Editorial: Hope for the best
New Zealand's dairy industry is right to call out Donald Trump over the damage the additional 15% tariff the US is imposing on our exports but also imposition on lower tariffs on our competitors.
OPINION: Donald Trump's focus on Canada is causing concern for the country’s dairy farmers.
While Trump wants to make Canada the 51st US state, it’s clear that the Canadian dairy industry is also on the president’s mind.
The US is said to have long desired to expand access to the tightly controlled Canadian dairy market. At the same time, Canada has strongly defended its supply management system. Trump linked his threat to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico to claims about fentanyl and migrants. And, when it comes to dairy, the new Trump administration is making it clear that Canada will face a familiar fight.
Dairy trade might be small – the US exported US$1billion worth of dairy to Canada in 2023, while the total amount of goods shipped across its northern border was about US$354 billion – but the industry has a reputation as a long-time, cross-border irritant.
Canadian dairy farmers hope the current trade imbalance in dairy, which greatly favours the US, will be a saviour. Canada exported about $300m in dairy products to the US in 2023.
Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.
The Ministry for the Environment is joining as a national award sponsor in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA from next year).
Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.
OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.
DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
OPINION: Should cows in NZ be microchipped?
OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…