ANZ New Zealand, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with dairy industry organisation Dairy NZ to work together to boost the financial performance of dairy farms. The memorandum – which runs for five years - is the first between a bank and Dairy NZ.

The MoU will enable ANZ economists and Agri Managers to use information from Dairy NZ’s business performance analysis tool, Dairy Base. Dairy Base brings together the financial results from over 1800 farmers, and provides a basis for someone to compare their farm against other similar farms. ANZ will have access to the same data farmers and farm accountants use to analyse and compare farm performance, and will use these to work with its dairy farming clients.

Article Complements Of Bulletin Aotearoa - Click Here To Read The June Issue.

Following the introduction of the Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) and Rural Broadband initiatives, the Commerce Commission looked at what factors may affect uptake of high speed broadband services by consumers and businesses.

The needs of rural users were highlighted in the report. The report says rural users have the same appetite for fast broadband as urban users, but have a more fundamental need, which is to be connected to basic broadband. They are concerned that they could be left behind as NZ moves forward with high speed broadband services. 

Two years ago the Southland Life Education Community Trust approached our four Southland Provincials, asking for assistance to replace their educator’s car, as the current one needed major repairs.

The Provincials were pleased to help and recently presented the Trust with a much newer model, complete with the Rural Women New Zealand logo.

The money came from the proceeds of timber milling at the Dipton forest, which was planted by the RWNZ Southland Provincials in the 1950s and has recently started to make a good return from timber.

The RWNZ groups in the area have been strong supporters of the Southland Life Education Community Trust since 1989, including members serving as trustees. The Southland Life Education Trust will be celebrating its 20th anniversary at St John’s Girls School in Invercargill in May.

Rural Women New Zealand recently highlighted the devastating impacts on families of leptospirosis, a disease that can be passed from infected animals to humans, at the New Zealand Veterinary Association conference in Hamilton last week.

Fiona Gower, an RWNZ member from Port Waikato, put the human face on leptospirosis, which is a key health concern for rural people, as New Zealand has one of the highest rates of infection in the world.

Liz Evans, RWNZ national president, says if farm animals are affected it can lead to severe stress for farmers dealing with poor animal health, a drop in milk production, poor reproduction and loss of stock.
“But when a family member or members contract the disease the impacts are huge,” she says.
“Depending on the severity of the case, it will mean a long illness and recovery time, and at worst, death. Emotionally the stress on the family of having a sick spouse, parent or child is incredible – not knowing when or if they will get better.”

Rural Women New Zealand has collected heart-rending stories from people who’ve caught the disease - the months and even years taken from people’s lives, and the long term impacts on their health and financial situations.
One said, “After I contracted lepto my husband was so terrified of the disease he sold the farm.” Another said “In the first week I thought I would die; then I wished that I had.”
Mrs Evans says strengthening links between the research and medical sectors and the rural community is key to eradicating lepto.
“Working collaboratively we can raise awareness of leptospirosis and how to prevent it through vaccination of stock and good hygiene practices.

“In people, early diagnosis and treatment are also important in minimising its severity and long-term effects.
“We strongly suggest that rural people and farmers presenting at their GP with non-specific symptoms should always request that a test for leptospirosis be included in the blood test line-up, although antibodies will not be present for two to three weeks.”

In people the mild form of lepto is a minor flu-like sickness, but without the respiratory symptoms. The severe form may include extreme headaches, high fever, nausea, muscle pain, breathing and vision problems and diarrhoea. About half of people with severe lepto are hospitalised, and there can be permanent complications from kidney or liver damage.

Rural Women New Zealand is the chair of the Farmers Leptospirosis Action Group, which is conducting SFF-funded research into leptospirosis at Massey University, looking at the cost-benefits of vaccinating sheep and cattle.

RWNZ has been involved in the fight to stamp out leptospirosis since the 1970s. At that time, members raised over $150,000 to fund research that led to the development of vaccines for dairy cattle and pigs.
With the death of a meat worker at a sheep-only plant in 2006, Rural Women NZ members mobilised once more, raising $107,000 for further research at Massey into transmission pathways from animals to farmers and meat workers.

Photo: Fiona Gower

A Good Harvest is proving to be another winning recipe from members of Rural Women New Zealand! Around 6,000 copies have been sold, and the new cookbook sat at number three on Nielsen’s Bestsellers List for non-fiction for several weeks following the launch in March.

We’ve received huge publicity for the book in such high-flying publications as Air New Zealand’s Kia Ora magazine, as well as many reviews in community, regional and national newspapers. 

Our publicist at Random House, Jennifer Balle, says “As to be expected, heartland media have absolutely loved the new book. But so too have some of the glamour pusses like NZ House & Garden, The Dish, Next and NZ Gardener.”

“This is a slice of rural New Zealand you’ll turn to time and time again” - The Dish

“Knowledge born of experience emanates from the pages of this compendium…..” - NZ House & Garden.

One online gardening magazine received 1,000 entries for a competition to win a copy of the book!

Our members, have also been out there doing a tremendous job in celebrating its publication, selling the book and sharing your ‘knowledge born of experience’.

The Harvest Festival in Riverton, the Rai Valley Show, and Kaipara Provincial’s Garden Party are just a few of the launch events you’ve told us about. 

At Riverton members made a selection of recipes – jams, relishes and pickles - and put them in shiny new jars purchased from national office. They also had tastings.

“People wanted to purchase the products in the jars but our response was that they would have to buy the book, which 22 did!” says Ann Irving.

“We had the books on display and had a draw for the book. As a result of the competition we have 68 names to follow up and one new member. The result of our work this weekend has been very exciting and I would encourage all branches to have a go as it’s a lot of fun.”

