Federated Farmers Industry Group Conferences

MEDIA ADVISORY
31 May 2005
PR 082/05
Federated Farmers Industry Group Conferences

Four industry groups of Federated Farmers of New Zealand hold their annual meetings/conferences next week. Media are very welcome to attend:

Dairy Farmers of New Zealand (DFNZ) holds its conference and annual meeting in Wellington on June 8-9. The agenda is attached but highlights include a panel discussion on the viability of New Zealand agriculture. Independent facilitator Neville Martin will chair a debate between Green MP Jeanette Fitzsimons, National's David Carter, and Rural Affairs Minister Damien O'Connor. Other speakers at the conference include Fonterra Co-operative Group chief operating officer Jay Waldvogel, MAF's assistant director-general policy Paul Reynolds, and Dairy InSight chief executive Peter Bodeker. DFNZ is the dairy industry group of FFNZ.

The Grains Council, the arable industry group, holds its annual conference on June 7-9 in Ashburton. The conference includes the annual meetings of United Wheatgrowers, the Herbage Seedgrowers Subsection and the Maize Growers’ Subsection. The Grains Council agm will include a session on a strategic framework for the arable food industry. Agenda attached.

The South Island High Country industry group will hold its annual meeting in Christchurch on June 10-11. The theme is "Don't Fence Me In", and will include a session on tenure review and the setting of rents on pastoral leases. It will include an address by Land Information Minister Pete Hodgson. Other speakers include Debbie Francis, the chief executive of the Correspondence School, and Margaret McKee, chief executive of the QE II National Trust. Agenda attached.

The New Zealand Bee Industry Group holds its annual meeting concurrently with the Grains Council conference (see above). This allows the industry groups to discuss areas of mutual interest, such as pollination. The theme for this year's conference is "Future Opportunities For Beekeeping". The conference will discuss pollination and associated research, and how to fund it. It will explore regulatory issues, with an afternoon devoted to an industry code of practice for risk management programmes for honey processing facilities. Agenda attached.

ENDS

Dairy Farmers of New Zealand
Conference and Annual General Meeting
Mercure Hotel, 345 The Terrace, Wellington
Wednesday, 8 and Thursday, 9 June 2005

AGENDA / TIMETABLE

Wednesday, 8 June 2005

9:15 am - Morning tea on arrival

9:30 am - Conference Opening
DFNZ Chairman’s welcome
Apologies, Timekeeper, Minutes of previous meeting, Chairman's address, Combined Chairman's and Industry Group Report, Sharemilkers' Section and Sharemilker Employers' Section Reports, Provincial Reports

10:30 am - Panel Discussion
Independent facilitator - Neville Martin
The viability of agriculture in New Zealand given the continual rise in compliance costs and competition world wide
Jeanette Fitzsimons
Hon Damien O'Connor
David Carter

12.00 pm - General discussion

12:30 pm - Lunch

1:30 pm - Election of DFNZ Chairman and Vice Chairman
Declaration of results from Elections.

2.00 pm - General discussion

3.00pm - Sponsor's address - Telecom

3:10 pm - Afternoon tea

3:30 pm - MAF deputy director-general policy
- Paul Reynolds
The SPS agreement - preventing animal welfare from becoming a non-tariff trade barrier

4:30 pm - Schering-Plough Coopers - Andrew Millar

5.10 pm - General discussion

6.00 pm - Conference adjourns

Thursday, 9 June 2005

8.00 am - Election of Executive Members
(five minute presentation from each nominee)

8.30 am - General discussion

9.00 am - Dairy Insight Chief Executive - Peter Bodeker
10:15 am - Morning tea

10.30 am - Fonterra - Jay Waldvogel, Chief Operating Officer
The current market place and situation going forward.

11.30 am - Sally Millar, Environmental Consultant
Resource Management Act

11.50 am - Sponsor's address - The National Bank

12.00 noon - Lunch

12.50 pm - Sponsor's address - Ravensdown

1.00 pm - Dexcel - Bruce Thorrold,
Science Leader, Sustainable Development
Why we can't get cows in calf

2.00 pm - Sponsor's address - FMG

2.10 pm - General Discussion

3.00 pm - Conference concludes with afternoon tea

GRAINS CONFERENCE 2005
“Sustainable Industries”
7-9 June, Ashburton
Hotel Ashburton,
Racecourse Road, Ashburton

TUESDAY, JUNE 7
2:00pm United Wheatgrowers Ltd. Directors meeting

7:00pm Herbage Seedgrowers Symposium
‘Marketing herbage seed’ Kindly sponsored by DLF Seeds Inc.
- John McKenzie, Agricom
- David Melhuish, Wrightson Ltd.
- Rodger Gundry, Seed Production NZ.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
8:00am United Wheatgrowers Ltd. Electoral Committee and AGM

