Lock up your livestock Auckland, Federated Farmers is coming

24 June 2012

Lock up your livestock Auckland, Federated Farmers is coming to town

Federated Farmers National Conference hits Auckland from Wednesday with a packed programme covering the A to Z of New Zealand pastoral agriculture.

“Federated Farmers is excited to return to New Zealand’s largest city,” says Federated Farmers Bruce Wills, who has himself, just returned from the World Farmers Organisation General Assembly in Rome.

“The conference will give me a chance to share my experience meeting global agricultural leaders. Our Chief Executive, Conor English, will no doubt share what he picked up for New Zealand farming from the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

“We have an emphasis in our conference agenda of unlocking potential from dairy, meat and wool

“Our dairy members will hear from a global expert on cooperatives and this is timely, considering Fonterra’s Trading Among Farmers vote will conclude tomorrow (Monday, 25 June).

“Naturally, animal welfare and farm environmental management are major items being covered as well.

“In a radical development for 2012, we are holding three interactive couch sessions which will energise both audience and panellists. The topics being covered in these sessions are local government, the environment and foreign ownership. These will be moderated by Country99TV’s Genevieve Westcott.

“It would not be a Federated Farmers conference without politicians, so we will be getting briefings from the Minister of Finance, the Hon Bill English, and our industry’s minister, David Carter, Minister for Primary Industries.

“We are also looking forward to hearing from Opposition Leader, David Shearer, who of course enjoys a pretty good surname from a farmer’s point of view.

“One of our highlights takes place on Thursday, 28 June, with the Vodafone National Awards dinner. Kicking off with the Beef+Lamb NZ cocktails, we will be announcing 2012’s Allflex Agribusiness Person of the Year and the Ravensdown Agri Personality for 2012.

“Central to this great evening is the Vodafone Crème of the Crop Awards, where we assemble almost all of agriculture’s major award winners for the past 12-months. It is a huge undertaking but central to us celebrating agriculture’s continued success,” Mr Wills concluded.
Media are invited to attend and cover Federated Farmers 2012 National Conference being held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland.

Venue: Crowne Plaza Auckland
128 Albert Street
Auckland 1010

When: 27-29 June 2012

For a location map, please click here

Day one highlights – 27 June 2012:
§ Agricultural aviation
§ Landcorp’s strategy regarding dairying
§ Wools of New Zealand
§ Beef and Lamb update
§ Land and Water Forum (LAWF) update
§ Successful cooperatives with an international expert for the Netherlands

Day two highlights – 28 June 2012:
§ The animal welfare compliance framework
§ Progress report on the successor to the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord
§ Progress report on updating Overseer
§ Transpower’s line strategy
§ Three moderated interactive panel discussions on:
- Foreign ownership
- Local government
- Environment, water and farming
§ Briefings from the Minister of Finance, the Minister for Primary Industries and the Leader of the Opposition

2012 Federated Farmers National Awards – evening of 28 June 2012 (in association with Vodafone, Beef+Lamb NZ, Allflex and Ravensdown)

Day three highlights – 29 June 2012:
§ The green outlook for Primary Industries
§ Federated Farmers Board elections

Detailed agenda day one: Wednesday, 27 June 2012

2012 Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre Conference (day one)

Time Agenda Item
10.10am Welcome, Discussion of Agenda, Chairperson and Policy Advisor’s Report
11.00am Aviation in agriculture – the past the future
John Sinclair, Executive Officer
NZ Agricultural Aviation Assn. & NZ Helicopter Assn.
11.45am Wools of New Zealand update
Mark Shadbolt, Director
Wools Of New Zealand Limited
12:30pm LUNCH
1.30pm CLOSED SESSION – Media excluded
2.30pm Meat & Fibre Executive elections
3:15pm AFTERNOON TEA
3:30pm Remits and discussion items
4:15pm Beef and Lamb update
Mike Petersen
Chairman
Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd
5.00pm General discussion
5.30pm Land and Water Forum (LAWF) update
Ian Mackenzie
Federated Farmers spokesperson on water
[combined session with Federated Farmers Dairy]

