Farmgate prices rise as farmers rebuild confidence
Sheep and beef farmers are cautiously optimistic as farmgate prices continue to firm.
OPINION: Economists, in their usual excitable tones, have, for a while now, been openly questioning the Reserve Bank’s glacially slow reaction to the recessionary economic conditions we’re all drowning in.
ASB’s October RBNZ Preview was one example: “We are increasingly concerned that the OCR is very high relative to a more neutral level in an economy where inflation pressures and capacity have in effect already normalised.”
Translation: The RBNZ has crashed the economy and urgently needs to cut the OCR
In the first week of October, ASB was expecting two 50bp cuts in 2024 (last week the RBNZ dropped the OCR by 50bp) and a further 25bp cut in February 2025- with one of their economists saying, “the largest regret now facing the RBNZ is moving too little, too late”.
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…