Picking winners?
OPINION: Every time politicians come up with an investment scheme where they're going to have a crack at 'picking winners' with our money, the Hound cringes.
OPINION: If the recent bloodbath the left suffered in the local election lurch to the right wasn't a clear enough sign that Labour are out of touch with the electorate, then the Government's farm emissions policy announcement is surely the final proof.
Determined to hobble the one industry that propped the economy up during recent trying times, Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw ignored the farm-level option put to them by industry representatives (in the form of the tepid He Waka Eke Noa proposal). What they've come up with looks like a virtue signalling exercise, designed to make the PM look good on the world stage, while throwing farmers under the bus.
The Feds aren't happy, and even the 'we must be at the table' mob at DairyNZ and Beef+Lamb expressed concerns at what the Government has settled on.
Farmers will be hit hard by this, and must now be wondering if their representatives got it wrong in the negotiation: is there any point being at the table, playing nice, if the other party isn't listening?
The Government is set to announce two new acts to replace the contentious Resource Management Act (RMA) with the Prime Minister hinting that consents required by farmers could reduce by 46%.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
The avocado industry is facing an extremely challenging season with all parts of the supply chain, especially growers, being warned to prepare for any eventuality.
OPINION: Dipping global dairy prices have already resulted in Irish farmers facing a price cut from processors.
OPINION: Are the heydays of soaring global demand for butter over?