In this edition:
New faces at Sustainable Farming
Fund
New
SFF Manager Craig Grant took up his role in early August,
returning to New Zealand after two years at the University
of Surrey. Craig has been out and about meeting as many of
the project teams as possible, and becoming familiar with
the SFF operations. Craig welcomes your enquiries, comments
and suggestions. You can contact him on:
Email:
craig.grant@maf.govt.nz
Phone DDI: 04 894 0247
Mobile: 029 894 0247
SFF Project Adviser, Barrie Wallace, retired at the end
of June after over 40 years at MAF. Described by one farming
paper as an "industry guru", Barrie is highly respected in
agricultural and horticultural circles around New Zealand
for his industry knowledge and relationship skills. The
Sustainable Farming Fund would like to acknowledge Barrie's
great contribution over the past three years as project
adviser. We wish him well in retirement.
Diana
Mathers has taken over from Barrie as the Project Adviser
for the Southern North Island. She is based in Hastings.
Diana has experience in both scientific research and
commercial crop production systems. She worked for Heinz
Wattie's for the past 11 years as a crop supply agronomist
and manager of the agricultural research projects. This
experience gave her wide exposure to process cropping and
the summerfruit and berry industries. Diana's research
experience is in the fields of plant disease, plant
physiology and soils. We are delighted to welcome Diana as
part of the team.
You can contact Diana on:
Email:
diana.mathers@maf.govt.nz
Phone DDI: 06 870 6374
Mobile: 029 974 8816
With the changes in the SFF team over the past year,
there have been some slight changes in the regions/ areas of
responsibilities for the project advisers. To remind you who
does what and our contact details...
Katherine McCusker (email
katherine.mccusker@maf.govt.nz, phone 03 358 1324;
mobile 027 2413 135)
Geographic areas: Canterbury, West Coast
Technical lead: Dairy, sheep, beef
Fiona Duncan (email
fiona.duncan@maf.govt.nz,
phone 04 894 0608; mobile 029 894 0608)
Geographic areas: Otago, Southland, Taranaki, Northland
Technical lead: Forestry, Maori land use, bee industry,
organics, human capability, policy related projects
Diana Mathers (email
diana.mathers@maf.govt.nz,
phone 06 870 6374; mobile 029 974 8816)
Geographic areas: Nelson, Marlborough, Lower North Island
(except Taranaki)
Technical lead: Arable, wine, horticulture (pipfruit,
summerfruit, vegetables)
Helen Percy (email
helen.percy@maf.govt.nz,
phone 07 957 8321; mobile 029 957 8321)
Geographic areas: Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Auckland
Technical lead: Horticulture (subtropicals, floriculture,
vegetables), water quality, communications and extension
Further details of the SFF team can be found on our
website, by clicking here.
The 2006/07 funding round is now completed. We allocated
$9.5 million to 63 projects.
Click here to view the projects funded in the 2006/07
round. Full details of these new projects will be entered
into our SFF search engine shortly, once the contracting
process is completed. (Remember, you can use our search
engine to search all SFF projects by year funded, region,
sector, subsector, or topic. To try it out,
click here.)
The next funding round, for projects starting in July
2007, will open in early November. The closing date for
applications is Monday 12 February 2007. Further details,
application forms and guidelines will be available on the
SFF website in early November.
If you are thinking of applying for funding in the next
round, please discuss your proposal with an SFF project
adviser as early as possible.
We are changing from quarterly reporting (i.e. every
three months) to four monthly Progress Reporting. We believe
this will help reduce the compliance work load for the
Project Teams, while still ensuring timely and professional
project and financial management.
The new reporting periods and due dates are:
|
Period |
|
Reporting Due |
|
Period 1 |
1 July 2006 - 31 October 2006 |
14 Nov 2006 |
|
Period 2 |
1 November 2006 - 28 February 2007 |
14 Mar 2007 |
|
Period 3 |
1 March 2007 - 30 June 2007 |
13 July 2007 |
Therefore, Tuesday 14 November 2006 is the due date for
your next Progress Report, including your web update, and
request for grant payment form. However, we appreciate there
may be groups who have already made arrangement for earlier
reporting and payment requests. We will try to accommodate
this as we make the transition in payment dates.
Projects under $20,000 only need to submit a Progress
Report in Period 2, together with their final report upon
completion of the project.
This information has also been sent to all Project
Managers in a letter. Please contact your project adviser,
or Amanda Hall
if you have any questions or concerns.
In an SFF-funded project, The High Country Accord Trust,
Merino Inc and High Country Section Federated Farmers,
together with researchers from the University of Canterbury,
are investigating the overlap of biodiversity and economic
values on high country farms and the options for managing
these values in an integrated manner.
Specifically, the objectives of the project are to (1)
quantify the economic and conservation costs and benefits of
different land management strategies at a whole property
scale for representative high country properties, (2)
determine the optimum way to include an integrated approach
to sustainable land management within a whole farm covenant,
and (3) disseminate the results of this research through the
farming community.
As part of the project, the group has established a website
that contains links to newsletters and publications
associated with the project as well as information about the
work being done.
A High Country Research Seminar is being held on Thursday 2
November, 9.30 am - 5.00 pm at the Country Time Hotel,
Omarama. The objective of the seminar is to provide the high
country farming community with an update on current research
in the high country. Presentations will be kept short so
there will be lots of time for questions and discussions.
Contact David Norton,
david.norton@canterbury.ac.nz
, phone 03 364 2116, for more information.
Interested in finding out more?
Click here to go through to the High Country Accord website
Click here for more information on the SFF website.
The Johne's Research Group (JRG) was formed in 2004 by a
number of South Island deer farmers and deer vets. The group
formed in response to a growing awareness of the increasing
presence of Johne's disease in deer and the absence at the
time of any farmer organisation committed to seeking
practical solutions for deer farmers.
Johne's disease in deer is a rapidly emerging bacterial
intestinal disease, seen throughout NZ, with national
significance. The disease is seen in two forms:
1. As an acute epidemic in young deer of 6 - 8 months of
age, with scouring, weight loss and death in up to 25% of
affected herds.
2. A small percentage of individual adult deer suffer from
JD with scouring, weight loss, and untimely death.
With SFF funding the group is producing bulletins, a
farmer's manual and a website, and providing input into
monitor farms and road shows. The purpose is to raise deer
farmer awareness of Johne's disease.
Interested in finding out more?
Click here to go
through to the Johne's Information website.
Click here for more information on the SFF website.
A comprehensive review on organic seed production in New
Zealand is now available on the Organic Seed New Zealand
website. The website brings together the results of a
three-year SFF project, including:
- Results of trials for the production of organic
vegetable seeds.
- A strategy for organic seed production in New
Zealand.
- A directory of organic seed available in New
Zealand.
- A strategy for organic plant breeding in New
Zealand.
- Other relevant publications and information sources.
Interested in finding out more?
Click here to
go through to the Organic Seed NZ website
Click here for more information on the SFF website
The New Zealand Landcare Trust is celebrating 10 years of
operation with a seminar in Wellington on 17 and 18 October.
The seminar will profile several SFF projects that run in
partnership with the Trust. The two-day programme also
features a number of high profile keynote speakers, from New
Zealand and overseas, and promises to be an important event.
Click here
for further information and registration details.
Ending
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Kind regards
Hai kona ra
Amanda, Craig, Diana, Fiona, Katherine and Helen
