TOKYO -- Low-fat, high-protein beef from grass-fed New Zealand cattle is becoming increasingly popular in health-conscious Japan.

 In a country known for gastronomic indulgence, not least its love of fatty, marbled wagyu beef, it may come as a bit of a surprise to see the burgeoning popularity of lean New Zealand meat.

But as demand for lean cuts rises from an increasingly health-conscious public, more and more grass-fed New Zealand beef has appeared on Japan's supermarket shelves.

In June, Co-opdeli Consumers' Co-operative Union switched from grain-fed Australian beef to meat from pasture-grazed New Zealand cattle for its home delivery service.

Livestock tends to be raised in a more environmentally sound manner in New Zealand than major beef-producing countries.

While the weather can be a bit dreary in the land of the long white cloud, abundant rainfall does make for rich and plentiful pastures. There are even farmers who specialize in grass for livestock feed, growing fiber-rich ryegrass and clover for its minerals.

Continue to read the full article here in the Nikkei Asian Review  ||  September 6,  2017   |||

One of the most common frustrations during packing of bags is the time consumed by the labeling system. Changing tape, tickets or ribbons means halting the process while another tape or ticket roll is being loaded.

This leads to unnecessary delay, accumulation of costs per bag and increases in lead time. Furthermore, the tape or tickets attached to the bag can easily tear off or be removed and can fade when subjected to sun light, causing logistical problems and loss of identification. Depending on the number of customers and products being packed, storage of all the different tape and tickets increases your costing and often leaves you with unusable surplus material.

Together with LC Packaging Eqraft has developed laser printable bags and a laser printer that prints straight on to bags without the use of ink ribbons, tape or paper tickets. As the printing is without contact there are no wearing parts.

This printer has been developed for high volume continuous operation at high reliability. The printer allows for the individual printing of bags with filling dates, product information track and trace numbers and any other information making the identification of each specific bag and its contents possible. Printing is done straight onto the bag without the use of the so called consumables such as PE tape, paper tickets, sprayed ink or ink ribbon.

The Eqraft Laser Printer for Bags allows for:

• No Consumables
• Real time printing & online editing
• Durable, water & light resistant prints
• Individual product identification

Currently the Eqraft Laser Printer and the LC Packaging laser printable bags are being thoroughly tested by one of our customers in the Netherlands. The official presentation will be at the Potato Europe Exhibition in Emmeloord on September 13-14th. The Eqraft Laser Printer for Bags can be integrated with the Baxmatic® bagging equipment.

| A n Eqraft release  ||  August 29,  2017   |||

Yang Shuang reports  for Fresh Plaza that as of August 22, one of the leading Chinese fruit companies, Fruit Day, and JD.com have officially started to sell persimmons from New Zealand. Their platform is one of the first to sell New Zealand's persimmons in China. After 12 years of negotiations the first batch has finally arrived on the Chinese market.

Last year, in May, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) published the "Inspection and Quarantine Administration requirements for New Zealand persimmon and Turkish cherries." On May 27, products that fulfilled these conditions of, were approved to be imported to China. This year, on July 20, China's AQSIQ has once again updated the list of New Zealand persimmon exporters who have been allowed to export New Zealand persimmon onto the Chinese market.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise agency trade commissioner Damon Paling said: "I am delighted that New Zealand's crunchy persimmon will be able to enter China for the first time this summer. The New Zealand fruit is tastier than ordinary persimmon - it's sweet and delicious. I hope that Chinese consumers will like it."

Crunchy persimmon growing on plantation

Fruitday imported this first batch from a company called 'First'. It actually was the 'first' company to have its products approved by China's AQSIQ. First's crunchy persimmon plantation is situated on the east coast of New Zealand, in Gisborne. But it's not only the unique environment that makes persimmons from First so good, but also a special V-planting technology, which helps to reduce the negative impact of insects. This technology also lets more sunlight reach the fruits, so they can become even sweeter.

Zhao Guozhang, co-founder of Fruitday, said: "We are very confident about our sources of supply. Our purchasing mission has traveled all over the world to find the best fruits. New Zealand combines perfect natural conditions with well-developed agricultural technologies. Their products earned their customers the highest appreciation. New Zealand is a very important source of supply for us. It has a lot of world-famous farmers, brands and associates who are our indispensable fruit partners.

