Business Rural Autumn 2021

| 77 Schools benefit from seed promotion Karen Phelps RURAL SERVICES » North Otago Pastoral G iving thousands back to the community and creating a win-win has been the result of a unique on-going promotion run by North Otago Pastoral Services. With every hectare of Poncho treated seed purchased, $5 is donated back to the country school of the client’s choice. This has seen over $12,000 donated to local schools over the past few years with another $6000-7000 due to be donated shortly, says North Otago Pastoral manager Kelvin Mansfield. “We figured we could pay to advertise our busi- ness or let schools essentially do the same thing via Facebook as they tell people about our promotion and encourage people to buy their seed from us so their school benefits. It’s been gratifying to see the local communities really benefit from the result,” he says. He says it’s also a win for farmers as the Poncho treatment is a proven product which protects pasture and cereal crops against insect attack in early establishment helping them to increase their bottom line profit all while contributing back to the development of future generation via the school donation programme. Precisely applied to the seed at a low dose rate, Poncho is released from the seed straight after sowing and forms a protective halo around the seed. This is then absorbed through germination and transferred to the plant’s sap flow, delivering protection from root to tip. “An essential part of any pasture establishment plan, Poncho is a highly effective seed treatment “It’s been gratifying to see the local communities really benefit from the result .” insecticide that protects seeds from insect attacks, maximising production. Recommended for maize, cereal crops, grass seed crops and forage brassicas, Poncho is proven to improve crop emergence, increase DM produc- tion and reduce the time to first cut. It acts as an anti-feedant, repellent and contact and stomach poison against Argentine Stem Weevil (ASW), grass grubs and black beetles. It also sup- ports cereal aphid control and prevents Barley Yel- low Dwarf Virus (BYDV) from planting right through to GS21 (3 leaf stage but before tillering has com- menced), so farmers can focus on other tasks at an otherwise busy time of year,” explains Kelvin. North Otago Pastoral Services is a locally owned business based in Waitaki. The company offers independent on-farm advice farmers can trust and works across all agricultural sectors throughout the Waitaki region. It also produces tailored grain and seed mixes and seed treatments and supplies quality agrichemicals and farm supplies from major New Zealand brands. Craig Direen, agronomist; Nick Walters, agronomist; Andrew Harding agronomist. Tick all the boxes. It’s CRUCIAL ® . ®CRUCIAL is a registered trademark of Nufarm Australia Limited. ®Pulse is a registered trademark of Nufarm Technologies USA Pty Ltd. *Commercial Performance Guarantee. ©Nufarm 2021. Contact your local Rural Supplier to purchase your CRUCIAL today. 0800 NUFARM or visit us at nufarm.co.nz/discovercrucial Kelvin says one important key to the businesses success is its expert agronomists that know North Otago pastures inside and out. “This means we can help farmers to maximise the performance, productivity and profitability of their land and whatever the weather throws at them.” One of the latest additions to the team is agrono- mist Andrew Harding. “Andrew has been involved in the agricultural industry since leaving school, this included muster- ing on some of the largest stations in both the North and South Island. He spent 15 years developing farm systems for farming companies that have bought smaller farms, needing them to be devel- oped into larger dryland and irrigated units. Three years ago Andrew decided to take a job with Farmlands as a TFO out of both Kurow and Oamaru helping farms with their dryland systems. He’s a great addition to our team and indicative of the type of knowledge, talent and skill we have that is available to our clients.” The North Otago Pastoral team: Kelvin Mansfield, manager; Gerard Dawson, assistant manager; Matthew Paton, senior agronomist.