Agrecovery Foundation chairwoman AdrienneWilcock, a Matamata dairy farmer, says the milestone will be reached by the end of this month.
In "Kick start your winter clean up" everyone who recycles with Agrecovery before the end of June will go into the draw to win a Suzuki DR200 Trojan (RRP $5995) farm bike.
The number of farmers and growers recycling is growing considerably each year, Wilcock said. In the first year the total collected was 32,850kg and this year the target is 230,000kg.
The recycled containers are sent to Astron Plastics in Auckland for processing into such things as underground electrical cable covers.
WOOL LEGEND FAREWELLED
Hundreds of woolhandling and shearing industry and sports people gathered on a remote Whanganui River marae recently to farewell the women many referred to as "the David Fagan of woolhandling".
Joanne Kumeroa, whose three-year battle with cancer came to an end earlier this month, won three times as many international and national woolhandling titles as the next most successful woolhandler in competition history.
She won more than 120 finals in New Zealand, plus world individual titles in Edinburgh in 2003 and Toowoomba two years later, three world teams titles, and an array of other titles, mainly in Australia, where she lived in recent years, becoming widely respected as a trainer.
Her titles in New Zealand include six Golden Shears opens and six New Zealand opens among many majors, and one victory at the Hawke's Bay A&P Show in 1995, and eight Dannevirke A&P open titles between 1993 and 2005.
She had a particular commitment to wool -- her gifts to others at birthdays and other occasions invariably involved wool -- and she was highly regarded as a trainer and mentor of young woolhandlers on both sides of the Tasman.
Mourners at the tangi at Parikino Marae, beside the Whanganui River, included Australian woolhandling representative and trainer Sarah Moran, and several others from Australia.
NAPIER VENUE FOR DEER CONFERENCE
* The national Deer Industry conference will be held in Napier on May 26 to 28. It will include the annual awards dinner and a field trip to Tikokino.
* An Arable Research workshop on sustainable winter dairy grazing will be held in Central Hawke's Bay next Tuesday.
The workshop will be at the Waipukurau Club starting at 4pm.
It will be led by FAR's Diana Mathers.
There will be presentations from specialists in such areas as management practices for winter grazing, and the risks involved in dairy grazing.
REID APPOINTED TO DAIRYNZ JOB
DairyNZ has appointed Andrew Reid as its new general manager of extension, the role that leads the industry body's regional consulting officer teams.
He will start in the position on May 4.
Reid was previously general manager of sales with Ballance Agri-Nutrients, leading a field team of 120.
He has also worked as a consultant for Agriculture New Zealand, has a bachelor of agricultural science degree from Massey University and is from a family dairy farm in the Bay of Plenty. DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle says Reid is certain to be a great addition to his senior leadership team.