Fruitday is a pioneer and an innovator. Since it's very foundation Fruitday has been promoting high quality fruits from New Zealand. In the last eight years, we've made a lot of new fruits available on China's market. For example: Zespri Sungold kiwifruits, Zespri Green kiwifruits, Envy apples, Queen Rose apples, New Zealand honey pears and a lot of other fruits that have never been sold in China before. Fruit Day is still working hard to bring even more high quality fruits and to gain more trust from Chinese government officials. Being a company that introduces new kinds of fruits to the Chinese market, Fruit Day have become the number one choice for their partners.

About Fruit DayFruitday was founded in 2009. It is a new kind of food enterprise and one of the leaders on the market. Fruit Day works with the food suppliers all over the world. The company has an App for on-line sales and also uses off-line channels of distribution, which allows it to satisfy as many customers as possible. Fruit Day have their own direct sales platform, private cold storage and cold chain logistics.

| A FreshPlaza release  ||  August 28,  2017   |||

Silver Fern Farms has launched a large-scale China chilled pilot with the first sea-freight container shipment of chilled beef as well as multiple air-freight orders of beef and lamb set for customers across China.

The pilot is part of a six-month trial negotiated by the government to test chilled red meat access into the China market. While small-volume air-freight product has been sent into market, it is understood that this is the first sea-freight container to test the market says Silver Fern Farms GM Sales Grant Howie.

"It is important that during this trial period we test the market’s protocols and supply chain for chilled meat at sea-ports as well as via air-freight," Mr Howie says.

"With chilled product in China we need to test the process at scale which is why we have worked with one of our customers to take a full 20ft container of chilled product."

The first sea-freight container leaves New Zealand this week and is due to arrive into China in early September.

"Our relationship with Shanghai Maling has helped facilitate this sea-freight order. We are working with one of Shanghai Maling’s subsidiaries who will distribute Silver Fern Farms chilled beef to a number of its supermarkets in and around Shanghai.

"The cuts they are taking are important. They are primarily secondary cuts of prime Beef - cuts that would otherwise have been sold frozen at lower prices. They have the capability to position these traditional Chinese cuts at a premium in supermarkets."

Silver Fern Farms is New Zealand’s largest meat exporter to China, having achieved $316m of sales to the region in 2016. All of the product entered the market in frozen form.

Silver Fern Farms is also testing protocols for small-scale air-freight orders of beef into key food service distributors who service high-end restaurants and hotels in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and an airfreight order for lamb cuts into a major multi-national high-end supermarket chain.

"For the past 2 years we have been busy developing the premium food service market with our Eating Quality (EQ) Graded Silver Fern Farms Reserve Beef as a frozen product. Our Reserve and Angus Beef frozen programmes are aged for 21 days back in New Zealand before being shipped frozen. Now that we have the ability to ship chilled, that ageing can now occur as it is shipped to China."

"This is a complex large scale chilled pilot to test a variety of market entry options as well as a range of products. We have two air-freight orders destined for our food service customers in Shanghai. They have ordered our value added Silver Fern Farms Reserve Beef, and our food service chilled prime beef product in primary and secondary cut form. They are taking steak cuts, our Silver Fern Farms Reserve oyster blade and rump caps."

"We have also partnered with a major multi-national high-end supermarket chain for an order of lamb cuts, including premium lamb racks. We look forward to further orders at scale so we can test sea-freight container orders once the new season lamb production comes on in coming months."

| A SilverFern Farms release  ||  August 23, 2017   |||

SOUTH Australian contractor Nick Pratt’s new Duncan AS6100 folding tine drill is living up to expectations.

Mr Pratt is owner of Emu Ridge Ag Contracting based from Penola, fifty kilometres north of Mount Gambier. He primarily concentrates his business on hay baling and pasture renovation.

"“I feel that farmers need to get more out of the land they have got. With beef prices being on a high, it’s a good time for farmers to improve their pastures.”" - Nick Pratt

The business purchased the new 6.1m wide AS6100 drill in April. He was previously using a 26-row another brand of seed drill with six-inch spacings as his main drill.