2012 Federated Farmers Dairy Conference (day one)

Time Agenda Item
10.00am Opening address
Willy Leferink
Chairperson
Federated Farmers Dairy
10.15am Minutes, provincial reports, remits
12.00pm Candidate speeches
12:30pm LUNCH
1.30pm 2012 Dairy Executive elections
2.00pm Remits
2:45pm Landcorp’s strategy regarding dairying
Chris Kelly
Chief Executive Officer
Landcorp
3:15pm AFTERNOON TEA
3:30pm Remits/discussion
4:30pm Successful cooperatives
Dr Onno van Bekkum
Co-Op Champions of the Netherlands
5:00pm Fonterra Cooperative Group’s Trading Among Farmers
5.30pm Land and Water Forum (LAWF) update
Ian Mackenzie
Federated Farmers spokesperson on water
[combined session with Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre]


Detailed agenda day two: Thursday, 28 June 2012

2012 Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre Conference (day two)

Time Agenda Item
8.00am CLOSED SESSION – Media excluded
9.30am Remits and discussion items (continued)
10.00am Meeting Summary
10.25am MORNING TEA
10.45am The animal welfare compliance framework
Dean Baigent
Director of Compliance
Ministry for Primary Industries
[combined session with Federated Farmers Dairy]
11.15am MEAT & FIBRE CONFERENCE CONCLUDES

2012 Federated Farmers Dairy Conference (day two)

Time Agenda Item
8.00am CLOSED SESSION – Media excluded
8.45am Progress report on updating Overseer
Dr Mark Shepherd
Senior Scientist
AgResearch
9.40am Progress report on the successor to the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord
Simon Tucker
General Manager Policy and Advocacy
DairyNZ

John Hutchings
General Manager Sustainability
Fonterra Cooperative Group
10.00am Meeting Summary
10.30am MORNING TEA
10.45am The animal welfare compliance framework
Dean Baigent
Director of Compliance
Ministry for Primary Industries
[combined session with Federated Farmers Meat & Fibre]
11.15am DAIRY CONFERENCE CONCLUDES

Detailed agenda day two: Thursday, 28 June 2012 (continued)

Federated Farmers 2012 Plenary Day
NB Transpower will deliver an update on its line strategy during this section of Day Two

Time Agenda Item
12.15pm President’s welcome
Bruce Wills
12.20pm Minister of Finance’s briefing
Hon Bill English MP
12.50pm LUNCH
1.15am Interactive couch session one: Foreign Ownership
Panellists:
§ Tony Bouchier, Save Our Farms
§ Liam Dann, Business Editor, NZ Herald
§ Tim White, Partner, KPMG Business Advisory

Moderator:
§ Genevieve Westcott, GM News & Current Affairs, Country99TV
2.15pm DESSERT
2.25pm Interactive couch session two: Local Government
Panellists:
§ Rodger Kerr-Newell, BBRINK Limited
§ Cr. Hon. Christine Fletcher, Auckland Council
§ Andrew Newman, CEO, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council

Moderator:
§ Genevieve Westcott, GM News & Current Affairs, Country99TV
3.25pm AFTERNOON TEA
3.45pm Minister for Primary Industry’s briefing
Hon David Carter MP
4.20pm Interactive couch session three: Environment, Water & Farming
Panellists:
§ Prof Jacqueline Rowarth, Professor of Agribusiness, University of Waikato
§ Dr Doug Edmeades, Director, AgKnoweldge
§ Dr Tanira King, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University

Moderator:
§ Genevieve Westcott, GM News & Current Affairs, Country99TV
5.30pm Plenary wrap up

Detailed agenda day two: Thursday, 28 June 2012 (continued)

2012 Federated Farmers National Awards

6.30pm Beef+Lamb NZ Cocktails

7.30pm 2012 National Awards dinner sponsored by Vodafone
§ Allflex/Federated Farmers Agribusiness Person for 2012
§ Ravensdown/Federated Farmers Agri Personality for 2012
§ Vodafone/Federated Farmers 2012 Cream of the Crop (recognising agriculture’s major award winners over 2011/2012)

9.00pm Leader of the Opposition
Mr David Shearer MP

As space is tight media need to RSVP separately by clicking here (light supper provided).


Detailed agenda day three: Friday, 29 June 2012

Federated Farmers 2012 National Council Annual General Meeting

Time Agenda Item
8.00am National Council Annual General Meeting opening

8.30am The outlook is green for Primary Industries
Bruce Wills
President
Federated Farmers of NZ
8.50am Elections (candidate speeches)

9.00am Remits (if time allows)

10.00am MORNING TEA
10.20am Closed Session – media excluded
10.50am Elections continue as required
Remits continue as required
‘Soapbox’

12.00pm LUNCH
12.45pm Remits and ‘Soapbox’ continue

1.45pm General Business
§ Water update
§ Strategy refresh

3.00pm National Council AGM closes

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