Jan 30, 2025
2025 sees Deer Industry New Zealand's integrated farm planning (IFP) programme build, with workshops kicking off in several regions; Kāpiti/Horowhenua and Masterton are both offering up two full-day workshops in February on freshwater planning, while Gore and Te Anau offer the same content but split across three half-day workshops. The workshops, run by Ballance Agri-Nutrients and facilitated by the Ballance Farm Sustainability team, have been set up to aid farmers with their building of integrated farm plans.
Upon completing the workshops, farmers will have a plan which meets the latest NZFAP Plus requirements, as well as local regional government farm planning requirements.
Apart from time, the only cost to participants is a fee of $150 to cover the first year’s subscription for the online farm plan tool subscription. The workshops themselves are funded by DINZ, courtesy of funding from MPI’s integrated farm plan accelerator programme.
DINZ will also cover the $680 Overseer nutrient budget fee for a year, while budget lasts, for those attending.
The locations of all future workshops have not been determined yet, so DINZ is taking expressions of interest from deer farmers nationwide who are interested in attending.
Potential topics for future farm planning workshops include animal health and welfare, freshwater management, biodiversity, biosecurity, soil and nutrient management, GHG management, business tools and human resources. Topics will be decided by demand and/or inquiry from the various regions.
To sign up for any of the regional workshops mentioned, head on over to our Events page.
For more information, contact the DINZ IFP project team at ifp@deernz.org.
To get a good idea of what is driving increasing market demands around verification of farm planning and processes, have a listen to Farmers Weekly journalist Neal Wallace discuss these demands with Dominic George on the Rural Exchange podcast after returning from his global tour of New Zealand’s major export markets.
Get an NZFAP or NZFAP Plus rapid assessment
Knowing what needs to be done on-farm to qualify for the New Zealand Farm Assurance Programme (NZFAP), or its higher-level offering NZFAP Plus, can take a bit of organising, which may put farmers some off. It’s much easier to put it in the too hard basket. DINZ is now offering an opportunity for farmers to take it out of the too hard basket.
As a part of our integrated farm planning funding from MPI, we have an opportunity for you to get some free assistance and support from a subject matter expert to review what you have, what is required, and what it would take to get you ready for certification for NZFAP or NZFAP Plus.
If you want to know more about how to access this, then email ifp@deernz.org for more information.
