The No 8 Wire: Price picks up best-practice award

The new Young Horticulturist of the Year Andrew Hutchinson, who works in potato farming in the Pukekohe area.

It wasn't quite the prize that was wanted, but Hawke's Bay viticulturist Cameron Price still managed some of the accolades in the national Young Horticulturist of the Year Awards which were dominated by host-region finalists in Auckland.

Representing the New Zealand Winegrowers, and having won both the Hawke's Bay and national Young Viticulturist of the Year awards, Price last week claimed the Bayer Best Practice Award for the highest score in crop management activities during the two-day finals.

The new national Young Horticulturist of the Year is Pukekohe-based Andrew Hutchinson, potato technical support adviser at AS Wilcox & Sons.

The winner of the Young Grower of the Year in July, he won four of the six categories as he and Price and three other sector finalists contested the two-day final at the Auckland Botanic Gardens.

The runner-up was Auckland-based Amenity Horticulture representative Jeanette Barker, from Christchurch, and third place went to landscaping sector champion Paul Southan, of Auckland.

Lost in space

If it's not one thing it's another for North Canterbury farmers, who had been getting some relief from a lengthy drought before this week's earthquakes.

Amid unusually dry conditions now extending close to three years, there'd been recent rain, and last week Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced a funding boost of $125,000 the drought-based Hurunui Mayoral Fund and to be used for technical workshops on regrassing, financial management skills, ongoing community events and "facilitating farmer peer groups to provide support and advice".

The "official medium scale adverse event declaration" expires at the end of this year, and the Government has so-far provided around $610,000 for recovery measures in the region.

Future leaders apply

Applications close on December 5 for two school-leaver positions on the FMG Agriculture scholarship programme.

Each year FMG offers two promising students $5000 towards their course fees for each year undergraduate agriculture degree studies at Lincoln, Massey or Waikato university.

With the sector facing challenges such as environmental and economic change, a growing population and new technology, agriculture is showing itself to be a diverse and ever growing field that needs new and talented people to be the next generation of leaders and innovators, organisers say.

No cream for Christmas?

Northern Ireland faces the prospect of having no cream for the Christmas pudding because farmers reckon processors are milking too much of the money in their dairy industry.

About 250 farmers, accusing milk co-ops of contempt and arrogance for the producers, voted this week in favour of strike action before Christmas unless the dairy industry delivers an immediate increase in milk prices.

Ulster Farmers Union deputy president Ivor Ferguson says dairy processors don't understand how angry farmers feel, after more than 18 months struggling with prices below production cost.

They have a right to demand that processors "dig deeper" to give them the full benefit of the fall in the value of sterling and improving global markets, he says.