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OPINION: City and regional councils have been put on notice - stop using extreme climate forecasting scenarios that can drive unnecessary costs onto ratepayers.
Climate Minister, Simon Watts has written to mayors and councillors across New Zealand outlining his concerns.
Councils shouldn’t default to worst-case assumptions that can unnecessarily increase rates and delay investment.
Watts has directed officials to take stock of how these scenarios are being used and provide advice on whether stronger national direction or legislative change is needed to restore consistency and common sense.
This will be welcomed by the rural community who are being slapped with increasing rates by their regional councils, some under the guise of climate change.
Federated Farmers has called on Central Otago District Council (CODC) to drop or vote down a plan to truck sludge from Alexandra and Cromwell to farmland near Lauder, warning it would compound an "outrageous" situation created by a separate council's decision weeks earlier.
Environment Minister Nicola Grigg has announced details of a new rural plastics recycling scheme.
Red meat farmers are welcoming Labour’s plan to review the Emissions Trading Scheme and not to campaign on pricing agricultural emissions.
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) says unnecessary changes to New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) will seriously erode investor confidence and result in significant reductions in forest planting rates.
For the first time in a quarter of a century, Federated Farmers has something positive to say about the Labour Party’s climate change policy leading into a general election.
When Northland leather worker Vernon Suckling started making horse saddles 50 years ago, quad bikes and side-by-side vehicles were unheard of.
Alliance Group has confirmed that eligible farmer-shareholders who supply and continue to back the business will receive up to $20 million later this year, following the strategic investment partnership with Dawn Meats.
With a general election under five weeks away, Rural News is asking major political parties about their policies and positions on key issues facing the primary sector. We will run their responses to each question over the next four weeks. The ACT Party and the Greens didn't respond in time.
The red meat sector is in great heart.
Dr Scott Champion, Foundation for Arable Research chief executive, says that everyone in the supply chain had a role to play in driving the sector's long-term success.
Entries opened on Monday, 5 October 2026 for the 2027 New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards (NZDIA), which organisers describe as the nation's biggest celebration of excellence in the dairy sector.
OPINION: It seems Canterbury processor Synlait is still in the doldrums.
OPINION: Get offside with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters at your own peril.