10:00am MORNING TEA

10.15am The value of generics – Adrian Parkinson

10:30am Concurrent AGMs: Maize Growers Section
Herbage Seedgrowers subsection (Guest: John Davidson, AgriQuality)
New Zealand Bee Industry Group (9.30am start. Guest: Tim Cookson, Cropmark)

12:00pm LUNCH

1:00pm ‘Harvesting Ideas’ – farm field trip
- 4.30 pm New Zealand Farm Environment Awards Trust

THURSDAY, JUNE 9

8:00am Grains Council AGM
A Strategic Framework for the Arable Food Industry
- Vaughan Ormsby, Arable Food Industry Council
- Nick Pyke, Foundation for Arable Research

9.00am Joint Policy Session
ERMA Transfer of Substances - Mercedes Lentz, Group Manager, Hazardous Substances, ERMA
Public Access Campaign -Alison Undorf- Lay, Senior Policy Analyst, FFNZ

10:00am MORNING TEA

10.30am Nick Pyke - CEO, Foundation for Arable Research
FAR annual report, levy referendum

12:30pm LUNCH

1:30pm Dairy Feed Systems: the value of supplementing feed grains – Jennifer Burke, Massey University; Ross Hanson, Crop and Food Research; Craig Elliott, Dairy Farmer

3:00pm Hon David Carter, National Party agriculture spokesperson

3:30pm AFTERNOON TEA

South Island High Country FFNZ - Annual Conference 2005
Chateau on the Park, Deans Avenue, Christchurch

“Don’t Fence Me In”

Timetable

Friday 10 June
9.00am Registrations – Morning Tea
9.45am Opening, Introductions, Remembrances

10.05am Setting Rents on Pastoral Leases/Tenure Revue
Hon. Pete Hodgson Minister for Land Information
John Larmer (Telfer Young, Valuers & Property Advisers, New Plymouth)

11.45am Sponsor Address - Ravensdown

Noon Lunch

1.00pm Chairman's Annual Address
(B.Todhunter)

1.15pm Rare and Threatened Plants of the High Country
(Prof. David Norton)

2.05pm QE II Covenants in the High Country
(Margaret McKee, CEO, QE II National Trust)

3.05pm Afternoon Tea

3.30pm Energy into the future OR
Soils of the High Country

4.10pm Farming in the Awatere
(Willie and Susan Macdonald)

4.45pm Summary - Rabobank

5.00pm Close & Social Time

6.30pm Cocktails/Dinner


Saturday 11 June
8.30am Annual General Meeting
Reports: (Finance, Accord & Trust In Committee)
Hieracium Control Trust
S.I. High Country Committee
Canada Goose Control
Tahr Control

10.00am Morning Tea

10.30am Changes at The Correspondence School
(Debbie Francis, Chief Executive, Correspondence School)

11.20am Federated Farmer NZ
(Don Nicholson - National Board Member)

11.30am Notices of Motion
General Business
Conference 2006

noon Closure and Lunch

Grateful thanks to our Sponsors: Ravensdown and Rabobank

Please Support Them

BIG Conference 2005
“Future opportunities for beekeeping”

7-9 June 2005
Hotel Ashburton,
Racecourse Road Ashburton

AGENDA
(Subject to Change)

TUESDAY 7 JUNE 2005

3:30pm Bee Industry Group Executive Meeting

7:00pm Herbage Seed growers Symposium

WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE 2005

8:30am BIG AGM

10:00am MORNING TEA

10:30am BIG AGM Continues

12:00pm LUNCH

1:00pm - BIG WORKSHOP SESSION
- 5:00pm NZFSA workshop on Code or Practice for Honey House Risk Management Programmes

THURSDAY 9 JUNE 2005

8:00am BIG AGM continues
Duncan Butcher & Steve Olds, Varroa Agency Board members

9:00 am Joint Policy session with Grains Council
ERMA Transfer of Substances - Mercedes Lentz, Group Manager, Hazardous Substances, ERMA
Public Access Campaign -Alison Undorf- Lay, Senior Policy Analyst, Federated Farmers of New Zealand

10:00am MORNING TEA

10:30am BIG GENERAL BUSINESS AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Dr Linda Newstrom, Landcare Research
“The Looming Pollination Crisis”

12:30pm LUNCH

1:30pm BIG GENERAL BUSINESS (cont)

3:00pm Hon David Carter, National Party Spokesman for Agriculture

3.30pm AFTERNOON TEA & CLOSE

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