Mr Pratt said that a trip to New Zealand in 1994 is what tipped the balance in favour of the Duncan drill.

“I feel that farmers in New Zealand are some of the best at growing grass in the world.

“The Duncan is a true pasture renovation machine and that’s the line we are going down with our contracting” he said.

Duncan Ag is a family owned business, with all manufacturing taking place in New Zealand.The 6.1m wide AS6100 Duncan drill

The 6.1m wide AS6100 Duncan drill

Mr Pratt said that one of the features of the Duncan drill is that it is a simple machine with few wearing parts.

“It has the coulters on the front, with a Baker boot and rubber-tyre roller on the back. There are L-shaped finger tines for seed incorporation” he said.

Previous drills used by Mr Pratt did not have coulters, but he made the move as he thought they would make it easier to handle the trash.

The finger tines also make a difference to establishment.

“The fingers tines weren’t on our old machine but when the seed falls out the back on the Duncan it gets incorporated more” he said.

Mr Pratt and his son James have been using their new Duncan drill since the start of May.

They have planted approximately 500 hectares of pasture this season with the drill.

The Pratts have followed up on the progress of the early paddocks sown for their clients and have been happy with the result.

“I feel that farmers need to get more out of the land they have got. With beef prices being on a high, it’s a good time for farmers to improve their pastures.”| A Farmonline release  ||August 2,  2017   \\\

Pam Tipa writes in Rural News that almost $600 million flowed into the meat industry from outside New Zealand in the last 18 months.

Overseas firms looked to secure NZ beef and lamb and strengthen their global agrifood positions, says a new report.

Investors chiefly from China and Japan bought in, says the report ‘Investors Guide to the NZ Meat industry 2017’, released in June. It was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and prepared by Coriolis.

| A RuralNews releas  || August 1,  2017   |||

Schneider Electric announced the success achieved with WaterForce, provider of water management and irrigation solutions in New Zealand. Schneider Electric worked with Schneider Electric.svg WaterForce to develop a cloud-based IIoT mobile-control solution, built on Microsoft Azure and Azure IoT technologies, which enables farmers to operate irrigation pivots with greater agility, efficiency and sustainability.

Agriculture accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world’s water consumption. As global food demand grows, water use is expected to rise, making efficient irrigation critical. With Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture, WaterForce developed a cloud-based IIoT solution enabling farmers to monitor and control irrigation pumps and pivots from their computer, tablet or smartphone.

“Every day I adjust my pivots and pumps for a variety of reasons—shifts in the wind, rain levels, crop requirements or local regulations,” said Craig Blackburn, director/farm manager of Blackhills Farm, “Now I can monitor and control my irrigation system easily from my mobile phone, saving me hours of time not spent driving around the farm. With information at my fingertips, my farm is more productive, water and energy costs are lower and crop yields higher.”

Unique to this solution is its ability to work with a farm's existing equipment, such as irrigation and pump controllers. This means no significant capital investment is required before seeing benefits.

“Most farms are not built to handle large software installations,” said Ron McFetridge, director of WaterForce. “Using a lightweight, cloud solution with mobile capabilities has been key to expanding IoT capabilities to these farms. By leveraging our relationship with Schneider Electric, we can focus on our core business—effective water management—knowing that the information management, analytics and automation side is covered.”

WaterForce’s solution integrates multiple components of Schneider Electric’s software and hardware product portfolio, including cloud and mobility solutions, HMI/SCADA, variable speed drives and soft starters. The solution is built using Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, which includes a collection of integrated enterprise tools including devices, software, cloud, data and analytics.

“By 2050 we will need 55% more water to nourish the growing demand for food, so efficient irrigation is critical,” said Rob McGreevy, vice president of information, operations and asset management at Schneider Electric. “We believe driving operational improvements and efficiencies at these farms is a key component to sustainably feeding the planet. EcoStruxure simplifies the integration between the connected products, edge control, and apps and analytics, to provide an innovative solution that responds to the specific needs of these farmers.”

