COROMANDEL KINGFISH FARMING
A fin fish farm producing kingfish
products in the Firth of Thames is one
step closer to establishment with the
Waikato Regional Council granting
Pare Hauraki Kaimoana authority to
apply for fish farming consents following
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a tender process. The farm, which
will occupy 240ha of space, is known
as the Coromandel Marine Farming
Zone and is located about 10km off
Coromandel Town. Pare Hauraki Kaimoana
propose farming kingfish in the
space, and the authorisation means
it now has two years to prepare and
submit an application for the necessary
resource consents. “Pare Hauraki
Kaimoana are already a major player
in our regional aquaculture industry
and their tender proposal demonstrated
a deep commitment to achieving
environmental, economic and social
outcomes for the region,” Waikato
Regional Council chief executive
Vaughan Payne says. Existing shellfish
aquaculture around the Thames-Coromandel
district generates just under
$100 million of revenue a year and
directly employs more than 550 people.
“The approval process to issue
the authorisation has been lengthy, in
part because of the process specified
in the Resource Management Act and
also complexities in determining a
commercial arrangement for a market
that doesn’t yet exist in New Zealand,”
Payne says.
As fuel prices stress out New Zealanders,
Gull and DB Export have
partnered up to bring back Brewtroleum,
biofuel made from natural
beer waste. “DB Export is committed
to acting sustainably, and over the
past three years has created two
incredible, world-changing initiatives
– Brewtroleum and Beer Bottle Sand,”
marketing director Sean O’Donnell
says. “Now we are asking Kiwis for
ideas of their own to help ‘save the
entire world’; all people need to do
is submit their world-saving ideas to
be in to win up to $50,000.” To win,
Kiwis are being asked for a ‘world
saving idea’ that encourages thinking
outside-of-the-box about sustainability.
Gull general manager David
Bodger says the company is pleased
to help reduce waste, and the biofuel
is cleaner-burning with reduced emissions.
The ‘save the world' competition
runs until January.
CROP MANAGEMENT
SOFTWARE INCREASES
EFFICENCY
New Zealand’s largest fully-integrated
grower, packer and marketer
of apples has announced
a longterm adoption and service
level agreement with Canadian
cloud-based crop management
software platform Croptracker. Mr
Apple – which employs more than
2200 staff at its peak, operates
around 1100 hectares of orchards
and exports more than 4 million
cartons of apples every year – selected
Croptracker after a global
search because it is well-established
and offers a comprehensive
solution that creates orchard operational
efficiencies and is easy
to use, Mr Apple chief executive
Andrew van Workum says. “We
are looking forward to rolling it out
across all our orchard operations.
This is a significant step for Mr
Apple and the 1300 orchard staff
that will rely on the Croptracker
software.” Croptracker is a
cloud-based crop management
software platform that combines
data from RFID systems, weather
stations, soil sensors and user-inputted
information to help fruit
and vegetable growers, co-ops
and associations make better
decisions and be more profitable.
Starting in 2006 with the consult
of a small group of apple growers
in eastern Ontario, Croptracker
is used today by more than 2000
growers from 41 countries. “We
are excited to begin this journey
with Mr Apple,” chief strategic
officer Jeff Chemeres says. “Like
the team at Croptracker, every
person within Mr Apple’s global
operation is focused on bringing
the very best product to the end
user. We are excited to be working
with them on our companies’
ongoing paths to operational and
product excellence.” Croptracker
provides fruit and vegetable
growers with advanced solutions
to drive an increase in production
efficiency and traceability while
decreasing overall operational
costs. Croptracker’s mission is
to develop technology to help
the fruit and vegetable industry
become more efficient, profitable
and sustainable.
BIOFUEL FROM BEER WASTE BACK
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