Andrew Hoggard

OPINION: Farmers and growers know the frustration well: Pointless paperwork, slow consents, and confusing red tape that turns simple tasks into complex ones.

It's all about economics

OPINION: According to media reports, the eye-watering price of butter has prompted Finance Minister Nicola Willis to ask for a 'please explain' from her former employer Fonterra.

Red line on dairy

OPINION: As India negotiates to open its borders to more global products, dairy is proving a sticky issue.

Farmland security

OPINION: Paranoia about foreigners is at an all-time high in the US and attention is now turning to foreign-owned farmland.

Owen Jennings

OPINION: Ruminant methane mitigation tools were a bit of a joke when first proposed; surely no one would be foolish enough to interfere with nature at its best. Any such propaganda from our sector on mitigation went straight into file 13.

Inland Revenue’s proposal was to make major changes to the way FBT applies to utes.

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

Cuddling cows

OPINION: Years of floods and low food prices have driven a dairy farm in England's northeast to stop milking its cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.

Dairy unity

OPINION: A last-minute compromise ensured that the election of the new Federated Farmers national dairy chair wasn't a repeat of the Super 15 rugby final - Canterbury versus Waikato.

That old chestnut

OPINION: Just as it's healthy for cockies to get out of the shed and off the farm occasionally to get a fresh perspective, Milking It reckons some academics would benefit from spending a few days in the real world.

OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.

OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.

OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.

OPINION: As Fonterra's divestment of its Oceania and global consumer businesses progresses, clear contenders are emerging.

OPINION: After hopping from one event to another at Fieldays, Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard would have been hoping for a rest.

OPINION: Last week, Greenpeace lit up Fonterra's Auckland headquarters with 'messages from the common people' - that the sector is polluting the environment.

OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard yakka.

OPINION: When we talk about the future of farming, we often focus on the tools - automation, sensors, satellite data, digital models. But we rarely talk about the people shaping that future. And more importantly, who might be missing from the room.

OPINION: For the first time in many years, a commonsense approach is emerging to balance environmental issues with the need for the nation's primary producers to be able to operate effectively.

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Milking It

It's all about economics

OPINION: According to media reports, the eye-watering price of butter has prompted Finance Minister Nicola Willis to ask for a…

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