{"id":89785,"date":"2025-10-20T10:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T10:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/89785\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T10:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T10:17:08","slug":"madagascar-ragwort-spreading-fast-in-northland-farmers-call-for-national-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/89785\/","title":{"rendered":"Madagascar ragwort spreading fast in Northland, farmers call for national action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The farmers warn that while Mad Rag<\/a> is currently contained to Northland, it is only a matter of time before it spreads to other regions \u2013 Waikato being the most immediately vulnerable, but climate modelling shows the weed can also grow as far south as Canterbury.<\/p>\n

Each plant produces thousands of seeds which are mainly wind dispersed but can also also \u201chitchhike\u201d as a contaminant on machinery, animals, hay and silage.<\/p>\n

Known as fireweed in Australia, where it is classed as a Weed of National Significance, Mad Rag is originally from southern Africa.<\/p>\n

It is believed to have been in New Zealand for about 20 years, gaining a stronghold in the Far North<\/a> because of its near-indistinguishable likeness to a less aggressive weed, gravel groundsel. <\/p>\n

Mad Rag was identified through DNA testing in 2022.<\/p>\n

There are no effective biological or herbicide controls for it and it is toxic to livestock \u2013 especially horses and cattle, which can suffer permanent liver damage, poor growth, low milk production, and sometimes death. <\/p>\n

The state-owned P\u0101mu Farms<\/a> has publicly reported Mad Rag is a persistent issue at its Rangiputa property<\/a>, where infestations have accelerated exponentially, covering between 1200 and 1400ha of the farm\u2019s 3300ha, causing a dramatic 35% drop in productivity over the past six years – an estimated average annual loss of production of $300 per hectare. <\/p>\n

Bainbridge said Mad Rag is severely affecting her farm and mental wellbeing. <\/p>\n

After years of manual control, the weed has now overwhelmed her property, forcing her to use herbicides she had previously avoided, and which only bring temporary relief.<\/p>\n

\" Far North dairy farmer Julianne Bainbridge<\/p>\n

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) signed recently between Northland Regional Council (NRC), DairyNZ Limited, Beef + Lamb New Zealand and P\u0101mu will fund a business case and analysis of management options for the weed but had come too late, Bainbridge said. <\/p>\n

She said NRC should have acted sooner, claiming it was dismissive of her concerns in 2022, and that it did not add the weed to its pest management plan until June 2023 \u2013 18 months after DNA identification. <\/p>\n

\"SomeSome fields along SH10 in the Far North are now dominated by Madagascar ragwort. Photo \/ NZME <\/p>\n

Bainbridge wants an investigation into the lack of official response. She said it was only a fortnight ago that NRC finally posted social media content about Mad Rag, including a video featuring her and other farmers\u2019 struggles to control it.<\/p>\n

She was also critical that the only control mechanism available to compel action was a Good Neighbour rule, which pits landowners against each other and provides a loophole for those who were non-compliant to avoid enforcement by claiming they had gravel groundsel, not Mad Rag. <\/p>\n

Ian Sizer, a beef farmer between Waipapa and Kaeo, said it was five years before he realised the pasture weed taking hold on his property was Mad Rag. He agreed NRC could have acted sooner on a regional awareness campaign and was surprised during a recent visit to the Kerikeri office, that there wasn\u2019t even a poster on the subject. <\/p>\n

However, he accepted the council had upped its efforts and that Government support – potentially millions of dollars – would be crucial to making any real impact. Earlier this year, he presented a petition to Parliament\u2019s primary production committee<\/a> urging national intervention, for which P\u0101ma and NRC chairman Geoff Crawford (also a farmer) had made supporting submissions. <\/p>\n

NRC biosecurity manager of pest plants Joanna Barr said it had taken on board farmer concerns about the weed and, since its identification, had been \u201cworking across several fronts to better understand and convey the impact of this pest and its management in New Zealand\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat includes engaging with landowners, sharing information at workshops and events, testing identification methods to distinguish it from gravel groundsel, seeking support from industry and central government, and addressing some of the key knowledge gaps for this weed around biocontrol, control advice for New Zealand conditions, and research priorities to improve control methods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really pleased to have the MOU in place and the recent response from central government has been encouraging. It gives us confidence that we\u2019ll be able to escalate the response and jointly coordinate and resource the highest priority needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, most of which she spent in Gisborne as a court reporter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The farmers warn that while Mad Rag is currently contained to Northland, it is only a matter of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2840,432,3043,67665,4480,12967,222,2082,78,67663,19720,67660,3556,23158,111,43,139,1067,69,67667,6177,8417,67661,67666,7192,1238,67662,165,12419,67664],"class_list":["post-89785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-across","tag-action","tag-call","tag-daisy","tag-drive","tag-farmers","tag-fast","tag-for","tag-in","tag-invasive","tag-land","tag-madagascar","tag-national","tag-nationwide","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-posing","tag-primary","tag-production","tag-ragwort","tag-rapidly","tag-risk","tag-serious","tag-spreading","tag-their","tag-threatening","tag-yellowflowering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}