Dollars go offshore
OPINION: The Advertising Standards Authority’s 2024 report revealed that not only is social media rotting our brains, it is also taking a growing chunk of New Zealand’s ad revenue offshore.
A Facebook page is shedding light on bullied dairy farmers.
Gina Greenwood, creator of the page, says dairy farmers are being told to kill themselves and are being spat at and yelled at in the streets.
She says farmers, including herself have been receiving multiple messages from SAFE supporters and vegans encouraging them to commit suicide to save the animals.
"An average of 28 farmers a year commit suicide as it is. These messages are disgusting and not helping at all." says Greenwood.
Greenwood is asking those concerned to like the Farmers United #prodairy Facebook page, formally known as farmers against SAFE #prodairy. Dairy farmers can also join a group with the same name to share experiences.
Greenwood is also using the page to fundraise for New Zealand dairy farmers with depression.
"We need to get it out there that SAFEs true agenda is not animal welfare. They want anything to do with animals stopped completely and want the world to go vegan. The way the are going about it is incredibly destructive to New Zealand and our economy. They have timed their attacks very well especially now the payout has dropped to $3.90."
Greenwood's next steps include taking the bullying to the media. She says last week she had an interview with a major New York newspaper. She also spoke with Government Ministers Paula Bennett and Louise Upston in Cambridge.
"This Friday I am going back to meet with Nathan Guy (Primary Industries Minister).This time the story is much more serious.
"We have been working hard signing and sharing a petition that Bridget Lowry made to remove SAFEs charitable status and it is now being reviewed after almost 11,000 people signed."
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is…
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard…