Fieldays hold out the begging bowl
OPINION: When someone says “we don’t want a handout, we need a hand up” it usually means they have both palms out and they want your money.
OPINION: Once upon a time the Fieldays were for real farmers, salt of the earth people who thrived on hard yakka.
There were rural 'games' in the form of the tractor pull but the organisers never went the way of the Irish and incorporated ploughing into the event. In the early days the sites were very much rural but over the years this has changed.
Now, the cry of the urbanites and life sentence block owners has been answered with the news this year there'll be lawn mower racing.
Is this the start of an era which will see the return of sack races - the perfect event for the 'city suit types' to get their designer gear tucked into a dirty sack?
What about egg and spoon races, three-legged races and so on? Maybe guess how many jellybeans in the jar. For the hardy rural types, lawnmower racing and what might follow seems a far cry from the original concept of field days. The times are a changin'!
Manawatu Mayor Michael Ford says the district sees itself as the agribusiness capital of the lower North Island.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is looking forward to connecting with farmers, rural professionals and community members at this year's Central District Field Days.
Labour Party Leader Chris Hipkins has announced a reshuffle of the party's caucus portfolios.
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says a series of rural resilienced set to be rolled out next week will help farmers and growers better prepared for adverse weather events.
The head of Massey University's School of Agriculture and the Environment, Professor Paul Kenyon, says the outlook for the primary sector is positive with record numbers of students enrolling for Massey's range of undergraduate courses in the primary sector.
Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith is a long-time supporter of the CD field days and says the benefits from it flow into his city.
OPINION: Expect the Indian free trade deal to feature strongly in the election campaign.
OPINION: One of the world's largest ice cream makers, Nestlé, is going cold on the viability of making the dessert.