• Beef and Lamb New Zealand Awards celebrate red meat excellence

• New Zealand Farm Assurance programme appoints new chair

• EPA proposes restricting common crop insecticide

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Beef and Lamb New Zealand Awards celebrate red meat excellence

The best of New Zealand's red meat sector was recognised at a gala dinner in Christchurch last night, with eight awards presented across science, innovation, farming and community contribution.

More than four-hundred people gathered at Te Pae Convention Centre for the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Awards. Among the standout winners, Tairāwhiti Whenua Charitable Trust took the Gallagher Innovative Farming Award for its Māori-led collective impact model, uniting more than eight-hundred-thousand hectares of whenua across Te Tairāwhiti in response to Cyclone Gabrielle's devastation.

Wellington operation Conscious Valley, farming eight kilometres from the CBD and supplying top city restaurants, won the PGG Wrightson Market Leader Award, while Dr Stewart Ledgard took the Alliance Significant Contribution Award for pioneering work on pastoral farming's environmental footprint.

The Rabobank People Development Award went to Lone Star Farms — and we'll hear more about that later this hour. Matt Smith from Lone Star Farms joins us just before 1 on CountryWide Connect

New Zealand Farm Assurance programme appoints new chair

New Zealand Farm Assurance Incorporated has appointed Craig Hattle as its new board chair, replacing outgoing chair Nick Beeby.

Hattle brings more than twenty years of executive and governance experience across agribusiness, sustainability and technical services, including sixteen years as a technical expert for the agricultural and horticulture GlobalG.A.P programme through the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand.

Outgoing chair Nick Beeby says Hattle's deep sector knowledge and proven leadership in business transformation and risk management made him a stand-out appointment.

Beeby is acknowledged for steering the organisation through a period of growth, strengthening governance and deepening stakeholder relationships. Hattle says NZFAI is well-placed for its next phase as a leading independent international farm assurance programme for New Zealand meat and wool.

EPA proposes restricting common crop insecticide

Kiwifruit, squash, brassica and tomato growers are among those being asked to have their say on a proposal to restrict the use of bifenthrin, a widely used insecticide, over environmental concerns.

The Environmental Protection Authority is proposing to prohibit bifenthrin from being applied by wide-dispersive methods such as boom sprayers and airblast sprayers, after modelling identified serious risks to fish, aquatic invertebrates, bees and birds when spray drifts into waterways.

Acting Hazardous Substances Applications Manager Dr Shaun Presow says the EPA is not looking to restrict non-agricultural uses, which modelling shows pose significantly lower environmental risks.

The EPA says alternative insecticides are available to replace most agricultural applications of bifenthrin.

Submissions are open from today until July twenty-first.