2024 in the rearview | Meet and Greet: Steve Annan | MyOSPRI upgrade delayed | Young Deer Farmer of the Year | Special Report: Udder success | European venison marketing highlights | Velvet: Triple success for Linton farmer | NZDFA: Young guns in action | NZDFA Branch Chairs meeting drives valuable two-way conversations | Thumbs up for farm environment plan workshops | Malignant Catarrhal Fever | Boost returns from venison farming | Venison beating bison meat? | Industry champ moves on | Recipe: Venison sausage roll wreath

DINZ chatted with Jamie Ward, who is leaving AgResearch in early December after almost 28 years to take up a position with Fish & Game, overseeing their Central Otago district as Operations Manager. In addition to managerial work, the job will include biodiversity, habitat improvement and stakeholder engagement. He will be based in Wanaka.

It has been a busy month for visiting delegations, with two delegations, one from the German Parliament and one from Hanpure, South Korea’s largest importer of New Zealand velvet, visiting farms in the North and South islands, respectively.

On 1 November, NIWA released its seasonal climate outlook for Nov – Jan 2025, predicting a slightly above 50 percent chance of a La Niña developing, though current predictions are for a phase with shorter and weaker than normal La Niña thresholds. 

With the return of a Trump administration, uncertainty looms over U.S. trade policies, including the risk of new tariffs on imported goods.

Uncertainty around market access of New Zealand frozen velvet and China-led stockpiling, followed by the cheaper selling of product by a large-scale importer, has created headwinds this velvet selling season, but the future is positive, says Tony Cochrane, DINZ board velvet and co-products representative and PGG Wrightson national deer and velvet manager.