“Schneider Electric leverages Microsoft Azure and Azure IoT technologies to equip farmers with the ability to unlock new insights and make the best possible decisions in real-time around water usage and energy efficiencies,” said Sam George, director of Microsoft Azure IoT at Microsoft Corp. “We are proud to partner with Schneider Electric on a global solution that’s digitally transforming agriculture and paving the way for a sustainable future.’’

| A Smart Industry release  ||  July 10, 2017   |||

The head of the national rural health group today made an impassioned plea for the government to consider much-needed rural research.

Michelle Thompson, chief executive of the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) says there is a strong feeling that rural health outcomes are poorer than urban health outcomes but until they have the hard data they can’t be sure whether there is a difference or understand the scale of the difference.

Earlier this year the RHAANZ presented its five most urgent priorities to government, one of which included comprehensive rural health research support.

“It’s been such a relief today to see the government provide a further half a million dollars for rural mental health initiatives. This is a good sign to us they agree, in the absence of hard data, this is an area of concern.”

Thompson was speaking today from the National Fieldays in Hamilton which is the biggest agricultural event in the southern hemisphere, reflecting the importance of rural industries on the NZ economy.

“Yet we know very little about the people who live and work in rural NZ from a health perspective. To do this we first need a nationally agreed definition on rurality as it pertains to health in New Zealand.

“Then we need to ensure that the Ministry of Health, the district health boards and primary health organisations use this definition to routinely report health statistics using a rural/urban comparison.

“The 49-member organisations of RHAANZ believe the lack of a fit-for-purpose definition of rural is a major stumbling block to our work and until we have such a definition that is routinely used across Government neither we, nor the government, can write informed health policy. Neither can we be sure that our precious resources are being targeted to where they are most needed.

“It is not okay that we don’t know whether our children are disadvantaged because they have poorer access to maternity and youth health services than urban children, for example.

“We just don’t know whether our outcomes for cancer are poorer because of the extra difficulties getting to chemotherapy or radiotherapy services. Logic would tell us that having to travel long distances to services would make a difference but we can’t be sure about this without a firm evidence base.

“Alongside a new definition of rural we want to see a rural proofing tool reinstated across policy development in New Zealand.

“We used to have this 10 years ago but it appears to have dropped off the scene. Rural proofing requires our policy-makers to take in to account the circumstances and needs of rural communities and rural business when developing and implementing policy before the policy is introduced.

“This is to enable any unintended consequences to be addressed before the policy is rolled out. Consideration of low population density and isolation are critical to rural proofing.

“While rural definitions and rural proofing may sound dry and boring, they are seen as absolutely essential to get right. These are the top two election issues our members took to government last month.

“Words talk but numbers shout. Without hard evidence, it’s pretty much impossible to make a case to government for additional support and resourcing for rural communities,” Thompson says.

For more information contact RHAANZ chief executive Michelle Thompson on 021 2347413 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.

| A make Lemonade release  ||  June 15,  2017   |||

Modern, science-based farming is the way to achieve a future for New Zealand where dairy farming has a lower environmental footprint, says DairyNZ’s chief executive, Dr Tim Mackle.

His comment follows today’s announcement of the Dairy Action for Climate Change at National Fieldays.

The Dairy Action for Climate Change lays down the foundation to reduce greenhouse gasses on dairy farms. The plan is spearheaded by DairyNZ, which represents all dairy farmers in New Zealand, and is in partnership with Fonterra. The plan has the support of the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Dr Mackle says dairy farmers, and the scientists working alongside them, are serious about improving the environment.

“This plan lays down the foundation for dairy’s sustained, strategic approach to a lower carbon future. We’re taking the first steps in understanding what dairy can do – in conjunction with the wider agricultural sector, plus industry and urban communities – to help meet New Zealand’s Paris Agreement emissions reduction target.

“Our farmers are ready to work on lowering emissions – they are used to rising to the challenge, and they’re dedicated stewards of their land who want to do the right thing by the environment.”

Dr Mackle says addressing on-farm emissions – methane, which is formed when ruminant animals burp, and nitrous oxide, formed when nitrogen escapes into the atmosphere – is one of the most challenging issues facing the dairy and food producing sectors, globally and in New Zealand.

