The Hawke’s Bay Future Farming Trust is conducting a half-day forum on November 1st at Toitoi in Hastings, on the theme of Inspiring Resilience and Profitability for Future Farming.
Bookends for the afternoon (1-5pm) will be CHB sheep and beef farmer, chair of Scales Corp (owns Mr Apple etc), and former agriculture trade envoy, Mike Petersen and James Palmer, CEO at the Ministry for the Environment and former CEO, HB Regional Council.
Mike will speak to aligning our farming practices to overseas market expectations regarding sustainability. James will discuss the climate change and environmental framework farmers and growers can expect going forward, whatever the next Government.
In between, the Trust will feature leading edge farming experts (practitioners, consultants, scientists) from HB and beyond who will discuss soil health, soil carbon and farm management practices (ruminants aren’t evil!) that yield both better profitability and environmental outcomes.
Michael Bassett-Foss of HBRC will present its Land for Life strategy and LandWISE’s Dan Bloomer will report on a $3m project with the Future Farming Trust looking at how best to improve soil health in intensive cropping systems right here in HB.
Our cyclone disaster and the foretaste it gives of future climate disruption should open minds to proactive thinking about the farming/growing practices that will best deliver resilience and sustainability to our region’s primary sector.
Whether you produce, market, consult on food, or just enjoy eating it, there will be plenty of food for thought on offer at Healthy Soils … Healthy Profits.
The event, sponsored by HBRC, Rabobank, Nexia NZ, Fruitfed Supplies, Ruminate and FMG, is free, but you should register here for planning purposes.
And more programme info here.