Visit our shop to buy a copy today - www.ruralwomen.org.nz/shop 

Photo: Ann Irving, Val Whyte , Patsy Gordon and Virginia Broughton selling our cookbook at the Riverton Harvest Festival

The forward thinking of Southland members from the 1940s who bought land and planted a forest at Castledowns near Dipton is finally reaping financial rewards - and accolades.

The Rural Women New Zealand Forest Committee Southland Inc was recently named as the winner of this year’s NZ Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry.

And after many years of poor economic returns the 2010 harvest saw a welcome financial turnaround, producing a $328,000 revenue cheque. The logging profits are shared amongst the four Southland Provincials to distribute for charitable purposes in Southland, meaning the benefits flow back into the community.

In presenting the award, Ian Jackson, President of the NZ Farm Forestry Association, said “This project has influenced many generations to plant trees on their own farms, and as such made a huge contribution to education and sustainable land management in Southland.”

Photo: Ann Irving, Patsy Gordon and Rhonda Riddle at the award-winning Castledowns forest

The first colouring competition entries have arrived at Rural Women NZ national office! We have three $50 Whitcoulls vouchers to give away to the most creative and original colouring creation. Entries close 31 August 2012. 

The national speed limit for any vehicle passing a stationary school bus is 20km/h. The purpose of this competition is to raise awareness of this road rule.

The shocking statistics speak for themselves: In the 23 years since 1987, 23 children have been killed when crossing the road to or from school buses. A further 47 have been seriously injured and 92 have received minor injuries. By comparison, six children were killed while actually on a school bus.

Click here to download a copy of the colouring competition.

For more information on Rural Women New Zealand’s campaign click here, or visit www.facebook.com/speedpastschoolbuses

All entries can we viewed on our campaign Facebook page www.facebook.com/speedpastschoolbuses 

New Zealand Post recently presented at our National Conference in Hawera on how declining mail volumes and increasing fixed costs are affecting their ability to sustain their current business model.

They have made a commitment to closely engage with Rural Women New Zealand to ensure the rural community is kept informed, with the aim of ensuring there is a viable, sustainable network for the future. 

Below is an update from New Zealand Post on the current situation.

• In the past decade the volume of mail carried by New Zealand Post has fallen by 20%. That drop in volume is continuing, with nearly 40 million fewer mail items posted in the past year alone. We estimate that mail volumes will halve by 2018.
• The costs of maintaining a postal delivery network have increased in the past decade with a 20% growth in the number of addresses New Zealand Post is required to deliver to at least five or six days per week.

Those two trends – declining volumes and increasing fixed costs - will continue as people increasingly choose to share information and documents electronically through using email, TXT, Twitter, Facebook, and Skype, to name a few. The planned rollout of high-speed broadband will further advance these trends, as a growing number of people take advantage of the convenience of digital messaging channels. 

New Zealand Post has various initiatives underway to ensure a sustainable postal services network in the future. These include redesigning our mail processing and delivery networks, developing digital options through which our customers can choose how they receive their items, and we’re planning for a network that is flexible so we can quickly adapt to meet the rapidly changing needs of people.

We’re designing and planning this work now to make sure we do what’s right for customers and the business from two to three years and beyond. However, we believe the lead–in times to achieve the change are years rather than months. 

To help achieve these necessary changes we are seeking amendments to the Deed of Understanding with the Crown, which hasn’t had any substantial updates since 1998. We expect the Government to call for public submissions on a discussion document on the Deed this year. 

As part of amending the Deed, we are seeking flexibility around delivery frequency and the shape of the postal outlet network. We know we have to adapt the delivery network to match the way people are using physical mail, and the current six-day delivery to more than 95 percent of delivery points simply won’t work in the years to come without both significant and frequent price increases – or seeking a subsidy from the Government. Neither option would be sustainable and would merely stave off the inevitable for a short period.

We need to be ready to adjust delivery frequency which we know has a significant lead-in time. We need the flexibility in our agreement with the Government now, so we can change in the future. Waiting and doing nothing means we would lack the ability to provide certainty around price and service. 

The 1998 Deed also requires New Zealand Post to maintain a retail network of at least 880 postal outlets, of which 240 must include ‘agency services’. While valid at the time, the reality these days is that there is a multitude of other ways to access ‘agency services’ outside of a ‘shop’ environment with technology enabling a wide range of retail outlets to provide agency services. It might also be appropriate to examine the presumption (in the 1998 Deed) that New Zealand Post should be tied to the provision of agency services – which are increasingly able to be met efficiently using digital means and through the private sector. New Zealand Post wants to provide services through a wider range of points of presence rather than be locked into a set number of ‘bricks and mortar’ locations. 

An important point to note here – and one which will become an issue as the media is bound to speculate on possible scenarios – we’re not talking about sudden or impulsive changes. We’re looking to ensure sustainability for the next decade and this year needs to see our “first steps” in establishing the policy framework so we can make necessary steps in the future. There will be no ‘sudden moves’ and we are committed to keeping you informed. 

If you have any questions or feedback please contact either Noeline Holt, RWNZ EO or John Tulloch, NZ Post External Communications Manager, 04 496 4924 (landline); 027 429 9249 (mobile) or john.tulloch@nzpost.co.nz

Thank you to everyone who visited our stand at National Fieldays. The event was a great success and we were thrilled with the number of enquiries from potential new members. Liz Evans, National President delivered some fantastic presentations at various events throughout the Fieldays programme and brought the spot light onto our organisation in a professional and welcoming manner.

A very successful week for all involved, thanks to those to popped in to say hi!

Photo: Liz Evans, National President RWNZ