Ritchie throws hat in ring

Horticulture NZ board candidate, Central Hawke's Bay cropper and livestock farmer and 2014 Hawke's Bay Farmer of the Year Hugh Ritchie.

Former Federated Farmers national board member and 2014 Silver Fern Farms Hawke's Bay Farmer of the Year Hugh Ritchie will be seeking election to the board of Horticulture New Zealand.

The managing director of Central Hawke's Bay cropping and livestock operation Drumpeel Farms, Mr Ritchie will be one of three people vying for two positions at the annual conference in Nelson on August 3-5.

Mr Ritchie is also a board member of Hawke's Bay-based sustainable cropping group LandWISEin Hawke's Bay, Foundation for Arable Research (FAR), Irrigation NZ and Process Vegetables NZ.

Sheep awards

Hawke's Bay will be well represented at the 2016 Sheep Industry Awards in Masterton on July 6.

Napier-based global operation Focus Genetics features across the breeding categories, while Rex Newman, of Napier, is a Trainer of the Year finalist.

The four Supplier of the Year finalists include James and Jane Hunter, of Waipukurau, and Hastings-based Waiwhenua Farms, while Focus Genetics animal breeding scientist Dr Natalie Pickering, of Napier, is a finalist in the Emerging Talent category.

Farewell

The wool industry in Hawke's Bay gathered at CP Wool in Hastings last week for the retirement of industry legend Lew Willoughby.

Originally from Taihape, where he started out in a bank, he came to Hawke's Bay initially to work for wool merchants Murray Roberts, and eventually had almost half-a-century in the industry, from trying his hand at shearing, to wool classing, in which he became known in woolsheds throughout the region.

Over the years he worked for such players as the now long-gone New Zealand Wool Board, coming into his swansong role when CP Wool was formed after the Carr Group's purchase of a 50per cent interest in Elders Primary Wool last year.

Safety management

Beef+Lamb New Zealand rolls-out its safety management system at two seminars in Hawke's Bay today and tomorrow.

The first will from 10am-3pm today at Tararua Business Network, Dannevirke, while the second will be tomorrow, also 10am-3pm, at the Takapau Golf Club.

Farmers will be given a free copy of a safety management system and taught how to apply it to their farm. This system has been developed by our safety partner QSI (NZ) Ltd and in conjunction with WorkSafe NZ.