“Tackling the reduction of on-farm emissions is not going to be easy. It requires our Government and the agricultural sector to work together, and, as such the plan is an important part of a broader work programme underway.”

Fonterra’s Chief Operating Officer Farm Source, Miles Hurrell, says it is crucial to take an integrated approach to all the challenges facing dairy – from climate change and animal welfare, to the protection of waterways – and all the while maintain productivity and the profitability of dairy.

“The plan complements the environmental commitment dairy farmers have voluntarily undertaken through their work under the Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord.

“Some of their work – such as tree planting, better soil management and reducing nitrogen leaching therefore reducing the release of nitrous oxide – is already helping to address emissions. Then there are the other science-based endeavours that are well underway, like the research to breed cows that produce fewer methane emissions, and a methane inhibiting vaccine.”

Dr Mackle adds that the Dairy Action for Climate Change dovetails with the work of the Biological Emissions Reference Group (BERG), a joint sector and Government reference group. The BERG’s purpose is to build robust and agreed evidence on what the sector can do on-farm to reduce emissions, and to assess the costs and opportunities of doing so. The BERG’s final report in late 2017 will be necessary to inform future policy development on agricultural emissions.

“New Zealand’s agricultural output of greenhouse gas is accentuated because we have a relatively small population, and we are not heavily industrialised. In other countries where there are larger populations the greater contribution is from the transport, manufacturing, construction, and energy sectors.

“Our agricultural sector is a very efficient producer of high-quality food – food that feeds many millions, not only in our country, but also around the world.”

New Zealand is acknowledged as a world-leader for efficiently producing milk on a greenhouse gas per unit of milk basis, as identified in a 2010 report from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Dr Mackle says this positioning is the result of New Zealand dairy cattle being healthier and largely grass fed, unlike animals in many other agricultural countries which are fed grains and other supplements that are harvested and transported. Added to this, their animals are often housed in barns, sometimes year around, not just over the winter months.

The Dairy Action for Climate Change was launched during the opening of the 49th National Fieldays by Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett.

| A  DairyNZ release  ||  June 14,  2017   |||

New Zealand’s primary industries need to latch on to technology faster to support the economic growth of its agri sector and become a world leader in a fast growing agritech market, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says.

NZTech members have joined hundreds of other firms at Fieldays in Hamilton this week as technology becomes increasingly important for the New Zealand agri sector.

A growing awareness of the value of technology in agriculture can be seen by the number of farmers looking into technologies such as IoT, drones, sensors and robotics, Muller says.

“A report by the IoT Alliance, due for release on June 29 looks into the economic value that IoT could bring the New Zealand economy, has identified that better use of IoT by dairy farmers could potentially generate as much as $448 million worth of net economic benefit for New Zealand.

“For example, even firms like Xero have identified how effective business processes are now critical for modern farmers promoting Xero Farming. Xero Farming in the Cloud delivers New Zealand farmers with a tool for effective farm management. Xero is delivering a farming eco-system of partners which will connect farmers with digital tools to save time.”

New Zealand is achieving good agritech export growth rates relative to other nations. Global agritech investment is expanding rapidly, with investment in agritech firms in 2014 was estimated at over $US2.36 billion making investment in agritech higher than fintech.

“With our traditional strengths in agriculture and our growing strengths in tech, this is an opportunity we should pursue with vigour. Agriculture is a big user and creator of technology,” Muller says.

“Tech sector innovations are being adopted in many agricultural areas with examples such as the application of precision agriculture on-farm and industry-wide information capture and utilisation through activities such as the development of initiatives such as the Dairy Data Network and Agrigate.

“Production costs have placed pressure on the competitive position of New Zealand agriculture in world markets. Reversing a slowdown in productivity growth is critical given the challenges the sector faces with strengthening environmental regulation.

“Digital agriculture, in the form of precision farming, big data, sensor technology and drones, delivers a new potential for productivity gains across rural New Zealand,” he says.

The tech sector is the country’s third largest and fastest growing export sector, worth over $6.3 billion in 2015 and employing 5 percent of the New Zealand workforce.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  June 14,  2017   |||