increase font size
OPINION: China's ambassador to NZ, Wang Xiaolong, reminded NZ exporters who is their friend when it comes to fair trading on the global market.
Speaking at the Chinese Business Summit in Auckland last week, he noted that it was the Western industrial countries that preached to China in its early stages of development the virtues of an open market, free trade and sustainability.
Xiaolong noted that China has fulfilled all its commitments and obligations under WTO and its FTAs with other countries and regions including New Zealand.
"Then, ironically, the very countries having lectured us in the first place have ditched their own sermons. It so turns out that the 'fair competition', 'comparative advantage' or 'free trade' they espouse is but a game that must be won by them and them alone, and is for everyone else to lose."
He was reminding NZ of Canada's reluctance to open their dairy market to NZ products allowed under a trade deal.
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact that, now more than ever, US farmers are being propped up by government welfare – a direct result of Trump’s hardline on its trading partners.
China looks set to play a key role in helping the New Zealand wool sector shift away from trading as a commodity supplier.
If you find a new consumer in a developed wine market, you are taking them from someone else, says Blank Canvas co-founder Sophie Parker-Thomson MW.
The large 2025 harvest will exacerbate the wine industry's "lingering" supply from recent vintages, New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan told attendees at Grape Days events around the country in June.
OPINION: Will synthetic milk derail NZ's economy?
Greenlea Premier Meats managing director Anthony (Tony) Egan says receiving the officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) honour has been humbling.
Waikato dairy farmer Neil Bateup, made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the New Year 2026 Honours list, says he’s grateful for the award.
Another Australian state has given the green light to virtual fencing, opening another market for Kiwi company Halter.
Farmer interest continues to grow as a Massey University research project to determine the benefits or otherwise of the self-shedding Wiltshire sheep is underway. The project is five years in and has two more years to go. It was done mainly in the light of low wool prices and the cost of shearing. Peter Burke recently went along to the annual field day held Massey's Riverside farm in the Wairarapa.
Applications are now open for the 2026 NZI Rural Women Business Awards, set to be held at Parliament on 23 July.
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
