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Chris Bishop says the RMA is broken.
OPINION: For the first time in many years, a commonsense approach is emerging to balance environmental issues with the need for the nation's primary producers to be able to operate effectively.
Nationals' announcement of proposed changes to regulations in the RMA, especially around freshwater management, is spot-on. For too long the primary sector has been hobbled by a plethora of impractical, ideological-driven rules that have impeded economic growth in the primary sector. Farmers have had to live in a world of unnecessary complexity and uncertainty.
Forget the weeping and wailing of the watermelon party - also known as the Greens - and some of the cries of concern from others; this move will give a much-needed balanced approach to how the rural sector operates. Chris Bishop is on the money when he says the present RMA is broken and has embedded in it a culture of 'no'. The changes as he sees them are about saying yes more often, sand to grow the economy and wealth of all New Zealanders.
The slogan politics of environmentalist who constantly call dairying 'dirty' is pretty rich. They seem to conveniently forget that beaches in some of our major cities are often closed off because of pollution from sewage or from stormwater. What about the mussel farms at Mahurangi - just out of Warkworth - severely damaged by urban sewage?
Running a farm, an orchard or growing vegetables is not easy but the task has been made nigh impossible by silly nit-picking rules dreamed up by bureaucrats and politicians, be they at a national or local level. Finally, their days may be numbered and the rules proposed by the coalition will put an end to this.
That is not to say that farmers will be off the hook - they will still have to meet strict rules to protect the environment. But the emphasis will be on clearly defined outcomes.
OPINION: When I moved to Marlborough two decades ago, I found countless lines of tidy vines, neatly mowed and carefully sprayed, with diligent conventional practices interspersed with the odd organic or cover-cropping outlier, like Te Whare Ra.
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton is calling for cross-party consensus on the country's overarching environmental goals.
The Government has issued a stern warning to regional councils and unitary authorities to toe the line in respect upcoming changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA).
OPINION: Milking It reckons if you're National, looking at recent polls, the dream scenario is that the elusive economic recovery finally roars to life.
If voters see some growth and wages rising faster than prices, the government could say they've "fixed" things as they ride into the next election.
Back here on Earth though, the economy they inherited is a basket case, and the long-term headwinds are fierce.
Political commentator Liam Hehir says, "dreams are not plans" and if the turnaround doesn't come in time, National may have no choice but to go negative.
"Everybody wants to fight on the economy if they can. But when neither side has a compelling story, the contest shifts to other issues. That's not new. In fact, it's the stuff of politics everywhere, always."
Changes to resource management laws announced last week will spare thousands of farmers from needing an unnecessary resource consent just to keep farming.
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.
For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.
There's a special sort of energy at the East Coast Farming Expo, especially when it comes to youth.
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?
